What new technology trends will change the financial industry? What should businesses be ready for in connection with the development of digital technologies? Vitaly Nizhegorodtsev, regional manager of SunFinance Group, answered these questions to Standard.kz portal.

2021 has been a challenging year for the entire financial services industry, but these challenges also continue to drive long-overdue modernization and digitalization when it comes to the technology that financial institutions rely on to do business.

Rewinding 12 months ago, many industry observers were making hopeful predictions for a “post-pandemic” 2021. However, the reality today is that the impact of the pandemic can be seen in almost all industries. For the financial sector, the perfect storm of turbulent market conditions, telecommuting, growing customer demands and ongoing regulatory challenges have exacerbated the need for new technologies to do more with less.

Smart solutions will become more and more important

Gartner defines decision analytics as a technology that enables companies to "manage, evaluate, and improve decisions based on knowledge and feedback." In unpredictable market conditions, the ability of financial institutions to use the information at their disposal to build scoring and make decisions for their clients at the right time has become both a key competitive differentiator and a profitability driver.

According to Vitaly Nizhegorodtsev, decision analytics is based on the ability to effectively use both internal and external client data, as well as the adoption of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence to support, supplement and automate decisions.

Financial institutions that cannot analyze their customers in depth and make informed decisions will soon lose their edge in an increasingly data-driven world.

Advanced technologies will be more democratized
Digitalization continued at a rapid pace in 2021 as teleworking caused by the pandemic remained widespread and financial institutions were forced to urgently go digital. At the same time, technological advances that might previously have taken years have instead taken months or even weeks, and the traditional stubbornness of older financial services has dissipated in the face of change.

“Before the pandemic, financial institutions were location-focused and staff were tied to physical offices. Now they are increasingly results-driven—the workforce can be distributed, but it must be accompanied by digital technologies to maintain and increase productivity. As a result, the newfound confidence in digital solutions increases the confidence of financial institutions in the need to implement new technologies,” says Nizhegorodtsev.

A side effect of this trend, he says, has been a leveling of the playing field for financial institutions of all sizes. New technologies to support digitalization, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, biometric identification and data analysis, are provided by fintech companies as a service, which significantly reduces entry barriers for new financial institutions and allows them to compete with existing financial market participants. This democratization of access to cutting edge technology will continue to reshape the financial services industry in 2022.

Big data analytics
Fintech companies want to unlock the value of their data to help them make intelligent decisions and improve profitability. But it's not as easy as flipping a switch and suddenly extracting useful information from the data. All analytics programs should start with a foundation for fundamental data. Without proper preparatory work, valuable insights may remain unavailable.

“The road to a successful data analysis program starts with data normalization and structuring. Aggregating, standardizing, and enriching datasets is the foundation of any successful analytics program. On this solid foundation, advanced analytics tools are starting to pay off, and fintech companies can deliver the modern, information-driven experience that customers are increasingly demanding,” notes Vitaly Nizhegorodtsev.

Customers expect hyper-personalization of services and information
As technology platforms such as Netflix and Amazon provide an increasingly personalized experience, expectations from financial consumers have also risen in this regard.

According to the expert, for financial institutions, the relationship with their clients often depends on the ability to provide personalized and in-demand financial services that truly take into account the individual needs and interests of the client.

“By providing personalized and customer-relevant services, financial institutions can demonstrate that they truly understand their customer.