MODULARISATION OF FINANCIAL SERVICES

The described drivers of change have – to various extents – been affecting all industries for a
number of years. This has already led to significant structural changes in several sectors such
as automotive and energy. One basic pattern that these developments have in common is the
increasing modularisation.

Traditionally, financial services have been provided by integrated institutions covering the entire
value chain: distribution, production and infrastructure. Nowadays, digitisation in particular
creates opportunities within the financial services industry, facilitating the combination of partial
services from different providers along the value chain. At the same time, proper modularisation
makes delivery of a seamless customer experience possible – without the clients noticing transitions
between providers. We expect that this trend will also prevail in the financial industry, with
modularisation happening on both the demand and the supply sides.

The financial services industry will become “modular” along two dimensions: (complete) modular
demand means that product providers no longer have an exclusive and direct relationship with
their clients. Rather, clients choose products or partial solutions from various providers – using
(mobile) applications, aggregators, or comparison portals. (Complete) modular supply exists
when product providers no longer cover the entire value chain for one product in-house,
but when this product is supplied by several different providers – including with the help of
orchestrators .