Opportunities for analysing digitalisation in the context of banking services in the European Union, 2017–2018

Abstract

Nowadays, the development of the digital economy is gaining ground, changing consumer expectations through the opportunities offered by the internet and ICT, and requiring continuous improvements from financial service providers. The aim of this paper is to examine the regional dimension of banking services analyses by comparing the financial digital modernisation clusters and rankings of EU Member States with the traditionally accepted overall digital development analyses. After describing the impact of digitalisation on financial geography, the paper presents the European Union's (EU) digital transformation efforts and the financial relevance of digitalisation, as well as the major past changes and the current situation of the financial intermediation system. The findings of the empirical analysis show that the clustering of the EU28 Member States based on their overall digital development shows a partial correspondence with the results of studies focusing on digital banking services. The research confirms the advantages of the Northern European countries in digitalisation, but also reveals the divergent nature of the Western and Eastern Member States.