For financial services, the digital revolution is just beginning

The number of cashless transactions is expected to almost treble to three trillion between 2020 and 2030

- Shayan Hazir

New technology has made it faster, cheaper and easier than ever to access financial services. But in many cases, the services themselves are still essentially traditional. That is about to change.

There are some positive developments in this transformation.

Consumer payments are now available on many platforms and in most cases, transactions are almost instantaneous.

The number of cashless transactions is expected to almost treble to three trillion between 2020 and 2030. The Asia-Pacific region is predicted to grow the fastest on this front, with cashless transaction volumes growing by 109 per cent from 2020 to 2025.

At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a more significant role in loan decisions.

Some financial institutions, including HSBC, have harnessed the technology to improve individual investment decisions.

Blockchain, meanwhile, has started to make inroads in the acceleration of trade finance and the proliferation of digital assets.

Open banking capabilities are also becoming more common, with the advent of open application programming interfaces (APIs) that continue to enhance customer access beyond banking capabilities.

These are significant improvements, but there is much that has not changed. We may no longer use cheques to conduct our everyday business, but we still have chequing accounts.

Much of the small and mediumsized enterprise (SME) sector and corporate banking is still subject to shortcomings, including slow transactions and incompatible systems. Trade finance still generates a mountain of paperwork.