Which banks do ‘get IT’?

I’m working on my next book already. Digital Human only came out a few months ago, and here I am off already on a new one.

I’m not going to share too much about it yet, as it won’t come out for two years, except to give you some clues on its themes and content. The main theme is analysing which big banks are doing digital properly, what have they learned? What are their best practices? How has the transformation occurred and what are the critical factors?

I decided to go down this route as I’ve written a lot about banks not being ready for digital, not having the right leadership, not having the right mindset. In fact, the clear bottom-line is that:

Banks think digital is a project for a function with a leader and a budget, whilst the reality is that digital is a mindset change to create a new culture through leadership dedicated to make that change, not allocate a budget.

It’s a completely different bank they’re building. It’s not an evolution, but a revolution. It’s a massive transformational change programme.

I know this as I’ve written about it so much in my books and blogging, and also in my speaking and networking. The tagline I use that makes it clear is that:

Banks were built in the Industrial Revolution for the distribution of paper in a localised network focused on buildings and humans, and now have to build a new company for the Digital Revolution that focuses on the distribution of data in a globalised network focused on software and servers.

That is the radical change and transformation they have to deal with. Not some itsy-bitsy project to roll out an app.

Now, before I go off on another rant, there are some banks that understand this. There are even some very big banks that not only get it, but are doing it. They are making the change. They are transforming the business. They are making the elephant dance, as IBM’s former CEO Lou Gerstner would say.

Who are these banks? What are they doing? How is it working? What are the results?

Well, I don’t know yet. All I know is that I’ve had enough of criticising banks for not getting it. I want to talk about the banks that do get it. So, I’ve picked six and am working on setting up interviews to see what we can find out. I won’t say who the six are but, if you’ve read my other books, you’ll know that I like to have half of the book my opinions and half interviews with interesting people.

The reason I’m sharing this now, eighteen months before the next book hits the shelves, is that if anyone is reading this and thinks their bank should be included … let me know. The criteria are that it must a regional or global bank with decent size (in the top 100 banks of the world), or a bank that is viewed by most of us in the FinTech community as a ‘digital bank’, not just a bank ... and someone said to me "you mean you're looking for banks that are 'betting the bank on digital", and I said "hell yea, that's it!"

Hence, I’m sharing this here today to ask anyone who thinks they should be included to let me know. Just DM me on Twitter, or message me on Facebook or, if you have to, send me an email. Just let me know if I’m missing anyone … thanks.