Four condensed lessons from leading digital only banks

Digital banks are blossoming in many parts of the world. With a large number of players entering the fray – from incumbent banks to fintech and diversified big tech players, competition is heating up. 

After Digital banks in Southeast Asia (covering Indonesia and Malaysia) and Who is Nubank reports, we wanted to cut through the noise in the space and condensed key learnings from leading digital only banks in the world, as the third installment of Momentum Works’ digital bank series. 

Decoding digital banks – Best practices report answers fundamental questions we hear from international inventors and key decision-makers: 

1. Digital banks are blooming around the world – why? 
2. Tech players all making grand entries – why? 
3. Digital banks are losing money – why? 
4. Some managed to make money – why? and how? 
5. Why do they do what they do?
   How to replicate (or can it be replicated)?
6. What does it mean for incumbent banks and what’s next for the space? 

To make it more relevant to investors and practitioners in Southeast Asia, Decoding digital banks – Best practices report focuses on experiences and case studies from Asia (China, Korea) as well as large emerging markets (Russia, Brazil). 

List of contents

1. Introduction
   1. What is a digital bank? 
   2. Why digital banks? 
   3. Why are the non-banking tech players entering digital banking?
2. How the playbook was played
   1. 1. Define opportunity / gap 
      2. Build first product with an attractive first feature; Add on great customer experience
      3. Build more features to become an ecosystem in itself 
      4. Support customer journey with focus on tech, data, people / culture
3. What’s next for the space
   1. Is the success of global digital banks replicable?
   2. Who will lead the digital bank scene?
   3. What will be the eventual equilibrium?