I was talking today to Andreas Andreades, CEO of core banking system vendor Temenos, about the company's tie-up in the US with Metavante (more on that in my next post). Something he said as an aside particularly caught my attention: "Bank customers in Thailand get a better in-branch experience than bank customers in the UK."

The context was that many banks in emerging markets have been able to leapfrog banks in the more developed countries with regard to the technology they can deploy. Unhindered by unwieldy legacy systems that are risky and time consuming to replace and difficult to modify, some banks in places such as Asia have been able to be far more agile in adopting new technology and changing business processes around it.

The leapfrog concept is one that I’ve heard before in different contexts. And on the face of it, it makes sense.

But I’m sure that Thai bankers and IT managers will tell you that they are not without their  own legacy challenges.  And some UK banks that are pouring millions of pounds into branch renewal projects might also question the claim about better customer experience. (It’s been a few years since I went into a Thai bank branch, so I’m not in a position to compare, though I do know that there’s room for improvement at UK banks.)

A bank’s ability to be an innovator and early adopter of new technology and approaches depends on more than just the amount of legacy systems it has to deal with. Size is undoubtedly a key element – smaller organisations are generally more agile – but an appetite for taking calculated risks, and a solid understanding of what will make a positive difference to the customer experience are probably most important.