Technology is in the DNA of banking

Banks have been building on the digital infrastructure since the first days of finance. After all those years, banking services remain FinTech-driven and are heavily investing in innovative technologies. Bank innovators have transformed the industry with crucial devices, from the ATM half a century ago to contactless payments today. Each time bringing banking closer to the consumer.

Breaking down financial technology

Fintech is an overarching term of the fast change that finance currently is undergoing. Fintech also refers to innovative startups offering the digital financial services, similar to financial institutions or complementing and integrating with existing business models. A closer look to specific technologies reminds us that financial services are changing from back to front. Advanced technology affects all working areas of the sector and correspondingly affects many areas of financial regulation.

On the front-end the mobile phone is decisive, the end-user expects an accessible and secure experience at the same time. In the back office banks have been building and implementing automated solutions. Big data analytics, cloud computing, artificial intelligence and Open APIs are the most concrete technologies used by financial institutions. Alternative finance, virtual currencies and distributed ledgers (blockchain) are also increasingly becoming part of the financial ecosystem.

Fintech and financial regulation

Since the beginning, the European Banking Federation has actively worked on the digital transformation of the industry and succesfully positioned banks as a crucial building block of the EU Digital Single Market. It is very important that legislation needs to keep up with fast change and luckily many regulators and policy makers are putting the main aspects of financial technology on the agenda.

In its work, the EBF pleads for a regulatory environment where all financial services providers can offer innovative and technology-driven products while guaranteeing consumer protection and security and financial stability.