Innovation in Financial Services: The Elastic Innovation Index Report

By assessing innovation inputs (or capabilities), as opposed to innovation outputs (new products or new services), the Elastic Innovation Index measures capability and readiness to change rather than measuring what
has been achieved in the business execution process. The Index goes beyond the typical focus on the start-up ecosystem as a potential engine of disruptive change to instead examine such possibilities as the structural impact of high-capacity global mobile telecommunications, the availability of high-performance business platforms, new software development techniques, the disruptive power of open-source development communities, and the democratization of communications. By capturing these factors, the Index allows us to question whether financial institutions are capable of the types of innovation demanded by an industry facing significant structural change. To place our findings in context, the study also details what is fueling structural change in the industry and how financial institutions should respond to it. It concludes that several financial institutions have the capability to adapt to changes in the industry, but many more lag behind and lack an understanding of these imminent changes. Banks need to act at a strategic level more quickly than they realize.