© 2024 Arizent. All rights reserved.
p180t6ar30ab4151o16d0c9vvvth.jpg
We asked contributors and readers to weigh in on the types of products and services tomorrow's banks might offer. Here's what they came up with.

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar301etut4lfujdk1j5p4.jpg
24-Hour Banking

"The future model of banking will center around dramatically increased simplicity delivered through a mobile device (phone, tablet, wearable technology). The result will be an experience that makes banking part of other daily activities as opposed to a standalone event." —jmarous

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30ibb1hfa3pc1rr1sue8.jpg
Full Frontal Banking

"Future banking will feel more like a medical relationship - integrated into everyday life, understanding and serving you with the intimacy and attention of the family doctor. This full frontal banking will be better for everyone." —Susan Ochs, former Treasury Department advisor and a senior fellow at the Aspen Institute

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar3059nsve3dflgas00l.jpg
Reputational Banking

"Fifty years from now? … The bank's critical role will be built on the customer identities, not their deposits. The vaults will not be stuffed with material valuables, but with the most valuable asset of all: personal data." —Dave Birch, director of Consult Hyperion

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30io7sp31m7i1qfi76t9.jpg
A Greater Emphasis on Consultative Services

"The vast majority of banks down the road need to become consultants to the business community and individuals … Sell products that exhibit spread and are based on need rather than one sold on traditional values. The key word is 'need.' If a customer is satisfied with your service he/she does not shop around and is willing to allow you a profit." —ahardester

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar301ers6318sb55v2fmk.jpg
Tivo for Your Finances

"Banking will ultimately combine the control of PEX Card, the multiple account capabilities of Mint.com and the elegant interface of Simple. The result? TiVo for your finances: a service that assembles and manages a portfolio of accounts from a single portal … This real-time, technology-enabled service wouldn't replace banks. But it would disintermediate banks' relationships with customers, and relegate them to the role of back-end infrastructure provider." —Lauren Pollak, financial services practice lead at Jump Associates

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar3012dmnst86n1u45e65c.jpg
Filling the Trust Deficit

"The lack of an open and standard way to establish trust on the Internet is a big problem today … Trust is the new service to be provided for the online world, opening new business models for banks." —Kosta Peric, technologist and a co-founder of Innotribe

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30i5a1td8oi8ork4966.jpg
CDs with Incentives

"More banks will begin to offer a 'bond-structured' market value time deposit. The market value CD is a simple CD that pays a fixed interest rate to maturity just like ordinary CDs. However, it will pay a gain if the depositor withdraws before maturity and the bank can replace the CD at a lower cost than the rate on the current CD. Any early withdrawal is always the depositor's choice." —Neil Stanley

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar301s5sd1t5b91d881ihhb.jpg
Smaller, But More Important, Branch Networks

"More customers than ever will choose their banks based on the availability of a branch that they don't plan to use all that much. But it will be there with live bankers if and when they need it. And those are actually some of the very best opportunities for a bank to strengthen and expand customer relationships." —Dave Martin, executive vice president at Financial Supermarkets Inc.

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30158pihg3g323dashe.jpg
The 'Long Tail' Model

"Interoperability and hyperconnectivity are allowing customers to switch providers easily … In effect, these changes are creating a business model for doing banking that is dramatically different from the old model - it's a long-tail business model, capable of capturing lots and lots of tiny revenue streams." —Mariela (Mela) Atanassova, co-founder of Innotribe
p180t6ar301d4b1os73ga1kp8gdpa.jpg
One Final Mulligan in Payments

"Banking institutions are ideally suited to … cryptocurrency functions. More importantly, they play directly to the core competencies of banks. When the market is nascent and still maturing, like now, is the perfect time to exert a leadership role and show the financial service newbies how it's done. It looks mighty doubtful that banks will be getting another mulligan anytime soon." —Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation and e-money researcher

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30cu31mir9gn1hnigrkj.jpg
Data Surfers

"I'd like to use the metaphor of a camel in the ocean. The camel is the bank, and the water is data. Until now, the camel was carrying its own water through the desert. Now the camel is in the ocean, surrounded by data. We will require a new kind of species that can survive in this data ocean, can cope with the advent of trillions of nodes on the grid, all hyper-connected, hyper-fragmented and 100% distributed." —Peter Vander Auwera, co-founder of Innotribe

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar307c01uo01m24ls211bug.jpg
Collaboration Is Key

"New innovations from nonbanks will need a platform to provide distribution and the ability to scale quickly, and smart bankers will partner with startups to provide together what neither could do alone … As banks scramble to react to cutting edge technologies developed by startups and launch innovations of their own, some of the brightest glimmers of the future may actually come from cooperation and collaboration." —JP Nicols, CEO of the research and innovation firm Clientific

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30mvo15rasjs67nceuf.jpg
Entering (Seemingly) Unrelated Businesses

"Imagine an entrepreneur with an idea, and a bank delivering everything from the incorporation of the company to the bank account to credit and payment facilities. I would pay for it." —Matteo Rizzi, co-founder of Innotribe

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar301pdnda4g8j133hvbld.jpg
Customer Driven Architecture

"The bank of the future will be built on [customer driven architecture] technology that allows banks to provide customers with always-on, real time, transparent and customer-controlled finance. From mobile to branches and digital to paper, systems will give the end user moment-by-moment awareness and control of their financial condition, and by doing this we essentially change how consumers or business professionals make financial decisions." —jvd

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar30fkk1ag03gp1eif1o3ji.jpg
People-Authenticators

"Banks have a great asset in their special relationship with their clients. When combined with some new technologies, that relationship means the banks can authenticate people more effectively than anyone else. If the banks were to implement these new authentication technologies, it would open the door for them to build relationships with third party vendors to authenticate their joint customers." —mike_groat

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar301o4m1vkkh21cmuqs47.jpg
Mobile Banker

"I think most people would agree that banking is going the digital route. It's a mobile society that we now live in. Banks are going to have to put more focus in creating a better online experience for their customers, or they'll leave." —MatthewBesch

(Image: Thinkstock)

p180t6ar301lum11a71k8jesh197k5.jpg
Engagement Banking

"The shift to digital will certainly have consequences. The banking model is moving toward a truly contextual, customer-centric view. We're competing against players that better leverage proximity, preference, and the proliferation of engaging experiences … Our model simply must change to reduce this embedded friction, whether it is in the form of fees or complicated processes. We must keep up with the simplicity, usability and transparency customers now demand." —Bradley Leimer, digital strategy lead for the Mechanics Bank in Richmond, Calif.

(Image: Thinkstock)
Bank technology Consumer banking Disruptors
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER