Impact of the new digital competitors on Swiss banking business models

• Main Authors: Ozenc Atca Gorgun, Bert Wolfs
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ümit Hacıoğlu 2021-03-01
• Series: International Journal of Research In Business and Social Science
• Subjects: digital-only competitors fintech; bigtech; swiss banking; strategy; business models
• Online Access: https://www.ssbfnet.com/ojs/index.php/ijrbs/article/view/1055

This study examines the impact of new digital-only competitors on the Swiss banking business models and value chain. Despite various studies and articles available in the literature about the impact of new digital competitors on the banking industry, there is little research focusing on the Swiss market. The comprehensive research conducted in this study and the data collected through the survey provides a foundation to gauge the impact of the new digital competitors’ pressure on business models and value chain in the Swiss banking industry. The design of the research instrument employed for collecting the primary data has been achieved through a survey shared with 75 managers and experts working in the Swiss banking industry including Swiss banks, FinTechs, BigTechs, and other financial services and consultancy firms. One sample z-test and descriptive statistics have been applied to the survey results to gain a deeper understanding. The outcome of the analysis suggests that the competitive pressure of BigTechs and FinTechs is expected to have a significant impact on the Swiss banking industry, and mainly BigTechs are anticipated to be significantly dominant with disruptive impact.  The obtained results also strongly indicate that the cross-industry ecosystems and close partnerships with the new digital competitors are the potential key strategies to be pursued as the future Swiss banking business models. Besides, the disruptive new market entrants are anticipated to be highly likely to gain significant market share in certain market segments of the banking industry and also to create an “ecosystem” accordingly. The area of Personal and Corporate Banking is found out to be more vulnerable to digital disruption in comparison with the other banking areas.