The digitization of the financial industry has brought about a paradigm shift. It has improved the industry for greater financial inclusion with services such as banking as a service, cloud banking, open banking, and software as a service. International conferences in this circuit enable the tech world to offer future pathways on one platform, providing the attendees with an opportunity to network, gain insights and learn about key transformations in the banking & finance industry. Expanding on the same at the recently held Bank of the Future Forum (BOFF) fintech experts and industry leaders highlight new opportunities and developments in the banking sector. This is a flagship event of NdcTech and Temenos that welcomed over 500 C-level executives from Banks and Financial institutions, regulators, FinTech players, investors, and analysts. With its 11th edition in 2022, BOFF highlighted several topics to gain a deeper insight into the rapidly changing digital landscape, such as composable banking, mobile banking, digital banking, cloud banking, etc. and also delved into topics such as cyber security, data economy, blockchain, service resilience, and others that now comprise the metaverse. Globally sought industry leaders and Temenos experts such as John Schlesinger, Chief Enterprise Architect – Temenos, Lee Allcorn, Director – Temenos MEA, Jaco Fourie, Commercial Director SaaS – Temenos were part of the incredible speaker lineup and shared their insightful knowledge on disruptive trends within the banking sector of Pakistan. “Pakistan’s banking landscape has gone through a sweeping transformational phase as banks are keen to adopt innovative solutions and systems,” said Ammara Masood, Chief Executive Officer, NdcTech. She also spoke about NdcTech’s investments in cloud solutions & innovative platforms for the development of the global banking sector by collaborating with various partners such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud, RedHat & Huawei. The banking industry supports the economy, and digitization will set the way forward for its best impact. While talking about technological disruption as a prerequisite for sustainable growth, scalability, and customer satisfaction, Asif Peer, Chief Executive Officer of Systems Limited said “The optimization of the bank’s operations does not entail cost-cutting. It requires us to gain efficiencies that are driven by innovation, integration, trusted connectivity, and digitization.” John Schlesinger, Chief Enterprise Architect, Temenos, talked over how composable banking requires moving away from monolithic banking and engaging in value chain banking. He shared his valuable insights that for banking to be composable, the technology that supports you must decompose itself and once broken down into modules and services, it needs to be recomposed. Focusing on the importance of digital innovation, the panel discussion on ‘Pivotal Trends in the Banking Industry’ proved to be an insightful conversation. The discussion shed light on many trending topics, such as the need for end-to-end banking services, letting go of the brick-and-mortar model and making the entire process cost-efficient. ‘How to Build Digital Banks of the Future’ was also an engaging talk, presenting the way forward for uplifting the banking industry in an era of innovation and digitization. Followed by the main plenary, exciting breakout sessions were conducted that touched upon key areas such as the importance of modernizing the Core banking platform for banks, demos on buy now pay later, payments, etc. The 11th edition of the Bank of the Future Forum set the benchmark for similar upcoming summits in Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East, and Africa region and exhibited that this region plays a huge role as a trusted hub for growth and rapidly digitizing markets in the global banking industry. While the banking industry stands to gain updates, insights, and a way forward from BOFF, the knowledge of new technology and digitization also expands the scope for parallel industries. The face-to-face interaction in today’s world is very important; so, the need for simultaneous expansion of smart cellular technology, for instance, is equally vital for enhancing digital customer interactions. The banking industry supports the economy, and digitization will set the way forward for its best impact. NdcTech and Temenos, by establishing the Bank of the Future Forum, have set the pace for professionals in the financial sector to identify opportunities, address the challenges and find solutions for transforming the banking environment of Pakistan and enabling them in the overall elevation of the fiscal ecosystem of Pakistan. The writer is a freelance columnist.