Banks see Amazon, Apple and Google as growing threat, report claims

The report from core banking software provider Temenos showed that 23 percent of respondents see their most significant competition coming from outside the traditional financial sector. The figure has grown from 18 percent in 2013, and 11 percent the previous year.

A number of tech companies have shown a desire to offer some form of financial service, predominantly around payments. This includes the launch of GoogleGoogle Wallet in the US in 2011, while AppleApple has launched ApplePay service, and FacebookFacebook has indicated it may offer a payments service in Europe. Alles zu Apple auf CIO.de Alles zu Facebook auf CIO.de Alles zu Google auf CIO.de

The competition with non-traditional players is being driven by growing digitisation of services in the financial services sector, according to report author Ben Robinson.

"Clearly, rapid digitisation, in conjunction with other factors - such as diminishing customer loyalty and transformative technology changes - is opening the industry to these technology vendors, many of whose business models are built on an ability to turn vast quantities of data into meaningful customer insights," he wrote.

Aside from the large tech firms, banks also see competition from peer-to-peer platforms, an area which has attracted a significant number of financial technology start-ups, such as the Lending Club and Funding Circle. This was cited as the biggest challenge by 19 percent of respondents.