During the past few years, with the use and availability of the internet exponentially increasing, many sectors, including banking, undergo a rapid and often abrupt change in the way they operate. Technological innovations, along with changes to the preferences of the modern customer open up the way to a digitalised world. Banking services and delivery channels go through an enormous shift from traditional non-digitalised processes supported by bank employees, to fully online and self- serviced; rendering physical branches and employees vastly redundant. This research aims to examine this evolution by analysing the technological and sociological factors that have contributed to it, including advances in mobile telephony and online data management, as well as customer trends of reducing visits to physical branches and liaising with bank employees. This thesis further illustrates how, with the use of cloud technology, big data analysis and internet of things devices, the transformation of financial institutions fostered the rise of tech-savvy start-ups, which are widely known as fintech companies. It also examines the effort made by traditional banking institutions to catch up with this new environment, by introducing mobile banking services that substitute their physical services. This thesis will also analyse some of the novel services provided by these start-ups including new ways of account management, mobile payments and wallets, cryptocurrency trading, P2P lending, AI robots, etc. Lastly, this research analyses the demographic characteristics of the customers adopting these novel services, as well as the regulations applied in the EU and UK in which financial and non-financial institutions operate in. The research concludes that the future of banking is characterised by innovative services and products offered online which, however, would need to be supported by a regulatory framework, able to eliminate entry barriers for newcomers in the banking sector.

Daily banking has always been the glue that cements a customer’s relationship with his or her bank. But a combination of regulatory changes, rising customer expectations, new competition, and technological advancements is weakening that glue and threatening banks’ profitability. We estimate that a retail bank puts 15% to 25% of its revenue at risk if the institution fails to enhance its daily banking proposition by adding innovative new features, improving customer experiences, making better use of data, and commanding higher prices that reflect the added value enabled by the Payments Service Directive 2 (PSD2), also known as open banking.

This paper assesses whether or not the services provided by investment and commercial banks should be separated. The study examined the main types of banks and banking services on offer with particular reference to the key features of commercial, investment and modern banking services. Modern banking service delivery is increasingly blurring the distinctions between specialist banking (particular areas of banking), and universal banking (general banking service focused on meeting the increasingly complex and diverse needs of clients). Discussions of the study revealed the high level of deregulation of the banking industry across the globe leading to universality rather than specialist banking as sanctioned by the Glass Steagall Act of 1933. Universality of modern banking has given both commercial and investment banks the opportunity to cross-sell a plethora of banking product and services to meet customer needs and also to generate more fees and commission income. The study therefore concluded that the Glass Steagall Act provided blanket protection against potential abuses of securities affiliates of commercial banks by separating commercial and investment banking services. As the threat of financial abuses diminishes as a result of strong and healthy regulatory framework, Glass Steagall appears to be more of an obstacle to economic efficiency and no longer relevant for the current banking environment.