October 29, 2014 - Financial institutions the world over are raising their innovation spend significantly in a desperate attempt to fend off the threat to the established hegemony from technology companies, telcos, and emerging startups, according to fresh data from Efma.

To combat the perceived threat from the likes of Google, Apple and Facebook, 84% of 100 banks polled by Efma, on behalf of Infosys, say they plan to increase investment in innovation spending over the next year. Sixty-one percent of the sample say they have an innovation strategy, with 26% planning to invest in startups.

Almost half have set out plans to become 'innovation leaders' in their respective markets, says Efma, while 38% are content to be 'fast followers'.

Channels continues to be the area attracting most investments, with the shift to digital reflected in the importance attached to mobile (88%), big data (67%) and social (63%).

In the mobile realm, payments and services on multiple devices are the principal goal. For the online channel, automated account origination and personalisation of marketing offers are considered important by 70% and 59% of banks respectively.