Digital Finance - driving force for the banking industry

Digitalization is radically transforming the banking industry, enabling new products, services and business models. This transformation will take time to complete, forcing banks to act now and embrace new technologies for a sustainable business strategy.

2018-03-29 13:13:21 - From the Print Edition

As more and more people engage with the new technologies, it is changing nearly every business model. Customer onboarding and engagement, underwriting and risk management, billing and claims - all these areas are being changed by the digital innovations.

The new wave comes with the power of innovation; the digital transformation of the financial industries is one of the key challenges ahead - and certainly a big opportunity for the industries to renew themselves.

As 2018 unfolds, financial services firms must address the twin challenge of delivering digital transformation wins for their organizations while ensuring compelling digital experiences for their customers and employees.

Piraeus Bank: We explore the video interaction with the customer for selling products and services

Digital Finance is and will continue to be a major driving force for the Banking Industry, according to Cosmin Rogojanu, Head of Project Management at Piraeus Bank Romania.

"As we see around us so many people using their smartphones all day long, this is the place for any product/service offering, marketing, selling and servicing," he told The Diplomat-Bucharest. "This is not just because it is the way life is today, but because so much time can be saved for both the Customer and the Bank. Digital finance will grow until it will replace a major part of what we understand today as Banking. This growth will also potentially disrupt the current hierarchies, if major differences of approach emerge among banks. One more visionary point regarding digital life: enhanced reality may play an interesting role in explaining to customers the use of products and services and potential future impact in their financial plans."

According to Rogojanu, the cost of delivering digital financial services is a major challenge: "Not only because this means that important amounts of money and resources need to be used in order to go digital, but also because banks are hugely regulated and therefore the resistance met by a bank to go digital is much more than for a fintech, who may play at the border (much like ride-sharing apps play at the border of transportation services). The second challenge is finding the right niche, the specific pool of customers to be reached. Countries, regions, cities are all different in assimilating the digital services. The third challenge is obtaining and keeping the right mix of resources, open mindedness, experts in their areas, visionary and creative, to support the race toward digital."

Rogojanu sees a good potential in digital payments and financial services and said Piraeus Bank invested a lot of effort into bringing as many digital services as possible on the market: "We started this effort two years ago and we expect to see continuous growth in this direction. We explore video interaction with the customer for selling products and services, we put to work robots for routine activities and even to talk with the clients, and we plan to reach the clients as much as possible on their smartphones."
In his opinion, with the current trend of overregulation, the future of digital is with those who play at the edge. "The standard Banks will survive in specific pockets or only the biggest will have the resources to keep going on," Rogojanu concluded.

* Part of the Digital Finance feature from the print edition