Top executives at Australia’s largest banks say the struggles of the digital neobanks to crack the local market – starkly illustrated by the collapse of heavily backed Volt Bank last week – highlight the strides they have made in adopting start-up style strategies and tech transformation to keep up with disruptors.

Speaking separately to The Australian Financial Review, digital leaders at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and AMP Bank said the combination of eye-watering capital requirements to run a multi-product bank, and significant investment in digital initiatives at incumbent players, made Australia a tough market to crack for start-ups.