ADAPT OR LOSE – THE BANKING OF 2030

By Frank Zhou, CEO & Founder of Zeux

 

Fintech, the world over, is rapidly expanding with the global value of fintech deals last year coming in at $53.3 billion. It’s no news that this continued growth can – at least, in part – be attributed to a shift in the financial industry’s mindset to allow and facilitate the integration of digital tools, such as online banking and mobile apps, to help improve the customer experience. But the rate of integration and adoption differs vastly, from continent to continent. So what makes a mindset towards innovation choose ‘caution’ over ‘audacity’ when it comes to the world of fintech, and how are these different approaches shaping the future of the financial landscape? Frank Zhou, CEO and founder of Zeux, shares his insight on the future of banking.

 

Asia is wearing the fintech crown

Financial innovation and the adoption of fintech in Europe has been slow compared to Asia who has been more open to moving away from traditional banking methods. China is the largest alternative lending market holding around 90% of market share, with the US coming in second place.  Together, they dominate 95% of the market. Although the UK is ranked third, the market share is only expected to peak at a value of $4.8bn this year compared to China’s $265.7bn.

BANKING
Frank Zhou

At the head of the pack, Chinese investors are similarly quick to put their weight behind fintech start-ups as they seek to improve the operations of their banks and financial institutions. This forward-thinking approach has brought about the adoption of new-gen technology such as AI and Machine Learning to solve serious finance-relevant issues such as assessing risk and identifying fraud.

The US has demonstrated strong commitment towards adopting new digital technology as well. According to Ryan Battles, EY’s Banking and Capital Markets Lead for the Americas, “banking is finally starting to catch the wave that began with Apple and Amazon raising consumer expectations”.

 

Europe is only catching up with the Silicon Valley mentality

Europe’s fragmented nature – shaped so by its multi-languages, laws and cultures – pushes boundaries in the way of large scale business decisions. And rather than tackle the international markets, an often go-to European approach is to concentrate on developing business within Europe itself.

The Silicon Valley approach of ‘blitzscaling’, a phrase coined by LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman, involves scaling at all costs including “doing things that don’t scale” and making deliberate choices without having all of the information—sacrificing efficiency for speed. There are clear risks involved by adopting this method of favouring quick growth on a global scale, but the results can be ground-breaking: think PayPal.

Europe may not have the tech titans that the US or Asia boast, despite having a strong industrial base, but in a ‘hare and tortoise’ style setting, has the potential to become the global fintech frontrunner, because where Europe can truy flex its muscle is in its regulatory prowess when it comes to AI. As with the rollout of GDPR in 2018, Europe wants to be identified as not just a true regulatory superpower but also as a tech superpower. The latest European initiative is to regulate AI through an ‘ecosystem of excellence’ and an ‘ecosystem of trust’. This new legislation will focus on AI applications that are deemed as high risk. Because as we know, Europe is, on the whole, risk averse.

At the same time, the UK itself continues to attract by far the largest share of fintech investment in Europe, with 83% of all European 2019  fintech investment, states Augmentum Fintech.

 

Bright future for the UK: Embracing the power of crypto

With the latest figures predicting traditional British banks could lose a further £8bn of revenue in the next five years, it’s no wonder there’s been an – albeit slow – shift to adopt tech-powered solutions in order to compete against trailblazer challengers such as Monzo and Revolut. Among the line-up of traditional banks that are rolling out new products are Santander and RBS, both of which are evolving the way they facilitate payments and transfers of funds.

Aside from these relatively ‘standard’ innovation developments around payment technology – that are more evolutionary than revolutionary – what else could help the financial sector catch up to its industry counterparts and drive real change? Does crypto really have a place? And how safe is it?

The US is embracing cryptocurrency as a safe digital currency because it trusts the technology behind it. Blockchain technology is an advanced way of logging and protecting data, which is difficult to manipulate or hack. It has the potential to improve security, productivity and customer experience when adopted by businesses in the financial sector. In spite of the bad press it receives, blockchain technology has been recognised as an emerging technology that could transform the banking sector due to the ability to improve trust, provide transparency and potentially lower costs, reduce transaction times and improve cash flow.

At the beginning of the year, even the Bank of England announced that it would consider adopting a bitcoin style digital currency as part of a global group of central banks. And that’s a big step.

Major financial markets around the world are still ahead of European and British banks when it comes to fintech innovation. AI and blockchain technologies are still in their relative infancies, and the pace of change and innovation is only going to gather even more momentum. Those who have made the smart decision to adopt, will reap the benefits that are to come. So, it’s more important than ever for the cautious approach that the British banking industry has demonstrated for so long to be replaced with a new, fresh hunger to harness digital technologies. Not only to guarantee growth, but also to remain competitive in a global market.

Innovation breeds innovation, it breaks through traditional models, and brings new opportunities to the table. The UK’s banks need to be smart with their next move and pull up a chair.

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