The question for banks today is how do they become Digital Banking Superstars versus going the way of the dinosaurs. The future of finance is an ever increasingly converged ecosystem where consumer and small and medium enterprise (SME) financial services are provided by banks and by platform companies with roots in e-commerce and social media. For an incumbent bank to become a Bank of the Future and not remain stuck in the past, they must look not only at new technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other forms of automation, but they must also look to overhaul their operational systems and technology systems.

This new Citi GPS report identifies what they believe are the ABC’s of digital disruption in finance — Artificial Intelligence, Big Tech, Core Banking & Cloud, and Digital Assets — and identifies ways that incumbent banks can adopt/embrace these disruptive factors and drive their businesses forward. For an incumbent bank to evolve into the new landscape will require (1) senior leadership teams to be focused on digital transformation; (2) relatively simpler business mix by geography and products; and (3) the cushion of better existing financial returns that allows management to divert their attention from near-term firefighting.

They also take the opportunity talk to a range of different FinTech players to get their views on everything from the potential use-cases in AI and the biggest challenges traditional financial institutions face with AI to what are the problems banks face with legacy systems and what makes emerging markets so exciting for FinTech.