Treasury Strategy & Transformation
Published  6 MIN READ

How a Global Health Crisis Brought about a Revolution in Business Banking

When we think about a health crisis, we don’t naturally assume banking will change as a result. Nevertheless, the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered positive change within the financial services industry, as recent research by Banking Circle illustrates.

When the first wave of lockdowns hit in March 2020, businesses of every type and size responded to the Covid-19 crisis by moving quickly, adapting to changing demands and fulfilling their customers’ needs. Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) shifted their businesses dramatically, clearly demonstrating their versatility, creativity and tenacity.

However, regulation and legacy infrastructure, along with risk mitigation, meant banks struggled to respond quickly to customer expectations. Banks want to deliver both core and non-core services, but it is not simple to adapt, innovate and deliver across all product sets at once. Therefore, in crisis mode, banks rapidly changed their digital trajectory.

According to research Banking Circle commissioned in November 2020, the pandemic caused 58% of banks to change their IT infrastructure plans.  And to deliver new solutions to their customers quickly, more banks than ever saw the valuable opportunity offered by third-party collaboration.