With 2022 drawing to a close, we take a look back at our most viewed long reads over the course of the past year.

10.   How to overcome barriers to innovation by improving the skills gap

I covered the salient points from a Finextra Research and Pluralsight webinar on ‘Creating a skill development programme aligned to strategic planning’ where Jane Cooper, Finextra researcher, moderated a discussion with Ilker Bozkir, principal solutions consultant, Pluralsight; Steven Marshall, chief product and network officer, Crown Agents Bank; and Nicolas Colombo Calabrese, strategic partnerships lead, Citi Ventures.

9.       Diversity, inclusion and the future of banking

Ashley Veasey, executive vice president and global CIO at Scotiabank discussed how diversity and inclusion are more than reputational issues. They are an operational imperative, especially in engineering. As banks tailor technology to meet unique customer needs, they need to understand the diversity of cultures and experiences in their domestic and international markets. Building this capacity for empathy, understanding and cultural acuity is every leader’s responsibility, starting at the top.

8.       Differentiation in the digital economy: a new wave of risk management innovation

As banks aim to differentiate themselves in this scaled digital economy, I spoke to Andy Renshaw, SVP of product management, Feedzai; Andrew McKibben, international head of technology and operations, and global markets operations technology executive, Bank of America; Tammy McKinnon, SVP of global fraud management, Scotiabank; and Shawn Rose, EVP and chief digital officer at Scotiabank about innovation around advanced security in the wake of increased digital fraud during the pandemic.

7.       Corporate banking in 2022: An outlook on the industry

Miguel Ignacio Mas Palacios, director of global corporate banking, NTT DATA explored how following the pandemic, large corporate businesses are placing priority on moving at speed. Troublingly, there’s a growing perception that those businesses are themselves failing to keep up with the changing landscape.

6.       Banks and fintech firms: The symbiotic relationship

Niamh Curran, reporter at Finextra, covered how customers expect a lot more from their banks today. They anticipate a full digital experience that engages with them on an individual, personalised basis. Fintech firms have excelled in customer experience and are far better at providing tailored products and services than the banks, despite the latter’s advantages in infrastructure and inherited brand recognition. She spoke to a variety of ecosystem players, including Capgemini, HSBC, Metro Bank, Zopa, and Payoneer to uncover what banks and fintech firms can learn from each other.

5.       The future of digital banking in Asia: the ascent and impact of digital payments

For the annual Future of Digital Banking in Asia report, former Finextra reporter Hamish Monk discussed how banks of the Asian region enjoy a particular advantage when it comes to digital payments. As a result of customers’ familiarity with app-based services, uptake is likely to remain strong in the coming years.

4.       Innovation in Canadian fintech and transforming the banking model

In 2022, traditional financial institutions are prioritising catering to their tech-savvy customers, huge rounds of investment are driving fintech innovation and the industry is bouncing back from the economic impact of Covid-19. Alongside the success of the fintech industry on a global scale, Canada has fared particularly well because of support from strong ecosystem partnerships and sophisticated investors. Speaking to Finextra, Kris Read, co-founder of Neo Financial, and Pradeep Dhananjaya, banking specialist solutions architect at AWS, explained how fintech companies thrive by leveraging the cloud, and what can be achieved when financial players are no longer burdened by infrastructure constraints.

3.       Fintech trends for 2022: expect regulation, innovation, and collaboration

Freddie Delmotte, trainee solicitor, Bird & Bird LLP, wrote about how the past few years have seen major disruption, challenges and streamlining of the financial and tech worlds. The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt accelerated global digital transformation and the need for us to be forward-thinking, adaptive and innovative. Digital transformation in the financial services sector, spearheaded by fintech innovations, has added considerable value: from expanding the access to affordable financial services (especially in emerging markets) to increasing competition in the sector for the benefit of consumers.

2.       How is the Russia-Ukraine war impacting the financial and tech sectors?

Former Finextra reporter Hamish Monk spoke to a clutch of firms in the space to glean their thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine war; the consequences of Russia being excluded from Swift; the prospect of retaliatory cyber-attacks from Russia; as well as how financial services players can further support Ukraine, or indeed, stymie the Kremlin.  

1.       Open (Banking) for Business: UK retail banks’ growth engine

Taking the top spot this year is Paige McNamee, senior reporter at Finextra, who covered how 2022 saw a surge in dialogue surrounding the purported value or objective of Open Banking, and whether this has been realised in the UK. While the debate has stoked critical thinking around what we should hope to achieve through Open Banking, there persist large questions around the potential benefits that remain on the table – particularly for incumbent banks. How then should incumbent banks, particularly the CMA9, best go about improving their Open Banking strategy at this stage in the timeline? Cognizant, HSBC, Revolut, and Tink weigh in on the conversation, peeling back the layers to better understand the potential that remains at the heart of Open Banking.