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Leadership, Change & Operating Models

Why do digital transformation programmes underperform in incumbent banks?

Retail banking tends to fail at scale agility, wealth firms at advisor modernisation, and insurers at claims digitisation & underwriting automation.

Evidence shows 70%+ of digital programmes underperform in scope or impact, with several systemic causes:

Technical Debt Trap: layered legacy cores restrict modular deployment and slow regulatory adaptation.

Operating Model Mismatch: business and technology remain siloed; compliance and risk enter too late.

Value Ambiguity: digital output (features shipped) replaces outcome (unit economics, retention, NPS).

Talent Asymmetry: incumbents lack senior product talent capable of balancing growth, data and risk.

Vendor Over-dependence: low knowledge transfer erodes long-term capability-building.

Retail banking tends to fail at scale agility, wealth firms at advisor modernisation, and insurers at claims digitisation & underwriting automation.

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