LIVE FROM OPERATIONS TRANSFORMATION FORUM 2018: Many financial services companies are “crippled with the past” as the industry is transformed by digitisation, Derek White, global head of customer solutions for bank BBVA, argued.

“Many of our peers are seeking to protect revenue streams, operating models, interaction models, experiences that fundamentally no longer exist, or will not exist in the future,” he said.

White noted a “blurring of lines” in the way that industries, ecosystems, individuals and companies interact. And it is the interaction models which have the highest frequency where this shift is happening most.

“If you see the blurring of chat, and social, and media, e-commerce, and then you throw in gaming, that is where humans are spending their time and their interactions. And that is then creating opportunities for businesses and industries to entirely blur,” he said.

“As those high-frequency interactions happen, there is naturally a need to move money, within that ecosystem, out of that ecosystem, and into that ecosystem, and that is where banking comes into play. The first movement in that is typically payments, in the exchange of goods or services; as payment happens, then lending happens, then the float needs to be managed, and that’s where other banking initiatives start to come into play.”

Of course, the changing ways in which consumers engage also offers benefits. “Our customers are interacting with us differently. Each one of those interactions creates a digital footprint, and that footprint generates data, and that data – if given the appropriate consent – allows us to create actionable insights, allows us to create better products and services,” White said.