#Congress #should seriously consider how #fintech is impacting financial services, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver said during an interview yesterday with American Banker. If Congress doesn’t act on the #technology, “we are setting ourselves up for serious problems down the road,” Cleaver told the publication. Cleaver, who is the top Democratic representative on the House Financial Services […]
Bank Innovation
#Rocket #Mortgage,which was designed for smart phones, now offers a connection through Amazon’s #Alexa.
Financial Technology
EXCLUSIVE—Chinese consumer finance firm #LexinFintech will be using its IPO funds to expand its #technology suite, keeping its focus on developing #products that will make the consumer experience easier, the company told Bank Innovation. “We will put it more in the technology side, we will keep focusing on that area,” Craig Yan Zeng, chief financial […]
Bank Innovation
EXCLUSIVE—#Biometrics have been a #fintech buzzword for a while now, but #2018 is where companies like #Mastercard are going to start the real work. That means focusing on the smaller details and the platforms that will actively bring the #technology to consumers, Bob Reany, EVP of identity solutions, Mastercard told Bank Innovation. “We have to […]
Bank Innovation
EXCLUSIVE – #Blockchain in cross-border #payments will be big in #2018, at least that’s what IBM’s Rajesh Venkatraman, director of worldwide payments solutions sales at IBM, thinks. “Blockchain #technology has many applications, but I believe cross-border payments is especially going to see tremendous traction,” he told Bank Innovation. Perhaps that’s also because IBM has started numerous […]
Bank Innovation
Insurtech #Lemonade has raised $ 120 million in new #funding for its mobile insurance platform, led by Japanese #technology investment firm #Softbank, the startup announced today. Lemonade, which provides home and renters insurances to users via mobile, will use the money to create new coverage products in 2018 as well as international expansion, according to the […]
Bank Innovation
Real-time #payments open up some new business opportunities for #banks and their clients.
Financial Technology
The Faster Payments Task Force received 16 proposals for faster payment solutions using different #technology approaches to increase the speed of payment in the United States. Some of the proposed solutions work similarly to traditional payment systems, while others involve significant changes to the way we think about cash and the roles that #banks play in the payments ecosystem.
Among the less traditional entries were proposals submitted by WingCash and nanoPay, which suggest creating #digital #currencies that would enable consumers to conduct digital transactions without the need for a bank account or payment card. While both involve the introduction of digital currency, one would replace the existing fiat currency for digital payments, while the other would be a digital exchange of value tied to the existing currency.
WingCash proposes creating a digital fiat currency. Under its proposal, the Federal Reserve would own the Faster Payments Network (FPN) and issue Digital Fed Notes, similarly to its issuance of cash notes today. Each Digital Fed Note would be a unique and unchangeable URL with a single monetary value, and it would include the issuer’s URL, the current holder’s URL, a currency code and unique identifier (like a serial number). Payments would be conducted by changing the owner of the URL.
The Faster Payments Network could be used for both in-person payments and remote payments (for example, using “digital cash” to pay for online purchases). The exchange of digital notes would occur without transfer fees, with funds immediately available, similarly to how physical notes are exchanged today.
As with cash notes, Digital Fed Notes would not require a bank account or credit card. One of the advantages WingCash highlights in its proposal is that a digital currency solution could increase access to the electronic payments system, opening the door for users who may have been excluded from the traditional banking system. However, potential barriers to implementation include regulatory changes that would allow the Federal Reserve to issue a digital fiat currency.
nanoPay also proposes a digital currency, but the system of value would operate outside of the Federal Reserve. nanoPay proposes a good-funds, collateralized bearer-asset transfer system in which users would exchange fiat currency (collateral) for nanoPay’s MintChip (asset). The fiat currency would be stored in a pooled account, while the equivalent MintChip amount would be stored in a Secured Asset Store (SAS). Transactions completed in the MintChip ecosystem would be a transfer of value between two SASs using Value Transfer Messages.
In the MintChip model, an Asset Manager would protect the pooled funds of fiat currency and invest the funds in instruments where the principle is guaranteed. Depository institutions would act as brokers that pre-purchase MintChip “coins” and use APIs to provide end users access to the MintChip platform. Regulated non-bank providers and larger retailers could also participate as Brokers.
nanoPay’s proposal does not depend on the Federal Reserve’s willingness to create new monetary policy or serve as the originator of digital currency. As a non-fiat currency, however, nanoPay could face challenges of perceived trust and security, particularly regarding the management of the pooled funds that serve as collateral for the digital currency.
As highlighted in the two proposals, digital currency solutions could increase the speed of payments while decreasing payments system costs and expanding financial inclusion. However, WingCash and nanoPay acknowledge that their proposals could pose a threat to traditional payment card revenue streams. Despite these challenges, central banks in other countries like China, Canada and the Netherlands are exploring digital currencies, and the US may follow suit.
Whether replacing fiat currencies, creating a digital exchange tied to existing currency or another idea yet unknown, payments solutions built on the faster, more efficient digital form will transform payments and banking. #Industry players need to prepare for the pending change and their role in it. To discover more about how other digital currency forms will #disrupt the industry, read our report on The (R)evolution of Money.
The post Digital currencies to disrupt the payments industry appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
I have recently moved to Dublin for a six-month secondment, and have the pleasure of leading our small but growing Accenture Research team based at The Dock, Accenture’s state-of-the-art R&D hub.
This is an amazing space to work in, where that terrible phrase “the art of the possible” isn’t so cringingly hackneyed, and actually means something. In a room close to where I am sitting writing this, there is a team creating software for a space “cube” that will be launched into orbit to gather data for a project (I could tell you what that involved, but then it would automatically self-destruct etc., etc). In this environment, automation could almost feel old hat.
Not so intelligent automation though. This is definitely in the realm of “anything is possible”. Intelligent automation learns as it works. It isn’t just doing what it is told; it is constantly adapting to new situations. Imagine a #robo-advisor that remembers when a customer started to sound agitated during a call, and adapts the number or style of questions they ask on their next interaction, to try to improve the experience? Hyper-personalisation of services is an expectation by which customers will increasingly rank their banking experience, as they become used to having the choices available to them through Open Banking. And intelligent automation is one of the core tools available in a bank’s armoury to get them to this level of service, without (ahem) breaking the bank.
#Banks are in the perfect position to ride this wave of personalised services—if they can adapt to a platform that funnels a customer towards these slicker services. And thanks to intelligent automation, this need not come at a hyper-cost to the business, with fully automated approvals that adapt to a users’ preferences and usage of third parties. Even the potential for fraud could be reduced as a result of IA learning a customer’s patterns of use and being able to spot anomalies and potentially fraudulent transactions.
Aside #from the pure efficiency benefits available from IA, this #technology could also provide recommendations to customers for products and services available to them based on their current circumstances and financial needs, such as an overdraft facility if they are low on funds. Thanks to IA, the bank knows that based on previous spending patterns, the consumer will likely need £x amount to spend until their next bank credit payment is due.
This intelligent automation of services is heavily reliant on data, the last but by no means least part of the AI trinity: People x #Process x Data. And there are numerous ways in which banks are custodians of vast amounts of customer information, which is ripe for a reinvented approach. And they don’t even need to send a cube out into space to achieve this.
The post Artificial intelligence: Unlocking value from process appeared first on Accenture Banking Blog.
HPE, the enterprise spinout from HP, will #offer RS #Corda #blockchain #tech on its Non-Stop #computing #platform.
Financial Technology
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