1. AI/Machine Learning

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have, in recent years, begun shaping many industries. Not only can AI help take over many mundane tasks, freeing up your team's time and energy to focus on the tasks that still need a human touch, but they can also help advance your industry as never before. A 2020 Cornerstone survey revealed that 20% of banks planned to deploy AI technology in 2021.  

Detect Fraud More Effectively

Fraud detection relies on a variety of strategies and tools. Now, AI technology can help identify potential fraud, which may make it easier for you to address problems before they become more serious. In some cases, AI can detect fraud that might not be detectable by human interactions by flagging challenges you might not have recognized on your own.

Improve Responsiveness and Customer Interactions

Chatbots are becoming more popular in industries like banking. Rather than relying on slow human interaction to answer customer questions, chatbots can help provide quick and accurate information by leveraging prebuilt AI-powered responses. The future of AI-powered chatbots is particularly bright--and they're likely to become even more effective as companies improve their natural language processing.

Provide Better Client Experiences

Effective AI can learn more about exactly what your clients are looking for and make sure that they get customized offers and interactions based on their needs. It's no longer as simple as personalizing offers with a client's name and location. Now, you need solutions that can learn about your clients and the solutions they most often need--or the tools they're most likely to utilize. With today's AI solutions, you can deliver information about those solutions to your clients with ease.

2. Blockchain

Blockchains are designed to help protect your ledgers and other vital financial information. Blockchain technology is becoming increasingly vital to the financial services industry as a whole, whether you're dealing with cryptocurrency or trying to protect trading transactions. With blockchain, information is recorded as a digital ledger, then duplicated and distributed across the network of systems utilized by the chain. That information is then incredibly difficult to alter, hack, or change--which makes it incredibly valuable when you're trying to avoid fraud.

Enhance Security

With blockchain, your security is better and more effective than ever. This increased security, in turn, makes your business more trustworthy, which increases the odds that customers will be able to turn to you when they have specific needs in your financial sector.

Improve Privacy

Privacy matters for your clients. They want to make sure that their information is protected and that it won't be distributed without their consent. When you utilize blockchain technology, you'll often find that you're in a better position to protect that private information and your clients. As a result, you'll find that clients with larger assets will be more likely to trust and utilize your services.

Decentralize Your Structure and Records

Keeping all your financial data in one centralized location can spell disaster in the event of a technology failure. From ransomware, which could restrict your ability to access that vital information, to a complete network failure or even a natural disaster, centralized data recording can leave you scrambling in the event of an emergency. With blockchain technology, on the other hand, your business is better positioned to maintain its operations even in the event of a disaster.

Improve Transparency and Visibility

You want your transactions to be above-board--both for you and for your clients. As a financial services business, you need to be able to trace any of your transactions back on request. With blockchain, you have improved visibility across those transactions, which may put you in a better position to provide vital information, go through past transactions, or ensure a lack of fraud.

Utilize Cryptocurrency

Blockchain, in essence, enables the existence of cryptocurrency, which has become increasingly popular over the past several years. Cryptocurrency has become an increasingly important investment strategy for many investors. Without blockchain, you could not take advantage of cryptocurrency--or utilize it for your transactions.

3. Cloud Technology

In a 2020 survey by Cornerstone Advisors, 40% of banks had already deployed cloud computing and 17% had plans to invest or implement this tech in 2021. Cloud technology has rapidly grown from an era of servers inside buildings that stored vital data, to an era that relies on a virtual storage solution. Not only does cloud technology help decentralize storage, which means that your business and your customers' finances can remain accessible even if your physical location is damaged or out of reach, cloud technology can offer a number of crucial advantages to the financial industry.

Increase Self-Service Access

Today's customers want to be able to take care of the vast majority of their transactions on their own. They do not want to have to wait in line at a branch in order to access their information. They need to be able to manage their finances from a distance, checking in via app or online platform instead of feeling as though they must visit a specific physical location. With cloud technology, that data is more accessible, and most customers can take care of more of those processes on their own.

Store and Assess More Data

In the financial industry, data is more vital than ever. Often, financial gurus find themselves accessing vast quantities of data and sifting through it. Not only that, you may need to work with large quantities of data in order to verify consumer identities and help them manage their accounts. Modern financial services providers are also able, thanks to cloud technology, to provide deeper insights into their customers' spending or transaction patterns: a service that consumers have come to rely on as they interact with their providers. Cloud technology, due to its ability to store greater quantities of data, makes that information more accessible to more providers.

Maintain Security Compliance

Keeping up with the latest security compliance standards can be a challenge for any business. Cloud technology, however, often already has those rigid security standards in place. As a result, many providers are able to trust that higher level of overall security--and offer it to their customers. Financial service providers are becoming adept at encryption, access control, and data segregation and management as they work to provide those higher standards of security for their customers.

4. The Internet of Things

The Internet of Things, or IoT, has shaken up many industries in recent years--and FinTech is no exception. The IoT offers a vast array of web-connected devices, which can offer several critical advantages to many financial services providers.

Provide Better Insights

Dynamics, in Cheswick, Pennsylvania, offers an IoT-connected interactive payment cards. The card is able to provide vital insights into consumer activity and offers real-time connection to the bank, which makes it easier for bank and customer to communicate. Have a question about a customer's transactions? Need to verify identity? These solutions can make that easier than ever. Not only can those connected devices allow you more insights into a customer's needs, they can allow you to track the customer's behavior in ways that can influence your future offerings.

Track Consumer Movements

Sometimes, financial services providers need to track the movement of customers, particularly as it pertains to their spending. With Bluetooth-connected devices, it's easy to keep track of what consumers are doing or to track vital devices used by your network. For example, Armis has put together IoT security that makes it easier to track the specific devices owned by the company as they move across the network, which makes it easier for banks and other financial service providers to track the vital assets their companies use on a regular basis.

Improve Customer Convenience

Many IoT devices are being used more now than ever as consumers take advantage of those vital solutions. For example, smart refrigerators can automatically reorder groceries, while solutions like Coin can offer contactless payments: a solution that increasingly more customers are looking for, particularly in light of the pandemic. Furthermore, it can integrate fuel and maintenance information for fleets, which may make it easier to track spending on those devices.

The financial services industry has undergone numerous changes over the past several years. Today's customers are able to do more than ever, much of it from the convenience of their own devices. They can track their financial transactions and spending, improve transparency, and make more informed decisions about their finances and their movements, all while utilizing the providers that they need most. Do you want to offer increased convenience or additional solutions to your customers? We can help. At Cotribute, we offer increased conversions and improved onboarding solutions, all of which can help benefit the growth of your financial services organization. Contact us today to learn more about our solutions and how they may impact your business and your customers.

The Future of Fintech is Bright

Over the past several years, many financial services providers have seen a boom in their business as they work to make it easier for customers to access and use their money. As a result, we're seeing more innovation than ever before: from startups and major corporations alike. The future of fintech is bright and has many new and exciting changes that will continue to revolutionize the world of finance.

Need to future-proof your company? Cotribute provides Increased retention and customer growth for our clients by delivering a unique platform that can be white labeled and incorporated with your core systems. Within 5 minutes, acquire consumers digitally, open accounts, and onboard them. Contact us to schedule a demo today.