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The report titled ‘Fintech: A view of the future’, published by the Institute of Digital Economics of the ESIC, provides an assessment of the most significant trends that will take place in the ‘fintech’ world in the coming months. Among the six most important trends, it includes openness, Web 4.0, Social to Everything Media, blockchain, authentication and B2C interfaces.
The study has been carried out using the ‘coolhunting method’, based on preparing quality-associated reports that assist in revealing the latest trends, the most disruptive innovations and new business models. An X-ray study of the consumer is also included.
1. – Among the six highlighted trends are openness, comprised by open innovation and open source. The first focuses on the current need for cooperation by various companies in the same territory or the same market to continue competing in the mid and long term. On the other hand, open source attempts to use the original code of software or an app, while APIs can use this to accelerate innovation and generate app and software ecosystems based on the originals.
2. Web 4.0 (also called Ubiquitous Web) is another main trend. It is based on new types of interfaces, the Internet of things and mostly on the new analytical capacities of supercomputing (new generations of Big Data), as well as the more massive irruption of Artificial Intelligence in several settings.
According to the report, the development of Artificial Intelligence is probably one of the most disruptive technological revolutions of the near future. On the other hand, although it recognizes that it sounds strange for an industry that has traditionally worked with intangibles to speak of the Internet of Things, the tendency is the discovery under the paradigm of Web 4.0 of the convergence of several types of technology that can offer services both in context and in real time.
3. Social to Everything Media. In recent years, the most popular social networks have ceased to be simple social networks and evolved into something different by entering in the world of direct transactions. This is true, at least, for P2P (peer to peer) transactions. Ultimately, the starting point paradigm is easy, as explained in the report: to make user time spent on their digital platforms and environments comfortable and therefore longer-lasting by encouraging permanence and attempting to lengthen the stay. One of these strategies has been carried out by extending the portfolio of services and products. This is one of the keys to why these platforms are also exploring the ‘fintech’ environment: so the user will not have to leave the platform to perform more or less routine daily financial transactions.
4. The technology known as blockchain is another technological highlight. The blockchain is based on distributed networks and on robust encryption to safeguard security. Thus, it involves the assumption that a third party or intermediary is not required to centralize the information and generate trust in the network. Everyone can access these accounting books and transactions are fast and cheap.
5. Another highlighted trend is authentication of one’s own identity. This is essential for any service associated with an individual who keeps personal and/or valuable data for that person to any extent. However, this is even truer for bank services, which evidently, are always vulnerable to intrusion by third parties with a criminal purpose.
A main role in authentication is played by biometrics. In recent years, biometrics, or the automated study of the recognition of a unique individual and their differentiation from the rest (and their applications), has become a solution for these two challenges. Methods that are very easy for users, such as placing their finger on a screen, showing their face or pronouncing a word. Beyond biometrics, there are multiple layers being worked on to reinforce authentication security and reliability in digital and mobile media.
6. The sixth trend are B2C interfaces. The report classifies 2016 probably as year of the Chatbot, as regards innovative organizations. The report states that the progress made in language recognition technology, Artificial Intelligence and the interest of the technological market in the same has spurred the appearance in recent years of a variety of proposals for the business and, more specifically, the financial industry.
Moreover, in the Web environment, Artificial Intelligence applied alongside Big Data could open the doors to the development of sophisticated websites and apps, capable of meeting the customers’ demands in real time using these technological resources. In this regard, chatbots, or programs that take part in automated conversations, are discovering a new stage in their evolution.
Are you looking for more information on open source? You can find more information here
You can also find updated information about blockchain in the ebook called ‘The union of the bitcoin and APIs’
Are you interested in financial APIs? Discover all the APIs we can offer you at BBVA
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An API is a very useful mechanism that connects two pieces of software equipment to exchange messages or data in a standard format such as XML or JSON. Thus, it becomes an instrument that can be used to search for revenue, open the doors to talent or innovate and automate processes.
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