Data Will Be Core Area of Competitiveness for Banks: Ant Financial VP

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One Ant Financial’s senior-most execs has shared a raft of predictions for the future of China’s fintech and banking sectors.

In a speech delivered at the recent Ant Technology Exploration Conference (ATEC), Ant Financial vice-president Liu Weiguang (刘伟光) said digitisation and big data will be the key to future development of the Chinese finance sector.

“By 2020 over 50%of banks will complete framework transitions, ushering in the digital finance era,” said Liu. “Financial institutions of the future will place greater focus on digitisation, ecosystem links and online cooperation.

“Banks whose digitisation efforts are more mature will take the lead in transforming into Lego-style banks. Many bank services will employ a modularised form for deployment by third parties.”

Liu also highlighted the importance of big data for financial institutions, as well as a gradual transformation in their economic role.

“Data will become the most important resource and core area of competitiveness – traditional banks will transform into data banks… data-driven smart applications will become the key form of differentiated competitiveness,” said Liu.

“Banks will gradually transform from financial service providers into comprehensive lifestyle service providers…the CIO of one southern Chinese bank said to me that he wanted to establish a complete lifestyle and travel [app…I believe that this isn’t just the voice of one bank in China, but that many banks are also thinking similarly.

“For this reason seamless connections to finance will  become an extremely important growth point in future.”