The top priority for banks globally in 2018 is "addressing cybersecurity" (89 per cent), replacing last year's top priority of "managing reputational, conduct and culture risks", which falls to sixth place in this year's EY Global Banking Outlook. Tim Dring, EY Oceania banking and capital markets leader, said cybersecurity is also "high on the agenda" for Australian banks, with 80 per cent of those surveyed listing it as a key priority area for the year ahead, along with coping with the digital economy in general.Eighty per cent of Australian banks and 85 per cent globally cite "implementation of a digital transformation program" as a business priority for 2018. This was consistent with the results from both a regional level, where the majority (82 per cent) of bank executives surveyed in developed Asia-Pacific markets (incorporating Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore) are focusing on developing partnerships with fintechs, investing in technology to reach customers and improving risk management. The figure for Australian bankers (80 per cent) was closely aligned to the region. "So we are likely to see even greater collaboration between traditional financial institutions and e-commerce and other technology platform players, particularly as the open banking reforms progress," Dring said."We are already seeing [Australian banks] make significant advancements in areas such as mobile payments platforms, fraud protection, biometric authentication and the use of robotics process automation."The professional services firm surveyed senior executives at 221 banking institutions across Asia-Pacific, Europe, North America and emerging markets to found that, globally, just 19 per cent of bank executives currently view themselves as being either "digitally mature" or a "digital leader", while in Australian none of those surveyed did. Dring suggested this was more likely due to uneven methods of self-assessment by bankers than lack of digital awareness. "What we are seeing in the comparison of digital maturity level is that Australian banks are likely to be benchmarking themselves against emerging competitors and online leaders in other industries, who have more digitally-focused business models and less legacy technology systems to navigate."The EY report did not canvass the effect the Hayne Royal Commission, the imminent start of the New Payments Platform, or any looming court battles with regulators was likely to have on the outlook of the local bank execs in the survey.