1. Creative Destruction in the Global Financial System

In this chapter, the Schumpeter’s framework of creative destruction is considered and discussed on how it could apply in a more profound and novel way to the industry of the financial services and at global level, as a result of the remnants of the past financial crisis and of the profound changes introduced by quick digitization. The chapter also discusses why this “creative destruction” has so far been very limited because of the assumed principle summarized by the sentence “banks cannot fail”. Actually, the chapter reviews what led to the failure of a major bank such as Lehman Brothers and what could happen if a SIFI (Systemically Important Financial Institution) were to fail, and what kind of systemic impacts could this last one bring about. The chapter is then discussing why a “bankaround” (a significant turnaround of banking) is now long overdue and almost inevitable—we are just at the beginning, in short, and not at the end of the change journey that started with the global financial crisis of 2008. The models, methodologies and approaches that will be helpful to consider to successfully face this challenge of change will then be presented and discussed in future chapters.