One of the continuing themes of the Sibos conference in Sydney this year has been open banking - that is sharing customers and their data.
And within this theme has been the repeated emphasis on the need for large incumbent banks to seriously consider joining forces with smaller players in whatever way makes sense.
One panel session yesterday heard open banking is much more than just a buzzword for a technological revolution. It requires a drastic re-think of the existing business models that banks have utilised for decades and a fundamental shift in strategy and ways of innovating.
Nigel Dobson, banking services business domain lead at ANZ summarised the evolution towards digital banking this way:
"If you don't have a digital bank strategy on your board table today you need to have one: it will be a combination of leveraging your brand and your incumbency alongside a fast moving digital capability."
This should be the catalyst to a discussion [with appropriate fintechs] that is both "incredibly useful and with a regulatory aspect to it" he suggested.
"Looking at ROI in this context, ROI means staying in business. That doesn't mean there is no opportunity to create new revenue models.
"We don't manufacture all of the services that our customers need. From our side, it is not a burden. It is an opportunity."