Financial Services Firms Flirt With Startups

The digital disruption of retail financial services has entered a new phase. Software-driven startups like LendingClub and TransferWise are growing rapidly and achieving billion-dollar valuations — and can no longer be ignored. Savvy eBusiness executives at established financial services firms are now weighing up the threat and the opportunity that these disruptors present and asking, "Should we build our own products to compete with the disruptors, should we buy the disruptors, or should we partner with them?" In this introductory report to our new series exploring these three decisions, we answer the question of how established financial services firms should respond to digital disruptors.