Independent Banker - November 2018 - 21

Next: Get ready for your first (or next) breach
simple, effi cient and frictionless to the
point that they are now the envy of any
digitally focused company.
There is a variety of fi ntech companies
also trying to help banks not
just with the experience but also with
engagement. It is not good enough to
have a " cool " solution unless someone
is actually using it. Tailored videos,
AI-driven guidance and sophisticated
digital marketing techniques have all
been developed to assist banks with
their customer solution journeys and
improve adoption.
Financial literacy
Innovation Station
By Kevin Tweddle, ICBA
Lessons from the
fall trade shows
T
he smell of fall in the air serves as a subtle reminder of
the beginning of strategic planning and budgeting season.
It also kicks off the busiest time of year for banking and
fi nancial technology conferences. Having attended several
this season, I wanted to share some key takeaways.
Finovate is probably one of the best conferences out there,
off ering a pulse on the intersection of fi ntech and banking.
The highlight of the conference is always the 80-plus demos
available from various global fi ntech companies.
In the past three years, there's been a signifi cant shift in
the priorities of fi ntech companies and banks in terms of
their product strategies. In 2017, customer authentication,
artifi cial intelligence (AI) and machine learning were all the
rage. This year, most companies were already deploying
these technologies and had moved on to other areas.
Customer experience
The strong movement toward customer experience has been
driven by forces outside of the fi nancial industry. The big
tech and social media giants (Google, Apple, Facebook and
Amazon) have made the customer interactive experience
Kevin Tweddle
(kevin.tweddle@
icba.org) is
ICBA's group
executive vice
president,
innovation
and financial
technology
Financial literacy appears to be gaining
momentum. As banks continue to
try to win over the unbanked or underbanked
segment, along with Gen Z and
millennials, the word is out that these
consumers want step-by-step education
and guidance with their fi nancial
decision-making. And they want it
on their mobile-connected devices,
including voice, in a simple, consistent,
frictionless experience. This
makes a lot of sense given the growing
complexity of global fi nance today and
the need for a faster process. There
are some amazing solutions delivering
this " advice-as-a-platform " that are
using AI and other emerging technologies
to help banks bring the goods to
their customers.
Personal digital assistants
It also stands to reason, given the digital
transformation and " everything
mobile " world we live in, that we need
to transform the way we serve and
advise our customers as they move
along their digital journey. Think of it
as a digital concierge service: always
on and delivered in real time, transforming
the impersonal to personal.
The fi ntech companies developing
these solutions are trying to perfectly
balance the high-tech, high-touch
experience with these off erings.
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Independent Banker - November 2018

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