The pandemic had previously put a break on impending SWIFT Releases that were originally pencilled in for 2020. When those were pushed back to November 2021, that was a welcome deferment to allow financial institutions to ready themselves for the upcoming changes to Trade Finance Category 7 for Guarantees and Standby Letters of Credit.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued a $390 million penalty against Capital One for “willful” anti-money-laundering (AML) failures that happened during a period between 2008-2014. For compliance operators in the space, the action was a strong signal of rigorous enforcement, and perhaps a sign of increased pressures to come.
The internet has become an indispensable element in our lives and has also crowned a few behemoths, which control not only a huge chunk of the Web but plenty of user data. As we move into Web 3.0, we can expect to see a more decentralized DLT-based system that gives back to users sovereignty over what is rightfully theirs: their data.
To best serve its customers, a bank needs to know who they are and what their needs and wants are. Cognitive intelligence, which uses technologies such as artificial intelligence to form predictive models based on customer data, equips banks to provide tailored solutions that raise the bar to new heights for product and service delivery.
The pandemic has ignited banks’ digital transformations and stressed People as our key priority. Leading from the heart, closing the digital-skills gap, translating corporate purpose into action, undertaking a transformation that is strategically anchored and risk-balanced and maximizing customer experience, will propel banks into a better shared future.
Who could have predicted that a health crisis would result in a banking metamorphosis, with banks adopting the digital-platform model as consumers embrace digital self-service channels? Banks need to follow a series of steps to stay ahead on the journey to an agile, data-driven future, providing services embedded in their customers’ lives.
Compliance has always played a pivotal role across financial firms and banking institutions in an effort to pinpoint and mitigate various risks across communication channels, including market abuse, insider trading, spoofing, front-running, and even sexual harassment and racism. For decades, legacy vendors have been at the forefront of providing services to these institutions to flag and report any compliance and security breaches.
Banks have built historic reputations on being steady and solid, traditionally making incremental improvements to operations based on an understanding of change as something that is occasionally necessary, but preferably avoided. Yet in a market distinguished by uncertainty, the only way to be ready for the future is to invest in change itself.
New technologies have infiltrated every corner of the world during the digital age, but four stand out as frontrunners. The DARQ forces of distributed ledger technology, artificial intelligence, extended reality and quantum computing, working independently and together, are ready to guide businesses and society into a bold new frontier.
By necessity, COVID has upped the pace of technological change in the financial services industry. However, there is a longer-term goal to revolutionise the way individuals and businesses manage money day-to-day. As digitisation booms, every player in this sector is determined to innovate.