Banks are nervously monitoring Apple, Alibaba and Amazon as the technology behemoths ramp up their payment services. Amazon now wants to get even closer.
Amazon initiated talks with U.S. banks on constructing a financial product the internet giant could offer its customers, according to a «Wall Street Journal» report.
In many ways, fintech start-ups have fallen short of their ambitions to upend the financial market. Financial technology firms have been charging ahead with innovation and inspiring others, but have failed to capture significant market share to scare major banks.
Sharing Means Losing
Instead the real predators to traditional banks are the global tech giants. Step-by-step, they morph into a tangible threat for banks.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) in August 2017 reported that the combination of «open data» regimes will weaken banks' control over data by allowing customers to share it with third parties. Data moved into the financial cloud via the likes of Amazon Web Services will drive banking competition in the coming decade, the WEF argued.
The Winning Formula
In Asia – and increasingly beyond – Chinese tech giant Tencent's Webank platform, which allows retail customers to purchase products from multiple competing credit and asset management providers, is a template for the distribution of financial services in the future.
ANZ's digital czar Maile Carnegie agreed that tech giants are coming for the banks, and they have the perfect customer formula to take them on. The Australian company's head of digital banking says the biggest growth in competition in the banking sector over the next decade will come from outside the traditional players and expects to see Amazon, Alibaba, Google and Facebook all looking to grab a slice of the banking pie.
