Big tech will begin to have a more considerable impact on Australia's financial services industry, as high-profile players from both banking and technology work to reposition themselves and clarify their offerings, according to a new trends report. 

SaaS cloud banking platform Mambu has launched its annual Partner Predictions report, which highlights the top financial trends expected to influence the industry in 2023 as businesses attempt to survive and thrive in a volatile macroeconomic environment.

The report includes insightful commentary from industry leaders from across the fintech and financial services sectors, including executives from AWS, Backbase, Deloitte, Google Cloud and many more, with participants sharing their insights on the key issues that are likely to shape the financial services sector in the year ahead.

Paul Apolony, General Manager Australia and New Zealand at Mambu says the financial services industry in Australia has undergone enormous change over the last few years, with a hugely accelerated uptake of digital banking services. 

"What we expect to see in the year ahead is a greater focus on how technology can help to humanise banks, making them more customer-centric and relevant for consumers," he says. 

"Other key themes, which carry over from the last few years, is a continued focus on the advantages of cloud, the multitude of benefits of embedded finance, and how banks can leverage technology to provide seamless financial experiences for consumers. 

"There has been a fair bit of commentary lately around the risks associated with banking tech upgrades due to a couple of high-profile incidents in Australia, however what these issues really highlight is the difficulties financial institutions can face when they try to continue working with legacy technology."

Other trends and issues expected to have a significant impact on the Australian financial services industry include:

     Low code / no code: This approach will drive faster speed to market for new digital banking products and services by empowering business teams to quickly protype and launch without the need for complex development processes and specialised coding skill sets.

     ESG and ethical impact finance: We will see a shift towards ESG globally, which will not only drive traditional banks towards more inclusive composable financial products and services, but also keep sustainability in mind for the benefit of their customers. In Australia, the countrys first Islamic banks is already seeing growing interest from potential customers outside of the Muslim faith who have a keen interest in ethical finance.

     The future of payments: Online, mobile, or digital payments have surged in Australia since the start of the pandemic. The year ahead will see a change in focus for banks around the payments theme, with greater emphasis placed on creating their own interfaces and making them more engaging, relevant, and interesting in order to increase brand loyalty, rather than integrating their products into external platforms.
 
"By re-imagining themselves as data companies with a banking licence, banks will have access to previously locked innovation opportunities; for example, a one-hour home loan, green lending products, frictionless onboarding, and ultra-flexible, customer-centric products," says Stuart Houston, Director, Financial Services at Google Cloud.

"These capabilities will make banking platforms stickier and allow them to provide highly relevant products and services for customers. retail banking will be real time, customer-focused, and accessible directly from the bank or through an external ecosystem or super-app. 

"The winners will be those that best understand their unique proposition to their customers and deliver that proposition securely, effectively, and efficiently."
William Stevns, Partner, Digital Banking at PWC adds, "For those encumbered by legacy platforms, siloed operating models, and fragmented data, it is incredibly challenging. 

"We expect to see further accelerated adoption of capabilities from the wider ecosystem to deliver in areas such as open banking affordability, dynamic pricing, and embedded financing, as well as the shift to cloud and SaaS platforms."