Few Global Developments and Evolving Trends

To remain competitive, banks globally are focusing on mobile-first; end-to-end friction-less journeys and hyper-personalized experiences, through an eco-system of third parties, leveraging customer data to offer smart propositions tailored around lifestyle needs. Ambitions to super-apps is particularly trending in Asia, where certain banks intend to plan transitioning from a financial app into an every-day use super-app. Only when well-strategized, these banks may gain from higher rates of customer acquisition, satisfaction, retention and brand loyalty. Global institutions are also increasingly adopting the growing trend of invisible banking. Examples of embedded finance continue to grow, from no click payments on ride hailing apps to point-of-sales loans from BNPL providers built into mobile shopping apps

Meanwhile in Pakistan, industry stakeholders may be operating at varying levels of maturity, warranting a view on state of readiness and consequent digital transformation journeys that enable harnessing the true potential of digital. Depending on their relative positioning, banks may pursue following initiatives:

• Design data-driven digital banking and payments strategies
• Revisit digital banking and payments strategies
• Diversify solution suite, move into adjacent financial products
• Introduce app features and value-added services
• Actively pursue digital lending propositions
• Provide one window solutions addressing e2e financial needs of MSMEs
• Focus on increasing app user base
• Effectively integrate into the e-commerce space
• Become the central contact for daily banking, building the B2B ecosystem –