“Complexity, not size, is the real danger in banking” – John Kay.
There was a time when banking was truly simple. That is, banks were basically just lenders who operated a physical payments system. But, with hyper-globalization and technological advancements, the landscape has turned head over heels. Banks are now operating in a highly sophisticated network of financial markets, credit markets and payment systems. They aren’t just traditional ”banks” anymore but behemoths whose businesses span across multiple verticals.
Due to an evolving regulatory regime, the financial services industry is becoming extremely complex. Despite the technological advancements, the fact that we reside in an interconnected global financial ecosystem, makes the underlying systems more and more complex.
Within this complex ecosystem, can you demand for Rapid Implementation?
Well, we think you can!
Banks are, to put it mildly, complex. There was a time when they were relatively simple – lenders who also operated a physical payments system. But that was a long time ago. Today, injected with an unchecked dose of technology, they have morphed into behemoths with highly sophisticated networks of financial markets, credit markets and payments systems, with digital limbs of business spanning entire continents.
Add to this ever-changing customer demands and rapidly evolving regulations. And as demands on the bank escalate, so do the bank’s demands on technology. Alas, while technology is high on potential, it’s application isn’t always a bed of roses. Banks are hence on a quest for a unicorn they call Rapid Implementation – of solutions that fit right in and hit the ground running. Everybody believes in the unicorn, but few have seen it. Until now.
Bank Maybank, an Indonesian giant – total assets of USD 165 billion; a financial services leader; was looking to break through in India – with a potent offering of enabling electronic trade across Fixed Income, Money Market and Foreign Exchange Securities, while also mitigating associated risks. Typically, an implementation of this scale, in a whole new region, would demand a reasonable four to six months.
Maybank, on the other hand, went live in seven months. Pravin Batra, CEO, India, Bank Maybank Indonesia summarized it thus – ”At Maybank we believe in providing superior customer experience, with a stable treasury system from Intellect we are confident of providing an unprecedented service and banking experience. This implementation has been smooth and has enabled us to meet India-specific regulatory needs. We are extremely delighted to see the outstanding effort put forward by team Intellect. With a stable treasury system from Intellect, we are confident of providing an unprecedented service and banking experience.”
How did an Indian fintech vendor inspire such confidence, and manage to wrap up an incredibly complex implementation in record time? The Chairman of the company puts it down to a home-grown Rapid Implementation Methodology, the result of applying Design Thinking in fintech.
The juicy details of this implementation, and the untapped potential of Design Thinking, are a whole other story. The point of the Bank Maybank miracle (the word isn’t too much of a stretch in this context), is this – the unicorn exists. The tide of technology fatigue is turning, and rapid implementation is no longer just a legend. Stay tuned.