Point News Room – FinTech Trends – Deciphering AI

In 2014 a staggering 66% of Sub-Saharan Africans did not have a bank account, and only 15% of the Middle East did. But did you know that over 4 billion people across Africa and the Middle East have a Facebook account? Talk about an untapped market. Current chat banking services are allowing clients to pay beneficiaries & purchase prepaid products using platforms like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp & Twitter.

So we have seen this trend before, consumers want to feel like they are special, that a brand cares. According to Deloitte, “1 in 4 consumers are willing to pay more to receive a personalised product or service”. To keep up with this trend, AI and centralised data management solutions can be implemented into your back-end systems to personalise strategies for front-end operations. It’s important that the experience is centered around each customer – personally.

Chat bots are no longer just for social media or quick customer service queries but are being used as a means of self-service. Further investments into AI are being directed towards omnichannel implementations through digital channels which create the ‘human touch’ and strengthens customer loyalty. Solutions will range from creating flagship ‘experiential’ branches to more sophisticated banking solutions.

With the rise of the millennials and the growing trend of ‘Consumer Distrust’, blockchain’s introduction to society has been controversial, disruptive and yet welcomed by many. The basic premise is that instead of one person/server having complete control of information, parts of the information are distributed and stored by thousands of individuals. This makes it virtually impossible for any one person to tamper with its integrity. With the expeditious pace of innovation in the blockchain ecosystem, we will soon see the integration of blockchain technology into our consumer’s daily activities. Blockchain goes beyond Bitcoin, the technology is already being worked into healthcare systems, retail and governments around the world.

Biometrics analyse the physiological characteristics and behaviours of a person like habits, the tone of voice or unique shape of fingerprints and iris. No two people are the same which makes biometric data extremely secure and is becoming the norm in most industries requiring customer interaction. Biometric authentication is being used within the banking sphere while behavioural biometrics is dictating what personalised content is being pushed to consumers.

A smart contract could be considered as a mini programme specifically written, as per the requirements of an agreement, which will independently facilitate, verify or enforce the terms and conditions of any contract. This removes the need for any third parties to adjudicate or hold funds and because smart contracts are immutable, as well as distributed through blockchains, they are extremely secure. Early adoption of smart contracts could soon be seen in transactions for goods, voting management, real estate & in building of personal data storage with specific access policies.

Many governments are creating ‘FinTech sandboxes’ as an alternative to traditional regulatory mechanisms in order to aid firms in testing new financial products with real customers before applying for licensing in a controlled way.

Why? Well, the rapid development of FinTech is being stunted by the constraints of the archaic and often irrelevant regulations of traditional financial regulations. Through sandboxes, governments are able to create more fertile ground for FinTech start-ups to grow, which means very soon we’ll be seeing many more innovations in much shorter time.