New style of work group unveiled to provide ‘holistic environment’ for members to analyse market disruption

Mobey Forum, the global industry association empowering banks and other financial institutions to lead in the future of mobile financial services, has announced the launch of a new Banking Disruption work group.

The new group will expand on the association’s traditional work charting the evolution of mobile financial services, and will instead focus on exploring a wider range of market disruptions from a variety of different perspectives, such as lending, payments and personal finance management. The group aims to enable Mobey Forum member banks and financial service providers to derive unique insights that will inform their own go-to-market strategies as the dynamics of modern banking continue to shift profoundly.

“There are so many points of disruption in financial services today that it no longer makes sense for us to zero-in on just one or two disruptive technologies,” comments Sirpa Nordlund, Executive Director, Mobey Forum. “Our members need a more holistic environment that enables them to explore, debate and learn from one another on a wider range of topics, from new business models and the value chains they create, to the array of digital channels and technologies that support them. The Banking Disruption working group reflects this need.”

Zaf Kazmi, Head of Group Mobile Channel Strategies at Erste Group Bank and Co-Chair of the Banking Disruption work group, adds: “As always, we’ll be examining the latest fintechs and start-ups, but we’ll also be exploring how more established companies are staking their claim in the traditional banking market, together with how banks are responding with their own initiatives. Our goal is to identify the winning propositions and between us develop an understanding as to why they have succeeded where others have failed. Generating this knowledge has real value for all of our members, and will support their efforts to identify the ‘sweet-spot’ for their own services.”

George Charalambous, Head of Digital Transformation at HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management and Co-Chair of the Banking Disruption work group, added: “These are both testing and exciting times for banks; the sector is going through an unprecedented period of disruption. As always, the biggest winners will be those that are the most prepared. This new working group is designed to bring leading banks together in a bid to help them grow stronger, both as individual organisations and collectively as an industry.”

The new work group has already generated much excitement from Mobey Forum’s banking and technology members. Samee Zafar, Director, Edgar, Dunn & Company, and key advisor to the work group, comments: “More than $25bn has been pumped into the global fintech sector in the last two years alone. 2015 was a record year for investment so banks should anticipate even more volatility in the coming months and years. The changes are occurring in response to a shift in customer behaviour: consumers are choosing to fulfill many of their financial needs using non-traditional services, from non-traditional players. Today’s banks must continuously innovate if they are to meet these changing demands, stave off new agile competitors and guard against disintermediation.”

“We’ll see where the debates take us before we define a publication schedule,” adds Sirpa. “We’re really excited by this new fluid approach; the journey taken by our work groups has always been just as valuable, if not more so, than the publication it eventually produces. It is this journey that sets Mobey Forum apart from other industry associations, so it makes sense for us to extend the proposition. Indeed, we may find that the group communicates in a less conventional manner, too. I’m really excited to see where we will go.”