DUŠAN LALIĆ, Co-President of the FIC Financial Services Committee (Generali Osiguranje Srbija a.d.o.)

DUŠAN LALIĆ,CO-PRESIDENT OF THE FIC FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE (GENERALI OSIGURANJE SRBIJA A.D.O.)

We Need More Digital Solutions

It is essential for the state and the financial sector to work on creating a higher degree of trust in digitalisation. Alongside this, it is important to work on removing legislative barriers that hamper the issuance of digital insurance policies

Theoutbreakofthepandemichadone goodside,andthat’sacceleratingthe digitalisationofthefinancialsector. Priortothecoronaviruscrisis,moreor lesseverythingwasconductedviabranches ofthefinancialsector,whichwasreluctantto transitiontodigitisationbecause,ontheone hand,regulationsdidn’tallowit,whileonthe other hand, citizens weren’t ready for such changes. Major changes in the field came during the pandemic. Today, in the majority ofthefinancialsector,citizenscancomplete everything from their armchairs. The state hasdonealotonthisfrontandreformshave yielded plenty of good results.

Financialsectorservicesaretodayavailabletoourcitizens24/7.Thereislesspaper and bureaucracy, and what represents the key advantage of digitalisation is the easy and simple communication and sales process between the client and the financial sector. When it comes to shortcomings, I think two segments exist that require care to be taken. One is trust in digital products. ResearchshowsthatcitizensinSerbiahave little trust in online purchases, even though the majority of them have smartphones. In otherwords,thereisafearofbeingdefrauded andmisled.Wecurrentlyhaveasituationin which the financial sector has new digital solutions, but they still aren’t being utilised much.Itisimportantherethatthestate,but also the financial sector, provide their own contribution to creating a higher degree of trust in digitalisation. The second segment isregulation.Ininsurance,forexample,there arestillregulationsinplacethathamperthe issuance of digital insurance policies.

Our Committee provided its contribution to the development of digitalisation in this segment through active participation in discussions with the National Bank of SerbiaandtheGovernmentoftheRepublic ofSerbiaonvarioustopicsconnectedtothe digitalisationofthefinancialsector.Thenext steps,alongsidethewritingofaproposalfor theWhiteBook,aretocontinuethedialogue with state bodies and initiate new trends in the digital transformation of our sector.

Itisextremelyimportanttointroduceregularworkshopsandseminars,incooperation betweentheNBSandthefinancialsector,with theaimofensuringconstructivediscussions, exchanging opinions and receiving instructionsanddirectivesforidentifyingthebest solutionstoprotecttherightsandinterests ofusersoffinancialservices.Advancesmust be harmonised with solutions that emerge from the aforementioned workshops. Only the joint work of the financial sector and the regulator can improve our clients’ level of protection. Financial sector education is an obligation of us all, or rather the entire financial sector must work continuously, together with regulators, on the educating of all users of financial services. Alongside the educating of users, there must also be work on the educating of judges and other representatives of state bodies directly or indirectlyincludedintheprocessofprotecting users of financial services.

Whenalloftheaforementionedistaken into consideration, the FIC Financial Services Committee has already launched an initiative to organise an annual conference of the financial sector that would include open discussion of all issues related to the advancingofthefinancialsector.AndIhopeto haveanopportunitytotalkabouttheresults of that conference next time.

We’ve launched an initiative to organise an annual conference of the financial sector that would include open discussion of all issues related to the advancing of these activities