FINTECH ARTICLES OF THE WEEK 09/27/17
1. Bank branches will continue to add value to customers while incorporating more technology
2. Insurers will accelerate investments in digital technologies
3. Central banks will face a decision on whether to issue cryptocurrencies
Here are the week’s links:
Digital Bank Transformation: The Evolution of Branch Banking
Although bank’s are closing branches, the future of the bank branch is bright, report Synechron and Efma in a global report and survey. Some 88% of respondents believe physical branches add value to customers and will play a role in the future of banking.
The future will include roles for both people and technology, with 63% of respondents a planning to change their branch model in line with digital transformation. The report includes case studies of the café branch and describes in-branch, self-serve techniques.
“The answer to what Branch 2.0 should be, is not what services and advice can be served through paperless solutions and digital channels, but rather that customer delight is best achieved when you hand the power to serve the customer back to those sitting in front of the customer,” concludes David Horton, Synechron’s head of innovation
Underwriting transformation in the digital era
Insurers are planning to accelerate and expand their investments in digital transformation technologies, according to EY’s 2017 Digital Underwriting Survey. The report finds:
- Predictive analytics, big data, underwriting trading platforms, and geographic information systems (GIS) are the most mature technologies.
- Blockchain, robotic process automation (RPA) and sensor-based technologies are all high priorities for the future.
- Insurers currently measuring early-stage investment performance report strong returns, with most meeting or exceeding expectations.
- Insurers and brokers agree that underwriting and pricing capabilities are the most important and potentially valuable in terms of future technology investments.
- Actuarial has benefited the most from predictive analytics and machine learning, while policy processing has been the focus of RPA initiatives. Product management capabilities have benefited from big data and automated portfolio management.
Central bank cryptocurrencies
The Bank of International Settlements notes that central banks are entering the cryptocurrency fray and implicitly concludes that digital currencies issued by central banks are coming. “While it seems unlikely that bitcoin or its sisters will displace sovereign currencies, they have demonstrated the viability of the underlying blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT).” The BIS report presents a taxonomy of money based on four key properties, as shown below:
Cash may be the only current form in which the public can hold central bank currency, but that is starting to change. “Whether or not a central bank should provide a digital alternative to cash is most pressing in countries, such as Sweden, where cash usage is rapidly declining. But all central banks may eventually have to decide whether issuing retail or wholesale CBCCs makes sense in their own context.”
