Financial Services Trends: Banking in 2022 Part 1

A person signs into their bank account at an ATM. Read the full blog to learn about the trends we’ve identified in Banking in 2022.

The last three years and the impact that unpredictable events have had on the world, businesses and individuals has taught us how quickly the world can change. For better or for worse, only time will tell. But these changes impact the way we observe and prioritize industry trends. Today, I’d like to dive into how financial institutions have been affected and what we can expect from Banking in 2022.

Quisitive has been actively engaged within the Banking Industry for over three years, and our team of aligned industry experts is predicting a seismic shift that will both define the industry as a whole and the successes of individual corporations. We welcome the opportunity to be engrained with our customers as their strategic partner in all things innovation across all of Microsoft’s cloud platforms. We have taken the opportunity to define playbooks and winning strategies through our experiences across the full spectrum of Banking. Here are a few of the trends we’ve identified for Banking in 2022.

Top Trends for Banking in 2022

Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation
Fintech Mergers and Acquisitions
Cost Cutting and Optimization
Data Analysis and Organization Insights Activation

In this blog, we’ll discuss Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation and Fintech Mergers and Acquisitions.

1. Cybersecurity Risk Mitigation

Whether you have experienced it firsthand or seen it on the news, you’ve likely noticed a common trend with security and vulnerability in business. Banking has been at the tip of the spear for driving innovation and investing into the areas of cybersecurity, but with the onset of COVID-19, a shift occurred faster than corporations could react. This often resulted in some level of exposure.

The immediate need to activate a remote work experience, outsourcing of technologies (ex. SaaS), M&A, etc., opened channels of access for bad actors to expose risk. As COVID-19 took its course, the pace that had been set by corporations accelerated backlogs and priorities, thus changing the status quo of operations. This sudden shift has been directly linked to an increasing volume of ransomware and cyberattacks, and bad actors continue to look for any and every opportunity to find exposure in current cybersecurity models. While the response has been admirable by organizational leaders, the challenge that lies ahead is undeniable as the landscape’s complexity multiplies at exceptional rates.

In light of these events, Quisitive is responding. In late 2021, Quisitive acquired Catapult Systems and developed a security practice and product (Spyglass) to help organizations further fortify their customer footprint in Azure. Quisitive and Catapult augment each other well which has led to an immediate integration of capabilities in the Azure space, including security and Spyglass.

As many banks have broached the conversation of security with us, we solution by proposing Spyglass’s abilities to offer a more holistic view of a customer’s entire environment, displayed through a dashboard experience on Microsoft’s PowerBI. We then support those findings by offering security coaching and advisership through our team that embodies decades of industry experience. Like all things we observe within the Financial Services industry, we consider the best solutions to follow the paradigm of People, Process, and Technology (Discussed in my previous blog: Breaking Down Silos in Insurance – Quisitive).

To bring the paradigm of People, Process, and Technology full circle, Quisitive encourages the focus on establishing a robust corporate data governance strategy that must have support from the very top. Data governance includes everything from regulatory compliances to corporate policies and protocols, which must be governed and managed for customers, employees, vendors, and more. Quisitive brings an IP-Driven experience and playbook to help shape and drive a renewed strategy for data governance, leveraging products like Spyglass and our consultants to position banks for long-term sustainability and protection.

To help launch this offering and spread awareness, Quisitive is offering a paid-for assessment in partnership with Microsoft. This engagement outlines current gaps and vulnerabilities, gives hands-on experience with Spyglass, and exits with a plan to extend the partnership through a series of roadmap recommendations.

2. FinTech Mergers and Acquisitions

Over the past decade, we have witnessed the birth and maturation of Fintech companies which are highly specialized and nimble in comparison to the corporate giants that have dominated the banking landscape historically. These giants move at a slower pace, however, they have the financial means to invest capital in areas of organizational growth, whereas a mid-size or small bank may not have the financial ability or risk tolerance to develop their capabilities at scale. On top of that, current economic uncertainty, low-interest rates, and an increase in liquidity and credit losses are forming a gap that will dictate the course of survival in the coming years.

As an immediate step to mitigate this threat, we have observed a significant spike in Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A). With the integration of these new companies, new growth will be introduced hand-in-hand with new capabilities which will launch some mid-size banks to become the next generation of giants, while others will fade away.

As it appears M&A activity will not be slowing down anytime soon, Quisitive responded by dedicating a practice to ensure a seamless integration experience for our customers. Quisitive embraces M&A and identifies it as a key opportunity to reinforce a holistic solution, following people, process, technology, and now solution assets. We have witnessed companies broach the conversation of M&A in many different forms and while companies look at integration activities as a hassle, workarounds are not sufficient and eventually arrive at an inflection point that calls for a top-down decision.

Quisitive invested to develop a playbook and execution strategy that combines the best of technologies and organizational change management to quickly address this issue for our customers. Bringing the right tools, expertise, and consultants to the conversation allows for the integration of Azure, M365, and Dynamics 365 to occur seamlessly and in a time-efficient manner. Quisitive has gone on to capture our experiences through a series of blogs which you can find here:

To help launch our answer for this trend and ongoing need, Quisitive invests in pre-sales activities to run a series of tools against your environment to set baselines and expectations. We use these baseline metrics to inform the total estimated effort and guide necessary engagement activities.

Conclusion

Both Cybersecurity and M&A demands continue to increase. The need for a strategic partner to help kickstart the future platforms of security or integration of other firms will continue to be there. At Quisitive, we can provide an experience tied with Microsoft that will result in the betterment of your company now and in the future. We are proud to have such unique industry-driven talents and that we can deliver solutions that offer long-term safety and competitiveness to your organization.

Contact us to learn more about how Quisitive can help.

Stay tuned!

In Part 2 of this blog, I will dive into our next 2 trends for Banking in 2022: Cost Cutting and Optimization and Data Analysis and Organization Insights Activation. We’ll explore specific examples that will align you to our corporate strategy for banking and serve as grounds to activate our partnership.