PUBLISHED DATE: 2025-08-14 01:55:02
GLOBAL BANKING BENCHMARK STUDY 2022
Digital Transformation: What’s Next for UK Banks?
The Inside Story from 220 Senior UK Banking Leaders
To uncover the current state of digital transformation in UK banking, we surveyed 220 senior leaders across the sector. We asked them about the progress of their transformation initiatives, the main challenges they face, and how they are prioritizing their strategies. Here’s what we found.
Key Stats at a Glance
- Only 1 in 5 UK banks (20%) has adopted an agile operating model.
- 39% of banks do not have a clear digital transformation strategy.
- 48% report significant progress in implementing their transformation.
- 41% say that key decisions in their organizations are not being driven by customer-centricity.
Top Priorities for Digital Business Transformation in UK Banks:
- 17%: Enabling greater agility
- 15%: Growing revenue with new products and/or service offerings
- 15%: Growing revenue from existing products
- 15%: Improving the customer experience
- 14%: Reducing costs through improved efficiency
- 10%: New customer acquisition
- 10%: Challenging the threat posed by new market entrants (e.g., Google, Apple, Amazon)
COVID-19 Impact
- 38% say Covid-19 has been the biggest barrier to their transformation efforts. Many believe the increased use of digital channels seen during the pandemic will continue over the next 12 months.
Operational Agility
- 35% claim operational agility is holding them back, with most yet to implement an agile operating model across their business.
The Skills Gap
- 33% cite the skills gap as a barrier, with operational agility still a challenge for most banks.
Unifying Customer Data: A Key Priority
UK banks are prioritizing the use of data to create new products and services that deliver more personalized, omnichannel experiences.
- 43% state that combining customer data across different systems to better understand their customers is their top customer experience (CX) transformation priority.
- 35% are prioritizing the creation of personalized customer journeys.
- 34% say that offering new products and services is a main priority.
Adopting an Agile Mindset
Banks are transforming to survive in a customer-centric digital era, but access to data and the right technology and platforms remains a challenge.
- 38% say their business needs to be more agile.
- 35% are prioritizing organizational culture to embrace change.
- 35% are focusing on building technology and data platforms to better understand customer insights.
How Do UK Banks Think They Stack Up?
- 52% believe they are ahead of their competitors in their ability to transform customer experiences.
- 16% think they are behind in key development areas.
ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) Strategy
- 63% say their ESG strategy is giving them a competitive advantage.
- 60% say ESG is a key driver of their digital transformation plans.
- 47% say they lack the ability to properly assess their ESG performance.
Diversity Takes a Backseat
- Only 32% of banks have made commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Contact:
david.murphy@publicissapient.com
sudeep.to.mukherjee@publicissapient.com
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