Brett King: Traditional banks have no future, they can't compete with fintechs

Traditional banks are ill-equipped to compete with digital companies in today's landscape, according to Brett King, a renowned futurist and author of several groundbreaking books on banking.

During the second annual international Doing Digital Forum in Yerevan King pointed out that by the end of the current decade, the number of bank branches in the United States will have halved compared to 2008, with a similar trend observed in Europe since 2015. He emphasized that the decline in the number of branches is irreversible.

Highlighting the rapid growth of fintech companies, King underscored that none of them rely on physical branches. He contrasted the customer base of the top 20 banks with that of the top 20 fintech firms, revealing that fintech companies serve 3.8 billion customers, compared to the banks' 2.7 billion. Moreover, fintech companies have experienced a 200 percent increase in clientele over the past five years, far outpacing the modest 3 percent growth observed among the largest banks.

Consequently, King concluded that traditional banks are no longer the dominant players in the financial landscape, a position now held by technology firms—a fact he suggested banks are reluctant to acknowledge.