The future monetary system - BIS Media Briefing

A burst of creative innovation is under way in money and payments, opening up vistas of a future digital monetary system that adapts continuously to serve the public interest.

Structural flaws make the crypto universe unsuitable as the basis for a monetary system: it lacks a stable nominal anchor, while limits to its scalability result in fragmentation. Contrary to the decentralisation narrative, crypto often relies on unregulated intermediaries that pose financial risks.

A system grounded in central bank money offers a sounder basis for innovation, ensuring that services are stable and interoperable, domestically and across borders. Such a system can sustain a virtuous circle of trust and adaptability through network effects.

New capabilities such as programability, composability and tokenisation are not the preserve of crypto, but can instead be built on top of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), fast payment systems and associated data architectures.

Data Modernization in Banking - A New Urgency

Financial institutions have come to the realization that legacy mainframe databases are ill-equipped to meet the demands of digital banking, personalization, and real-time analytics. As a result, more banks and credit unions are actively pursuing data modernization initiatives. The goal for these changes is faster access to data, scalability and seamless integration across the organization, all of which form the foundation for digital banking transformation.

Get all the details HERE.

What is the biggest challenge for traditional banks? - Decoding: Banks - Episode 9

From 11:FS. Banks are facing a lot of challenges compared to their fintech rivals. From issues of organisational structure to culture, it's a race against time to adapt and survive.

Data Breach Customer Relations - What you must NEVER Do

Data breaches have become an unfortunate fact of life. But just because data breaches happen every day doesn’t mean your own enterprise’s incident isn’t big news that should be handled with great care. During cyber incident response, one public relations misstep can multiply the damage significantly.

What are some bad behaviors you’re going to want to avoid? Find out HERE. 

Why Fintechs won't replace traditional banking

There’s been a lot of talk about whether traditional banks can survive the digital revolution. Industry experts have mused about the fate of brick-and-mortar banks as the pandemic fueled a shift toward digital options, but is the assessment that traditional banks are destined to disappear a fair one?

Find out more and read the full article HERE. 

NFTs: are they worth the hype?

In the past year a new trend in the crypto world has boomed: NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. They started as a way for digital artists to have ownership over their work but have transformed into a dizzying new multi-billion-dollar marketplace. Are they worth the hype?

Laying 5 e-Commerce Myths to Rest

Once seen as secondary to in-person sales, the e-commerce channel has rocketed to the forefront since 2020 and is now a key purchasing gateway for many corporate buyers.

Despite this, misconceptions abound, with a number of B2B companies telling us that “customers aren’t ready” and “e-commerce is an immature space for businesses like ours.”

McKinsey & Company’s latest B2B Pulse helps put these notions squarely to rest. Not only are corporate buyers open to e-commerce, two-thirds now rely on digital and remote channels throughout their purchasing journey. While some B2B companies see e-commerce as the purview of cutting-edge tech players, the reality is that suppliers across industries are ramping up their capabilities at astonishing speeds.

The conventional wisdom around B2B e-commerce is due for a reset. These charts expose five prevailing myths.

Read the McKinsey report HERE.

The Fed's CBDC report

The Federal Reserve isn’t in a rush to join the crypto-bandwagon. That's the takeaway from a draft paper the Fed released Thursday laying out the pros and cons of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The 40-page report makes no policy recommendations and is designed to solicit comments from the public.

"We look forward to engaging with the public, elected representatives, and a broad range of stakeholders as we examine the positives and negatives of a central bank digital currency in the United States," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in a press release last Wednesday.

Read the full article HERE.

Battle of the blockchains

To believers, open, public blockchains provide a second chance at building a digital economy. The fact that the applications built on top of such blockchains all work with each other, and that the information they store is visible to all, harks back to the idealism of the internet’s early architects, before most users embraced the walled gardens offered by the tech giants. The idea that a new kind of “decentralised” digital economy might be possible has been bolstered over the past year as the numerous applications being built on top of various blockchains have boomed in size and functionality.

Read the full article from The Economist HERE.

UK Lords Committee says no case for CBDC

A Committee of peers in the House of Lords has concluded that there is no convincing case for the creation of a central bank digital currency in the UK.

The Economic Affairs Committee found that while a CBDC may provide some advantages, it could present significant challenges for financial stability and the protection of privacy.

Read the full story HERE. 

Fixing Banking’s Pain Points

"Years ago in a TV commercial for Wittnauer fine watches, a young woman approaches a jewelry counter and says, “I want a Wittnauer.” A dimwitted sales rep insists on showing her other items. She continues murmuring, “I want a Wittnauer.” He doesn’t catch on. Finally she shouts her request: “I want a Wittnauer!” Finally it sinks in, and the sales rep gets the sale… despite doing everything possible to undermine the experience by ignoring even the most obvious buying cues.

Are financial institutions listening any better to the voice of the consumer? Not really.

In a BAI webinar, “Trends In Marketing & Customer Acquisition,” serious questions were raised about banking providers’ ability to give consumers what they want, how they want it, when they want it."

Read the full article on The Financial Brand HERE

Who will secure the Metaverse - and how will they do it?

With the metaverse being talked up everywhere — even though the concept still seems to be a bit vague — concerns about safety have bubbled up, and you wouldn’t be along in wondering what cybersecurity challenges may come with it.

The metaverse, a concept of the next incarnation of the Internet, an immersive virtual 3D world connecting all sorts of digital environments, has been gaining a strong foothold in the media and has quickly become one of the hot topics in the digital landscape. You can even consider it as a new decentralized marketing ecosystem, characterized as social, live, and persistent, as it will contain a lot of user-generated content. It will also be easy to join and contribute to for hardware-agnostic users.

Just like in any other digital landscape where authentication plays a key role, cybersecurity will play a significant role in keeping the parties safe. No matter how sophisticated the technology and techniques of circumventing security measures will be, businesses will need to stay one step ahead of cyber criminals. So, the armaments race in cybersecurity that we’ve known for years will get even more intense.

And what will actually happen to the cheaters? Will they be sent to a sub-universe where they’re free to cheat where cheating is accepted as part of the rules? How will users in the metaverse be monitored to ensure any removal of possible illegal operations, morally corrupt conduct, and hate speech? By private companies themselves or by some governmental cyber-police?

There are a lot of open questions to be answered and certainly an interesting challenge for the metaverse community as well as the cybersecurity providers.

Find out more HERE. 

 

Neobanking: Pros, Cons, and How to use them Efficiently for your Business

 

Neobank is a term for banks that exist only in digital form, as an app, web app, or other software solution, and doesn’t have any physical branches. It can work in several jurisdictions and is usually not limited to a single country or region.

In 2020, the number of e-commerce transactions made with digital or mobile wallets reached roughly 45 percent and by 2024 this number is expected to be over 50 percent. 

What does it have to do with neobanks or EMIs? Read the full article HERE.

Digital Services that Changed the Face of Banking

The convenience and speed of digital banking services are at a point of no return. Here’s a look at some innovations in fintech and banking that make our money lives easier. 

Banks have always been at the forefront of the digitization revolution. Internet banking became a reality as early as the 1990s. Mobile banking was possible by the early 2000s. The last two decades have seen several digital innovations that have made banking more accessible to customers. Fintech apps and platforms have just added to the convenience of customers.

The COVID pandemic has given a push to the banking ecosystem to rapidly embrace digitization. We take a look at the digital technologies that have transformed the way we bank.

Read the full article HERE.

 

Nick Clegg's first interview in the metaverse - FT Interview

Step inside the Metaverse as the UK's former deputy PM takes on avatar form to talk to the FT's Henry Mance about the future of technology, immersive digital worlds, the challenges of regulation, and his own role within the company. 

 

Are Biometrics Replacing Passwords? Uncovering What Users Really Want (and Need)

Identity verification is integral to the secure use of digital platforms, many of which have become staples of consumers’ lives in recent years. But with so many authentication methods – from traditional passwords and usernames, to biometrics like face and fingerprint scans – it can be challenging to know just what consumers prefer from their apps and digital accounts, and how best to optimize these experiences from a merchant standpoint. In this virtual roundtable, PYMNTS Editor-in-Chief Matt Nesto hosts industry leaders to discuss this topic and more. Tune in.

What are NFTs and Crypto Art?

NFTs have been taking off over the last few months with Artists like Beeple blazing the way for digital artists to make a ton of money selling their work. But what the heck is crypto art and how does this all work and can you you take advantage of this new blockchain art world.

How much money is wasted by banks on digital?

This is the question that Chris Skinner is asking in his Blog.

He writes that while he sees banks maintaining their systems and approaches, they are not innovating. Given that banks have had Chief Innovation Officers and Chief Digital Officers for years where is the innovation? Where is the digital innovation?

Read his full post on Chris Skinner’s Blog

World Payments Report for 2020 just published by Capgemini

Capgemimi has just announced the publication of its “World Payments Report 2020”. The report is the leading source for data, trends and insights on global and regional non-cash payments, the key regulatory and industry initiatives, and today’s dynamic payments environment especially in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new edition analyzes how the payments industry can respond to evolving retail and B2B customer expectations and highlights the need for payment firms to rapidly prioritize technology transformation in order to become digital masters and stay competitive.

You can download it directly from Capgemini. Click HERE.

Asia is reinventing banking

From McKinsey’s Future of Asia research program:

"The West has led much of the development of the world’s modern banking industry across all dimensions⁠—from size, to growth, to business models, and innovation. In recent years, however, Asia has tilted the scale, delivering game-changing growth and innovations in banking services. This reflects not only the increasingly central role of diverse Asian economies in global trade and economic growth, but also Asia’s renewed leadership in scaling innovative technologies and new business models. Now, as the pace of growth slows, Asia’s banks face serious challenges and must reinvent themselves to survive."

You can read this paper, in which McKinsey summarizes the current status of Asia’s banking industry and outline one possible plan of action by which banks may reinvent themselves for the digital age HERE.