Evolution of the invisible bank: How partnerships with FinTechs are driving digital innovation

Abstract

Business banking as we know it is changing in ways that could hardly have been imagined less than a decade ago. The introduction of next-generation technologies, such as application programming interfaces (APIs), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and robotics, is poised to deliver the ‘invisible bank’, where treasury and banking functions merge together seamlessly, bringing customer experience to a new level of convenience. This paper discusses the need to extend the reach of banking solutions beyond the bank’s own channels and technologies, incorporating them into day-to-day treasury management functions. In this way, the friction between corporates and banks is reduced — making it impossible to tell where the bank ends and treasury operations begin. By leveraging treasury data in a more contextual way, banks will be able to integrate banking functions and services into the daily duties of treasury professionals, delivering tremendous convenience and a greatly improved client experience. Digital technologies, such as APIs, are allowing banks and corporates to be more agile in connecting and collaborating with each other to bring innovations to market faster, meeting the needs of their customer base. In fact, Forbes reports that 80 per cent of large enterprises are already generating more than US$5m a year from APIs.1