Canadian Banks Fear Their Mobile Technology is Falling Behind: Report

With Apple Pay and the like “spoiling” customers (well, Canadians are still waiting to be spoiled by Apple Pay), local bank leaders are concerned that their services aren’t ready to meet the mobile banking needs of their customers.

After surveying 50 high-level or C-suite execs from financial services institutions about the mobile banking and IT capabilities of their institution, global hosting and IT services company CenturyLink found that nearly half think they don’t have the IT infrastructure, systems, and processes in place to meet customer expectations.

“To stay competitive in a technology-driven marketplace, Canadian banks must be both financial institutions and mobile technology innovators,” said Roji Oommen, managing director of financial services at CenturyLink. “Given that many of these banks don’t believe they have the infrastructure in place to fully embrace mobile technology, strategic technology partners like CenturyLink can help identify and integrate the right IT and mobile technology solutions.”

Besides being a great business opportunity for CenturyLink, it is important to emphasize what the leaders of these financial institutions had to say. Royal Bank chief executive Dave McKay, for example, stressed the need to work with early-stage financial technology companies as a must-have to thrive in a digital world.

TD Bank chief exec Bharat Masrani, on the other hand, emphasized the need for rules governing new entrants, as they don’t need to comply with the same regulations as banks, giving them, from his perspective, an “unfair” advantage (via The Star).

Fact is, by partnering with Rogers’ suretap, financial institutions have made their move; but overall, big banks are usually slow to move. On the other hand, Canadians are slow to adopt mobile payments. Meanwhile, iPhone users are still waiting for Apple Pay to launch in Canada.