DATA SECURITY BANKING TECHNOLOGY
Staying relevant in the digital age The financial services sector in the Middle East region is abuzz with talk and activity on digitalization strategies including Open Banking and its regulation, digital payments, customer digital journey and how banks can develop robust customer acquisition and engagement
T
he outbreak of the COVID19 pandemic created some exceptional challenges for all industries, but it created unique opportunities especially in the financial service sector by accelerating and strengthening the transition towards digital banking at unprecedented speeds. No function, service, or department seems immune to the wave. The financial services sector in Middle East region is abuzz with talk and activity on digitalization strategy including Open Banking and its regulation, digital payments, customer digital journey and how banks can develop robust customer acquisition and engagement. This year’s edition of Fintech SURGE, which is being held under the theme ‘The Global Hotspot Accelerating The Fintech Movement, and is running parallel to the 41 st edition of GITEX Technology Week 2021 is showcasing the latest
40
developments in the financial services sector from digital banking to paytech, insurtech and wealth management. The event, which counts MEAFinance among its backers, will see some of the financial industry’s biggest technology revolutionaries and host trail blazing talks. Following the outbreak of coronavirus, digital payments volumes in the GCC region soared to record highs, generating, by some estimates as much as 10 years’ worth of growth in the adoption and deployment of technology and digitisation across B2C, B2B, and P2P spaces in just over 12 months. “Payment services providers including banks are leveraging on these adoption rates as an impetus to accelerate digital projects, but significant challenges and risks remain,” said PwC. Apart from payments, the pandemic brought about more than a decade worth of changes in the way banks do business in just a few months. According to KPMG,
Banking and Finance news in the MEA market
“With 80% of revenue growth predicted to come from digital offerings and operations over the next three years, financial services providers should continue transforming their operating models and investing in key enablers such as integrated cloud platforms, agile ways of working, intelligent automation, AI, blockchain, and advanced data and analytics.” In wealth management and private banking, COVID-19 is driving pre-existing trends by changing the way wealth managers deliver advice and serve their high-net-worth individual (HNWI) clients. BlackRock said coronavirus is accelerating digitization of processes and c lient propos i t ion s, a sh ift towards centralized portfolio and risk management amid increasing focus on responsible investing while emphasizing the role of wealth managers in supporting socio-economic ecosystems. Similarly, though insurance has lagged other sectors in digitalizing its core business and embracing customer experience-led approaches, InsurTech is expected to revolutionize the industry. Insurers are leveraging how technology is deeply embedded in people’s lives by weaving technologies into their product and service offerings, and how they are delivered to customers.
Digital banking The current operating environment for financial services providers in the Middle East is putting to the test their digital
