In recovery mode, technology will build resilient banking
This season saw an unprecedented and drastic transition in the banking sector.
In Bangladesh also, the banking industry has been heavily disrupted by prevailing business challenges.
With such disruptions, traditional banks have been compelled to rethink their functions digitally, with strong social distancing rules forcing banks to turn off their branches and provide limited services.
In that context, both traditional and digital banks took necessary steps to supply solutions for buyers to address their demands from an financial perspective.
This new situation will demand prudent control of resources and significant improvement of operational efficiencies.
Banking sector must action quickly to build about the recent experience of speedy digitisation and unprecedented momentum for adjust.
We anticipate a change in the manner banking and trade finance is transacted and settled, institutions will need to re-engineer business processes in today's business environment.
With the federal government announcing a stimulus package of Tk 20,000 crore for small and channel enterprises (SMEs), Bangladeshi banks are counting on digitalisation to make sure smooth banking procedures for local citizens.
Globally, many banks took similar measures to help ease the responsibility of their customers.
In Australia, banks also have announced credit-easing methods for small businesses that extend repayments for half a year, as the federal government there prepares to expand its stimulus program to weather the monetary storm.
While there is a heavy focus on how banks are doing their part to help customers trip through this difficult period, banks themselves additionally require support to cushion the impact they are facing.
MOUNTING PRESSURE ON BANKS
The finance industry has its fair share of ups and downs, but it has hardly ever experienced the current level of uncertainties.
To handle these challenges, banks are producing deeper organisational and operational improvements to help keep rate with customers' needs and stay prior to the recovery curve.
Traditionally, banking institutions' chief financial officers (CFOs) have relied in preliminary estimates and approximate figures in terms of risk management.
However, this kind of analysis is no more sufficient in the current economy of uncertainties.
Moreover, CFOs who would like to get digital sophistication found in the finance function tend to be slowed down by simply their own hairball architecture and legacy functions that are high priced and tough to keep up.
With the emergence of distant working, the reality for some key banking players is that they are simply struggling to deploy the proper remote-working architecture overnight because it is just not how their systems have already been set up.
Once regarded as more secure and steady, the decentralised operating style around finance and risk capabilities does not offer the transparency, performance and cost-efficiency had a need to function.
Instead, the procedures require extra costs and time, hampering banks' capability to manage operations seamlessly.
Banks at this point understand the urgency to digitise their financing operations as this is the only -- and speediest -- way to manage risk, improve controls and enhance insights to create more resilient and adaptable businesses.
The use of cloud technologies is now a must-have on banks' technology roadmaps and running a business continuity plans.
OPERATIONAL PROCESSES GOING DIGITAL
Moving core business systems to the cloud offers proven to be even more valuable today since it permits bank employees to function remotely -- a switch in operational operations that was once difficult with the decentralised approaches and disconnected devices.
This represents a shift in CFOs' mindsets because banks are now needs to rearchitect their core finance processes and explore remote features that benefit its business and finally customers.
In Bangladesh, BRAC Lender leverages Oracle Cloud Enterprise Resource Setting up (ERP) and Oracle Cloud Human Capital Control to simplify, streamline and automate their business processes to get faster usage of information.
Recognised as one of the youngest and fastest-growing banks in Bangladesh, BRAC Bank possesses digitally transformed by itself to adopt the modernised business functions.
Oracle works with the bank's back workplace, which, eventually, helps the bank to improve the acceleration of their business actions and financial transactions as well as their human resource operations.
In another instance, WestPac, a fiscal services company, use Oracle Cloud ERP and Oracle Cloud Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) to lessen their cost and complexity while helping to satisfy regulations for the brand new Zealand business to use independently from their mother or father company in Australia.
Westpac in addition has leveraged Oracle Banking System for its unified customer support hub to provide bankers with a single view of all customer interactions.
As a recognised bank with an extended history, Westpac considered the cloud to simplify its IT infrastructure and create a steady customer-centric experience over the multiple makes they operate in Australia and New Zealand.
This gave Westpac the edge it needed to position itself better in an increasingly regulated and competitive industry.
BUILDING RESILIENCE THROUGH DIGITISATION
Presently, banks will be struggling to mitigate costs, margins and perform better to exceed customer expectations.
New age technologies have already been contributing a pivotal purpose in forecasting business risks, analysing data and taking maximum decisions.
These testing times have led businesses to predict and measure the foreseeable future of the business enterprise and its operations.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), which are embedded in to the cloud, are two technologies that help banks to predict the near future outcomes, profitability and trends predicated on past behaviour.
These technologies even more help bankers to create better decisions and travel innovation, allowing them to remain ahead in the brand new normal.
With change learning to be a frequent in these unpredictable times, banks need more significant changes to sustain the prevailing monetary downturn.
To build resilience as the economy starts to boost, banks need to integrate digitalisation into their blueprints to mitigate the business impact.
