As the world becomes more digitally intertwined, competition between its major economies grows more combative, as evidenced by the US-China trade battles and legal actions. No sector is more impacted than frontline information and communications technology, in which much of today’s warfare between the two heavyweights rages. At the inception of a new year and a new decade, is there reason to hope for cooperation toward shared growth and prosperity?
There are times when no one wants to see history repeat itself, and that’s the case among today’s investors in technology stocks. Some fear that the dot-com bubble burst of 2000 may repeat itself 20 years later. Although some tech stocks may be overvalued, the flourishing Fourth Industrial Revolution displays no signs of running out of steam any time soon. Caution is advised but not panic.
Credit cards have become as much a part of our financial lives as checking accounts. For some, being approved for an unsecured credit card is out of reach for a variety of reasons. People with challenging credit situations are turning to secured credit cards as an avenue to achieve credit-worthiness, with attaining unsecured credit as the ultimate goal. What are the factors that expedite graduation from secured to unsecured credit?
There are enough new terms floating around banking to make one’s head spin, and along comes greenfield bank. This refers to the growing trend among incumbent banks to create standalone digital banks that are as agile and innovative as the fintechs and neobanks. After considering how difficult and expensive it is proving to be for banks to break out of their legacy-infrastructure moulds, this approach makes a lot of sense.
Most banks have processed the message that they need to change if they plan to stay competitive in today’s financial world, increasingly infiltrated by fintech and bigtech disruptors. But the change that is required goes beyond changing strategy; it involves transforming the entire culture of a bank, from the top down. What are the practical steps banks must take to change their internal cultures and use technology most effectively?
Banks exist to serve the financial needs of consumers, through whatever avenue works best. With the rapid evolution of technology, more tools and resources are available than ever before to determine and meet those needs. Personalization in banking works when the customer is the focus, but without customer-centricity as their anchor, banks drift from what really matters. What steps can banks take to stay focused in today’s changing financial environment?
There has been a rapid increase in the size and number of investments into UK fintechs with the likes of Monzo and Revolut leading the charge. Interestingly, it is not just the VC funds driving this; banks are also investing or in many cases, acquiring fintech companies outright.
The scourge of financial crime is increasing. It’s being driven by organised crime rings, fuelled with billions of compromised data records, who are systematically and methodically targeting financial services firms with sophisticated application fraud attacks that use stolen or falsified identities in an effort to obtain new accounts.
Successful e-commerce is as much about the customer experience as anything else. Choices need to be clear but abundant; payment quick and easy—or customers will move on. Having become accustomed to purchasing goods and services seamlessly through digital channels, customers expect the same from their providers of financial products and services. Banks need to employ a lesson or two from the e-commerce giants to meet customer expectations.
Open Banking, which allows third parties to build applications around the activities of established banks, is curtailing the way banks have always functioned. The tried-and-true vertical-integration model, through which a bank maintains a firm grip on all of its operations, is being replaced by a more cooperative approach. How will innovative banks fulfill their roles as suppliers, producers and retailers of financial products and services in the Open Banking era?