A newly launched awards program will honor innovation within the retail banking industry. The program is a joint effort between Efma, a non-profit association whose membership includes nearly one-third of the world's largest banks, and the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company Accenture, according to a news release.

Submissions for the Efma-Accenture Distribution & Marketing Innovation Programme are due by Aug. 25 and can be submitted online at http://www.efma.com/accenture.

According to the announcement, the program will solicit case studies of customer innovations by retail banks globally within six categories: Digital and Mobile Excellence, Physical Distribution, Multichannel Customer-Experience Management, Customer Analytics and Big Data, Sales Effectiveness and Responsible Business. Submissions will be reviewed and judged by the Efma Innovation Awards Committee, which will identify a short list of nominees per each category.

Efma members, which include 3,300 retail financial services companies in more than 130 countries, will vote for the winners in each category, who will be recognized at a ceremony in Paris on Oct. 16. The event will include presentations on the winning case studies in front of senior industry executives. Additional awards will be granted to recognize the "Global Bank Innovator" and "Most Disruptive Idea."

"In today's challenging market, the key to success for retail financial services institutions is in building a culture of innovation and exploring ways to create a superior customer experience," Patrick Desmarès, secretary general of Efma, said in the announcement. "This program elevates the world's retail banking innovators based on the critical and expert views of banking executives who are face-to-face with the industry's biggest challenges."

"The high level and global scope of this peer review and analysis of innovations is an innovation in itself for the industry," Piercarlo Gera, global managing director of Accenture Distribution and Marketing Services, added in the release. "We have co-founded this program as a means of promoting best practices in customer management with the goal of helping our clients — and the industry overall — identify new frontiers for improving profitability and the long term health of the banking industry."

"We are launching this joint initiative as Accenture increasingly focuses on the emergence of the 'digital bank,' which we believe will give shape to a new era in global banking," Juan Pedro Moreno, global managing director of Accenture's banking practice, said in the release. "Today, innovations in new technology, skills and processes are levers that matter more than ever as digital banks emerge."

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