Digital banking: the future and beyond

WHEN the world battled a pandemic, a rush of digital transformation encapsulated the finance industry in the Philippines, with banks turning digital to cater to locked-down clientele.

In 2022, it is undeniable that banking has completed phase one of digital transformation with banking applications, back-office applications, and communication channels through the internet.

The rise of digital banking with near zero physical contact such as those offered by digital banking leaders in the country like Maya and G-cash, as well as established banks like Unionbank and BDO, has changed the financial landscape towards a direction where there is no turning back.

As digital banking moves forward, there is a growing reliance on better development of banking applications, websites, and other digital platforms to provide an optimal experience for businesses and clients.

It is no longer a matter of a single app, but an entire ecosystem to ensure a quality, secure, and reliable digital banking experience.

Experts say that microservices architecture is the future of all banking applications that should enable fully functional, independent, and standalone processes responsible for single business functionalities.

Open Platform

With an expectation for flexibility and agility rising, both banks and corporate clients have begun to realize the importance of open banking and an ecosystem-based approach.

It has become a global direction with continents across the world in different stages of development and advancement.

In the next years, banks are expected to be providing a wide-open ecosystem with full flexibility in terms of products and services offered to bank customers.

With integration through third-party applications or cloud services, there are virtually no limits to such solutions, with the only restriction being the imagination of the developers.

Leading global information technology (IT) provider, Comarch, is among those that continue to push for such development in the digital banking industry.

Comarch’s Open Platform (COP) allows for full platform customization to banks’ needs while remaining open to new solutions and new functionalities desired by customers at the same time.

A platform for small to medium enterprises and corporate banking, COP is based on a buyand-build model.

There is no vendor lock rule, and the banks can buy the platform and develop it by themselves or with another IT company allowing the banks a competitive advantage by creating an ecosystem based on COP and its added solutions.

This way, the banks’ IT department can focus on new possibilities such as new payment methods.

Instead of creating their platform, banks need not bother with the technological issues with problematic architecture avoiding the trouble of constant error fixing allowing them to respond to the needs of the most demanding clients.

Beyond the future

As digital banking replaces the standards of traditional banking, the necessity of better digital infrastructure becomes more and more apparent.

Banks can only adapt to the changing face of the industry, growing their IT departments to accommodate the digital demand, and strengthening their platforms regarding security and reliability.

Yet while banking has drastically changed, the values that serve as tenets of the industry have not.

Banking still relies on trust and security to thrive, even in a digitally centered global economy, more so than ever.