Sanjiv Anand, Chairman, Cedar Management Consulting International

This year is your critical breakout moment to embrace AI and full digital transformation. With global net income rising, you must transition to AI-driven customer acquisition, credit, and instant delivery to remain competitive. You should clearly define your target audience and tap into the "gold mine" of underserved SME banking through improved credit assessment models.

To succeed, you must simplify product offerings and balance digital efficiency with strong relationship management to avoid becoming a generic commodity. You should strive for a "100% digital" goal aiming for account openings in under four minutes supported by AI-powered cross-sell engines that can reduce acquisition costs by 50%. Finally, building a performance-oriented culture with clear accountability is essential, as even a digital bank requires a motivated, tech-savvy workforce to execute a successful strategy.