Bank 4.0 Quotes

“In 2013, Alibaba’s money fund Yu’e Bao (“leftover treasure”) was launched and marketed to users of Alipay. They then expanded into banking in 2015, launching MyBank during the summer and, in an audacious move, opened their bank capabilities to other Chinese banks through an open marketplace of apps and APIs.”
― Brett King, Bank 4.0: Banking Everywhere, Never at a Bank

“The banking system we have today is a direct descendent of banking from the Middle Ages. The Medici family in Florence, Italy, arguably created the formal structure of the bank that we still retain today, after many developments. The paper currency we have today is an iteration on coins used before the first century. Today’s payments networks are iterations on the 12th century European network of the Knights Templar, who used to securely move money around for banks, royalty and wealthy aristocrats of the period. The debit cards we have today are iterations on the bank passbook that you might have owned if you had had a bank account in the year 1850. Apple Pay is itself an iteration on the debit card—effectively a tokenised version of the plastic artifact reproduced inside an iPhone. And bank branches? Well, they haven’t materially changed since the oldest bank in the world, Monte Dei Paschi de Sienna, opened their doors to the public 750 years ago.”
― Brett King, Bank 4.0: Banking Everywhere, Never at a Bank

“Too often new initiatives coming into a bank are perceived culturally as a threat because of the change it forces, and the bank reacts like an immune system attacking a virus.”
― Brett King, Bank 4.0: Banking Everywhere, Never at a Bank

“Some of the barriers to successful FinTech-bank partnerships.”
― Brett King, Bank 4.0: Banking Everywhere, Never at a Bank

“Incumbents are admittedly iterating on the friction, but have to butt up against compliance, legal and risk departments constantly trying to retain as much of the friction as possible. It takes a really strong CEO and executive team to reform that systemic thinking.”
― Brett King, Bank 4.0: Banking Everywhere, Never at a Bank