As Part 1 of the ‘Ready for the re-build? Re-thinking the value of digital infrastructure’ series from Banking Circle, this white paper reveals how attitudes to digital technology have changed, and to what degree this is a result of initial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest Banking Circle white paper, ‘Financial Goliaths and Digital Davids: Are banks better positioned to take on their smaller rivals?’ is based on a survey and series of interviews conducted in March and April 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic was at its peak in many of the regions involved in the study. In the face of exceptional challenges, banks remained far more confident than FinTechs and PSPs.

Key findings include:

• Just 5% of the banks included the threat of economic recession in their top three challenges
• 31% of FinTechs and 41% of PSPs saw the approaching recession as one of their biggest three challenges
• Less than a third of financial institutions are now concerned about the pace of technological change
• Nine in ten banks reported being confident they could adapt ‘quickly’ or ‘fairly quickly’ thanks to investment in tech and infrastructure

Unlike many FinTechs and PSPs in the market today, banks have the benefit of their experience during the last recession: they learnt valuable lessons and are now stronger and more able to weather the coming storm.

While banks were already investing in new tech and infrastructure, the crisis has been an accelerator for change, demonstrating once more the need for organisations to be adaptable, agile and prepared. The ‘new normal’ provides opportunities for banks, payments businesses, FinTechs and other financial institutions to digitalise and collaborate with other providers in the financial ecosystem to deliver better solutions for their customers.