MoneyLIVE Autumn Festival 2021 – What’s New For The Banking and Payments Industry?

The MoneyLIVE Autumn Festival was an in-person event that brought the banking and payments community together. In a day full of fascinating insights, exhibitions and networking opportunities, MoneyLIVE housed some of the biggest names in the scene, including Temenos, Starling, FintechOS and many more to discuss the future of the dynamically evolving industry. Here are some of our biggest talking points from the event that we think you should know about!

‘Banking In A Digital World’

Matt Hammerstein, CEO for Barclays Bank UK

One of the opening talks of the day emphasised the importance of social responsibility in the world of banking. Shockingly, 1 in 2 people of banking age in the UK are financially vulnerable. 6 million people have an active need for financial advice but don’t receive it. That’s the combined population of Birmingham, Sheffield, Manchester. Whether this vulnerability be permanent or temporary, Matt Hammerstein, CEO of Barclays UK, very powerfully commented that action needs to be taken in this fight, in which young people are especially suffering. As a result, financial well-being has become a big focus for many retail and challenger banks this year. Hammerstein assessed the 3 ways that could help restore financial confidence; ensuring individuals still have physical access to banking in our increasingly digital world, prioritising fraud prevention and providing clear advice that results in improved financial literacy.

‘Unleashing The Potential Of Open Innovation’

Hetal Popat, Open Banking Director at HSBC
Kam Chana Global Head of Innovation – Digital Platform at Temenos

Following on from Hammerstein’s talk, Hetal Popat and Kam Chana held a fireside chat that delved further into the world of Open Innovation. ‘Open Innovation is driving banks of the future.’ But to initiate open innovation, the right type of collaborative effort is needed. More partnerships does mean more transparency, more safety and much more technological advancement. Yet with all these benefits, it is crucial that the framework when setting up such partnerships is built on honesty. This echoes the comment of Rune Mai, CEO and Co Founder of Aiia, who once said that ‘trust is the currency of the future.’ There has to be a willingness to pivot, to admit and to be realistic in order for Open Innovation to be effective. Chana commented that this should require groups to ‘leave all your assumptions at the door and start from scratch.’ Data has to have purpose, context and direction behind it. With that, banks will be able to make more consistent real time predictions of the future, instead of using data that looks backwards.

‘One size don’t fit all’

Kara Richards, Global Head of Customer Experience at HSBC
Mark Kelly, Head of Digital Channels at Bank of Ireland
Mike Fullalove, Strategy and Business Development at FintechOS 

This talk touched on notions  of conversational banking. ‘Moving financial services to become more invisible to the customer makes sense’, said Kara Richards. ‘It makes banking simple and engaging.’ Richards went on to discuss the effectiveness of voice recognition technologies, which allow transactions to be completed in mere seconds. ‘2/5 adults use voice assistance everyday and people are clearly developing a comfort with this.’ The talk also explored the upcoming technology trends that are exciting, with Mike Fullalove ‘controversially’ hyping up distributed finance, cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology – key threats to the traditional era of banking. ‘I think there’s gonna be a parallel path where thinking about different ways of interacting with financial services that doesn’t involve a bank, a government, will play to people’s desire and is gonna change things. That will be more integrated into peoples lives in the coming years.’

‘Navigating the ethical use of data’

Jason Maude, Chief Technology Advocate at Starling Bank
Vilmos Lorincz, MD at Lloyds

Teaching AI ethics is like teaching ethics itself, and so this particular topic did explore the complexities that come with navigating the ethical use of data. Whose responsibility is it? Jason Maude noted that ‘it’s everybody’s responsibility in an organisational context and a social context. Because of the technology available we are trying to do more sophisticated things, which has ripple effects – this means everybody in the ecosystem has a responsibility.’ Despite the technology not hitting a standard of perfection at the moment, ‘we’re doing better than we were.’  Once again, sentiments of trust were relayed, with the two commenting that without trust, a bank is nothing, in terms of both data and money. Therefore, ensuring data explainability, safety and security is essential. Maude also powerfully commented that whilst people say data is the new oil, ‘data is the new deposit’.

‘The future of crypto in retail banking & making crypto mainstream’

Mark Hipperson, Founder and CEO of Ziglu

One of the concluding activities of the day was the think-tank session, led by Mark Hipperson, founder and CEO of Ziglu. In talking about cryptocurrency, it became clear that, in many ways, crypto is reaching a mainstream status at the moment. But how do we get to the level where our parents and grandparents readily adopt it too? This led to discussions about why banks and governments are potentially fearful of crypto, due to its extreme volatility and it signifying the potential for a new era of financial authority, one that weakens the traditionality of retail and central banks.

To conclude, the event showcased the forward-thinking intentions within the banking and payments industry. It also illustrated what the key pillars for progressive change are – trust, collaboration, and being ready to embrace change quickly. These sentiments were intertwined throughout the entire day and reflect the fundamentals that the community will no doubt strive to achieve.