Published : 8 years ago, on 14/10/2016

As technology infiltrates every aspect of life, KPMG predicts that by 2030 mass market retail banks will be largely invisible to consumers, in a new report, Meet EVA, the future face of the Invisible Bank. This Invisible Bank will be hidden by a Siri-like e-personal assistant that fulfils daily personal and financial obligations, informed by data gathered from a fully connected way of life.  The role of today’s banks in such a future remains to be seen, in a worst case scenario they could become relegated to the position of a white labelled product provider.

According to this vision large parts of the traditional bank could disappear. Customer service call centres, branches and sales teams, for large parts of the market could be a thing of the past. The transition will not be easy. The winners will be those that are able to utilise their data; drive down costs; build effective partnerships with a broad range of third parties; and of course, those with robust cyber security.

Warren Mead, Fintech Lead, KPMG, says:

“Banks are making efforts to improve customer service through use of exciting technologies like robotics, artificial intelligence and blockchain, but the pace of change is slow and in reality, I’d say banks are only 10% of their way through their digital transformations.

“Getting most Banks to our vision of 2030 will be painful. Currently, technology firms invest 10-20% of revenues into research and development, for banks it’s just 1-2%. With banks’ return on equity under 5% it’s hard to see that changing significantly in the short to medium term, but if firms want to remain relevant, it has to.”

Adrian Clamp, UK Head of Customer Advisory at KPMG, added:

“Our recent CEO survey highlighted that 79% of UK based CEOs are concerned about the speed at which their company is able to harness digital technology to connect with customers. Innovative new technology is impacting the traditional way in which customers engage with brands. Many large UK companies now find themselves needing to catch up with these fundamental shifts in consumer behaviour. As a result, many CEOs have begun to invest in transforming their companies into customer-centric, digitally-enabled businesses”.

Get the full report here.

See a video demonstrating how EVA will work here.