Finastra survey finds Banking as a Service (BaaS) set to make significant impact on financial services in next 12 months

Dubai, UAE gulftech : Finastra research reveals that Banking as a Service (BaaS) is set to have a notable impact on the industry in the next 12 months. Whilst all markets broadly anticipate this trend – 85% of respondents at global financial institutions – Hong Kong (92%), the UAE (90%) and Singapore (87%) expect the impact to be greatest.

Moreover, six in 10 UAE respondents will embrace collaboration with third parties if it supports growth (through creation of new revenue streams or services) (61%) and accelerates innovation and better ways of delivering existing services (61%). Almost the same amount in region (59%) said they would look favorably on working with third parties if it enabled them to provide a better customer experience.

A total of 119 UAE-based finance industry executives were interviewed as part of the ‘Financial Services: State of the Nation Survey 2021’ report, which canvassed the opinions of 785 professionals at financial institutions and banks in the US, UK, Singapore, France, Germany, Hong Kong and the UAE. The research explores the Open Banking and Open Finance landscape, the technology and initiatives set to make an impact in financial services over the next year, and how COVID-19 has impacted the sector.

Other UAE insights include:

Open Banking is expected to have the greatest impact in the areas of trade finance and corporate banking. 57% of respondents said trade finance, while 55% said corporate banking, followed by retail banking (53%).

Respondents are in favor of Open Banking and its logical evolution towards Open Finance. 68% say Open Banking is a ‘must have’ for their organization, while 91% slightly or strongly agree that Open Finance is the future of banking.

Artificial intelligence and mobile banking are priority areas for investment in the next 12 months. More than half of respondents (51%) say their organization plans to invest in artificial intelligence, while 44% say their organization has plans to invest in mobile banking.

Management could be the greatest barrier to banking innovation in relation to existing regulations. Decision makers stuck in old ways of thinking were cited as a potential barrier by 58% of UAE respondents, followed by development costs (49%) and regulations being too tight (49%).

“Our findings show how financial institutions are already benefiting from Open Banking and, new this year, a growing role for BaaS. We believe that these initiatives have already started paving the way to true Open Finance, helping financial services institutions to develop and enhance the services they provide to their customers,” said Eli Rosner, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Finastra. “For BaaS specifically, 81% of global respondents see it as a means to grow business, enhance their distribution channels, shorten time to market and streamline operations. Valuable insight from so many financial institutions sets the tone for the evolution of financial services as banks and their customers adapt beyond the pandemic and, together with industry support they provide, serve their communities better.”