When volatility hits, whether driven by economic headwinds, disruptive technology, or evolving customer expectations, banks often default to the familiar.
It’s a fight or flight survival instinct: tighten operations, pause big projects, approve layoffs, or worse, do nothing. In today’s landscape, where transformation is constant and the pace of change is only accelerating, clinging to old playbooks can be riskier than change itself.
Instead, what if we borrowed a different safety playbook—one designed for when you’re truly on fire? It’s time for banks to “stop, drop and roll.”
Stop and assess: Understand today’s pressure points
The first step for any financial institution navigating market disruption is to assess the environment. While today’s headlines point to inflationary pressure, evolving regulatory demands and accelerated shifts in technology, it’s important to remember that this industry has been here before. Economic cycles, regulatory overhauls and disruptive technologies are not new phenomena; they are recurring features of the financial landscape.
What’s different this time is the pace. Change is happening faster than ever. That doesn’t mean we’re headed for chaos. It simply means we need to be more deliberate and open to adjusting the course along the way.
The “stop” phase is not about inaction, but about developing the clarity required for strategic decision-making. That includes creating business objectives, evaluating internal infrastructure, identifying operational inefficiencies and aligning on key priorities. With the right business strategy, banks can separate signals from noise and move forward with confidence, not reaction.
This is a good time to ask: What is the outcome I want? What is my business strategy?
Drop and adapt: Shed legacy constraints through collaboration
The drop stage is about surviving in a crisis through adapting and locating a way out. Survival and growth in this environment hinge on a bank’s ability to determine the best course of action to continue to serve customers and overcome the limitations of legacy infrastructure. According to research by RS2, 70% of bank IT budgets go to maintaining legacy tech. The “drop” phase isn’t about abandoning the bank’s legacy systems, but about strategically shedding the barriers for fintech collaborations. A key step for banks in this phase is to examine their most valuable assets, oftentimes their data, to ensure its accessibility and usability to prepare for future technology partnerships.
Banks’ focus is shifting from simply adding disparate fintech solutions to creating a cohesive tech stack. They are fitting the puzzle pieces together, identifying gaps to fill, recognizing where resources are abundant, and where they can combine technology to enable and adopt desired outcomes
By doing so, banks can activate their existing infrastructure in smarter ways to enhance agility and extend reach, ensuring they’re positioned to lead in an increasingly dynamic market.
This stage is all about enablement of data and removing friction to adopt new capabilities.
Roll, accelerate and future-proof: Advance toward stability and shared growth
With a clear understanding of today’s pressures and a deliberate shift away from outdated systems, financial institutions must now move with purpose. This final phase, “roll,” is about separating from the fire, strengthening institutional foundations while advancing the broader economic engine.
Strategic collaboration with bank-enabling fintechs allows financial institutions to reorient toward long-term objectives like improving access to credit to encourage a more participatory economy. These partnerships unlock tools that support smarter decision-making and more personalized, inclusive service—key ingredients for a more stable, participatory financial system.
Some research suggests that economies grow faster and more vigorously—not to mention for longer periods—when prosperity is more equally distributed across segments of the population. This isn’t just about modernization; it’s about reinforcing banking’s key role in economic expansion. Fintech partnerships, when aligned to mission and market, can help reach new communities and responsibly scale credit offerings. In doing so, banks don’t just survive disruption, they future-proof the organization through sustainable growth.
Don’t just stop, drop and roll: Assess, adapt and advance with fintech partnerships
Change is hard but it’s not unfamiliar. Progress comes from momentum.
Stop to assess and understand today’s realities.
Drop the barriers that hinder agility.
Partner to build something stronger, smarter and more resilient.
In an industry shaped by change, the ability to adapt and to choose the right partners along the way may be the most valuable asset of all.
Deniz Johnson is COO at Stratyfy.
