Amazon-like future awaits banks as virus hastens online push – The National

Amazon-like future awaits banks as virus hastens online push – The National

European lenders may adopt a model similar to that of the e-commerce company, with online shop fronts for financial products

















A retail banking survey by McKinsey & Co from mid-April found a jump of as much as 20 per cent in digital channel use across Europe. Getty Images







As Spaniards endured one of Europe's most stringent pandemic lockdowns, business for Banco Santander's digital-only Openbank flourished. Its brokerage client base expanded 58 per cent in the first four months of the year and trading in shares, exchange traded funds and warrants on its platform more than doubled.



The confinement has made people digital beings "by decree“, says Ezequiel Szafir, Openbank's chief executive. With that trend expected to continue, he believes banks of the future will look increasingly like Amazon.com - online shop fronts for financial products in much the same way as the retailer is for consumer goods.









Amazon took something that's real, which is retail, and simply made it digital. We're trying to do the same transformation in banking.





Ezequiel Szafir, Openbank





"Amazon took something that's real, which is retail, and simply made it digital,“