This is a critical time for commercial banks. On the one hand, they are starting to see positive returns from their investments in digital technology. This is enabling them to provide enhanced services to customers while simultaneously improving their efficiency. At the same time, however, banks face growing threats as fintechs chip away at their customer base and revenue streams, as banking services are embedded in the offerings of multi-service platforms, and as talent are lured away by companies with more appealing cultures and reputations.

There are too many to list. But, among those powering the trends we have identified are enhancements to RMs’ CRM tools, the use of data, AI and open banking to improve the efficiency of trade finance, the increasing sophistication of customer portals, and the embedding of banking and other financial services on bigtech platforms that aim to meet as wide a spectrum of customer needs as possible.

Commercial banks face a stark choice: ignore fintechs and bigtech platforms, collaborate with them, or take them on at their own game. Each option has its risks and potential benefits, and not all three are feasible for all banks. Nonetheless, 2022 will be the year when most commercial banks will have to place their bets and start to develop deliberate strategies for dealing with this.