Financial services industry needs trust for stability

Tomorrow marks the 10th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which triggered the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s.

Since the crisis, a litany of stakeholders, including governments, regulators and consumers have called for a restoration of trust in the sector. Ten years on, scepticism and doubt still prevails, with only 55 per cent of Britons claiming they trust their banks[1].

Many critics argue the need for greater transparency is now more important than ever before. Experts claim innovations such as fintech and blockchain hold the key for improved openness. Thomas Coughlin, CEO of Kinesis Monetary System, a recently launched gold-based stable coin, believes technology is vital to restoring trust in the financial services sector.

Thomas comments: “Ten years on from the credit crisis of 2008, the financial services industry is in critical need of the restoration of trust to avoid the creation of another hype bubble, similar to the one which developed within the housing market in 2008. The crisis led to a chorus of calls from a range of important stakeholders such as governments, regulators and consumers asking for the industry to become more accountable and transparent. Today, innovations in technology are allowing greater levels of accountability than ever before. The advent of blockchain technology, for instance, allows for the creation of digitised, shared and trackable sets of data, allowing not only increased visibility but stored, downloadable ledgers for all stakeholders to see.”

“As we look ahead to the next ten years, the stability of the wealth creation industry is pivotal to the growth of leading world economies. Blockchain technology can provide the trust and transparency the financial services sector needs to ensure complete visibility of transactions to the myriad of stakeholders on a micro-level, broken down to each second of the day. ”

“Tapping into this technology, Kinesis Money has created immutable, secure, and easily exchangeable, digital record of gold ownership on the blockchain. This ownership can be exchanged as a stable coin on the blockchain, as fiat currency for everyday transactions or just as digital IOU for real, physical gold – the $50 million Kinesis has raised so far is testament to the growing confidence in blockchain technology amongst the investment community around the world.”