Welcome to The Open Banker, a collection of ideas, observations and insights about the inner workings of the Banking Industry.

There are in the region of 800 Fintechs in Australia, all trying to make a dent in the Banking industry. If that equates to ~$4 billion tied up in start-ups, is that value for money? Are ~8,000 of the country's brightest, most entrepreneurial banking minds best invested here? Are there really 800 unique ideas? Or are Fintechs competing just as much with themselves as they are with the incumbents? Bearing in mind that the more innovative ideas will be acquired by the incumbents, could it be that - to the incumbents - the Fintech industry has become a risk-free "outsourcing" of innovation? And how many will survive the funding crisis anyway?

There is no shortage of Fintechs in the market, but how many have what it takes to disrupt the banking industry? Applying the lessons of Clayton Christensen, author of “The Innovator’s Dilemma”, provides an interesting perspective worth bearing in mind!

How old is your credit card? If you're anything like me, it’s at least 5 years, (probably more) … in which case, chances are your needs are fundamentally different today than they were when you got it. Banks have all the data and capability they need to assess whether your ACTUAL use aligns with your product … and this data could then be used proactively, to suggest features, benefits or fee structures that suit your needs TODAY, (not 5+ years ago). If the configuration of a banking product could be recalibrated, on a regular, ongoing basis, such that the customer ALWAYS has the right product, would these be the best banking products in the world?

Is the 'business-as-usual' workforce sufficiently motivated to bring transformational ideas to the table and execute to outcomes that materially drive the bank forward? Or is our risk averse "incrementalism" getting in the way?

The Agile experiment into ‘new ways of working’ has been in full swing around the world for 5 or 10 years now. Is it working? Are projects being delivered more reliably? Do they cost less? Are they on time? And are hybrid, multi-disciplinary squads more efficient than their predecessors? Could it be that the banking industry has substituted one form of dependency (over-reliance on Systems Integration partners) for another (over-reliance on contingent workforce partners)? In search of a middle ground, banks are asking partners to sign up their teams (squads) to fixed price, ‘Managed Outcomes’. Will this work? Or is it a backwards step?

It is a significant week in the world of Banking, with the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank compounded by today's bailout of Credit Suisse, sparking fears that the sector is on the brink of yet another global financial crisis. The underlying cause is the shift in liquidity, as investors seek to cash out of Fintech and Crypto in favour of other asset classes, leading to wild fluctuation in valuations and undermining the asset base of specialist banks like SVB and Signature. There are ~800 Fintechs in Australia alone. What will be their fate?

Banking used to be one of the most trusted industries in the world ... today it is one of the least. But it's hard to expect Customers to trust their bank when Banks do such a good job of demonstrating how little they trust their Customers. In exploring this topic, let's cast our minds back to why Banking was such a well-respected industry and consider whether the digital world of today provides an opportunity to recreate trusted relationships.

Despite all of the investment in Fintech, the big banks keep getting bigger. Is Banking impervious to disruption?