Banks have become much more diversified, both in their funding sources and in the range of businesses they engage in. But for the purpose of today’s subject, the thing I particularly want to focus on is the change in the way they compete. Post-deregulation, competition has been both more intense, and increasingly directed at the level of the individual product.
Although many of our intermediaries, particularly the smallest ones, are lagging behind in the process of digitalisation, the road ahead is clear: we are talking about technologies that are well consolidated, they are not “new” anymore. Fintech firms are a step forward. In a stricter sense, Fintech firms are new players aiming at crowding out traditional intermediaries like banks.