EXCLUSIVE- APIs and open banking might be becoming more integral to financial institutions, but it doesn’t seem like banks are really working to push innovation in that space

That’s according to Bank Innovation’s annual State of Banking Innovation for 2017, where none of the survey’s 151 respondents (the majority of whom are bankers) indicated that they were spending money on APIs or open banking. (Spoiler: the money is going to mobile.)

Additionally, despite the blockchain hype cycle that followed into 2017, only 1% of respondents said they were spending money to innovate blockchain. This is in spite of the accelerators, projects, consortia, collaborations and token sales that have sprung up around the technology.

It is less surprising to see bitcoin left untouched as an answer choice — no participant indicated they were spending funds on the cryptocurrency — as increasing concerns over cryptocurrency and regulation continue to mount in financial services.

However, it is more strange to see the AI/bots ategory left empty, with no bankers choosing it as an area where their institution is focusing money. Artificial intelligence has seen quite a hype cycle of its own this year, as more and more financial services companies start to consider the potential of the technology.

The winner for innovative spend continues to be mobile, with about 38% of participants choosing mobile banking as the area where their FI was spending the most money to innovate. Additionally, 50% of respondents agreed mobile banking was the most important area of focus for their customers.

About 13% of participants stated APIs/Open Banking was the most important area for customers, despite the lack of money being spent to innovate in the area.

For banks, the greatest barrier to innovation in any field remains corporate bureaucracy (though financial regulation was a close third behind budget, at 20%), with 32% of participants citing it as the greatest impediment to change in banking.