Digital Transformation in Servizi finanziari

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The financial services industry has always been a cornerstone of the global economy, but in recent years, it has undergone a seismic shift. That’s why digital transformation in financial services is not just a buzzword; it’s a necessity for institutions striving to stay competitive in an era of rapid technological advancement. 

… And at Ricerca internazionale SIS, we’ve partnered with financial leaders worldwide to navigate this transformation and uncover opportunities for growth and innovation.

What is Digital Transformation in Financial Services?

Digital transformation in financial services integrates advanced technologies to improve customer experiences, streamline operations, and drive innovation. It goes beyond merely adopting new tools—it’s about rethinking how financial institutions operate, engage with customers, and deliver value.

This transformation encompasses:

• Digital Banking: Offering online and mobile banking solutions.
• Analisi dei dati: Leveraging big data to drive decision-making and personalization.
• Automation: Streamlining processes through AI and machine learning.
• Sicurezza informatica: Protecting customer data in an increasingly digital landscape.

For instance, a global bank we partnered with implemented AI-driven chatbots to enhance customer service. Within six months, they reduced response times by 27% and improved customer satisfaction by 18%.

Digital Transformation in Financial Services: Where Leaders Are Building Advantage

Digital transformation in financial services has moved past the experimentation phase. The institutions pulling ahead share a pattern: they treat technology spend as a portfolio of bets tied to specific economics, not a modernization program with a fixed end date.

The gap between leaders and followers is widening on three measurable axes: cost-to-serve per customer, time from product concept to live deployment, and net revenue retention on primary banking relationships. Each axis ties back to a different set of architectural choices made years earlier.

Why Digital Transformation in Financial Services Now Rewards Architecture, Not Apps

The first wave of bank digitization produced glossy mobile apps on top of decades-old core systems. The second wave is different. Leading institutions are decoupling the front, middle, and back office through payment hub architecture and API layers that let them swap components without touching the general ledger.

This matters because the economics of ISO 20022 migration, real-time gross settlement, and account-to-account payments cannot be unlocked through interface changes. JPMorgan’s Onyx, BBVA’s API marketplace, and DBS’s microservices rebuild each show the same pattern: the institution treats the core as a product, not a project.

According to SIS International Research, financial institutions that pair core banking modernization with deliberate vendor consolidation report materially shorter cycles from product idea to live launch than peers running parallel legacy and digital stacks. The compounding effect over a three-year horizon shows up in cost-income ratios, not press releases.

Embedded Finance and the Quiet Reshaping of Distribution

Embedded finance is no longer a fintech curiosity. Shopify Capital, Apple’s deposit account with Goldman Sachs, and Stripe’s treasury product have demonstrated that distribution is moving to the point of transaction. For incumbent banks, the question is whether to defend the direct relationship or monetize the rails underneath.

The better-positioned institutions are doing both. They are building Banking-as-a-Service capabilities for embedded partners while retaining a premium direct channel for primary deposit relationships. Goldman’s pivot away from consumer lending and toward asset and wealth management shows what happens when that dual strategy is not held with discipline.

The decision rests on interchange optimization economics, scheme tokenization costs, and the merchant acquiring margin compression that has reshaped card economics. VPs running these P&Ls need a clear view of which segments will pay for direct service and which will accept embedded delivery at a lower take rate.

AI Moves From Pilot to P&L

AI in financial services has crossed from proof-of-concept into operating leverage. Bank of America’s Erica handles a high volume of client interactions. JPMorgan’s COIN reviews commercial loan agreements in seconds. The pattern across both is narrow scope, high-volume tasks, and strict human-in-the-loop governance.

The institutions extracting the most return are not chasing generative AI broadly. They are sequencing deployments by use case ROI: card-not-present fraud scoring first, then contact center deflection, then underwriting augmentation, then advisor productivity. Each layer funds the next.

SIS International’s structured expert interviews with senior banking and payments executives across North America and Europe indicate that the institutions reporting the strongest AI ROE uplift run a disciplined model risk management function alongside deployment. The governance is the moat, not the model.

Open Banking and PSD3 Compliance as Competitive Wedges

Open banking adoption in the UK and EU has produced something the regulators did not fully predict: a class of incumbent banks using PSD3 compliance as offensive strategy rather than defensive obligation. NatWest’s Tyl, BBVA’s developer portal, and HSBC Kinetic each treat regulatory data-sharing requirements as a chance to build downstream services.

In the US, the CFPB’s Section 1033 rulemaking is pushing in the same direction. The institutions preparing now are running cross-border corridors analyses to identify where their commercial customers actually move money, then building the API products that will matter when consent-based data sharing becomes standard.

Where the Capital Is Going

Source: SIS International Research synthesis of executive interviews across global financial services engagements.

The Customer Trust Layer Most Programs Underinvest In

Digital transformation in financial services is producing a counterintuitive result: customers want more digital service and more human reassurance simultaneously. The Voice of Customer programs run by leading wealth managers show that primary banking trust still depends on the perceived availability of a human at the moments that matter, even when ninety-five percent of interactions are digital.

This reshapes the design brief. Self-service is the default. Branch and contact center capacity becomes a premium product reserved for high-stakes moments: mortgage closings, wealth events, fraud disputes, business onboarding. Wells Fargo, Charles Schwab, and Lloyds have each restructured around this insight.

SIS International’s proprietary research in retail and wealth banking finds that the institutions winning primary deposit share among affluent segments are not the ones with the best app. They are the ones whose digital and human channels share a single client record and a single set of next-best-action triggers.

The SIS Framework for Sequencing Transformation Bets

Across forty years of financial services intelligence work, including ongoing competitive intelligence programs for global card networks and federal home loan institutions, SIS has observed a recurring sequencing pattern among institutions that compound returns from digital investment:

• Anchor: Modernize the core data layer before the customer-facing layer.
• Adjacent: Deploy AI on the highest-volume narrow tasks before the high-judgment ones.
• Asymmetric: Build embedded finance capabilities where you already have proprietary distribution or risk data.
• Audit: Run quarterly win/loss analysis and competitive intelligence sweeps to recalibrate the portfolio.

Institutions that follow this sequence avoid the trap of visible investment without measurable margin improvement. The discipline is in saying no to the second and third bet until the first one is producing.

What VP-Level Leaders Should Take Away

Digital transformation in financial services is now a question of capital allocation discipline more than technology selection. The architectural choices, the AI sequencing, the embedded finance posture, and the trust layer design are decisions that compound or decay based on whether they are tied to specific P&L outcomes.

The institutions that will lead the next decade are already visible in the data. They share a willingness to retire legacy faster, govern AI more tightly, and treat customer research as a continuous input rather than a quarterly artifact.

A proposito di SIS Internazionale

SIS Internazionale offre ricerca quantitativa, qualitativa e strategica. Forniamo dati, strumenti, strategie, report e approfondimenti per il processo decisionale. Conduciamo anche interviste, sondaggi, focus group e altri metodi e approcci di ricerca di mercato. Contattaci per il tuo prossimo progetto di ricerca di mercato.