Digital Banking Is the Traditional Banking of the Future

What can be leveraged today to offer flexibility and choice to a highly demanding future client?

How can blockchain technologies help companies deal with challenges brought by the recent pandemic?

Blockchain technology provides the opportunity for companies to implement fast, at a reasonable cost, new ways to distribute incentives, automate processes, accept payments or reach investors.
Incentivising consumers through the distribution of tokenised reward points or collectible NFTs (Non fungible Tokens) that can be used across multiple companies will be the way forward. Many startups are developing solutions to support businesses attract and keep customers in a more and more global competitive landscape.
Offering the ability to pay with Bitcoin or other digital currencies such as regulated stable coins (and tomorrow Central Bank Digital Currencies) are examples of what can be leveraged today to offer flexibility and choice to a more and more demanding and cross-border client base.
Also, through tokenisation and the easy-to-manage fragmentation of ownership that Blockchain enables, a larger number of investors can be reached at a lower cost for the financing of projects through new and existing properly equipped financial service providers.
Finally, Blockchain, associated with IoT devices, can enable further automation or strengthening of logistical processes in a commercial world more and more based on online purchase & delivery, a trend that has only accelerated during the pandemic.

 

In the era of the most convenient payments via mobile and wearables, what next can banks offer in terms of digital banking?

Banks will be critical in supporting retail and corporate customers with blockchain-enabled digital currencies wallet and payment services. As the variety of digital payment methods (blockchain-based or not) explodes, it will be important for banks to consider how they can offer a secure, compliant and seamless access to all these payment products in the most transparent and user-friendly way as possible for its users.

 

How do you expect digital banking to influence traditional banking?

Digital banking is the traditional banking of the future. Undoubtedly, all aspects of banking from onboarding to depositing to paying, etc will be digitalised in the coming years. My view is that it will not only be digitalised but also tokenised on blockchain(s). This will lead to all assets of value (money, securities, real estate, art, collectables, client rewards, fine wine, etc) becoming fungible or easily exchangeable, therefore being available 24/7 and instantaneously for all economical, banking and financing needs in a more and more decentralised way. Banks and other new financial intermediaries will become the critical secure, compliant and convenient access points to this new web3.0 based economy.

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Alexandre KECH is a Director, Blockchain & Digital Asset at Citi Ventures Innovation. Alex‘s team researches, engages and experiments on emerging use cases for blockchain technologies and digital assets.
Over the past 25 years, Alex has constructed a unique career combining finance at BNY Mellon, payments/securities infrastructure and standards (ISO 15022/20222) at SWIFT, and blockchain and digital assets at Onchain Custodian. As CEO of the Singapore-based company he co-founded, he led the building from scratch of a custody and prime brokerage service for crypto and other digital assets.
Alex is also involved in industry initiatives. He is the convenor of the ISO TC68 / SC8 / WG3 which produced the ISO 24165 Digital Token Identifier (DTI). In that capacity, he is a member of the DTI Foundation Product Advisory Committee. He is also the convenor of the ISO TC68/ SC8 / Study Group 5 charged to assess the need for an IBAN-like digital wallet ISO standard. He also recently served as co-chair of the Global Digital Finance (gdf.io) custody working group.