Banks go back to the drawing board on their digital transformation programs. Each transformation road map has always been unique, but in the post-pandemic world, this is more differentiated, based on the context of the bank and the opportunities it sees in the recovery cycle. The comprehensive realignment of customer engagement projects will be undertaken in a short period of time.

In 2020, 63% of banking customers in Asia Pacific were willing to switch to neo banks or new digital challengers. As the economic impact of COVID-19 deepened, customers stuck it out with traditional incumbents. The field of challengers dwindled somewhat. The supposed fintech disruptors were disrupted themselves. New challengers will emerge, with stronger post-pandemic propositions. By 2025, there will be 100 new challengers across the region, with at least two digital banks in every Asia/Pacific market that will present a serious challenge to incumbents.

COVID-19 has forced a rapid shift of customer transactions and interactions to digital. Asia Pacific banks rushed to meet an average of at least 50% growth of digital transactions. Ensuring the quality of these interactions has remained a challenge.

Banks had to focus on risk as they had to respond to the crisis. In technology spending, governance, risk, and compliance )GRC) saw double-digit growth in 2020/2019 - to the disadvantage of other areas of spending.

Banks were not able to come up with a view of the true state of the customer in 2020. With debt moratorium programs in place and historical data completely different from the new realities of 2020, banks struggled in coming up with a current and accurate view of the customer.