Speaking to InvestorDaily ahead of his keynote address to the 14th annual Wraps, Platforms & Masterfunds conference this week, Mr Williams said the financial services sector is fertile ground for greater partnerships between large organisations and smaller entrepreneurs, particularly in the technology space.
“The institutions need to look at investing in start-ups rather than fearing they will be killed off and consumed by these groups,” Mr Williams said. The future looks uncertain for some but that’s why they need to make strategic investment.”
Mr Williams said the NAB Village project – an incubator program available to start-up clients of NAB Business Banking launched in 2014 – is a blueprint for greater collaboration between large and small technology providers in the banking and finance sector.
“NAB has done some fascinating things with the use of [office] space in Victoria which in many ways could be a game changer in terms of a financial institution looking to alternate modes of operation and culture,” he said. “That is looking to the future and is a refreshing response.”
More broadly, Mr Williams – who is also a former chief executive of Foxtel and a commissioner of the AFL – said that changes in approaches to strategic investment and partnerships need to be driven "from senior management", many of whom are worryingly reticent about adapting to change.
“I have a very firm view that the trend must be your friend,” he said. “You must harness trends to your work in a way that is effective.
“Too much energy is spent in resisting trends and it could be better spent understanding them and employing them to your advantage. This change needs to be driven from senior management. You have to create a pincer movement for effective change; without that, you will not get the change you are after.”
