The disruption triggered by COVID-19 presents a unique opportunity for banks to reimagine their business proposition and make strategic investments in longer-term differentiation around products, servicing model and their overall brand.

Consumers are deeply anxious as they look simultaneously to manage their finances, make ends meet and plan for their financial future. As they adjust to the many impacts of the virus, many are unable to pay mortgages, loans or overdrafts and are concerned about their credit ratings. Given the economic downturn and potential for a deeper recession, anxieties around longer-term savings and retirement planning abound.

Banks are accordingly looking to address these new customer needs while also under intense pressure to protect their bottom line, counter potential threats from new entrants, and reorient their servicing channels for today and tomorrow. How can they enhance customer support immediately? What paths forward will allow them to enable digital channels to deliver more? How to reduce costs and protect revenues? Moreover, the current turmoil presents an opportunity – welcome or otherwise – to identify fresh avenues for differentiation, and, by extension reposition, reimagine and reengineer business models, workforces and services to emerge fitter and stronger into the post-pandemic ‘new normal’.