The financial services industry needs to re-invent itself. Established banks are not only based on 20th century technology; they are also based on 20th century thinking…
The financial services industry needs to re-invent itself. Established banks are not only based on 20th century technology; they are also based on 20th century thinking and designed to solve 20th century problems. Therefore, re-inventing banking – or disrupting banking – is not just about cutting costs and being better at doing what banks have always done. Next generation banks should use new financial technology to solve new problems in a new century. As Ezra Pound told Hemingway: ”Make It New!”
What’s slowing down the creation of new banking is not the lack of money or technology, it’s the absence of new visions.
This is why I founded BankingLab. I’m a consulting futurist and my job is not to predict the future but to help organisations imagine a new exciting future for themselves. We do a lot of trend research that allows us to bring bankers into future scenarios and when they come back from their journey many have developed new dreams. This is where the magic sets in: when leaders get new dreams their businesses start to grow again.
And we believe that London is the best place in the world to do this. I am here because I love London and use the city the way artists used Paris a hundred years ago: for inspiration!
We try and create a “next generation consultancy” where business development is not “best practice”, not long reports or power point presentations but rather “new practices” and exciting adventures where people use their passion and imagination to create outstanding ideas and visions.
We recently arranged a 24 hours “banking hack” in Brixton during London Technology Week. We helped a Swedish magazine set up the first “Stockholm Fintech” conference.
In September we are bringing in bankers from Scandinavia to meet leading fintech players and work together in our lab. We give speeches, run research workshops, and bring people together in our virtual lab which can be in Brixton, King’s Cross or on Level39 in Canary Wharf. A year ago it was only me – now I am supported by a team of 4-5 people with different skills.
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Nils Elmark,
Founder of BankingLab.london
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