Bankloch

For decades, banks have fulfilled two core functions: Financial Intermediation : collecting deposits and channeling them into loans and investments. Payment Facilitation : enabling the smooth transfer of money between individuals and institutions. However, these traditional roles are becoming increasingly commoditized. The digitalization of money and banking services has stripped away many of the distinguishing features banks once relied on - such as in-person service and branch networks. Meanwhile, third-party providers and Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platforms now offer modular financial services that any institution can adopt, further eroding differentiation. The new generation of customers - more digital-savvy and less loyal - readily switch to providers offering better rates or superior technology. As a result: Competition has intensified , shrinking profit margins (e.g. reduced fees on international payments) and triggering aggressive price-based campaigns (such as high-yield sav...

  Regulatory pressure remains one of the most critical challenges facing financial institutions today. Regulations differ by country, are often vague or even contradictory, and continue to evolve - whether through the introduction of new rules or updates to existing ones. At the same time, regulators are becoming significantly more demanding, both in terms of timing and evidentiary requirements. Regulatory expectations have intensified in two distinct but interrelated ways: Tighter Deadlines : Where monthly reporting and multi-week response times were once acceptable, regulators now expect reports daily and responses almost immediately. This shift demands real-time access to compliant, trustworthy data across systems. Deeper Evidence Requirements : Historically, banks were only required to explain exceptional transactions. Later, regulators began requiring documentation of internal processes and procedures. However, documentation alone wasn’t enough - regulators couldn’t verify whe...

A few weeks ago, I came across a heated LinkedIn debate on estimation in Agile. Some argued that estimation contradicts the Agile Manifesto altogether. The sentiment? Estimating is a waste of time - and possibly harmful. There’s some truth to this.   Estimations  often lead to: Micro-management tendencies Time-consuming rituals like Planning Poker and long Story Refinement sessions Inaccurate forecasts Shifting scopes due to changing priorities make estimations no longer relevant Padding estimates to avoid risk, rather than encouraging lean delivery But these critiques mostly apply within the microcosm of the scrum team. And that’s the catch: scrum teams don’t operate in isolation. Beyond the boundaries of a sprint board lies the rest of the organization - marketing, sales, documentation and training, customer communications, product launches…​ All these functions rely on the output of scrum teams and need time to prepare. Without at least a rough sense of what’s coming and wh...

  AI has already begun transforming financial services - from chatbots and robo-advisors to KYC automation, compliance, AML and credit risk scoring. These innovations are delivering efficiency gains and unlocking millions in cost savings, while driving hyper-personalized, proactive customer engagement. But we’re only just beginning to absorb the implications of generative AI and already the next frontier is arriving:   AI agents . Unlike traditional AI, which reacts to commands, AI agents are   autonomous systems   capable of reasoning, planning and acting independently to pursue complex goals. Within financial institutions, they will become digital co-workers - resolving support tickets, optimizing procurement or identifying fraud anomalies without direct supervision. But the true revolution lies in the hands of the   end user . Soon, customers will routinely   delegate financial tasks to personal AI agents   - from bill payments and online purchases ...

With knowledge management becoming increasingly important across organizations — and people with diverse skills collaborating more frequently on shared deliverables — a strong   document management strategy   is essential. Unfortunately, even in small tech firms, defining a good strategy is already challenging. For larger firms or those that are less tech-savvy, the problem becomes even more complex. When discussing basic document management, we can distinguish two key stages: Document Generation : This includes creating basic document types — such as rich text documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. It also covers document collaboration (like co-editing), managing review cycles and ensuring a consistency in writing style and lay-out across different documents. Document Archiving and Sharing : This involves storing documents securely while enabling version control, easy retrieval (ideally via robust search), and controlled access - both internally and externally. For both ...