As open banking matures, how should financial institutions balance collaboration with fintechs versus building competitive in-house capabilities?
Erick Watson, CEO, Randamu Banks need to treat fintech partnerships less as a threat and more as a force multiplier. No institution can move fast enough on its own, especially when the playing field is increasingly shaped by developers, not just regulators.
That said, the ideal strategy is composability: invest in core infrastructure and data governance in-house, but plug into nimble, specialised fintech layers for speed and innovation.
Krishna Subramanyan, CEO, Bruc Bond Rather than duplicating efforts or competing head-to-head, institutions and fintechs should focus on co-developing shared infrastructure. When core functions like fee management, operational controls and compliance processes are unified in a central platform, fintechs can innovate on customer experience, while banks provide the stability, trust and reach. It’ s a model that promotes efficiency and accelerates collective progress.
James Lynn, CEO, Currensea Indeed, as financial services become increasingly digitised, financial institutions like banks are continually leveraging partnerships with innovative fintechs to offer more agile, personalised services. Fintechs can benefit from the trust and reliability of household banking names whilst scaling at pace, as these partnerships ensure their solutions reach a much wider customer base.
98 August 2025