It is only a matter of time before technology companies can prise away customers from traditional banking incumbents who are struggling to innovate, according to ME’s Chief Information Officer, Mark Gay.

It is only a matter of time before technology companies can prise away customers from traditional banking incumbents who are struggling to innovate, according to ME’s Chief Information Officer, Mark Gay.

“Banks have processes, customers have lives and technology companies have mastered customer experience,” he said.

“Supermarkets [like Coles and Woolworths] have moved into financial services and there is only one thing stopping technology companies from doing the same – they haven’t earned the requisite trust from customers to manage money.”

In the lead up to FST Media’s The Future of Banking & Financial Services conference in Sydney, ME’s Chief Information Officer said the mandate rested with banks to change their approach to help meet the rising expectations of customers today.

“[Successful] organisations design customer experiences from the outside [and are] based on a customer-view, rather than the inside out,” he said.

“Banks have a small window to crack the customer experience challenge and stay in front.”

Customer engagement has been a key focus for ME, who completed a $90 million five-year transformation program in June this year.

At FST Media’s upcoming event, Mark will shed light on how banks can conduct a technological transformation at both a cultural and technical level in a business – navigating the challenges surrounding risk, expenses and regulation – as well as how to best capitalise on vast sources of data collected over digital and social channels.

“To date, we have had a very tactical approach to data,” he said.

“Throughout [our] transformation we have learned the true value of data and how underutilised it was as an asset.”

Mark Gay will be speaking at FST Media’s upcoming The Future of Banking & Financial Services conference in Sydney, in addition to a distinguished panel of senior executives and thought leaders across financial services on November 10 and 11. To hear more insights, register your attendance here.