How Digital Transformation supports Purpose-Led Financial Services
Last week I had the pleasure of chairing the Annual Lecture for Wales as part of Digital Leaders week in my role as Chair of Digital Leaders in Wales.
This year’s lecture was called ‘How Digital Transformation supports Purpose-Led Financial Services’ and was delivered by Will Carroll, Chief Executive of Monmouthshire Building Society and Sarah Williams-Gardener, Chief Executive of Fin Tech Wales.
One of the benefits of Digital Leaders is the range of sectors and experiences it brings together and it was great to be able to take some time to focus on the impact and opportunities for digital in Wales’ financial sector.
There’s an increased recognition that digital is not all about technology. More than ever digital is shaping the way services are delivered, how we step up to the challenges we face in the world today and how we meet the ever-changing needs of users.
It can often be too easy for us to think about digital within our own silos, whether that’s by sector or experience. But regardless of sector the services we deliver need to work for the people who use them. We want our services to be seamless, using digital and technology to deliver enhancements and efficiency, in particular when those services cross organisational boundaries and sectors. Whether it’s usability, access, convenience, skills or innovation – we need to be working together to share learning so that whatever service the user needs, be that from the private, public, financial or third sector – they become seamless to the end user, making carrying out their business as easy as it can be.
In his introduction Will spoke about Monmouthshire Building Society’s focus on digital as part of their overall strategy, with COVID increasing the demand for digital banking services by 48% bringing enhancements for members, efficiency through automation and enriching business intelligence.
Sarah set out the aim for Wales to be globally recognised as a centre of FinTech excellence through developing an ecosystem, digital skills and funding for start-ups and innovation. Sarah also talked about the ambition to move beyond simply creating financial services to ‘FinGood’ considering the ethics, social inclusion and climate impacts.
Both spoke of the need to break down barriers to digital and the importance of sharing learning and knowledge within the Finance sector and beyond. There was a real sense that this was just a starting point with the clear ambition and desire to support Wales’ digital community and grow skills, knowledge and confidence in digital in Wales.
You can watch the lecture on catch up here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMzZdEy-GvQ
