Next Generation Financial Service Providers 2025: Resilience as the Key to Success

The Next Generation Financial Service Providers Conference 2025 at Frankfurt School focused entirely on resilience. As an established management consultancy for the banking and insurance sector, Intero Consulting actively participated in the conference and presented its practical approaches for a successful and resilient digitalisation path. In the following article, we highlight the approaches of Intero Consulting for successful digitalisation alongside the event's highlights.

The resilience of financial service providers is increasingly being put to the test by the current global situation (e.g., Ukraine war, trade conflicts, uncertain economic climate). IT is particularly exposed to risks due to its growing integration with business operations and the associated increasing use of digital products such as artificial intelligence or low-code/no-code solutions (see Intero Banking Trend Cycle 2025). It's no wonder that the current Allianz Risk Barometer 2025 identifies cyber risks as the primary threat.

The current BSI report on the IT security situation in Germany paints a concerning picture of the state of IT security in German businesses and shows a need for action. The clear direction from industry representatives is therefore: the management and development of resilient organisations must become a top management priority. The focus of resilient strategies includes not only technology but also company-wide factors.

In total, a resilience strategy for financial service providers encompasses the following factors:

1. Diversified business models
2. Solid financial structures
3. Focus on employees
4. Clear governance
5. Data strategy and data quality
6. Technology

The industry agrees: The DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) regulation, which came into effect in January 2025, can make the financial sector more resilient when sensibly implemented. However, DORA must be implemented in a risk-appropriate manner to avoid overwhelming organisations with bureaucracy.

Intero Consulting has developed pragmatic and risk-based solutions for this purpose and has already implemented them at numerous financial service providers. Find out more here.

Regarding DORA readiness, the Deloitte DORA Compliance Check 2025 shows that banks and insurers are already well-positioned due to existing regulations such as BAIT and VAIT. The main challenge currently lies with ICT third-party service providers, who are now being regulated for the first time.

The use of AI and digitalisation initiatives must follow a clear structure for a resilient strategy. Intero Consulting has identified three central paths:

1. Digital products (e.g., robo-advisors, banking apps)
2. Process automation (e.g., AI-supported processes)
3. Digital enablement (e.g., AI-based text generation for employees)

Sarina Wittchen, Competence Centre Lead for Digitalisation at Intero Consulting, has defined four prerequisites for successful digitalisation with her team based on their own project experiences:

1. Modern and scalable IT infrastructures
2. Standardised processes and suitable organisational structures
3. Focus on the human factor
4. Structured data models and high-quality data

The key to success? A strategic approach that considers the individual starting position of the company, defines clear goals, and offers a balanced mix of quick wins and sustainable foundational work. In practice, the dimensions of data quality and employee enablement particularly show low digitalisation readiness. This should be taken into account when selecting and planning digitalisation projects.