the cuts will not save the banks from the digital revolution – Repubblica.it

If today Unicredit announces the closure of 500 branches and the cut of 8 thousand employees it is not the fault of the digital. It is the fault of those who in recent years have ignored, minimized and misrepresented the digital revolution. Of those who have been slow to understand that a world built for five centuries on paper (banknotes, checks, bills of exchange, installments) was destined to disappear if money became immaterial, bits that move on the net. Back in 1997 Bill Gates, who was then driving Microsoft, pronounced the famous prophecy: "We need banking services, but we no longer need banks".However, nothing has really changed until 2008, when two factors occurred simultaneously: the global financial crisis in the heart of traditional banks that led to new rules (and that with the European directive PSD2 will lead to open banking); the advent of smartphones and apps, and therefore the possibility of creating digital banks. It is this combination that led to the marriage of finance and technology that took the name of Fintech Revolution. Thousands of kids, in some cases still adolescents, have founded startups that provide individual banking services more easily and at lower costs than traditional banks. There are those that only make payments, those that deal with loans, those that help you accumulate savings and those that advise you on how to invest them. Without tricks, without deceit, in a secure manner.
We speak globally of 12,000 startups that in 2011 received $ 111 billion in investments, more than twice the previous year. It is not just small companies: there are already more than 40 unicorns, those valued at over a billion, which grind important numbers. Monzo, Revolut, Starling and N26 in Europe have millions of customers, especially young ones. How did traditional banks react when they reacted to this offensive? Apart from a few exceptions, only with the cuts and the closing of the branches and putting online an app made so so. With the result that the digital services of traditional banks work like this and if you ask for assistance in the branches you will not find anyone anymore."Bill Gates was wrong," said Chris Skinner a few days ago, who is also one of the most bitter critics of the banking world, citing as a model the "well done" digital transformation of JP Morgan. The banks will not disappear, perhaps, but they will not be saved only with the cuts.