In the Game: Traditional Financial Institutions Embrace Fintech Disruption

A Pulse Survey by the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services and Mastercard Incorporated

Traditional financial institutions (FIs) have responded in a variety of ways to industry changes such as new regulations and emerging competition from fintechs. Key strategies they have adopted to date include collaborating with fintechs to tap into their strengths, investing in honing their own digital capabilities in-house, and even acquiring fintechs to make their cutting-edge innovations their own.

As the fintech revolution builds steam, FIs are transforming themselves. They are leveraging new technologies in hopes of delivering the same seamless experiences fintechs have developed to let customers open and manage accounts and pay for goods and services. They are launching digital businesses of their own, from mobile peer-to-peer payment systems to online retail investment platforms. They are rethinking their customer service experiences and designing them from the outside-in. And, they are seeking to move quickly, at scale.