By: Dr. Ashish Kakar, Research Director, Financial Insights, IDC Asia/Pacific

Asian banks need technology investment to continue their growth momentum. The industry is robust, with nineteen of the top fifty global banks being Asia-based. Unless these banks continue to invest in emerging technologies to drive innovations and productivity, they could be exposed to greater resilience risks in the longer term.

The Asian banking world has been challenging and is now fast evolving due to geopolitical tensions, interest rates under stress, inclusion and microfinance needs, consumers’ increasing demand for hyper-personalized services, a deteriorating risk environment, operational efficiency challenges, and, on top of that, increasing regulatory oversight.

Each of these challenges require technology investments. In this context, the bank must decide on what its priority investments will be. Let’s briefly review some of these bets that could be potential winners in 2025 and beyond.

Banks need to be agile in their transformation initiatives.
Agility requires a mix of technology infrastructure and a build strategy that enables fast deployment of new capabilities. The build strategy could be a platform strategy, microservices architecture enabling fast integration of external capabilities, or a mix of adopt and build. What fits best for each capability requires a fine decision that is both an art and a science.

What is needed is an infrastructure that facilitates innovation.
All of us who have struggled with the “Technology Bill of Material” understand that the legacy infrastructure setup processes are in months in an age where innovation, POC, and A/B tests are required within days. That is where cloud computing is important, and it must be in the mix. Cloud computing is also important as more and more of the enhancements require extensive data computing.

While agility helps build an architecture for fast innovation deployment, banks still need to decide on enhancements. Three factors are coming into play in today’s digital age. These are functionalities that increase revenue, automation opportunities to improve efficiency, and, finally, build trust through resiliency and avoiding financial crime.

In IDC’s survey (Jun’24), 41% of the banks stated that they require new products and services to generate revenues.

Launching any new product requires data, which may comprise of a mix of synthetic data generation and data management techniques.
It also requires effort to build the right models, whether that may be techniques like graph and RAG or models such as agentic, generative, predictive, or interpretative. Servicing, operational excellence, and risk management remain the main areas of deployment. Embedded finance and new product development are good use cases for revenue enhancements through AI deployment.

Climate risk is also emerging as a real threat,
with project risk being affected and personal credit worsening with extreme climates impacting an individual payment’s ability and propensity. Geospatial data-based solutions could be a possible investment that will pay off in the long run.

Placing these bets could eventually lead to positive leverage for BFSI players.

Join me and my team at our 2025 Financial Services event series taking place across Singapore, China and India from June to August, as we explore the latest trends and insights in DX adoption by Asian banks, and showcase how banking and financial services leaders can develop holistic ecosystems with the help of technologies while reaping AI dividends through operational efficiency and CX enhancements in a multi-polar world.

A nomination will only be considered valid when the following criteria are met:

• The nominee must be a tech buyer organization. Nominations made by 3rd parties must include the relevant contact details of the nominated organization so the assessment can be completed.
• The organization should have a physical office presence in the country where the nomination is submitted.
• The nominee’s project owner acknowledges and agrees to participate in the IDC Future Enterprise Awards.
• The nominated project or initiative must have been launched between January 2023 to December 2024. All nominated projects must have gone live no later than January 2025.
• Projects or initiatives previously nominated in the past IDC Future Enterprise Awards will not be eligible. Incremental changes or improvements to previous nominations will also not be eligible.

Accelerate Opportunities Pipeline in the Japanese Market

Establishing a strong marketing pipeline to deliver client leads that convert is complex. While there are different ways to reach out to your target clients, getting in front of your target audience and engaging in face-to-face interactions helps demonstrate how your solution can help propel their business to greater heights.

Partner with us at our highly popular 2025 tech events in Japan:

• AI & Data Management Forum, Japan | February 2025
• Security Forum, Japan | April 2025
• AI Infrastructure Forum, Japan | July 2025
• CIO Summit, Japan | September 2025
• AI & Automation Forum, Japan | October 2025
• Custom Events, Japan | 7 Available Slots Throughout 2025

Why partner with IDC?

• Be seen and heard by IDC Japan’s actively engaged end-user community of C-Suite, tech influencers, and LOB decision-makers;
• Showcase your problem-solving solutions in an interactive and insight-filled style with guidance from IDC and;
• Penetrate the Japanese tech marketplace to generate new business opportunities.

Contact us now to find out more about our 2025 Japan events!

1,300 Analysts. 47 Technology Verticals. 110 Markets.

Founded in 1964, IDC is a technology market research firm covering 47 technology verticals across 110 markets. Our TMT research coverage cuts across semiconductors, consumer devices, servers, cloud, artificial intelligence, and many more.

IDC has over 1,300 analysts with offices in 50 countries to help you generate and evaluate investment strategies.

Subscribe to the IDC Tech Investor Newsletter now.