By Myles Bertrand, Managing Director, APAC, Mambu

The global financial services industry is undergoing a period of intense, transformative change, and 2020 looks set to provide some big shake-ups across the Asia-Pacific region.

While the Indonesian regulator is so far standing firm on the current regulations which state that banking data must remain within Indonesia, we're aware of a number of players who are looking to deploy cloud services in Indonesia either towards the end of this year or early 2021.

When that happens, Indonesian banks, fintechs and others in the financial services industry need to be ready to move there'll be no time to start planning and strategising by then, these businesses need to take a technology leap now.

Accordingly, 2020 will bring a great deal of change to the Indonesian financial services industry - as well as the wider APAC region as we see new players in the market announcing unique and innovative digital solutions.

Whereas in the not-too-distant past launching a new financial services product has been a long and arduous journey, the new era of digital innovation means that the days of long and costly core implementations are well and truly numbered. The legacy systems of traditional banks simply can't keep pace with the new players in the market, so they need to digitise and innovate if they want to stay in the game.

Cloud-based banking services offer a fast and cost-effective alternative to having to buy, build and maintain a collection of poorly connected systems. An API-enabled, composable architecture lets institutions leverage solutions built on a flexible cloud infrastructure, completely managed and provided as a service by a trusted provider.

After undergoing a digital transformation, established banks can switch their focus from system maintenance and BAU to providing constantly-improving, market-drive products and services. Initial costs are low and subscription-based with providers managing all upgrades, taking the strain off internal resources.

Apart from flexibility and enhanced customer offerings, the composable architecture approach prepares organisations for innovation and the next market shift. It puts them in control of how they react and when. It also keeps organisations current with the latest technology through continuous delivery. Easily interchangeable building blocks mean the smallest change can be delivered directly into product development and is infinitely simpler than rolling back multiple changes - reducing risk, costs and improving the response to customer needs and competition.

Financial technology has evolved to provide a vehicle that quickly responds to changing customer demands and market pressures, helping institutions navigate an ever-evolving market. Those stuck in the past will quickly find themselves left behind by competitors and customers; 2020 is the time for Indonesian banks and financial institutions to take a technology leap.

Myles Bertrand is the Managing Director, APAC, for Mambu, the only pure SaaS digital banking platform.

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