Public trust in bankers has eroded over the years, and for good reason. Banks show little genuine care for customer sentiment and fail to act as serious brands. Even worse, they enjoy a comfortable position with minimal consequences for their indifference. As innovation and disruption threaten traditional banking, established institutions collectively turn a blind eye.
Ignoring Innovation & Disruption
Despite the mounting threats from new technologies, conventional banks remain willfully ignorant. According to a Finextra article, once individuals become decision-makers in banking, they develop blind spots. Boardrooms across the financial industry are dominated by Generation X — a pre-disruption generation that dislikes change. With decades of steady profits, there is little incentive to alter a winning formula.
Challenger banks are often promoted as disruptors, but in reality many fall into the same trap. Instead of avoiding the pitfalls of their predecessors, they are lured by tamer business models. A portion of these challengers will likely become just another flavor of traditional banking, despite their disruptive rhetoric.
Bankers Lie at Every Turn
Bankers have a strong tendency to lie or spin words in their favor. Their concern for individual customers is far less than they admit. Independent digital banking consultant Duena Blomstrom witnessed this firsthand and declared:
“When we say we’re building disruptive new models that will integrate money into larger digital contexts, but we don’t have the backend technology to even begin to understand the data, we lie. When we know as a consumer, as a human, that our needs are nowhere close to met in our interaction with our money holder, but we spend no time seriously studying those needs and feelings but say we do, we lie.”
This observation is especially relevant to blockchain technology in finance. Many banks explore Bitcoin technology to appear disruptive, yet they barely understand how it works or what it requires to succeed. Creating a new blockchain out of thin air has no real impact — it is just another empty lie.
Change Is Inevitable
In the end, consumers and bankers must realize that the status quo will not hold forever. Change is coming, whether bankers like it or not. Consumers are directing these shifts, and developers are building the technology to meet new demands. The open standard, such as the Bitcoin blockchain, is becoming the new normal. Banks that cling to old models and continue deceiving themselves about technology will soon be left behind.