How Digital Innovation has already changed Investment Banking and how it might be likely to change

©Airbnb How is that major industries that took decades to build up are being disrupted and torn apart by start ups who are just a few years old? In just 10 years Airbnb has managed to become one of the most valuable private companies in the world), as it operates 650,000 rooms across 192 countries (Airbnb 2017). In comparison, in 88 years Marriott International managed to build 697,000 rooms across 80 countries (Marriott 2018).  The difference? Airbnb doesn’t own a single room and as a result is valued at $31 billion (Thomas 2017) compared to Marriott’s $16 billion (Marriott 2018).                                                                                                                ...

Since the beginning of the digital era, luxury brands like Chanel have been faced with the dilemma of how they adapt their high end store experiences to the digital realm. After all, should Chanel offer the convenient services pioneered by mass market brands like Boohoo and loose their exclusivity? Or should they keep their exclusivity but loose out on entire generation who grew up with the world at their finger tips? When dissecting this dilemma, it’s important to make clear that unlike games, music and film, fashion cannot be digitalised. This means that luxury brands like Chanel won’t have to deal with the threat that the digital revolution had on the likes of Blockbusters, as in the case of fashion, the physical experience will always play a part in a customers shopping experience. However, that doesn’t mean that Chanel is exempt in trying to find ways of creating synergy between their boutiques and their own online experience.  Despite this clear need for an...

As in any industry, new developments in technology make processes faster, simpler, more precise and swifter. This all sounds truly impressive until we look at how it could impact those currently working in this sector. Could it mean that they are essentially replaced by machines? So far, in banking, we have already seen success in utilising digital innovation to track anomalous actions and monitor communications to ensure any criminal activity gets flagged, but also seen a jump in the amount of bankers who have been prosecuted for insider trading, Libor fixing and other such illegal practices. This has allowed for these illegal offences to be kept to a minimum! As we look to more positives of digital innovation, disruptive platforms like Robinhood have allowed potential brokers to buy and sell stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) without paying a commission, which is lowering the barriers to entry for anyone looking to start trading, making brokering more accessible to a wider au...