It’s clear how incumbent banks are met with unprecedented market forces. Fintechs are eating up banking market shares. Meanwhile, the growing use of alternative payments such as PayPal, Samsung Pay, Apple Pay, and so on points to the fact that customers are finding traditional banks inconvenient and untrustworthy. At the same time, people are walking away from physical branches; instead preferring mobile banking for ease and convenience. On top of that, the government continues to encourage Digital Banking, made apparent by the government’s recent directives.

These factors may sound like twists and turns that took traditional banks by surprise, yet they point to the refusal to change and innovate in the face of digital disruption. Now that change becomes a matter of life and death for banks, there’s an evident need for a shift in mindset and principle called Design Thinking. This paper looks over the relevance and application of Design Thinking in the banking sector. You will also get to explore how some current banks are applying this method.