Sixty Percent of Global Banks on Board to Collaborate with FinTech Firms, a Quarter Interested in Acquiring

In its 2016 Worldwide Banking Survey on Digital Transformation, IDC finds that sixty percent of banks world wide are open to collaborating with FintechFirms to better serve their customers, and over a quarter of banks globally are actively interested in acquiring a FinTech firm.

Surveying over 250 banks across 24 countries, the report illuminated interesting differences between how banks in various regions view FinTech disruptors. Asia-Pacific banks proved the most open to the FinTech revolution with 63% identifying FinTech start-ups as “possible technology acquisitions” or “possible collaborators”, while the highest regional response that FinTech firms were competition and a possible threat came from the banks of Europe, The Middle East and Africa. In North America, thirty percent of respondents viewed FinTech firms as potential acquisitions, and thirty-one percent viewed them as collaborators.

In its analysis, IDC says, “The growth of external digital ecosystems is seen as a threat to financial service providers that have traditionally been able to hold on to the entire value chain for many customer journeys. However, the healthier response for banks is to work out how best to engage with those ecosystems rather than turn inward. So, being able to build partnerships with third parties—whether FinTechs, other lenders, or players from other industries — will be key to creating new value for customers and protecting the incumbents’ market position in the long run.”

Read the full IDC report here.