Dirontsho Mohale, Standard Bank Group

According to a report by Economist Impact, and countless others, banking executives believe that the digitalisation of financial services and adoption of emerging technologies will be the most influential trends in the coming decade. As to what end, the Economist Impact report, ‘Banking in 2035’, listed better cybersecurity and data protection, improved customer experience, market expansion and more efficient risk management strategies. These were familiar themes among local financial services professionals at a recent roundtable about how digital technologies are transforming their businesses.

Zel-Mari Oelofse, lead executive, FSI, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, says the industry has been speaking about digital since at least 2006, “and I still don’t see a lot of movement with digital transformation. It’s a concept that everyone’s talking about, but the implementation in banking and insurance hasn’t taken off.”