Given the long list of regulations that organisations need to comply with – CECL, IFRS9, MiFID II, SOX, CCPA, BCBS 239, SR 11-7, Solvency II, GDPR, CCPA, among others – investment by organisations in Regulatory Technology (RegTech) is estimated to grow by a whopping 45% annually on average over the next five years. This represents a six-fold increase by 2023. The risk of hefty financial penalties because of non-compliance looms and so, clearly, institutions are wisely resorting to technology to meet regulatory demands efficiently and cost-effectively. At the same time, they are mitigating any reputational risk that accompanies non-compliance, the effects of which are potentially longer lasting than any monetary fine, says Henry Umney, CEO of ClusterSeven.

RegTech can be quickly deployed, replaces expensive manual processes, delivers flexibility and facilitates dynamism to enable financial institutions to deliver against the evolving compliance requirements. When used concurrently with existing legacy systems, such platforms can help drive innovation too.

As financial institutions make investments in RegTech capabilities – typically considered to be big data analysis, artificial intelligence, biometrics, blockchain and chatbots – the widespread use of spreadsheets in core business processes means that spreadsheet risk management must be a major consideration in these efforts. If overlooked, these risks could well be the ‘chink in the armour’ that leads to accidental non-compliance, as well as potential business impact and reputational harm.

Spreadsheet risk is genuinely a risk to the business

A large portion of regulatory compliance requirements involve complex data processing and spreadsheets often serve as the ‘go to’ tool for managing several vital business processes. For instance, spreadsheets are widely used for final mile reporting, pricing models, economic/financial models, or data manipulation. With spreadsheets feeding information to many core enterprise systems and RegTech platforms, accuracy of the data inputs in many instances is dependent on the integrity of the spreadsheet applications that store the material. Hence, incorrect inputs into any system will skew the outcome, to either cause compliance breaches or indeed impact decision-making, completely negating the value of these latest technologies to the business.

With spreadsheets feeding information to many core enterprise systems and RegTech platforms, accuracy of the data inputs in many instances is dependent on the integrity of the spreadsheet applications that store the material.

Spreadsheet risk is genuinely a risk to the business for several reasons. Not only is it easily accessible (it’s available on every desktop), it is easy to use and so, used without training and often in the absence of formal usage policies. All this combined means that there are little or no checks on data sources used to populate business critical spreadsheet-based processes.

Automation of spreadsheet risk management key to RegTech success

Spreadsheet risk can be overcome with the adoption of a best practice approach to this function. Like RegTech solutions, spreadsheet risk management is underpinned by automation.

Automated spreadsheet management enables financial institutions to have complete visibility and an understanding of the organisation’s spreadsheet environment. The technology exposes the data lineages of individual files across the spreadsheet environment to accurately reveal the data sources and relationships between the applications. Every identified critical spreadsheet can be tiered based on the risk it poses to the business. Today, spreadsheet risk management solutions facilitate an enterprise-strength model that dovetails with the larger RegTech environment to establish a seamless process that supports everything from creation of new spreadsheets through to their adoption into the relevant corporate applications and ultimate retirement from the business’ application landscape.

A considered approach to spreadsheet risk management must be an integral part of any RegTech initiative.

Spreadsheet risk management minimises compliance execution risk. Fundamentally, one of the objectives of the various regulatory regimes collectively is that they want organisations to build in operational resilience into their business to ensure commercial flexibility and strength in tougher economic times. This kind of approach helps design-in operational resilience by providing intrinsic safeguards for things like attestation management. It provides automated processes for attestation by employees for the most critical spreadsheets, ensuring that changes are made in line with the company policy – critical for regulations such as the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, where the onus of good business practices and accountability rests with the senior executives themselves.

Good data underpins business operation, decision-making and commercial success, and compliance. Stringent and ‘business as usual’ style management of these end-user computing tools where unstructured, yet business-critical data resides, is essential not merely for compliance, but for efficient running of an organisation. A considered approach to spreadsheet risk management must be an integral part of any RegTech initiative. It will ensure that financial institutions fully maximise the value of their investments in the associated technology platforms.

About the author

Henry Umney is CEO of ClusterSeven. He joined the company in 2006 and for over 10 years was responsible for the commercial operations of ClusterSeven, overseeing globally all sales and client activity, as well as partner engagements. In July 2017, he was appointed CEO and is strongly positioned to take the business forward. He brings over 20 years’ experience and expertise from the financial services and technology sectors. Prior to ClusterSeven, he held the position of Sales Director in Microgen, London and various sales management positions in AFA Systems and ICAP, both in the UK and Asia.

Website: https://www.clusterseven.com/

Blockchain has been synonymous with crypto currencies for some time but its range of applications and roles in the wider digital transformation are now much more fully understood. This is certainly true of the financial industry, which is gradually shaking off its legacy systems and incorporating this revolutionary technology into an ever-growing number of uses.

Blockchain is correctly described as the technology behind crypto currencies, recording transactions made between parties. But its key and unique feature is its capacity to provide an undisputed audit trail. It establishes an incorruptible digital ledger of transactions that can be programmed to record every data item of value.

In practice, Blockchain acts like a single spreadsheet copied thousands of times across a network of computers. This spreadsheet can be updated on a constant, real-time basis and is shared identically across the network.

Using Blockchain, two strangers can conduct business with no need for a third party, while creating a legally-indisputable record of an agreement. As such, there is no point of weakness at which data can be corrupted or hacked. This issue is of growing importance for those players involved in deals in which adding more contact points increases vulnerability exponentially.

Using Blockchain, two strangers can conduct business with no need for a third party, while creating a legally-indisputable record of an agreement.

Transactions are more efficient and secure

Each year the financial industry conducts trillions of euros-worth of transactions and Blockchain has the potential to revolutionise how these deals are executed.

Blockchain streamlines and speeds up transactions, facilitating fast and secure payments with less cost, potentially anywhere in the world. The security that Blockchain provides is also a key element in that it renders the tactics used by cybercriminals as obsolete.

JP Morgan, HSBC and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are already exploring Blockchain to facilitate international payments and trade-related transactions but Blockchain can also be used in the real estate sector, for example, to conduct transactions, including the transfer of properties and escrowing of funds.

Smart contracts can deliver powerful changes

Blockchain can also be used to apply ‘smart contracts’, which are still at a nascent stage of development, but which have the potential to deliver powerful changes in a wide range of sectors.

Smart contracts have the terms of agreements written into computer code and this enables the automation of certain functions, such as authorised parties conducting transactions according to the terms. A simple illustration of this is a vending machine, which enables a consumer to buy a bar of chocolate at a fixed price without the need for any third party.

Blockchain can also be used to apply ‘smart contracts’, which are still at a nascent stage of development, but which have the potential to deliver powerful changes in a wide range of sectors.

Smart contracts have tremendous potential. They provide security and consistency and help to reduce transaction costs, not least by reducing the need for ‘middlemen’. At present, they are far from flawless and work still needs to be done to address the grey areas that, in practice, often arise in contracts and transactions. There is much room for refinement, but such contracts do already have clear applications. In real estate, for example, smart contracts can keep track of leases and monitor payments. Going forwards, smart contracts can only become much more commonplace in the financial industry.

Incorruptible long-term data storage

The technology by which computers store information has gone through several cycles over the decades. Data carriers have seen evolution from punch-cards and magnetic tape to floppy and zip discs, to the more familiar CDs, DVDs, hard drives and USBs. While the latter formats are still widely used, they are clunky and perishable.

Drooms is the first virtual data room (VDR) provider to recognise Blockchain’s potential in the transaction space and incorporate it into its product offering. By using this technology, information that was previously archived using DVDs, hard drives and USBs can be authenticated at the click of a button.

Such documentation is invaluable in the legal guarantee phase of a transaction. If there is a legal dispute, then there can be no argument as to who accessed which documents and data and when. Parties cannot argue that they were misled with regards to what they were buying.

Drooms is the first virtual data room (VDR) provider to recognise Blockchain’s potential in the transaction space and incorporate it into its product offering.

Drooms is also storing the data on its servers for a fee for the duration of a warranty period. Whereas DVDs might be lost or corrupted over time, for example, this issue does not exist if a data room is available for reactivation whenever required and all data has been verified and archived according to a unique Blockchain record. All parties with a password will be able to access the data at any time and without the need for notaries.

Ahead of the technology curve

Drooms’ current goal in relation to Blockchain is to provide tamper-proof, cutting-edge and long-term data storage and protection with quick, secure and unrestricted access for all parties involved. We currently offer all modern formats of storage, but we have no doubt that Blockchain will eventually supersede these, not least because it will not fundamentally alter the costs of a VDR initially and over the longer run it will only reduce them.

Going forwards, financial professionals need to consider the power of Blockchain to disrupt their businesses and industries and to pinpoint ways in which they can leverage this ground-breaking technology to their advantage.

Further ahead, we see tremendous potential in applying Blockchain to the incorporation of digital signatures and improving contract analysis. Enabling clients to sign documents within a data room, thereby avoiding third-party involvement and the need to print and sign documents before re-uploading them to the system, boosts efficiency without creating inferior versions of contracts.

Thanks to Blockchain, future data rooms could enable users to read and pull up previously unsearchable contracts that have been signed by specific parties, thereby automating traditional contract management.

Going forwards, financial professionals need to consider the power of Blockchain to disrupt their businesses and industries and to pinpoint ways in which they can leverage this ground-breaking technology to their advantage. Our plan is to help our partners by staying ahead of the technology curve, finding new and innovative ways in which to help them using Blockchain.

Website: https://drooms.com

With increasing high-street competition, AI is redefining the banking sector with each and every customer interaction. With banks, like NatWest, deploying AI-based virtual assistants to offer customer-facing communication around the clock, the consumer banking experience is now heavily digitised, with 86% of banks stating they now use AI technologies in some way. 

Martin Linstrom, Managing Director for UK and Ireland at IPsoft, looks at the next stage in technological evolution of the banking industry and how artificial intelligence (AI) will redefine banking as we know it.

The banking industry has made huge strides to drive innovation by investing in new technologies over the last few decades. Commercial banks first adopted telephone banking, then came internet banking and now, for most customers, all your financial services needs can be met via an app. Now, as we enter the conversational era enabled by cognitive AI, customer expectations have evolved once again.

Banks have long been ahead of the curve in terms of elevating the user experience for their customers and so, it’s perhaps unsurprising that many are already looking to AI-powered digital assistants and are investing in cognitive solutions to upgrade and scale customer-facing financial management processes. Many banks are also looking at how they can provide the same simple, frictionless service to their own employees.

Banks have long been ahead of the curve in terms of elevating the user experience for their customers and so, it’s perhaps unsurprising that many are already looking to AI-powered digital assistants

As AI-powered customer interfaces gain mainstream acceptance, we will once again see a revolution in technological change within the banking industry. So, what functions within banks will cognitive assistants transform?

Building a hybrid workforce

Virtual assistants have a twofold capability which is driving innovation in the banking industry. Firstly, they can be implemented in back office functions such as finance or HR and secondly, they can supplement customer service centres. Creating a hybrid workforce of human employees and AI-powered virtual assistants can help drive enormous cost efficiencies and increase staff productivity. Employees in administrative roles can pass their repetitive tasks over to their digital colleague, freeing up their time to focus on more creative or interesting work that requires soft skills whilst customer service agents can pass standard requests through an AI system leaving them with only the most complex of customer queries to deal with.

Ubiquitous customer services

One of the most attractive things about AI-powered customer services for banks is its ubiquity. With virtual customer service agents available 24/7 and through a variety of channels such as live message, telephone or email, it’s a win-win situation for both bank staff and customers. From a customer’s perspective, simple requests such as password resets or international transactions can be performed in an instant and there’s no need to visit the bank or spend an hour in a telephone queue to speak to a human agent.

One of the most attractive things about AI-powered customer services for banks is its ubiquity.

Banks adopting customer-facing AI solutions are in fact seeing increased customer satisfaction rates despite removing the human-to-human contact element. For example, since implementing IPsoft’s AI solution, Amelia, SEB, a leading Nordic bank has been able to avoid 544 hours of escalations to customer support with an average handle time of six minutes. What’s more, Amelia has reached an 85% accuracy in immediate intent recognition which has meant a faster service delivery to customers and soaring customer satisfaction.

24/7 banking support

Unlike human agents, digital assistants can work around the clock, seven days a week with no breaks and without tiring. For modern consumers, particularly young digital natives who expect to be able to manage their finances at any time of the day, integrating AI into a bank’s customer service centre will soon become the norm. Chatbots are already an industry standard, therefore at the very least, banks that don’t continue scaling this technology throughout their business will find themselves at a severe competitive disadvantage, trailing behind the market by delivering an inferior customer service experience.

Go beyond simple chatbots

Digital assistants with cognitive intelligence capabilities represent the next leap in automation for financial institutions. Digital colleagues like Amelia are now able to perform tasks above and beyond mere transactional ones, digitising more complex financial management processes such as wealth management onboarding and mortgage applications. Unlike simple chatbots, digital colleagues are also able to develop their cognitive abilities through an advanced Natural Language Interface (NLI) which can process customer queries asked in hundreds of different ways, including slang. More importantly for the banking industry, they can handle context switching so that when a customer moves quickly from one request to another, the interface is able to process both requests without starting over.

Many banks have already integrated voice capabilities into their finance management solutions. Customers communicate via text or voice to gain quick answers to banking questions, tailored financial advice and can even carry out transactions all from the same channel. Voice-enabled digital assistants can handle payments and transfers, credit card activation, charge disputes and travel alerts for customers at any time, freeing up customer services teams to focus on more complex customer enquiries and giving customers full control and access to their finances. Conversational AI will become more and more widely accepted as banks start to harness the technology to help drive customer engagement and operational efficiencies.

Sophisticated systems can recognise patterns from the sheer amount of data that they are processing. Thanks to these capabilities, businesses can easily find out the most common types of transactions by customers of a certain demographic and can then retarget this group for specific marketing or sales campaigns, helping to drive revenue.

Delivering better insights and improved security

Unlocking key business insights is another key driver motivating banks to invest in AI. Sophisticated systems can recognise patterns from the sheer amount of data that they are processing. Thanks to these capabilities, businesses can easily find out the most common types of transactions by customers of a certain demographic and can then retarget this group for specific marketing or sales campaigns, helping to drive revenue. These real time insights can help business leaders make better, more strategic decisions that are informed through concrete data.

Real-time data mining can also be applied to improve customer security as many AI tools have built-in privacy and security by design. An AI-powered virtual assistant can pick up on irregular payments immediately, flagging potential “phishers” to a human agent for additional authentication. What’s more, advanced machine learning solutions can improve over time so that banks can continue to scale up their services. Virtual assistants like Amelia can go one step further by ‘learning on the job.’ Essentially, when Amelia does not understand a request or query she can pass it on to a human colleague but remains in the conversation to learn how to resolve the issue next time.

The future of retail banking

The financial services industry has long been at the forefront of technological innovation. Whilst many businesses are still debating whether to invest in AI, major banks are very much leading the way to invest in the technology and are thriving as a result. As virtual assistants become increasingly more intelligent and their cognitive abilities develop, the expectations for banks and the services they offer will be elevated. Banks that rest on their laurels and refuse to acknowledge this risk falling behind permanently, particularly with the slew of challenger fintech companies that are appearing on the market, offering dynamic and tailored financial services at a lower price.

Below, Finance Monthly kicks off this week with Rob Brockington from Pipster on the ICO ‘train’ damaging the reputation of blockchain, one of industry 4.0s biggest innovations.

When the trading industry experienced the ICO boom in January this year, amongst all the excitement there was a huge increase in available Altcoins. This surge in brand-new tradable ‘coins’ and the demand for them changed the trading landscape. Crypto exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase, BiTFinex and Kraken enabled a world-wide audience gold-rushing to the next big Bitcoin. Each of these relatively new exchanges, ideally positioned to help facilitate the speculators and investors, became key players within a booming sector of the industry worth billions almost overnight.

As unregulated exchanges, obligations for risk-control and customer-care were literally non-existent. Basic KYC (Know Your Customer) procedure was limited if at all practiced, which meant that swarms of uneducated retail investors were throwing money into ‘Blockchain-related’ investments with reckless abandon. A significant proportion of investment was sunk not only within ‘coins’ and ‘tokens’ that were market-ready and currently traded but towards proposed altcoins and technologies that existed only in the form of a white-paper. Many naive consumers were effectively scammed by dodgy entities and classic bucket-shop/pyramid schemes. The press naturally reported on these shady dealings and outright theft, branding ICO’s as by-and-large dangerous and risky.

Compounding this matter, even the more reputable exchanges experienced hacks and security leaks, which dealt further damage to the credibility and investability of the legitimate blockchain-related businesses and ICO’s. In fairness most exchanges responded very quickly to clean up their act and develop their protocols. However as they weren’t and still remain unregulated in most parts of the world, local authorities and enforcement agencies have had to get involved. Naturally, ICO’s, cryptocurrency and subsequently other Blockchain-related investments came under greater scrutiny. But to blame blockchain technology for organisational failings in centralised exchanges or poorly structured white-paper proposals is missing the point. To use a simple analogy, you can’t blame the existence and manufacturers of knives for knife crime. But you can legislate for it (enforcing businesses not to sell to minors or youngsters without ID) and to raise awareness to aid and prevent further potential victims. Tricksters and thieves will always go where the money is and the authorities ain’t. Similar ponzi and pyramid schemes still exist in all other areas of massive investment, such as in property and stake-ownership. Timeshare anyone?! ICOs are simply a new medium for these criminals and we’d all do well not to make the mistake of placing the blame on the ideas and technology the industry is based upon.

So with this slew of new ICO’s popping up during the boom being largely scams, with no product or service promised ever materialising, the impact on trading has been significant, both institutionally and on a retail basis. Investor panic ensued causing a massive sell-off in crypto assets, which signalled the end to crypto’s first boom. Much of the media witnessing fingers getting burnt, but demonstrably uninformed on the technology, were quick to deem blockchain as an untrustworthy platform for transactions. Preferable only to those shady individuals and enterprises who demand anonymity over transparency. Unregulated over regulated.

The detrimental impact to the broader market of equity investments, fundraising and crowdfunding was immediate. ICO’s being unregulated allow companies to acquire huge amounts of capital with a successful campaign (Telegram being a prime example) while avoiding giving away real equity to their investors. Instead investors receive tokens/coins that can potentially be traded for products/services at a later date or sold for a higher value, which unfortunately few have to-date. All of the regulated procedures for funding and investing in companies that other businesses must adhere to are being effectively sidestepped. Given the opportunity to give away 0% of their company for say $40m, with a very good and well executed ICO - rather than use a regulated service such as Kickstarter or Crowdcube, to raise an arbitrarily capped value of either $1m USD or €5m EUR (where they have to give percentage of equity) is a no-brainer.

ICO’s have predominantly adopted a model of tokenizing a service to draw investment. This has resulted in companies having to come up with weird, wonderful and at times completely pointless ways of adding blockchain technology to a concept or service that already functions. There are hoards of people boasting about how blockchain will change the world. I believe it already has. The opportunists and bandwagoners creating an ICO for whatever ludicrous reason (like buying sports cars over blockchain) are only helping to detract from the true entrepreneurs who have fantastic and viable ideas that could help so many people, given the appropriate backing.

The nature of this sector is that the people interested in ICO’s are those also exposed and interested in blockchain or vice versa. I expect this will change and we’ll see a broader demographic of people trying to take blockchain out of these more-specialised circles. Still, with a majority of blockchain events flooded with ICO’s and their parade of questionable ideas and proposals, there’s a long way to go for the industry yet to root out the chancers. Whereas blockchain itself is being transformed and built upon around the world to create real next generation technology.

There are so many types of blockchain and utilisations of blockchain and these can be seen over a variety of coins/tokens already out there in the market. Further development of the tech and building the future of decentralised-data-exchange is the main aim. Unfortunately trading on the price of cryptocurrency using this technology is all that attracts a lot of newcomers to blockchain.

It’s down to the financial industry and government to rectify the damage caused to blockchain by ICO’s. Regulation will affect the exchanges that Altcoins are traded on and as soon as cryptocurrency is regulated, ICO’s will likely be taken in under that umbrella. Making it far more difficult for companies to secure the amount of money they have been accruing over the past few years. Hopefully regulation will serve to ‘cleanse’ the ICO industry of these shady dealers, and companies will not be able exploit naive investors and dissuade future potential investors. With regulation recognition and legitimacy will come, thus empowering blockchain technology to fulfil its potential and improve trading as well as society on the whole, as so many like I have promised it will.

A greater proportion of IT decision-makers in the financial/banking sector see key financial services regulations as a driver of innovation (34%) than regard them as a barrier to it (24%).

More than a third (34%) of IT decision-makers across the UK financial sector regard key financial services regulations such as PSD2 and FRTB as a driver of innovation within financial services organisations, while fewer than a quarter (24%) see them as a barrier to it. That is according to survey of IT decision-makers across a range of financial and banking sector organisations, including retail and investment banking, asset management, hedge funds and clearing houses.

The survey, commissioned by software vendor, InterSystems, also found that just 20% of these decision-makers believe their organisation is very well prepared for the roll-out of the new regulations.

Graeme Dillane, financial services manager, InterSystems said: “Historically, firms have responded in a piecemeal fashion by putting in place new siloed applications to meet the needs of each new ruling. The latest round of regulations raises the stakes by effectively demanding businesses break down their data silos, better integrate their data enterprise-wide, and analyse it in real time in the context of new event and transactional data. All of that makes it vital that organisations innovate now.”

To lay the foundations for innovation, firms need automated systems. Currently, however, automation levels are low. Just 21% of the sample said they had fully automated the processes they had put in place to meet regulatory and compliance demands. 33% said they had not automated them at all.

More positively, the survey indicates that IT decision-makers across this sector are aware of what needs to be done to change this. Nearly two thirds (66%) said that they expect innovative technology will have an important role to play in ensuring regulatory compliance for financial services businesses over the next five years.

“It’s clear that financial services businesses increasingly understand just how crucial it is to actively innovate in order to address the challenges presented by the latest industry regulations,” says Dillane, “and the good news is that we are starting to see evidence on the ground that they are seeking out new solutions to help ensure their compliance.”

(Source: InterSystems)

In today’s connected world, we are constantly bombarded with marketing messages. Whether it be social media posts, online blogs or direct mail, important customer communications are in danger of becoming lost among the digital noise. So how do financial institutions ensure that communications are impactful and capable of enhancing the customer experience? The answer, says Stephen Lester, of Paragon Customer Communications, lies in personalisation.

Make it personal

In our technologically advanced world, a global desire still exists for a personalised, ‘human’ approach to customer communications. This can be as simple as the barista who makes your morning coffee remembering that you always take a skinny latte, right through to adopting technological innovations to analyse customer behaviour in order to predict the outcome of a new communications campaign.

However, financial organisations without a digital communication strategy are in danger of being left behind – a recent study[1] predicts that by 2020, 85% of relationships between brands and customers will be conducted without human interactions.

One key strategy is to utilise innovation to personalise consumer messaging. At various stages of any customer journey there will be defining moments. If businesses can identify these and provide relevant, personalised, engaging content, this creates a positive emotional response from the customer, who is more likely to form a connection and consequently take action.

In fact, today’s tech-savvy consumers know that companies who provide financial services will inevitably hold a large amount of data on their behaviour and habits, and the expectation is that not only will it be stored securely, but will be used to build trust and make messages more relevant.

Adopting the latest technology can allow organisations to pinpoint how best to achieve this, identifying not only purchasing habits but also the best time to contact consumers and the most relevant format to use. The aim is to provide a seamless experience for individuals which shows that the provider understands them and knows what matters most.

Technology helps to join the dots

In the financial sector in particular, numerous opportunities exist to deliver relevant personalised communications through various channels and apps, providing a smarter, ‘joined up’ approach.

There is a growing choice of technology available to enable financial institutions to make the most of their customer interactions. Natural language processing, low disruption plug-and-play options, online and offline tracking and machine learning are among the innovations that can be adopted to achieve seamless customer interaction, from email coding to computer-assisted personal interviewing.

Communication programmes can be automated, with triggered responses built in to improve customer conversation, while data can be harvested from every interaction to profile best customers and optimise message delivery.

The challenge for many companies, though, is not if but how they will use the data they hold, and subsequently, which system will deliver the best results.

Data mining – the new gold

Utilising data and analytics to drive a communications strategy shows that organisations understand customers their needs, which in turn increases the chances of meaningful interaction.

Data can reveal a wealth of insights into customer preferences. It shows not only which products or services have been purchased by specific customers, but can be used to predict what may be of interest in the future, enabling better campaign targeting and more accurate predictions of outcomes.

However, the challenge for many lies in making sense of the wealth of data held; this can become even more daunting for those faced with a shortage of in-house digital skills. Understanding what is held and how best to use it can be central to creating a structured, single view of each customer, in order to facilitate the creation of a dynamic, personalised communications strategy.

Experts in data analysis can provide the most pertinent insight into data held, and then use it to create the most effective customer journeys.

The information retained must also have been collected and stored in full compliance of increasingly stringent data protection laws.

Recent high-profile data breaches and cyber-attacks have seen customer details such as names, addresses and even bank card numbers stolen or revealed. The companies involved now face significant financial penalties.

Turn to a trusted partner

Although knowing where to start with the latest technology can at first appear to be an overwhelming challenge, help is at hand. Despite a general perception that enlisting the services of a communications expert will be expensive, working with a trusted partner can actually save money, remove risks and provide a logical, agile approach that helps organisations stay abreast of ever-advancing technology.

Companies such as Paragon Customer Communications have invested millions of pounds in the very latest technology to maximise data capture, analyse customer behaviour and consequently deliver the most relevant, engaging messages.

In addition, businesses that need to distribute regulatory documents can partner with communications experts to meet all legislative requirements, optimise output and integrate printed documents with digital delivery.

Legal compliance is also assured – it is vital since the introduction of recent new legislation surrounding data collection and handling.

Case study

Paragon Customer Communications worked with one of the UK’s leading independent financial advisory and asset management specialists to distribute many thousands of FCA regulated documents.

Historically, the company – which has more than one million clients – issued the documents annually. Information contained within them included valuation statements, contract notes, tax vouchers and P60s. All print and mail was being produced in-house or using a variety of vendors; however, as the business expanded, the decision was made to investigate the benefits of outsourcing the work to a professional supplier specialising in transactional communications.

Paragon Customer Communications provided a reliable, safe and secure production platform. The company’s Secure Reliable Mailing technology (SRM) provided the peace of mind that all documents would be produced 100% correctly, with no duplications.

The solution deployed included:

• Same-day SLA print and mail service;
• Data processing solution consolidating documents going to the same customer into a single outer envelope;
• Postal optimisation to reduce postage prices;
• Digital e-archive solution;
• A cost reduction and document redesign programme was initiated.

As a result, the company made a six-figure saving on annual postage costs, with a further £75,000 cost reduction through improved efficiencies in data processing.

Client reporting was redesigned to present statements and asset information in full digital colour.

Paragon Customer Communications is one of the UK’s leading providers of digital communications, supporting customers’ transformations to digital formats. These range from developing relevant email campaigns to analysing customer data and weekly campaign reporting, allowing organisations to gain total control of their communication processes. The company helps more than half of the UK’s top wealth and asset managers connect with their customers.

[1] Gartner, https://www.gartner.com/imagesrv/summits/docs/na/customer-360/C360_2011_brochure_FINAL.pdf

Artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, and Cloud are no longer just buzzwords as enterprises globally are embracing all types of next-gen technology to drive significant business transformations. Blockchain, a more recent addition to the roster, fits within the same technology bracket and is poised to become a major disruptive force across all industries. However, despite emerging applications across supply-chain logistics, healthcare and FinTech that are promising ‘game-changing’ solutions leveraging the technology, to date, very few companies have been able to tap into the complete potential of blockchain.

The Growth of FinTech

Thanks to the rapid global proliferation of the Internet and coming of age of tech-savvy millennials, the marriage of technology and financial institutions has expanded from simple credit card and ATM transactions to online money transfers and payments. In fact, the FinTech industry has already staked its claim in adapting emerging technologies such as wireless payments and AI-enabled chatbots.

Leveraging these next-gen technologies to complete traditional financial transactions, such as money transfers and loan applications has resulted in many consumers looking to deal with FinTechs over traditional banks. Their ability to promptly, securely and successfully complete transactions have helped build customer trust over time. With the continued improvement in security and privacy measures backed by new technologies such as blockchain, the ‘trust quotient’ in the financial services industry is bound to rise manifold. Looking ahead, 77% of financial institutions are expected to adopt blockchain by 2020, according to PwC’s 2017 Global FinTech Report.

What is Blockchain?

Oftentimes incorrectly used interchangeably with the term Bitcoin, blockchain is actually a distributed ledger that is capable of maintaining an ever-growing list of records. Although it resembles a spreadsheet like Excel, there are certain unique features that set blockchain apart from traditional databases:
• Decentralised: Blockchain promotes a decentralised system where data is distributed across several servers. Its lack of a single authority makes the system fair and more secure.
• Immutable: Blockchain is a tamper-free environment. It has immutable and irreversible records that do not permit changes once a ‘block’ is written. Only new records can be written.

These key benefits make blockchain a vital tool in building trust between businesses and customers, which is especially critical in the financial services industry, by providing access to accurate data from retail banking to investment banking to insurance.

How Blockchain Helps Build Trust

In the digital era, the rate at which consumers adopt next-gen technology is among the top growth metrics for the FinTech industry; however, FinTechs face big challenges in generating trust among consumers. This is where blockchain comes into the picture. In a complete shift from how traditional banks operate - where customers have little to no insights into their banks’ operations and processes, blockchain maintains its data in a centralised repository. This shifts the ‘power’ into the hands of the consumer, effectively cutting out intermediaries and ensuring complete transparency in all transactions.

Blockchain provides companies with access to a decentralised network where they can share information in a secure environment that guarantees unalterable data transfers and ensures an agreement of obligations from both parties when processing a transaction. In addition, it simplifies financial services, such as money transfers, loan applications, and mobile payments, something that every customer yearns for in terms of augmenting their overall experience.

Ensuring the accurate authentication and authorisation of every customer and transaction is another big challenge for FinTechs when it comes to establishing trust. Blockchain technology makes these functions, as well as identity management, a lot simpler and more convenient by enabling users to choose the mode of identity and with whom they want to share it while registering. The information is then stored on a secure decentralised network, with user-only access to alter it. This helps FinTech companies save on paperwork and data servers.

Blockchain Applications in FinTech

Cross-Border Payments

Cross-border money transfers can be expensive and slow due to complex procedures. Blockchain technology is able to simplify, speed up, and make cross-border payments less expensive. Peer-to-peer transactions cut out the ‘middlemen’, resulting in faster and less expensive transactions. In fact, blockchain also helps lower the remittance costs on the total transfer amount from about 20% to a mere 3%.

Smart Contracts

Smart Contracts are arguably one of the most promising applications of blockchain in the FinTech industry. They are nothing but computer programs developed to verify or enforce agreements. These contractual clauses are either partially or fully self-executing or self-enforcing. Smart Contracts using blockchain help in recording information on a shared ledger, making it an unquestionable digital proof, thus empowering everyone from regulators to individual artists and authors with strong security features, a lowered risk of internal hacking, and the prevention of plagiarism of work by intermediaries.

Share Trading

Share trading involves several third parties, such as brokers and the stock exchange. This makes the clearing and settlement process time-consuming and cumbersome with multiple stages and bureaucracy to navigate that can take up to three working days to complete. The decentralised nature of blockchain technology, however, helps remove the unnecessary intermediaries and optimise the whole lifecycle of the trade by enhancing trade accuracy, speeding up the settlement process, and reducing risks.

Trade Financing

Trade financing – financial activities related to commerce and international trade – involves lots of tedious paperwork and bureaucracy, making the process highly time-consuming and risky. Blockchain-based trade financing helps overcome these bottlenecks, streamlining the process. It eliminates the need for participants to maintain a personal database of documents as well as the risk of an error in one document being duplicated to its copies by creating a single digital document that contains all the necessary information. Blockchain also supports real-time updating of the document, which ensures all members have access to the most up-to-date information at all times.

Happily Ever After: FinTechs and Blockchain

In today’s increasingly digitised world, there is a growing need for a bridge between new technologies and financial institutions in order for the industry to meet the demands of consumers who want a convenient yet safe and secure way to complete their financial transactions. Blockchain has the ability to build that bridge and FinTechs leveraging this new technology will reap the rewards of an exponentially increasing customer base.

With the support of a trusted service delivery partner with experienced customer service agents who can knowledgeably address questions and concerns about blockchain, these new FinTech kids on the financial block are poised to take on traditional banks.

About Neeraj Sabharwal
Neeraj Sabharwal, Director of Cloud and Big Data Solutions at Xavient Digital - powered by TELUS International, has more than 15 years of experience in the next-gen technology industry, helping customers derive incremental value from their data. He is a true data enthusiast and enjoys writing his popular blog and regularly contributes to articles as a member of the Forbes Tech Council.

About Xavient Digital - powered by TELUS International
Xavient Digital is a US-based provider of digital IT solutions and software services, headquartered in California with offices throughout the United States and an international network of delivery centers. Xavient Digital leverages its global footprint to deploy the best talent, time to market and cost optimisation benefits for its customers. Xavient Digital’s corecompetencies are in digital transformation stacks and full lifecycle IT services across telecom, media, BFSI and consumer technology verticals.

Learn more at:

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What are really the concerns, risks or benefits of incoming Brexit changes? Below Finance Monthly hears from Todd Latham, CMO & Head of Product, Currencycloud, who explains what’s truly rocking the fintech sector.

Am I the only one who has had enough of all the “Brexit is coming; the UK is doomed” headlines dominating the news?

The truth is, no one can really know what impact Brexit will have. Combine this uncertainty with the fast pace of modern business, and you might be tempted to throw your ten year plans out of the window.

Should businesses really be worried? Or are there, in fact, more pressing things to be concerned about?

The concerns

The main concern for the fintech industry post-Brexit is that the UK is going to lose its fintech crown, becoming less attractive to both business and workers. Will companies migrate their head offices to the continent? Will the world’s top talent still want to work in the UK? These are the questions keeping some of our fintech leaders awake at night. In reality, contrary to what the scaremongers would have you believe, the fintech industry in the UK is thriving, with firms attracting close to £3bn in venture capital funding in 2017. At Currencycloud, for example, we are expecting to double in size this year, and we had our first ‘billion-dollar month’ in terms of cross-border payments processed in December 2017.

Despite the rocky political times, it’s clear that the strength of fintechs means they are unlikely to be deterred. In addition, our home talent pool is impressive, and many industry essentials are exclusive to the UK. Whether it’s specialised legal firms, a friendly regulatory environment or something as basic as the time zone, there are many factors that are difficult for other nations to replicate, meaning the influx of job seekers to the UK’s fintech sector is unlikely to be affected.

But unfortunately, Brexit will not be all plain sailing. The regulatory and financial hurdles surrounding the loss of passporting will certainly result in logistical challenges for firms operating out of the UK. However, it’s important to see this as just another bump in the road for the fintech industry – no more so than previous obstacles from regulation and investment.

What is clear is that in this volatile business climate, predicting what effect Brexit will have in the future is a minefield of speculation, and ultimately, a waste of time. Instead of worrying about the what-if’s, the sector should be diverting its attention to a regulation that is affecting the industry right now: open banking.

Open banking – The fintech revolution nobody knows about

Open banking, part of the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) requirements, is aimed at increasing opportunity in the sector, as fintech companies can now offer traditional banking services – but with a faster, more seamless and exciting user experience.

Fintechs can provide the fresh ideas and agility the banking sector desperately needs, while capitalising on the customer trust and ability to scale the traditional institutions’ offerings. The regulation also ensures that any third party wishing to have access to customer data is subject to greater regulation in accordance to data protection laws - providing a safety net for businesses and customers.

A potential partnership between UK banks and fintechs, if executed correctly, could see a global revolution of the financial industry, and could lend a hand in securing the UK’s place as a top competitor in the market - regardless of EU status.

Innovate – before it is too late

As well as being a safety net for businesses, the key reason open banking is being hailed a monumental change for the fintech and wider financial sector is because it is enabling innovation in a previously stale market and is creating opportunities for fintechs to capitalise on.

In this age of AI and machine learning, customers have grown to expect a level of personalisation, which the traditional banking industry currently lacks as is shown by growing customer interest in alternative banking methods, such as Revolut, Starling and Monzo.

Open banking presents an opportunity for the sector to respond to these customer demands by tailoring traditional banking services to individual customer’s needs and wants. This could be through things such as detailed spending graphs or gamification techniques such as nudging for improved user behaviour.

Although the benefits are clear, this drive for innovation has created a pressured environment for businesses. Our research found that 49% of businesses believe their offer will lose appeal within just two years from launch and 60% of businesses agree that their companies will eventually become irrelevant if they don’t innovate constantly. Working with external organisations could offer businesses a solution to bridging the gap between idea and action. This is where the partnership between banks and fintech could be beneficial for both parties.

Brexit may, or may not, have an impact on where consumers bank down the line – but fintechs should be focusing their attention on the possibilities in the market now. By investing the time and energy on open banking, the fintech sector could have the public shunning high-street bank branches for AI and robo-advisers sooner than we think.

Change is happening – be it political, regulatory or otherwise – but you must determine which change will have the most impact on your individual business. With all the focus on Brexit, it’s easy to understand why less consideration has been given to the impact of open banking regulation. However, perhaps this is where you should be diverting your attention, as the opportunities are endless. As more and more fintech companies are jumping on the bandwagon, the initiative is picking up momentum and, we believe it will soon transform the banking industry as we know it.

Last week TSB lost around 16,000 customers following a serious IT meltdown. This event serves as a display to how important customer service and customer experience are in the commercial banking sector.

In light of TSB’s recent customer service blunder, Jonny Davis, vice-president of global client management partnerships at Fraedom, comments on how banks can enhance their solutions and services delivery.

The TSB story should serve as a reminder of the importance of customer service and the customer experience. Times have changed – businesses have more choice in who they bank with and can switch banks relatively easily, as we have seen from TSB’s customer losses. In this day and age, it’s unacceptable for banks to have faults on this scale.

Over the last decade, customers have come to expect more from their banks, largely thanks to technological innovation which provides seamless mobile transactions, generally responsive customer service and fast transaction times. These services are now seen as a given and banks, whether consumer or commercial, falling short of these expectations is seen as a failure. With ever-growing customer expectation banks must adapt or innovate in these changing times.

A recent survey conducted by Fraedom found that account management and customer service are priorities for 71% of commercial clients. Ultimately, people want more from their banks and this often means more automation, a focus on online banking and a more personalised service. Customers are looking for the banking system to change and up their game when it comes to customer service. In fact, we discovered that 95% of commercial banking clients want their providers to supply the same aggregated account views and real-time transactional information that their personal apps do. This is one area where commercial banks must innovate to keep up with customer expectations.

The recent development and adoption of technology within the banking sector has certainly given way to an increase in our expectations, as consumers, both in the personal and commercial sphere. We have now come to realise that we can do more and more without ever having to step foot inside a bank or even talk to another human being – and we now expect it. With more than 70% of consumers willing to receive computer-generated banking advice according to Accenture, this is a great way for banks to offer the 24/7 service customers have come to expect. Nowadays, customers see no reason for an adherence to ‘office hours’ when chatbots can provide a solution to this thanks to their 24/7 availability and intelligent access to customer information.

Chatbots are just one area in which banks can innovate beyond the basic banking apps to provide a better customer experience, with other areas including biometrics, security and AI. For instance, banks can provide an added value service by incorporating AI into their existing services for spend analysis or risk identification. This would raise banking services above the level of a commodity, improving brand consideration and customer loyalty and cementing their relationships with clients.

TSB’s experience should be a lesson to its peers about the power of their customers. If customers aren’t happy with the service they are being provided, then it is highly likely they will take their banking elsewhere. It’s therefore up to banks to innovate and use technology to provide faster, safer and more intuitive solutions for their customers.

For almost three quarters (73%) of financials services leaders, customers are the main driving force behind their company’s digital transformation, however fear of failure is holding back the implementation of digital projects, with almost three quarters of financials services leaders put off by the costs of failed projects. This comes as no surprise, as seven-in-10 admit to cancelled projects in the last two years, according to Fujitsu’s Digital Transformation PACT Report.

“Financial services firms are under pressure from their customers to deliver greater speed, convenience and personalisation, as well as better customer services,” said Ian Bradbury, CTO Financial Services at Fujitsu UK & Ireland. “Digital transformation is certainly a key strategy in helping banks and insurers achieve this, however, despite the sector going from strength to strength, financial sector firms have undertaken unsuccessful projects and lost money. This has made them nervous about deploying new projects. But we feel that success can be born out of previous unsuccessful projects, as previous failures allow organisations to learn. In an ever-changing market, there is no such thing as permanent success. Organisations must continuously improve, learning from their mistakes along the way.”

Even though over four-in-five (87%) have a clearly defined digital strategy, almost three quarters (73%) admit that their digital transformation projects often aren’t linked to the overarching business strategy. But is this the sole reason UK financial services leaders can’t get to grips with their digital projects?

Realising a digital vision is not just about having the right technology. In order to successfully digitally transform, this research highlights four strategic elements businesses must focus on: People, Actions, Collaboration and Technology – the Digital PACT.

1. People

While admitting to a problematic skills gap – especially as 80% believe the lack of skills within the business is the biggest hindrance to addressing cybersecurity – it is encouraging to see that over nine-in-10 believe they have a culture of innovation within their organisation. Despite this believe, 87% believe that fear of failure is a hindrance to digital transformation projects. There is therefore a long way to go for financial services companies to truly transform their culture to thrive on innovation. As UK financial services firms are taking measures to increase their access to digital skills and expertise (93%), four-in-five believe attracting ‘digitally native’ staff will be vital to their firms’ success in the next three years, as well as turning towards targeted recruitment (72%) and apprenticeships (50%) to support digital transformation.

2. Actions

Although having the right processes, attitudes and behaviours within the organisation to ensure digital projects are successful are seen as the least important of the four key elements of digital transformation, 87% are taking specific measures to support collaboration on digital innovation and over two-in-five (43%) are creating networks for employees to share expertise across the business.

3. Collaboration

Over a quarter (28%) of UK financial services leaders believe collaboration is an important element in realising the company’s digital strategy. While almost four-in-five (78%) turn to technology experts for co-creation, 67% go as far as seeking consultancy and training from start ups and organisations outside their industry.

4. Technology

Many organisations are already leveraging new technology that will radically change the way they do business. A fifth of financial services leaders believe implementing technology will be the most important factor to realising their digital strategy, with cloud computing and big data and analytics playing a key role in helping drive the financial success of their organisations over the next 10 years.

Bradbury continues: “Historically, financial services firms have been cautious when it comes to innovation. They are working under strict regulations and the very nature of what they do, means that a radical digital transformation project could have a detrimental impact on people’s lives – for example, negatively impacting access to bank accounts or making insurance claims. But this shouldn’t hinder innovation across the sector. Quite the opposite – with the help of external expertise and willingness to implement digital transformation, we can be soon pleasantly surprised at a revamp of the industry. Change doesn’t always come naturally, but the financial sector understands what’s at stake, with 86% admitting that the ability to change will be crucial for the business’ survival in the next five years.”

(Source: Fujitsu)

A traditional industry like finance and accounting doesn’t often go through many changes. However, with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and automation, technology is having – and will continue to have – a huge impact on every business; changing the way people work within an organisation. And, finance departments are not exempt from this change. Below Andy Bottrill, Regional VP at BlackLine, discusses the future of finance and accounting with Finance Monthly.

Whether finance departments like it or not, technology is going to become part of the accounting process. And despite 71% of workers admitting to still using spreadsheets to manually carry out month-end tasks, 80% of businesses are expected to be ready to adopt AI by 2020.

So why should today’s accountants look forward to, and not fear, the future and technology?

Automating Admin

Companies have already reported that 75% of intercompany transactions are automated, and this is only set to increase over the next 10 years; with 45% of individuals predicting invoicing will cease to exist by 2030.

Although the prospect of investing in automation may seem negative to many accountants at face value, they need to consider the long term benefits it can bring.

Workers must realise that technology will actually positively impact them. For example, removing mundane tasks such as admin data entry – automation can do this far quicker than a human, with a much higher accuracy rate. Using this technology, accountants are seeing manual admin tasks disappear, giving them time back to do tasks of greater value, such as financial analysis.

Augmenting the Accountant

A large concern around the future of finance and accounting is that robots will result in redundancies. But many fail to realise technology won’t wipe out jobs, but instead augment existing roles.

In 10 years’ time, the accountant we know today will no longer exist and instead, an accountant with a completely new skillset will have evolved. Technology is transforming employees’ roles, allowing them to transition from accountants who report last month’s numbers to reporters and analysts who deliver real-time data and predictive analytics.

Removing mundane tasks from day-to-day activities frees up time for more rewarding tasks in the finance department and others that require help – augmenting accountancy roles. Having the opportunity to work in other departments or take on other areas of expertise augments the skillset that accountants have.

Augmenting the accountant role in this way not only boosts job prospects within the workplace, but makes employees much more employable in the future.  Making it an opportunity accountants should embrace.

Removing bad habits

Many organisations pride themselves on “best practices”, and don’t stray away from what they have always known. Sometimes, however, adhering to outdated traditional processes can do more harm than good and that is seen within the finance department.

Financial departments are known more than any to practice the phrase “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. However, technology is changing this and removing these somewhat bad habits from day-to-day tasks and instead replacing them with new “best practices” through the use of technology.

Efficient Processing

Amid the personal benefits technology can bring to businesses, the practical savings are just as important – especially for C-suite level executives.

Imagine it’s the year 2028. The CEO questions the finance department on the likelihood of being able to acquire a desirable start up. In response, the CFO brings up real-time figures on her iPad and analyses them with her team to evaluate the potential options. She then emails the CEO their forecast: the business can afford to put in a competitive offer.

And while this evaluation is happening, the machine learning programme installed in the finance department has spotted and flagged a suspicious transaction that looks like possible fraud. The team are able to investigate this straight away, instead of waiting for auditors to discover it. Through this continuous accounting, businesses gain better insights and minimise mistakes.

Increased Sector Reputation

Whilst it’s important to look forward to the internal benefits technology will bring, it is equally important to understand the external impact.

When it comes to quarterly reporting, many finance departments have been scrutinised for incorrect data. But the technology available to finance departments today is helping reduce, if not eliminate, this from happening.

By using real-time data analysis, automation and machine learning businesses can reduce the number of reconciliations required and decrease the margin of error. As a result, more accurate financial results and closing data is produced.

This not only increases the reputation for individual businesses, but for the sector as a whole. Instead, accountants can promote their profession in a positive light. As businesses look to be the best in their industry, enhancing reputation is critical – and technology can certainly help do that.

One of the hottest and most contentious issues facing banks today is how and when to utilise Artificial Intelligence (AI) within a business. AI has transformed many industries and consumers everywhere are becoming increasingly used to the idea of driverless cars, conversational chatbots and suggestive recommendation services.

While AI is relatively new in the financial industry, there are significant concerns and limitations that banks must get their heads around. For example, there is much fear surrounding the integration of AI in workplaces as people believe it will result in job losses and ‘robots’ ruling the world. Even the Bank of England has expressed concern, with their Chief Economist predicting a disruptive fallout from the rise of AI that could make many jobs obsolete.

But when applied in the right way, AI can bring endless opportunities, taking away tedious tasks and amplifying what we do as humans. Tanmaya Varma tells us more.

 Where does AI fit?

Discerning how best to use AI, without alienating customers or employees, is a complex issue. Within the finance sector, AI is already being implemented to support with tasks such as fraud detection and management, and credit card and loan risk assessments. JPMorgan Chase, for example, uses image recognition software to analyse legal banking documents. It is efficient and accurate, extracting information and clauses in seconds compared to the 360,000 hours it takes to manually review 12,000 annual commercial credit agreements. This sort of capability could transform the lives of many banking employees as they will no longer be consumed by administrative tasks but can focus on value-added roles instead.

AI is perfectly suited to many straight-forward roles within customer experience. As much as 98% of all customer interactions are simple queries and bots can be used to monitor and streamline these engagements. For example, RBS’s chatbot ‘Luvo’ has the ability to respond to basic customer queries; and can therefore reduce the need for as many customer service employees.

Over the last couple of years, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase and Charles Schwab have introduced robo-advisers that are able to manage investments, collect financial data and use predictive analytics to anticipate changes in the stock market. While some employees are concerned about competing with this technology, we’re already seeing the use of bionic advisers in the finance sector. These combine machine calculations and human insight to provide a more efficient and comprehensive analysis, whilst also still maintaining the superior customer service clients have come to expect from their financial adviser.

The robots’ limitations

AI has such great potential but there is still one key thing missing – emotional intelligence (or EI) and when customers are involved, this really matters. Where a bank might pay less for a fully automated interaction, the justification for paying more for the human touchpoint is the real value of emotional intelligence, something that computers can’t really provide… yet.

Responding to the emotional cues that your customer displays is an extremely important part of a business relationship, and the ability to read and comprehend these signals plays a huge part in tailoring the customer experience. The big challenge for banks now that chatbots are so readily available is to consider when and where this key human trait is required.

Chatbots can’t easily detect a shift in tone or tension in a conversation and aren’t able to quickly appease a customer. For example, while a robo-adviser is great for an inexpensive and basic service, the issue comes when you have a more unique or sensitive financial situation such as debt or divorce. In this sort of more complex circumstance, a human adviser is perfectly positioned to respond to the nuances of the conversation.

Collaboration is key

There is a great opportunity for AI to go hand-in-hand with human employees - chatbots can be used to streamline the experience, deal with straightforward customers and put more complex enquiries through to the most suitable team member. In this way, banks can bring humans and technology together to provide a superior customer service.

Another example of AI working in tandem with human employees is Relationship Intelligence technology. With thousands of contacts on a database, no adviser can possibly be expected to remember what stage each customer interaction is at and build strong relationships with all of them. Instead, AI can provide insights into who your prospects are, which ones are most beneficial to pursue and when the right time to get in touch is. It can instantly make available information and data from all over the internet about any potential prospect from just a name and email address.

As technology advances, banks are having to walk a fine line between looking for cost-saving efficiencies and smarter ways of working, while ensuring their customers continue to receive excellent and personal service. They also do not want to alienate their workforce and create panic that long-standing staff are slowly being replaced by robots. AI can offer a lot but it doesn’t have the human’s ability to build and maintain vital relationships and collaboration between technology and humans is key here. The successful adoption of AI in the workplace is the issue and opportunity of the moment and one that banks will be contemplating for years to come.