The criteria that banks include in their decision-making processes shape our future because they decide which projects, initiatives and businesses to finance. If we want to face the great social and environmental challenges, it is therefore essential to rethink the role of finance within society. For this reason Peoplerise joins the movement of organizations that at an international level are promoting a debate, involving different actors in the Italian community, in order to find new points of contact. Here is a first testimony, the one of Oscar di Montigny, founder of Mediolanum Corporate University.
How should banks change?
“In the past, banks were all of the same kind, now there is more diversity. We have been observing this for some time, and in fact, the first cycle of change has already ended. In the future the bank, as we have known it, will tend to disappear, but the banking function will remain. Because Bill Gates might really have been right: the banking sector is necessary, the banks are not”.
From which elements should you start?
“Traditional banks, which have not yet been transformed, will have to adapt with greater flexibility to the digital context, be community-based rather than client-based, evolve their language, constantly adapting the means of communication. But first and foremost, the change will have to concern the corporate culture. In fact, it is necessary to rethink the entire design, to give greater autonomy to individuals, to reconfigure priorities for budget allocation, including time management”.
The possible barriers?
“People will be able to facilitate or restrain the transformation. Because some tasks will disappear, which is natural. But the encounter with diversity, with other digital native banks for example, must be a stimulus for innovation and not a closure, because this will enable the generation of new competencies. The biggest obstacle will certainly be the habits and attachment to chairs on the part of managers, who will have to review their role. In fact, the top management of organizations will play a key role in fostering the change”.
What will be the guiding values?
“We need to rethink the legacy of new projects. Ethics will have to be the guiding value and the benefit to the community will have to prevail over the benefit to individuals. But this will not be easy. These are not topics that are usually dealt with in the banking sector. That’s why there is a need for discussion”.
Check out the previous interview on #banking4.0 with Katrin Kaufer of MIT Boston, founder of the Presencing Institute >> go to article “Per le banche è tempo di prendere una posizione”
