Narev has no time for for technology tourists

Ian Narev admits that he has no idea which emerging technology is going to be critical to the success of his bank in the years ahead, but that doesn't worry him too much.

The chief executive of Commonwealth Bank does not believe that dealing with digital disruption is about making predictions.

His goal is to create a management structure where his organisation can adapt to change.

Speaking at the Financial Review Banking and Wealth Summit in Sydney yesterday, Narev said: "What we can say is that technology as an enabler will not lift everyone. There will be winners and losers.

"We want to reverse the orthodoxy that incumbency is a millstone. Start-ups also have their problems, such as how to acquire customers."

Narev said the features of an organisation with adaptive capabilities were customer centred design, proper systems architecture and experimentation.

"You have to be able to notice and then rapidly adapt to customer feedback," he said.

"In terms of experimentation, you don't have years to work on these things. You innovate, experiment, rapidly scale-up or cull."

He said collaboration was a key - getting the innovators in the same room with the bankers, as well as going outside the organisation to work with third parties.

The bank's new Albert payment terminal comes with a software development kit that will allow programmers to write apps for the bank's merchant customers.

Narev said the financial crisis had taught bankers that innovation needed to stay close to core banking disciplines, something that he thinks the proponents of new automated credit analytics systems should keep in mind.

Something else to watch out for is the lure of technology tourism - bank executives spending hours and hours attending presentations on new technology.

"We want to learn more but it can be an enormous distraction and there is a lot of hype. Sometimes you are just skilling up for the next cocktail party conversation."