FSIReview: Issue 20

FinTech has affected our lives in many ways, offering simplicity, speed, cohesiveness and streamlined processes. The industry itself has evolved considerably due to the rapid development of technology, the inception of the internet and the wide penetration of smartphones.

However, there is a controversy around FinTech – some saw it as a disruption of technology, while others construed it as a technology enabler for financial services. For instance, some banking organisations consider it a threat as some FinTech players have targeted profitable areas of the industry, particularly payment services. On the other hand, it can also be seen as a collaboration instead of competition between financial institutions and FinTech players, reaping benefits for both. So how can financial institutions tackle the resulting challenges and turn them into opportunities instead?

When discussing FinTech, blockchain is a topic that is often talked about. Our first article looks into the minds of blockchain-savvy executives to understand their opinions and perceptions of the impact and opportunities brought about by blockchain in our Global survey “Breaking blockchain open”.

Next, we turn our attention to the basic elements of FinTech – blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), security, Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud, exploring the effects of these elements and how financial institutions can triumph over resulting challenges and unlock benefits.

Over the years, financial institutions have made substantial investments to upgrade their risk management programmes and comply with stringent regulatory requirements. However, there is a growing need to manage non-financial risk. “The future of non-financial risk in financial services” dissects the key considerations for financial institutions to adopt a holistic approach in managing these risks.

Our final article examines the many opportunities intelligent automation presents for financial institutions to halve the capacity required from their finance functions, or double their output, all while increasing the intelligence and quality of information. The article also explains the benefits presented by robotic and cognitive automation (R&CA) technologies through examples of the work that we have done with some of our clients.