FUTURE OF FINTECH - KEYNOTE (FINANCIAL BRAND FORUM - 2022)

Summary

Jeremy Cueno, Director at Jumo, discusses the future of fintech in a post-pandemic world, emphasizing Africa's leapfrogging in mobile tech despite infrastructural gaps. He explores the acceleration of digital transformation, the rebundling of financial services for customer convenience, and the rise of 'fintech as a service'. Cueno also delves into emerging technologies like Web 3.0, DAOs, AI, digital twins, and the metaverse, predicting their impact on financial services. He concludes by highlighting the importance of a customer-centric approach and preparing the workforce for an AI-driven future.

Takeaways

• 🌏 Jeremy Cueno, the Forum Country Operations Director at Jumo, speaks from Ghana, highlighting the rapid tech adoption in Africa due to fewer legacy systems and less to lose.
• 📱 The mobile revolution in Africa has provided more access to mobile phones than basic amenities like toilets or water, indicating a significant leapfrog in technology.
• 🔮 Looking at the past can inform the future of fintech; the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic both accelerated digital transformation in financial services.
• 💡 Technology is an enabler, not the end goal, with the focus being on customer-centric strategies that provide value and convenience.
• 🚀 The pace of disruption is accelerating, with innovations achieving mass adoption much faster than in the past, as illustrated by the rapid success of apps like Pokemon Go.
• 👨‍💼 The future of fintech may involve a rebundling of financial services into super apps like WeChat, offering a comprehensive suite of services for convenience.
• 🌐 Fintech as a Service (FaaS) is emerging, similar to AWS in tech, providing a suite of fintech services through a single API to facilitate global scaling.
• 🌟 Web 3.0 represents the next generation of the internet with technologies like edge computing, the semantic web, and blockchain aiming to create a more intelligent and interconnected web.
• 🤖 Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly important in financial services, with applications ranging from chatbots to digital twins, which are AI-powered replicas of physical entities.
• 🌐 The metaverse, an extension of reality including VR, AR, and MR, presents new opportunities for financial services in a digital world where virtual assets and currencies are common.
• 🔧 Preparing for the future workforce involves pivoting around AI, upskilling staff, and creating roles that align with the new skills needed for a digitally-driven work environment.

Q & A

What is Jeremy Cueno's current position and where is he located?

Jeremy Cueno is the Country Operations Director at Jumo, a fintech company, and he is located in West Africa, specifically in Ghana.

How many territories does Jumo have a presence in across Africa?

Jumo is present in six territories across Africa, starting from South Africa to East Africa and including Ghana.

What is the main topic Jeremy Cueno will discuss during his presentation?

Jeremy Cueno will discuss the future of fintech in a post-pandemic world, focusing on technological disruption and its implications.

What does Jeremy mean by 'leapfrogging technology' in the context of Africa?

Leapfrogging technology refers to the phenomenon where African countries adopt newer technologies without having to go through the older stages of technological development, due to having less legacy infrastructure to maintain or replace.

What is the significance of the mobile revolution in Africa according to the transcript?

The mobile revolution in Africa has resulted in more people having access to mobile phones than basic amenities like toilets or water, indicating a significant shift towards digital solutions and a potential for rapid technological adoption.

What is the 'rebundling' of financial services and why is it happening?

Rebundling refers to the process of combining various financial services into a single platform or service to save time, money, and provide convenience to customers. It is happening as a response to the fragmented customer experience caused by the unbundling of financial services by fintechs.

What is 'Fintech as a Service' and how does it help businesses scale globally?

Fintech as a Service (FaaS) is a model where fintech services are provided to businesses through APIs and integrations, similar to how AWS provides cloud services. It helps businesses scale globally by handling operational fintech expansion issues, allowing businesses to focus on their core operations without worrying about local regulations or setting up local entities.

What is the potential impact of Web 3.0 on the financial services industry?

Web 3.0, with its bundle of technologies like blockchain, AI, and 3D graphics, is expected to usher in a more intelligent and immersive internet experience. In financial services, it could lead to innovations like decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), which could offer transparency, security, and efficiency in financial transactions.

What is a 'Digital Twin' in the context of AI and financial services?

A Digital Twin is a digital replica of a physical product, process, or service. In the context of AI and financial services, a digital human or digital colleague is a human-like AI-powered character designed for interaction with people, potentially offering personalized services and a human touch in digital experiences.

How does Jeremy Cueno envision the metaverse impacting the future of financial services?

Jeremy Cueno envisions the metaverse as a continuation of the trend towards digital and virtual interactions in financial services. It could enable new ways of customer engagement, staff training, and the management of virtual assets and currencies, requiring financial institutions to adapt and create strategies for this new environment.

What is the recommended approach for businesses to prepare for the future of AI and technology as discussed in the script?

The recommended approach includes executing pilot projects to test AI applications, building an in-house AI team, providing broad AI training to existing staff, developing an AI strategy aligned with organizational goals, and over-communicating these initiatives to gain senior leadership buy-in.

Outlines

00:00

🌏 Introduction to Jeremy and the African Fintech Perspective

Jeremy Cueno, the Forum Country Operations Director at Jumo, begins the discussion from Ghana, West Africa. He highlights Jumo's fintech presence across six African territories, emphasizing Africa's propensity to leapfrog technology due to fewer legacy systems. Jeremy suggests that the continent's experience with mobile technology, despite lacking basic amenities, positions it to embrace future fintech disruptions. He sets the stage for a talk on the future of fintech post-pandemic, referencing Brett King's advice on futurism and the importance of learning from the past to predict the future.

05:01

🔮 The Future of Fintech and the Pace of Disruption

Jeremy discusses the acceleration of digital transformation in the financial sector, spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, which acted as a catalyst for change. He uses the 'time traveler's dilemma' analogy to illustrate the difficulty of predicting future technologies and their impact, such as cybercrime and the internet's role in business. The talk emphasizes the rapid pace of innovation and the need for businesses to adapt quickly to remain relevant, with examples of how new technologies can achieve mass adoption in record time.

10:02

🤖 Envisioning 2042: A Day in the Life with Digital Twins

The script presents a futuristic scenario set in 2042, where a person's day is managed by a 'digital twin'—a digital replica that handles transactions, meetings, and even health appointments. This vision includes interactions with non-fungible tokens (NFTs), smart contracts, and integrated financial services, suggesting a reality where digital and human interactions are seamlessly blended. The audience is left to consider whether this is a plausible future and what it means for the financial industry.

15:03

🔄 Rebundling and the Evolution of Financial Services

Jeremy explores the concept of 'rebundling' in financial services, where the fragmented customer experience due to multiple fintech apps leads to a consolidation of services for convenience. He draws parallels with WeChat's 'super app' model in China, predicting a global shift towards integrated financial ecosystems. The talk also introduces 'fintech as a service' (FTaaS), comparing it to Amazon Web Services, as a means for businesses to scale efficiently by leveraging technology platforms.

20:04

🌐 Web 3.0 and the Next Generation of Internet Technologies

The discussion shifts to Web 3.0, portrayed as a suite of technologies promising a more intelligent and immersive internet experience. Jeremy outlines the evolution from Web 1.0 to 2.0, leading to Web 3.0, which incorporates edge computing, the semantic web, blockchain, AI, and 3D graphics. He highlights the potential of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) within this ecosystem, emphasizing their ability to operate transparently and efficiently without centralized control.

25:04

🤖 Artificial Intelligence and the Digital Transformation of Finance

Jeremy delves into the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in fintech, from chatbots and personalized wealth management insights to fraud detection. He introduces the concept of 'digital twins' in the financial sector, which are AI-powered replicas of physical entities, processes, or services. The potential of digital humans or colleagues is showcased, offering a blend of digital interaction with a human touch, suggesting a future where AI enhances customer service and experience.

30:04

🌐 The Metaverse: Redefining Digital Interaction and Financial Services

The script discusses the metaverse as the next frontier of the internet, encompassing extended reality technologies like VR, AR, and MR. Jeremy explains how these technologies can transform customer interactions and financial services, enabling immersive experiences and new ways to engage with digital assets and currencies. The metaverse is presented as an opportunity for financial institutions to innovate and adapt to a virtual economy, with examples of banks exploring these spaces.

35:06

🏢 The Workforce of the Future: Bridging Physical and Digital Realms

Jeremy concludes with a vision of the future workforce, shaped by AI, machine learning, and other advanced technologies. He suggests a shift from workforce planning to work planning, focusing on the skills required for a hybrid physical-digital work environment. The talk emphasizes the importance of upskilling, leveraging AI, and designing roles that align with future work models. The message is to prepare for a future where work is reimagined through the lens of evolving consumer expectations and technological advancements.

Keywords

💡Fintech

Fintech, short for financial technology, refers to the integration of technology in the financial sector to improve efficiency and effectiveness. In the video, fintech is discussed as a driving force behind the digital transformation of financial services, especially in the post-pandemic world. The script mentions how fintech companies like Jumo are leveraging technology to provide services across Africa, emphasizing the importance of fintech in enabling financial inclusion and innovation.

💡Digital Disruption

Digital disruption describes the impact of digital technologies transforming and often displacing traditional methods of operation in various industries, including finance. The video script discusses the concept, highlighting how the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift towards digital financial services, with fintechs and cryptocurrencies emerging as a result.

💡Mobile Revolution

The mobile revolution refers to the widespread adoption of mobile phones and the consequential shift in how people access services, including financial services. The script uses the term to illustrate the leapfrogging of technology in Africa, where more people have access to mobile phones than basic amenities, indicating the potential for mobile technology to drive financial inclusion.

💡Legacy Systems

Legacy systems are outdated or old computer systems that are still in use. In the context of the video, the term is used to contrast the agility of developing countries with less entrenched systems against developed countries with more established, and sometimes less flexible, technological infrastructures.

💡Customer-Centric

A customer-centric approach focuses on the needs and preferences of the customer as the central point of business strategy. The script emphasizes the importance of adopting a customer-centric strategy in fintech, where technology serves as an enabler to reach customers and provide value.

💡Rebundling

Rebundling in the context of the video refers to the process of consolidating previously unbundled financial services into a single, comprehensive package to provide convenience and a better user experience. It is presented as a response to the fragmentation caused by fintechs and a move towards meeting customer demands for simplicity and ease of access.

💡Fintech as a Service (FaaS)

Fintech as a Service is a business model where fintech capabilities are provided to businesses on a subscription basis. The script explains how FaaS can simplify the process of scaling fintech services globally by offering a suite of services through a single API, similar to how AWS operates in the tech industry.

💡Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is a term used to describe the next generation of the internet, often associated with a more immersive and intelligent web experience. The script discusses Web 3.0 as a collection of technologies that will enhance connectivity and user experience, including blockchain, AI, and 3D graphics, which have implications for the future of financial services.

💡Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)

DAOs are organizations represented by rules encoded as smart contracts on a blockchain, which are decentralized and operate autonomously based on member participation through token voting. The script mentions DAOs as an intriguing application of blockchain technology in financial services, offering transparency, security, and efficiency.

💡Digital Twin

A digital twin is a virtual representation of a physical entity, used for simulation and analysis purposes. The video script introduces the concept of digital humans or digital colleagues as a form of digital twin, designed to interact with people and provide a blend of digital experience with a human touch, suggesting a future where such technology could transform customer service and engagement.

💡Metaverse

The metaverse is a collective virtual shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced reality and physically persistent virtual reality. The script discusses the metaverse as the future of the internet, where financial institutions are exploring opportunities to facilitate transactions and provide services in a virtual environment, indicating a shift towards more immersive and interactive banking experiences.

Highlights

Jeremy Cueno discusses the future of fintech in a post-pandemic world, emphasizing the importance of embracing technological disruption.

Africa's leapfrogging in technology adoption, especially in mobile, has left more people with access to mobile phones than basic amenities.

The pandemic accelerated digital transformation in financial institutions by as much as seven years, according to Ahmed Kinsey.

Cueno highlights the shift from incumbent financial institutions to fintechs and cryptocurrencies due to the 2008 financial crisis.

The concept of 'rebundling' in financial services is introduced, aiming to provide a holistic customer experience.

WeChat is cited as an example of a 'super app' that bundles various financial services, setting a trend for the industry.

Cueno explains 'fintech as a service', drawing a parallel with Amazon's AWS, which simplifies scaling and global expansion.

The potential of Web 3.0 to create a more intelligent and immersive internet experience is explored.

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are presented as a new form of entity governed by smart contracts on blockchain.

The role of artificial intelligence in financial services is discussed, with a focus on improving customer service and fraud detection.

Digital twins, or digital humans, are introduced as the next evolution in customer interaction, blending digital experiences with a human touch.

The metaverse is described as the next frontier in digital engagement, with potential applications in banking and asset management.

Cueno suggests that financial institutions should form a metaverse strategy to prepare for the shift towards virtual customer interactions.

The future workforce is envisioned to be a blend of physical and digital, with AI and machine learning playing a central role.

A quote from Amanda Gorman is used to inspire a move towards what's next, rather than returning to the old normal.

Transcripts

please welcome to the financial brand

Forum country operations director at

jumo Mr Jeremy cueno

[Music]

[Applause]

hello everyone

let's try it again hello everyone

awesome

so as mentioned my name is Jeremy and

I'm joining you from the lovely

continent of Africa specifically West

Africa Ghana

now I work for one of the largest

fintech Zumo jumo is present in six

territories across the continent

starting from South Africa all the way

to East Africa back to my home country

Ghana now I had a running joke with a

friend today that

it almost sounds counter-intuitive that

the organizers of the show

Jeffrey Amanda would reach out to

someone in the developing third world to

come all the way to the first world to

tell them about their future right

but then again Africa does have the

tendency to leapfro technology so the

mobile Revolution that has hit the

continent has left more Africans having

access to mobile phones than basic

amenities like toilets or water

so I believe that we're we're more open

to change we Embrace technology more

openly quite simply because we have a

lot less Legacy and a lot less to lose

so that's just to say that despite our

differing levels of economic development

we're all on this journey of

technological disruption together so

over the course of the next 40 to 45

minutes I'm going to do my best with to

share with you what we should all expect

from the future of fintech in a

post-pandemic world Beyond disruption if

that's okay with you let's jump straight

into it

all right now every time we try to

project out into the future I'm reminded

of something that the renowned author

Brett King says he said in order to be a

good futurist you need to be a good

pastist and what he means is what you

try to do is not only look at what's

going to happen in the future but you

tend to look up for analogies of what

might happen based on what's happened in

the past right they say history tends to

repeat itself the only caveat is each

time it does repeat itself it gets more

expensive so if you look back at what's

happened in the field of financial

services historically going back to the

2008 financial crisis that caused that

increased distrust in the incumbent

financial institutions that left the

door wide open for fintechs and

cryptocurrencies to manifest and more

recently with the covid-19 pandemic you

tend to see that the world is digitizing

Right which is why the word fintech has

become such a Mainstay and also why the

word disruption has become such a

buzzword in recent times so we're

digitizing because we want more

immediate DSE we want more ubiquity we

want less friction we want access to

channels of Commerce that can scale

right so there's over 400 Technologies

right now that in some ways shape or

form are set to or are predicted to

impact an industry or several Industries

including the financial services

industry but the best way to fail is to

fall victim to the fear of missing out

so chasing after every single emergence

emerging technology that is touted to be

the disrupter of the industry right if

you look at what happened with the

covid-19 pandemic now according to our

friends Ahmed Kinsey the pandemic

accelerated the digital transformation

journeys of a number of Institutions by

as much as seven years now what that

tells us is that although the strategy

and intention to serve customers in a

way that is more user-friendly more

customer-centric already existed it took

the pandemic and lockdowns to get get

them to refocus and reprioritize the

specific technologies that would enable

those outcomes because ultimately that's

what technology is it's the enabler not

the goal the goal is to reach your

customer where they are and provide them

as much value as possible and the

strategy is to adopt a more

customer-centric way of thinking so that

you're able to transform at the core

rather than at the fringes

so if you look back all throughout

history you see that there's been

technologies that have come in and were

either written off initially and then

became the Bedrock on which our

financial services industry was built

internet being the best example so let's

use an analogy that I really like from

Matt Griffin that he calls the time

travelers dilemma right so let's take

for a second or just imagine for a

second that you from the year 2022 was

able to travel in time back to the year

1980.

you transform or you teleport into a

room such as this with people from the

industry you try to give them a sense of

what to expect in 2022 so you say hey

guys you need to be ready for 2022

because for instance something like

cyber crime is going to be the fastest

form of criminal activity that has the

potential to impact your business or

industry and so you need to start

recruiting cyber Security Experts data

scientists software developers now all

of these roles we know to be true

because we actively recruit for them now

and they're in demand what do you think

the response of the room would be

well I think

that if they didn't immediately call you

crazy and they gave you the benefit of

the doubt they might ask you a question

like well what is cyber security

and you might say something along the

lines of cyber security is a way to

safeguard your online business from

nefarious people trying to steal from

you in creative ways on the internet

again

after a few a few weird looks they might

ask you well what is the internet

and you might say something like the

internet is a Global Network of

interconnected computers that allows the

free flow of information allows people

to engage and transact and has become

the very Bedrock on which our businesses

and Society is built now mind you 1980

was just 40 years ago

and the internet became mainstream

around 1992. so trying to explain to a

group of people who are pre-internet

babies what the internet is much less

going on to things that are based on the

internet like self-driving cars and

smart wearables would simply fly over

their heads right so at that point was

most likely going to happen is you might

either just be thrown out of the room if

not put in a straight jacket in a padded

room

so I think today or at least today we

can be a little bit more open-minded

because we've seen firsthand how rapid

the evolution of Technology actually is

and despite the fact that Innovation is

usually launched in this very basic

state with each iteration all the gaps

that exist are filled to the points

where millions of people are able to

integrate them into their daily lives so

quite simply the point there is that

disruption is getting faster now this is

a popular graphic that depicts this fact

so we've come from a point of view or a

place in time where innovations that

actually change the course of human

history like airplanes automobiles

telephone used to take as much as many

as 50 years 60 years to gain the kind of

mass adoption that is required and now

we're at the point where Innovations

like the Pokemon go take those 19 days

recently or most recently games like

Call of Duty were able to achieve 100

million downloads in its first this week

so the point is that the timelines for

customer acquisition have shrunk

disruption is getting faster and more so

it's actually accelerating

okay now let's take a look at

we've looked

back in time let's try and project

outward into the future as well so once

again let's let's imagine right so let's

imagine now is the year 2042.

the same date 16th November 15th

November I remember I forget what date

today is but

you're in bed and you're smart

your smart sensor buzzes against your

cerebrum to wake you up

now as you wake up

an optical projection of your

transactions is projected onto your

field of view so you can see all the

transactions from the previous day and

from what You observe

your portfolio performed higher than the

index because of or because it was

boosted by your new IPS your nfts your

smart contracts now in the same

transaction field or information feed

you're able to see that you have 81

meeting scheduled for today but only

three of which actually need your

attention

you have a digital doctor's appointment

at 10 o'clock and the results of that

annual checkup will be shared with your

Bankers or credit union or insurers for

an underwriting review

now you can also tell that the last

meeting of the day is going to be with

your digital banker and you need to be

ready for that one because you could

potentially secure that home loan to get

that dream house that you wanted thanks

to the enhanced performance of your

digital twin now you ask your digital

twin as you get in the shower what the

performance or what the transactions

were like last night and they inform you

that there were a total of 36

transactions making up thirty six

thousand dollars seventy percent of

which were performed or processed with

other digital twins 20 with digital

humans and only 10 with with actual

people now that you have your updates

you can go have your shower go walk your

kids on the beach because your digital

twin is going to take over

now what do you guys think is this

scenario

facts or fiction

is this an actual reality that could be

or not

okay so this particular scenario was

taken from John Blake's book digital

twin and the reality is that uh the

picture of the page of the future that

has been painted may never actually

materialize

but what if it did

what if

we're going into a world where what the

customer wanted or the experience that

the customer demanded took precedence

over anything including the technology

that would deliver it and your industry

or your business was simply not ready

what would be the consequences to your

business right so I think the whole

point is to be a little bit more

open-minded and it's embodied in this

quote that we have to be curious first

and not judgmental nobody can actually

predict the future but if you have a

mindset of rigidity it becomes very

difficult to see that far out okay now

let's look at one of the things that are

happening right now that we can tell is

going to bring the inevitable future

right so we're coming from a point of

view where

Financial Services were offered by the

incumbent financial institutions Banks

as a bundled service offering for the

the customer right and then fintechs

came in and tried to

try to how do you say came and

in the name of democratization and

decentralization the unbundled financial

services in doing so they were able to

set new standards of customer service

they were able to bring about benefits

like mobile first experiences and they

actually spurred competition in the

industry which ultimately benefited the

end user

but as a result of that what we now have

is a bit of a fragmented customer

experience so now customers have

multiple different apps applications

programs platforms that they need to go

to to access the same kind of financial

services now even though they are better

they're more enhanced over time it

becomes difficult to manage and so

what's inevitably going to happen is

we're going to revert to where we came

from and there's going to be what is

called a rebundling so rebundling

essentially entails that all the entire

Suite of financial services that a

consumer needs to manage their lives

needs to manage their finances are going

to be put in a specific place or bundled

in a specific place in order to or with

the aim to save time save money and give

convenience to the customer and this is

as much as it sounds like we tracing

your steps it's actually in line with

what the customer demands already it's

rather putting yourself in the shoes of

the customer seeing the World Through

The Eyes of your customer and working

backwards towards the technology so

again the second technology doesn't take

precedence right and this is actually

happening in China and spreading to

other parts of the world so WeChat for

example is the definitive super app Neo

super app in China with which consumers

are able to book a taxi send messages

make purchases inquire about financial

products or services so rebundling is in

line with what the customer wants and

it's more about being able to identify

the customer's needs and pain points and

reach out to them and provide them

solutions that give them a where they

are and give them a wholesome experience

right now that is also a good segue into

what is now being called fintech as a

service

now whenever you try to scale or Go

Global

you most likely will have to sign local

agreements deal with local regulation

possibly set up a local entity and that

can take months if not years especially

if you're trying to

conquer the world right and that's where

fintech as a service comes in to try and

do the heavy lifting associated with

scaling so the best analogy for fintech

as a service is to look at what Amazon

did with AWS in the field of technology

and financial services right so before

if you wanted to set up your own service

you have to find your own database build

your own firewall get the space to

accommodate the servers if you needed to

expand you need to have to buy more

equipment sign more agreements now with

AWS one API one integration you're

connected one agreement one invoice one

payment and you're good to go and that's

exactly the same kind of

service offering that fintech as a

service is going to offer to Global

Merchants so right now all you need is

one API one invoice one Recon file and

you get an access to a bundle Suite of

fintech related services that is going

to have handle your operational fintech

expansion issues so that you can focus

on your core business right and it's all

going to be powered by the fact that

there's increased adoption in

Technologies like Cloud software

artificial intelligence integrated with

financial services there's the growing

utilization of smartphones and print

circulated Services through digital

platforms right our friends at the the

markets and and reports guys tell us

that by 2020 by 2030 or the better part

of this decade the the market value of

that fintech as a service industry which

is already in existence is going to go

upwards of 900 million right and we've

as we've already said the covid-19

pandemic accelerated some of these

Journeys right so essentially the

message here is that all your consumers

are part Partners on your mission right

you need to think of the consumer as in

the room earlier on today we saw we

heard that you need to involve a

consumer who is thinking outside of the

rigid lines of what the internal

corporates are and it gives you the the

creativity to develop outside those

lines

okay now let's move on to one of the

technologies that has gotten a lot of

hype lately

web 3.0

right we hear this

a lot recently right so web 3.0 quite

simply is said to be the

the bundle of technologies that are

supposed to usher in the next generation

of the internet right our friends at

Bain and Co tell us that that ecosystem

now boasts thousands of companies and

there's substantial Investments upwards

of 18 billion dollars going into

startups within that ecosystem and now

you have big players like

like Nike Google JP Morgan all

experimenting with the technology just

to understand what the benefits

potentially could be and what that

technology could unlock for us but let's

take a step back and try and identify

where we've come from to get to this

point so just so we're on the same page

so remember the days of web 1.0

right this is the the era between 1990

between 1990 and 2005 where we had basic

websites that were all built on HTML

right I shared a joke with my friend

where as he said that these websites

were essentially glorified Microsoft web

pages right right remember the days of

dialogue modem when you had to actually

wait for the the phone to connect to the

internet without screeching noise that

in my opinion could cause seizures right

I actually don't whether there should be

more there should have been more reports

of people having seizures waiting for

the internet to connect in 1995. I don't

have the data but I'll check but

essentially it was a very static content

delivery Network right you you it was

called the read-only web because

essentially that's all that you could do

but it was what spared the.com bubble

that lasted from 1990 2005 and brought

about some of these internet Giants and

now fast forward to today's where we

have Web 2.0 where the internet began to

evolve to more user generated content

more user generated experiences and this

was called the the read write web

but this is where terms like blogging

vlogging social media networking social

media podcasting all of these terms

became popular right this is the era

where it this is what gave rise to the

tech giants like YouTube Facebook

Wikipedia all of the the ones that we

know today and essentially it invented

what was is now called as web as a

platform where you could actually build

software applications on the web as

opposed to on the desktop and now we're

at the point where we have web 3.0 now

web 3.0 is essentially as we've said the

bundle of technologies that are supposed

to usher in the next generation of the

internet and the expectation here is

that the the internet is supposed to be

a little bit more intelligent and should

be able to disseminate and this this

basically distribute information in such

a manner that would be akin to how

humans do this and this is based on a

number of

a number of Technologies right so I

don't know how many of these you've

heard you've heard about but it's all

part of The Suite that make up the web

3.0 so Edge Computing where data has

been is being processed closer to where

it's being generated so that you can now

process higher volumes you can now have

higher processing speeds so you get like

larger or more insightful or inside

driven leads for for actions right we

have the semantic web which is the

expectation that

machines will be able to interpret and

recognize data and information in such a

manner that is akin to how humans do it

both contextually and conceptually I

mean it's it sounds a little bit pie in

the sky but that that's the expectation

that data is no longer owned but it's

shared with different web services that

provide different views of the same kind

of web data and this is going to be a

more a hyper-connected more engaged

internet right you add in blockchain

technology and you're supposed to get

the benefits of transparency and

security that a open public Ledger gives

you right if you add in Ai and 3D

Graphics we are now moving into what is

being called a more immersive internet

and we'll talk a lot more about that

when we get into the aspect of

of the metaverse right that word and so

all of this is going to bring about more

connectivity ubiquity that is the theme

of what the internet is going to be now

there are lots of applications of web

3.0 in the field of financial services

but there's one particular application

that has be that's quite interesting and

has gotten a lot of attention recently

and that is the concept of dials or

decentralized autonomous organizations

now frankly I think Dao's or

decentralized autonomous organizations

are one of the most intriguing Concepts

that have been developed or implemented

via the blockchain technology now Dao's

essentially are entities that are

where the members of the that run on

Smart contract essentially now smart

contracts are self-executing contracts

so the members of a dow have tokens and

using these tokens they're able to vote

on the initiatives of the entity right

all the financial transactions and rules

of the entity are encoded via Smart

contracts into the blockchain and hence

the name decentralized and autonomous

because you do not need any Central

centralized authority to govern this

entity and because of these features

the Dow it has application and financial

services so for example is decentralized

because it's on an open blockchain an

open public Ledger no single individual

or group of people can influence the

organizations future for their own

selfish purpose right the transparency

it's a public open blockchain it can be

audited at any time and this brings

about better trust and stops or prevents

corruption the aspect of security

these smart contract codes are tested

and validated before they are deployed

and this allows and and because it's a

public open Ledger it prevents or at

least reduces their chances of attacks

and actual fraud and when it comes to

efficiency once you bring an automation

once you bring in smart contracts you

remove the the paperwork you remove the

human element of mistakes and

essentially you bring about more

efficiency and now there's applications

of that in banking so

in banking and Credit Unions right so

because one of the things that customers

really value about financial

institutions like Banks and Credit

Unions is the elements of trust I mean I

know historically there have been

there have been events that have sort of

caused turbulence when it comes to the

trust that people have of financial

institutions there was a report by Ernst

young that says the younger generation

are now placing fintechs at the top of

their most trusted Brands list with bags

Banks kind of like slowly lagging behind

and this just tells us that it's not

enough to just give your customers a

good service or product they need to

actually trust you and that's where the

elements of dials could come into

support banks credit unions tend to have

the same kind of structure as Dallas

it's all member driven but now with a

dow a credit union is not limited by the

geographic location they are able to

scale Beyond borders because there's no

element of physicality involved and

they're able to go beyond borders but

there's a lot that we can say about

doubt but it's just for us to know that

these are the things that are in the

pipeline that the fintechs are actually

running with I work in a fintech and you

should hear some of the things the ideas

that are thrown into senior level

boardrooms that you think are far out

and they and you hear the budget that

has been allocated to that and you know

that they're not playing right so now

let's go into something that is more

General that most people can relate to

and that is artificial intelligence

now obviously artificial intelligence is

no stranger in the field of financial

services it's the expectation that

machines will be able to make decisions

based on the data information that is

presented to them in the way that humans

do now I have a colleague who always

argues that through artificial

intelligence doesn't exist because

machines are not ever or at the point

where they can make subjective decisions

based on what information you present

them but the reality is that there are

applications of artificial intelligence

in financial services already

but if you look at the Consumer Finance

space there's already the presence of

chat Bots that are powered by natural

language processing that are able to

give customers the digital established

digital Communications with with

customers right earlier on we heard a

note and it's also a quote from

Accenture where they said we've gotten

to the point where we've gotten very

good at delivering

delivering virtual or digital

experiences that are functionally

correct but emotionally devoid so even

though you do have chatbots that are

available that are able to engage a

person to solve their issue or to

respond to queries there is that lack of

the human touch which is what the aim of

of things like AI or that's where the

goal is it's already used in wealth

management to to generate personalized

or tailored insights it's used in

corporate finance to combat and detect

fraud to analyze trends that would

header to go unnoticed by the human eye

right but one of the more interesting

applications of AI

in finance is

what is now being called digital twins

show of hands anyone who has heard of

digital twins

oh nice that's great

so the concept of digital twins is

beginning to become possible because in

the world where most companies are

reimagining themselves for a digital

first customer experience where the

evolution of technology is making a lot

of things that were previously unseen as

impossible possible the the potential

the possibility to have what is called a

digital twin is is now live more than

ever right so a digital twin essentially

by definition is a digital replica of a

physical product process or service so

you take something from The Real World

and you replicate it digitally but one

iteration of digital twins that is very

interesting is the concept of digital

humans or digital colleagues now the

digital twins essentially are to enable

you to simulate a product or process or

service so that you are able to identify

risk for see opportunities of growth or

even even prevent disasters that would

have happened in testing now the digital

human is supposed to be that of overlap

where you're now able to have the

digital experience but also have the

human touch and so digital humans are

essentially human-like AI powered

characters designed to be interacted

with by people it's supposed to be the

successor to the chatbot and upgrade to

the chatbot I think the

I think it's easier to demo or show you

what a human a digital twin a digital

human or digital colleague is rather

than trying to explain it to you so take

a look at this video

hi my name is Fred no I'm not a real

person I am the new digital human from

render people

I am a virtual 360 degree copy of my

real self

therefore I'm able to talk

to smile

to laugh

or to cry

just like a real human being

so the possibilities are endless

I could be a speaker moderating your

next digital event

foreign

for your online shop

this outfit suits you shall I add it to

your card

or I could tell you the status of your

car inspection

keeping you updated

fully digital and all without you having

to be on site

and this is only the beginning

the only limit is your creativity

foreign

[Music]

scary interesting exciting

hands up for interesting

hands up for ridiculous

I think the only limit is your

imagination as he said right but these

are the kind of things that are in the

pipeline that people are envisioning is

going to be the future of how we engage

and interact with people right they

assume that the younger generation is

going to be used to these kind of

engagements or expected because they're

getting it in the area of games and that

are fully immersive so what do you do

now assuming this is going to be the

future well we have a few points from

the AI transformation Playbook right so

where you start from is you start to

execute some pilot project right you

know your business more than anyone else

you know exactly the aspects of your

business where

if you run tests that actually brought

volume brought value would gain you the

kind of of buy-in that you need building

an in-house AI team so initially you do

want to Outsource to external AI experts

who have more experience in the field

but in the long run if you want to be

more efficient you would have to have

your own in-house AI team so you can

protect your IP and you can execute on

those small projects you need to provide

broad AI training because no company has

enough AI Talent it's scarce so the best

you can do is with the technology that's

available massive open online courses

you can upskill your existing staff to

get to the point where they do

appreciate what the future holds and

they do understand what the potential

benefits are you develop an AI strategy

because obviously you need to extract

you need to make sure that the

initiatives are in line with what the

organization's goals are you can't just

go off in any direction just because AI

is a nice big thing and in line with

that you need to be able to communicate

this and over communicate this to the

point where you get senior leadership

buy-in you get the understanding of

everyone else okay so obviously it's

going to be difficult to lead or to be

in an AI first world or to try and

establish your company as an AI first

institution and this quote says it all

right

it usually is going to be as they say

very difficult in the beginning messy in

the middle but if you are able to figure

this out or at least you're able to

project outward to what the possible

future can be work backwards to where

you are and try to do your best to fill

in the gaps it gets much better

now let's get to the metaverse

now the metaverse is a very interesting

concept I I really like this particular

topic and it was made popular most

recently by meta formerly Facebook but

the actual term metaverse has been in

existence since 1992. there was an

author Neil Stevenson who coined the

term in his book called snow crash but I

doubt that Neo in his book expected that

by 2022 this would become such a

buzzword so the metaverse is essentially

supposed to be

the future of the internet so there are

those who still feel that the metaverse

is a naive joke basically it's never

going to materialize but there are some

that also believe that via the metaverse

the internet is on the cusp of an

evolutionary leap so you have big

players like Microsoft Facebook 10 cents

all making big bets on the metaverse but

just so that we're on the same page

let's try and

let's try and understand what exactly

the metaverse is so the acronym XR

stands for extended reality and it's

made up of virtual reality augmented

reality and mixed reality so starting

from the middle one augmented reality

right so I think most of us were

introduced to the concept of augmented

reality somewhere in 2015 2016 with the

Pokemon go Application right so you

would see a bunch of kids running around

with their phones out you ask them hey

what's going on and they tell you we're

looking for Pokemon and that's a that's

one of the best examples of the

application of the technology another

would be the Ikea place app or virtual

place app right where you could have a

virtual model of their furniture that

you could overlay into your space just

to make sure that the furniture matches

the carpet matches the drape before you

make the purchase and that was another

application of that that particular

technology right and so augmented

reality essentially gives you a view of

the physical world and then overlays

that with digital elements then you have

virtual reality which is a fully

immersive digital environment so you see

the headsets the the VR headset that are

popular now so the Oculus the

PlayStation VR there's HTC Vive but they

basically take away the physical

elements and you go into a fully digital

world where there's digital elements and

you're you're basically in an alternate

reality basically and then there's the

element of mixed reality we joined the

pack now this tries to give you the best

of both worlds and mixed reality was

actually coined by Microsoft I think

they felt that they were getting left

out and they came up with their device

the the hololens 2 or the hololens one

now the hololens two which tries to give

you

the device itself has a glass that

covers the screen that allows you to see

the physical world and overlays that

with 3D Holograms right now the

difficulty of explaining what

virtual reality mixed reality augmented

reality is it's quite difficult so it's

easier to show you right so if you look

in this if you look at the seats in

front of you you'll find that there's

headsets

I'm just kidding I saw this guy do it

today and I wanted to do the same thing

it didn't work but I do have a video

that actually shows the concept that I'm

talking about so this is the Microsoft

hololens 2.

it essentially is supposed to be the

functional the functional version of

what has been used for gaming so far so

this is supposed to be for industry

utilization so right now it's being sold

to the tech people people in engineering

what it does is it gives you a view of

the physical world because of the glass

but then it is also matched with the

Microsoft mesh which is the the software

which allows you to be able to Overlay

that with Holograms so that you can

actually see what's happening and then

it has spatial awareness I actually sat

on a flight with someone who had a

similar device on their head and I asked

them what they were doing and they said

they're able to pull up the three

screens that they use from work and

engage with it because it has spatial

awareness it's able to detect hand

movement right but right now it's super

expensive and it's only given to a

select few but eventually with its

iteration it gets better and better

moving on from that you have the fully

immersive type of VR experience where

you are actually in an entirely digital

world so this is basically what we we

have in gaming now so

you go in you're basically hiding behind

an avatar and it's fully immersive that

the best bet that you can have from this

is to have a picture of your physical

world such as this but it's not really

the physical world it's a it's a it's a

replica of the physical world in a

digital environment right so Accenture

defines the metaphors across different

environments quite simply right so first

and foremost it's a place right it's a

destination no different from

someplace downtown New York someplace in

Shanghai Las Vegas it's a place that

people go a location a destination it's

a population so people are actually

going there to meet and interact such as

you have here as opposed to being or

being forced to interact with a

two-dimensional static screen right and

if you take that to the next logical

level just in the way we can own

property and assets it's also you can't

own property and assets in the digital

world or in the metaverse sorry you can

own land that is boasted by nfts you can

buy digital versions of of physical

objects and that is what leads to what

the opportunity for financial services

are so in the world in an actual world

where you have you have or in a virtual

world where people can actually own

assets and property it now becomes a

question of who is going to be that

player that is going to facilitate

transactions in an entirely digital or

virtual world who is going to be that

custodian or virtual assets where

there's no longer fiat currency but

people are holding cryptocurrency is

they're holding nfts they're holding

Central Bank digital currencies who is

going to be that leader in that space I

frankly believe that it's going to be a

joint effort and there's not going to be

any One bank because it's going to be a

game of collaboration but we begin to

see increasingly that other Banks or

other institutions are dipping their

toes there in into that space so in

South Korea we have Banks where that are

launching meta verses so that customers

are able to access personalized

financial institutions in France they've

launched a virtual reality app that

enables retail Bankers to access the

account activity and even Bank of

America is leveraging some of these

metaverse platforms for training if you

go all the way to to India you're

beginning to see that there are

institutions that are trying to be

enablers of the metaverse so they allow

Banks to onboard or create their meta

verses and then they sort of collaborate

or facilitate all of those Technologies

and then in in South Korea you're

beginning to see something that is

actually quite popular in Africa where

there's collaborations between mobile

network operators and Banks to develop

new technologies that are touted to be

the future of financial services so the

opportunity is there for for most people

in the metaverse right so people about

20 years ago we started with online

banking about 10 years ago we got into

Mobile Banking the metaverse is expected

to be a continuation of that right

trying to create experiences that offer

the customer value and not only is it

being used to enable online and Mobile

Banking it's also being leveraged for

staff training right so you want to

onboard a new staff rather than giving

them a 100 page PDF document you

actually give them a metaverse

experience that allows them to see the

history of the company in a a sub a

fully immersive way so that it's less

boring and that people learn faster

right it's an opportunity for people to

engage as we've said the experiences

we've created are devoid of that human

touch they're functionally correct and

the metaverse is trying to maintain the

digital experience but adding as much of

that human element as much as possible

and it gives you the opportunity to

reinvent

reinvent the customer or the financial

service experience or the banking

experience around this new customer that

is more virtually inclined and in that

sense you're able to reimagine financial

services for people who as we've said

are no longer look interested in the

physical engagement but are now looking

to engage on a more virtual level they

now have virtual assets virtual

currencies the the governed by Central

Bank digital currencies and they like so

the important thing for financial

institutions to do is to form a

metaverse strategy because obviously

there's no point in just being there you

actually have to have a purpose look

project outward to where you think your

consumer is going to be and work

backwards to where you are just being

there for the sake of being there is

doesn't make any sense now let's move on

to the final aspect which is the

workforce of the future

now in a world where the customer is

beginning to become increasingly

impatient they want more immediacy a lot

of Institutions are trying to

re-imagine themselves for that kind of

world now Not only would you require

there to be

new technology there's also going to be

new skills so we're going to take a look

at what the workforce of the future

looks like now there is a concept that

was put out by jll of what the future

Workforce would be like so it's not just

about these skills that are available

but essentially how work is going to be

done in a world that is powered by AI

machine learning all of these

Technologies web 3.0 metaverse digital

Twins and I think they captured it quite

nicely in this video so let's take a

look at this for a while and you let me

know what you think about this concept

[Music]

foreign

[Music]

good morning Amy

where would you like to work today the

office

what's the weather like today the

temperature is 18 degrees with a 57

chance of rain are you ready to start

your day give me 10 minutes okay how

would you like to get there I'll walk do

you want to ride no I'm good thank you

careful Amy obstacle ahead

[Music]

so once again what'd you guys think

interesting hands off

scary

worried about your data worried about AI

knowing so much about you I understand

you so

it's really interesting some of the

similarities that we have with with you

guys here right so the pandemic led to

fully remote working and then we went

into what was called hybrid working but

in Africa we tend to have this term

called physical right it's a combination

of physical and digital and it's a way

that you design products because most

people are semi-literate at best so you

have to be able to design a product that

has a very seamless handoff from the

digital to the physical in case the

product actually occurs consumer

actually does need help along the

digital journey and this looks like one

of those things that was designed in

such a way that there's a combination of

the physical and the digital so that is

projected to be the kind of workplaces

that we're going to be having where

there's that overlay of all these

Technologies creating a physical digital

working environment now assuming this is

actually going to be the way that we

work what do you do to put start

preparing your Workforce for that future

so very quickly

so going from workforce planning to work

planning basically means that you tend

to look at what kind of tasks will be

carried out in such a world and then map

that back to the kind of skills that you

would need and then you design roles

around those skills right you tend to

Pivot the workforce around

um the value of AI so as we've said

upskilling people in terms of AI by

simultaneously giving them those skills

and then using AI to challenge

traditional business models to open new

value stream and then you scale up those

priority areas that you require in order

to be to be ready for that kind of world

so the action items essentially are what

we've echoed all this time you have to

work backwards from the future next is

you have to see the world through the

eyes of your consumer as we've mentioned

and then you have to focus more on the

experience and less on the technology

because in reality the customer doesn't

care what the technology driving the

product is all they care about is the

experience and the value that they get

and in that in that way you are able to

recoup if you're able to deliver on that

so I'll end with this quote that is from

a poet Amanda Gorman that I really like

and he basically says let us not return

to what was normal but reach towards

what is next I think it's a very

powerful statement that captures the

spirit of everything that we've spoken

about and I do hope that I've shared

some valuable insights that will at

least inspire you on your journey

towards the future of fintech that we

know I've used up all the time so I'll

just be I'll be hanging around if you

want to catch me for a quick question

quick chat thank you very much and enjoy

the rest of your day

[Applause]

hello