Global Banking & Finance Review Issue 30 - Business & Finance Magazine

Issue 30

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EDITORS LETTER

FROM THE Chairman and CEO Varun Sash

editor

Editor Wanda Rich email: wrich@gbafmag.com Web Development and Maintenance Anand Giri

Dear Readers’

Head of Distribution & Production Robert Mathew

Project Managers Megan Sash, Amanda Walker

Video Production and Journalist Phil Fothergill

I am pleased to present Issue 30 of Global Banking & Finance Review. For those of you that are reading us for the first time, welcome.

Featured on the front cover is a Times Square advertisement featuring Global Banking & Finance Review. This issue is filled with exclusive interviews and insights from financial leaders across the globe.

Graphic Designer Jessica Weisman-Pitts Client & Accounts Manager Chanel Roberts Business Consultants Rick Saikia, Monika Umakanth, Stefy Abraham, Business Analysts Samuel Joseph, Dave D’Costa Advertising Phone: +44 (0) 208 144 3511 marketing@gbafmag.com GBAF Publications, LTD Alpha House 100 Borough High Street London, SE1 1LB United Kingdom Global Banking & Finance Review is the trading name of GBAF Publications LTD Company Registration Number: 7403411 VAT Number: GB 112 5966 21 ISSN 2396-717X. The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources the publishers believe to be correct. The publisher wishes to stress that the information contained herein may be subject to varying international, federal, state and/or local laws or regulations.

The purchaser or reader of this publication assumes all responsibility for the use of these materials and information. However, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretations of the subject matter contained herein no legal liability can be accepted for any errors. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the prior consent of the publisher

After pulling off an extensive digital overhaul in 2 ½ years, VTB Bank is showing no signs of slowing down. Global Banking & Finance Review’s Phil Fothergill spoke to Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the VTB Bank Management Board, to find out how one of Russia’s largest financial institutions was able to achieve this – and what changes are still to come. Read the full interview on page 26.

Forte Insurance takes pride in positioning itself as “the foremost provider of underwriting services in Cambodia,” offering an unrivalled service to its clients built on value, security, efficiency and multi-lingual capabilities. Global Banking & Finance Review editor Wanda Rich recently spoke with Charles Cheo, Forte’s Executive Chairman. Among the topics covered were the firm’s progress in digitalisation that has facilitated both communication and convenience since the outbreak of the pandemic, and Forte’s contribution to the ongoing development of the insurance industry in Cambodia. Read the full interview on page 20 On page 32, Ranga Reddy the co-founder and CEO of Maveric Systems. shares Maveric’s 4.0 outlook and 2025 growth mission with us. We strive to capture the latest news about the world's economy, financial events, and banking game changers from prominent leaders in the industry and public viewpoints with an intention to serve a holistic outlook. We have gone that extra mile to ensure we give you the best from the world of finance.

Send me your thoughts on how I can continue to improve and what you’d like to see in the future.

Enjoy!

Wanda Rich Editor

®

Stay caught up on the latest news and trends taking place by signing up for our free email newsletter, reading us online at http://www.globalbankingandfinance.com/ and download our App for the latest digital magazine for free on Google Play and the Apple App Store

Issue 30 | 03

CONTENTS

BANKING

08 Transparency is key to banks building trust online René Hendrikse, MD EMEA & LatAM, Mitek

Contactless payment myths, debunked Jean Michel, Chief Technology Officer, Total Processing

42

BUSINESS

22

Contactless Mobile Ordering:

How venues can upgrade and boost sales Adam King, CEO, SwipeStation

The importance of an effective social media strategy for B2B sellers Iain Masson, RVP UK & Nordics, Showpad

44

El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Law” Forces Governments and Businesses to Contend with Digital Assets Daniel Stabile and Kim Prior

48 Power to the people: how

consumers are calling the shots when it comes to data privacy Shallu Behar-Sheehan, CMO, Trūata

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36

CONTENTS

FINANCE

14

Fraud, scams and costly mistakes: cross-border wire transfers' risks exposed

TECHNOLOGY

12

Milad Aslaner Senior Director, Cyber Defense Strategy, SentinelOne

Kenny Tsang Managing Director PingPong Payments

38

Now is the time for finance leaders to take on a more strategic and valuable role

How to defeat cyber threats with AIpowered, real time threat intelligence

16

Gavin Fallon General Manager Board

Are we seeing the end of physical ID? How digital identity verification could help accelerate compliance and combat ID fraud Benjamin Haas, Senior Sales Director EMEA, IDnow

30

Effective Integration Will Improve Mobility in the T&L Sector Over the Next Five Years Sarah Edge, Director of Sales, UK and Ireland at SOTI

Data protection reform: is it really 'a new direction' ?

Jon Belcher, specialist data protection lawyer, Excello Law

46

Issue 30 | 05

CONTENTS

20

MEET CHARLES CHEO: EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN OF CAMBODIA'S PREMIERE INSURANCE COMPANY Charles Cheo, Executive Chairman, Forte Insurance

BAO VIET SECURITIES OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES eKYC ONLINE ACCOUNT OPENING SERVICE: ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION WITH NUMEROUS UTILITIES

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10

CONTENTS

...Interviews HOW VTB BANK IMPLEMENTS ITS DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman, VTB Bank Management Board

26

32 MAVERIC’S 4.0 OUTLOOK AND 2025 GROWTH MISSION BDSec Mongolia's Largest Securities Company, Ranga Reddy, CEO, Maveric Systems

Issue 30 | 07

BANKING

Transparency Transparency is is key key to to banks banks building building trust trust online online Humans like to stay in their comfort zones, whether it be ordering the same meal at our favourite restaurant or going on holiday to the same city.

In 2020, the tables turned once and for all as organisations and the public had to step out of their comfort zone and suddenly everyday norms became a distant memory.

Since the onset of the pandemic, we have become reliant on technology more than ever before. While this presented a challenge across all industries, financial firms and banks were hit particularly hard.

To accommodate the shift online, products and services had to be done digitally, which sparked another concern: security. How could they ensure safety and reliability of online transactions?

Even though the number of people using online banking didn’t significantly rise in the UK, the way we used online banking did. Prior to the pandemic, customers used online platforms for day-to-day activities, like checking their account balance and other low-risk activities. It’s a whole different ball game now, as lockdowns forced customers to rely on technology for a wider range of financial transactions, including ones that required higher levels of trust, like loan or mortgage applications and large payments.

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Striking a balance In the UK, bank fraud hit a new record last year with online fraudsters scamming £497m out of consumers. This rise in fraud is one of the reasons why people don’t trust digital transactions. Financial providers and banks need to show they can protect customers from fraud to earn their trust. This means stepping up their security.

To keep fraudsters at bay, a “step up” system of authentication is needed to ensure that higher-value digital transactions such as payments or credit applications are protected.

Essentially, the riskier the transaction, the more robust the level of security needed. Banks that can prove they are taking security seriously are seen as competent and capable, deserving of customers’ trust.

For example, while fingerprint or device recognition is suitable for balance checking or moving money between customer’s accounts, facial recognition that confirms a person’s identity is more likely to reassure customers for major payments or opening new accounts. This additional level of protection confirms to customers that their bank is serious about protecting their data and their identity. To take things a step further, behavioural biometrics, which confirm

identities by assessing consumer behaviour to create a unique digital fingerprint, could add an additional layer of defence.

The challenge for banks and financial services providers is to strike a balance between ease and security.

When making a payment, we want to complete the transaction accurately and quickly. Any extra step in the process isn’t always convenient, but could be perceived as reassuring if banks let customers know how any additional steps protect them. By striking an optimal balance between user convenience and security, customers will be more likely to trust the transaction.

Trust is a process Unfortunately, digital transaction fraud isn’t the only cybercrime customers are worried about.

Customers also want to feel that their personal information is in safe hands. According to Accenture, only 37% of global customers trusted their bank to look after their data in 2020, down from 51% in 2018: a steep decline. Asking for seemingly irrelevant data only makes customers more suspicious. In fact, 52% of U.S. consumers are more willing to trust a company that limits its request only to relevant data, according to .

BANKING

But for higher-value transactions, banks need to ask for more data from their customers to prevent fraud. Making sure banks are collecting only the necessary data at appropriate touch points is the key to establishing trust.

Central to that goal, banks must explain and be open about how this data is used. This could be through pop-up notifications that appear onscreen but don’t interrupt the payment process, for example. For people who want to know more, additional links in the pop-up can allow them to find out how their data is being used. As a result, customers can feel in control and reassured about how their data is being handled.

By deploying this kind of digital toolkit, customers can count on an engaging user experience while also feeling cared for.

Consumers value transparency

It’s about managing expectations.

For example, imagine if consumers are being told how long a process will take, only for a bank to take too long? Being open and honest about processes helps to build trust in the brand by showing it can meet its own promises, proving itself reliable. For banks, deploying the right technologies to provide sufficient security and thinking beyond the technology to prioritise customer experience will help to foster strong customer loyalty.

The most important thing banks can do is start with trust – and reinforce it with every transaction and interaction.

For an industry that has spent the last decade clawing back its reputation against all the odds, what’s clear is that trust is a process, not an event.

To see continued success, banks must continue to build this trust with their customers, so they feel reassured every step of the way.

René Hendrikse MD EMEA & LatAM Mitek

It’s not a one-way street when it comes to trust. Consumers value everything else a bank stands for too. According to Braze, 61% of U.K. customers stopped using a brand due to a clash of values. That’s why building trust with customers through strong brand values and consistent transparency with employees, customers, and the public is critical.

Issue 30 | 09

BAO VIET SECURITIES OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES eKYC ONLINE ACCOUNT OPENING SERVICE: ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION WITH NUMEROUS UTILITIES • Developed based on market demand and digital transformation in business philosophy, the online account opening service – eKYC electronic identification was made to enrich the digital transformation ecosystem of Bao Viet Securities.

• With eKYC, customers can open an account anywhere within minutes and simple steps to start making transactions with amazing experiences.

After researches with advanced AI technology, Bao Viet Securities (BVSC) has officially launched the eKYC online electronic identification securities account opening service (referred to as eKYC account opening) on the BVSC Mobile application with completely online procedures which can be done within minutes. eKYC (electronic Know Your Customer) is no longer an odd concept as many financial banking institutions have started to apply this for 100% online identification and simplified document verification procedures in recent times. With eKYC, customers do not have to come to branches/transaction points as in the tradition “KYC” method anymore.

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Your Trust, Our Commitm e nt

Amidst unexpected external impacts that changed people’s lives, especially Covid-19, and the the rising demand for technological conveniences due to users’ trend in recent years, businesses must constantly improve online approaches to customers. To catch up this trend, BVSC has successfully researched and developed eKYC online account opening service, helping customers open securities trading accounts anywhere and anytime.

With only one device to install BVSC Mobile app, an ID card and extremely simple steps, customers and have a securities account ready for trading within 30 seconds. Upon registration, BVSC’s dedicated staff will make a video call to customer to verify the provided documents and obtain customer’s signature, ensuring a safe & confidential process in accordance with the law.

On this occasion, BVSC offers the promotion program “Instant account, Instant reward” for new customers, whereby, every new account will receive VND 100,000 into the account upon the first successful login. In addition, the referal can also enjoy the “More friends, More bonuses” program, specifically: Existing BVSC customers can refer more people to open securities account with the referral code as the referrer’s account number. After the new account successfully logs in, the referrer will receive a bonus of VND 100,000 into the securities account, with unlimited number of bonuses.

The introduction of eKYC, along with the B-Wise web trading platform and BVS@LiveBoard launched last year as well as a series of transaction utility improvements in recent years have contributed to gradually perfecting BVSC’s digital transformation ecosystem & creating a more dynamic version of BVSC as stated in the “New Me, New BVSC” message. At the end of July, BVSC was honored with the Best Brokerage House – Digital Transformation Vietnam 2021 Award by Global Banking & Finance Review. ***** Bao Viet Securities Joint Stock Company (BVSC) is one of the leading and most prestigious securities companies in Vietnam, providing professional financial and investment services for domestic and foreign individuals and institutions, investment funds and banks. Established in 1999 with the founding shareholder being Vietnam Insurance Corporation (now Bao Viet Group) under the Ministry of Finance, BVSC inherits the prestigious brand name and financial strengths of a leading financial-insurance company.

During its 22 years of development, as the first securities company in the Vietnamese stock market, BVSC has continuously enhanced its financial capacity, strengthened operations, developed a modern information technology system to improve the quality of services and become a leading brokerage company in Vietnam. BVSC has been recognized with numerous awards from prestigious foreign and local institutions. In terms of advisory, with professional and experienced experts, BVSC was honored with the “Outstanding M&A Advisory Firm” Award in 2011 and 2012, granted by the Securities Investment newspaper under the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the “Best Securities Advisory Firm” Award by the UK International Finance Magazine for 2 consecutive years, and the “Vietnam’s Leading Brand” Award in the category of Investment Bank (IB) last year. In terms of brokerage, BVSC always upholds its position among the top 10 securities companies by brokerage market share on HOSE and HNX. Notably, BVSC is among the 2 largest bond brokerage houses on the market.

For more information, please contact BVSC’s points of transaction at www.bvsc.com.vn For more details, please contact: Ms. Nguyễn Thùy Linh PR Department, Bao Viet Securities Email: NguyenThuyLinhA@baoviet.com.vn Tel: (84-24) 3928 8080 (EXT: 609)

ww w.bvsc. co m. vn

Your Trust, Our Commitm e nt

TECHNOLOGY

How to defeat cyber threats with AI-powered, real time threat intelligence For many Security Operations Centre (SOC) teams, defending against cyberattacks is largely reactive, as they confront increasingly complex threats and widening attack surfaces, resulting from remote working and a vast array of cloud applications that provide unauthorised users with a myriad of system-access points.

While a swift and thorough response to security incidents is key, it is also essential to understand the bigger picture as to how, when, and why an incident occurred. Responding to a threat without viewing it holistically can lead to an infinite loop, where we contain a threat only to wait for an adversary to leverage the same attack methodology again.

Unfortunately, the moment you begin to contain a threat, your actions may set off alarm bells for threat actors, triggering them to accelerate their attack or stealthily change techniques.

For this reason, it’s critical for SOC teams to spend time analysing how, when, and why an incident occurs.

Importance of cyber threat intelligence Cyber threat intelligence (CTI) consists of information on the tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) of adversaries, and it enables organisations to make more informed and data-driven decisions about their cybersecurity programmes, driving more successful protection and detection of – and response to – today’s cyberattacks.

As Gartner affirms, “[e]videncebased knowledge, including context, mechanisms, indicators, implications and actionable advice about an existing or emerging

12 | Issue 30

menace or hazard to assets…can be used to inform decisions regarding the subject’s response to that menace or hazard.”

to im ple me nt one , ye t only 2 5 % of those m e m be rs be lieve the i r c urre nt c a pa bility a c hieve s th ei r de sire d obj e c tive s.

CTI helps organisations recognise blind spots, providing SOC teams with valuable insights into the threat landscape that ultimately allow them to mitigate risk. By applying threat intelligence to identifying and understanding the relationship between adversaries and their TTP (tactics, techniques and procedures), security analysts are empowered to take the most effective proactive steps for their particular environment.

This is largely due to the common pitfalls of modern threat intelligence, such as the inability to effectively process, correlate, and analyse data, given the enormous volume of data from signals and telemetry, which collects measurements or other information at remote points and automatically transmits it to receiving equipment. Most threat intelligence solutions depend heavily on human intervention to consolidate, parse, enrich, and validate data, and their analyses can focus too deeply on who the attackers are, versus how to remediate and take action.

Threat Intelligence challenges facing organisations today The cyber threat landscape continues to evolve, with attacks like the DarkSide ransomware campaign against Colonial Pipeline – causing the shutdown of the American oil company’s pipeline and the payment of about $5 million in ransom – and SUNBURST, the malware variant behind the SolarWinds corporate attack that compromised the data of more than 30,000 public and private organisations, just the tip of the cyberattack iceberg.

In recent ye a rs, hoping to be tte r prepare for e m e rging thre a ts and take i nf orme d a c tion, ma ny compani es have a tte mpte d to l everage cybe r thre a t inte llige nc e .

However, i n pra c tic e , SOC te a m s often aren’ t se e ing ta ngible resul ts. Acc ording to Inf orm a tion Securi ty Fo rum’s re se a rc h, 8 2 % of thei r me mbe rs have c y be r threat i ntel lige nc e c a pability, w i th the rem a ining 1 8 % planning

Another issue is that threatintelligence sources are often siloed, and teams lack the right technology and processes to connect and correlate their data for a more complete picture. Consequently, it has become costly and time-consuming to operationalise CTI, with threat researchers struggling to separate the meaningful insight from the noise.

Leveraging AI for threat intelligence With incident queues continually growing, it’s no surprise that response-time metrics like ‘mean time to detect’ (MTTD) and ‘mean time to respond’ (MTTR) are rising. Given that one of the biggest obstacles to performing these types of in-depth analyses is time and resources, the key question is how organisations can acquire and evaluate the intelligence they need, without adding even more work to an already overloaded team.

TECHNOLOGY

One of the most effective ways to realise the full value of cyber threat intelligence is to combine the best of artificial intelligence with human intelligence. Doing so resolves two primary pain points: the amount of data that requires manual processing and the time it takes to manually correlate and contextualise it.

By utilising AI-powered autonomous security tools, security professionals can offload a great deal of labourintensive, manual work they previously struggled to keep up with. These AI-driven platforms can perform TTP (tactics, techniques, and procedures) analysis and correlate incoming threats at scale and in real time.

Some platforms even provide a console from which SOC teams can investigate a particular incident, accessing information on when a threat was first seen, when it was last seen, and the scope of the breach. Such platforms can also quickly identify the type of threat, for instance, a ransomware campaign, and even provide insights on how each of the adversary’s steps maps to the TTP of the MITRE ATT&CK framework,

which is a globally-accessible knowledge base of adversary tactics and techniques based on realworld experiences that enables the development of crowd-sourced cybersecurity defences.

Conclusion Cyber attackers are employing novel and ever-more sophisticated techniques to infiltrate networks and systems, and most security teams today are simply too overloaded to perform in-depth, meaningful analyses for all of their incident investigations. But with the help of AIdriven autonomous tools, SOC teams can now access real-time threat modelling, incident correlation, and TTP analysis at scale, empowering human threat analysts to make informed, data-backed decisions.

This combination of artificial and human intelligence provides context, enrichment, and actionability to cyber data, and allows organisations to take a more automated and proactive approach to their defences – not only keeping up with your attackers but even staying one step ahead.

Milad Aslaner Senior Director, Cyber Defense Strategy, SentinelOne

Issue 30 | 13

FINANCE

Fraud, scams and costly mistakes: cross-border wire transfers' risks exposed In a world where business is dominated by e-commerce and purchasing habits trend more towards digital platforms, online transaction safety is paramount.

Yet, in 2018, a reported total of $423 million was lost in wire transfer scams, and in 2020 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) received more than 2.2 million reports concerning fraud. As a result, losses connected to fraud in 2020 reached almost $3.3 billion. Figures like this show that online crime trends will only continue to grow, corroborated by the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

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The center took almost seven years to record its first million complaints, while the most recent million, in comparison, was logged over only 14 months. The center's six millionth complaint was logged in May 2021 making it clear: now more than ever, online vendors must be prepared against fraud and scams as they conduct their business.

Online sellers must be particularly careful regarding fraud when sourcing inventory and interacting with different suppliers overseas, an ever more common occurrence given the growth of cross-border e-commerce.

Forecasts predict the global crossborder e-commerce market to reach over $2.2 billion by 2026, after being valued at $578.57 billion in 2019.

A global e-commerce forecast released in July reported that after an increase of almost 25% in crossborder e-commerce buyers in China in 2020, Asia-Pacific would lead the regional rankings for retail e-commerce sales this year. Thanks in large part to China's dominance, AsiaPacific will account for 60.8 percent of worldwide sales, with North America taking second place at 20.3 percent.

Given the importance and amount of cross-border transactions between major cross-border payments players, security should be the first thing on sellers' minds. In many cases, international transactions of this kind are increasingly vulnerable to fraud, and being unaware of the risks could be a costly mistake.

FINANCE

How to spot a fraudulent request

Long-term fraud prevention tactics

Nowadays, scam artists are so successful online because consumers are all used to interacting with strangers daily. Rarely do we vet individual accounts on e-commerce platforms as we buy products; we expect platforms to do that for us.

On the other hand, sellers must be vigilant when engaging with new or unknown suppliers and hyperaware of suspicious behavior when completing transactions.

Picture this: after deciding to open a new bank account, you wander into your local bank branch and make a request. Would your bank teller offer you an account without asking your name or address, or checking your ID? Of course not. So why should online seller or supplier verification work any differently?

For example, suppliers who change the payment recipient in the eleventh hour or request additional payments for customs clearance should trigger a red flag. Similarly, suppliers who only accept payment through specific platforms or request payments to personal accounts may need to verify before committing to their terms.

An easy way to manually verify a supplier's identity is to contact them via their listed phone number, which should be readily available on their website. If their site does not contain their basic contact information, or if this information is difficult to access, this is a red flag. Additionally, vendors can use forums such as the Better Business Bureau to check out the validity of websites. However, while these are helpful strategies, sellers should not have to spend hours of their time manually verifying other vendors, suppliers or customers. That's where a payments partner can help.

Anti-money laundering policies for online vendors and suppliers should reflect processes just as rigorous as those conducted by brick-and-mortar banks today. Verification at both ends of the supply chain is essential: ensuring that your seller, supplier or customer is who they say they are will protect you from the damaging implications of online scams.

Furthermore, knowing your online "colleagues" (be they a supplier overseas or the seller next door) will prevent money laundering, and any efficient online payments partner will understand this.

In addition to a localized understanding, the best online payments partners conduct the verification process for you. They will match suppliers to their company name, bank accounts, and passports and ensure that the person with whom you are conducting business is who they say they are. Meticulous identity checks and verification processes should be expected of any online vendor, and the best online payments partners know this.

Kenny Tsang Managing Director PingPong Payments

One exciting perk of the online world of commerce is its immediacy, but this shouldn't mean that processes are not recorded or authenticated.

Maintaining a paper trail from one end of a transaction to the other leads to better transparency and reduces the risk of fraud.

Payments partners should serve as a guide throughout the international payments process, lifting the weight off your shoulders and allowing you to focus on your business.

Although online crime shows no signs of disappearing, businesses should not live in fear of losing valuable resources to digital fraud and should instead profit from the globalized marketplace of suppliers and customers without worrying about the safety of their payments. Cybercrime may feel like a monster looming over your online business, but sellers aren't fighting this menace alone.

Issue 30 | 15

TECHNOLOGY

Are we seeing the end of physical ID? How digital identity verification could help accelerate compliance and combat ID fraud

Fifty euros is a decent amount of money, but depending on where you live it probably won’t stretch much beyond a meal for two, perhaps a couple of rounds of drinks or maybe a ticket to a popular event.

And these are people that are trained to spot the discrepancies in this sort of documentation. What about those who are only checking IDs as part of a long list of compliance processes, such as in conveyancing?

If you had access to the Dark Web, however, that same amount could get you a fake face ID so realistic it can fool human passport agents.

Why compliance needs to go digital to tackle sophisticated fraud

It’s a bit worrying, particularly when you consider the sort of airport queues we’ve seen on the news this summer. Imagine you’re an immigration official, the biometric passport controls aren’t working, and you’ve got to look through thousands of passports to help clear hours and hours of lines of passengers. With the best will in the world, your diligence is going to be sorely tested, and you can hardly be blamed if you fail to spot a sophisticated fake form of ID.

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So, on the one hand we’ve got increasingly sophisticated identity fraud. At the same time, we’ve got manual processes still being deployed when all around them entire organisations are being automated and digitised.

It’s increasingly apparent that compliance processes need to go digital. From onboarding customers for banks faster, to helping speed up the likes of conveyancing, the more systems and services are automated, the better it will be, both for the organisation providing the services and the end-customers using them.

Businesses would benefit from being able to process compliance checks faster. For instance, in conveyancing, either law firms would be able to support more property purchases with the same amount of staff, or redeploy that staff to work on more valueadd services for clients while still completing property purchases with the same standard of rigour.

For end customers, it would mean a faster turnaround on services, whether that’s opening new accounts or buying property – particularly attractive when deadlines such as stamp duty changes are looming.

But for that to happen, every aspect of the process needs to move digital.

That includes identity verification.

The end of physical ID? Right now, physical identification, such as passports, driving licenses and ID cards are the cornerstone of

TECHNOLOGY

ID verification. Whether starting a new job, instructing a solicitor or renting a property, most of the time people have to submit a form of face ID and a proof of address. Depending on the regulatory requirements, that might just mean a copy; it might mean the original documentation, which can hinder the individual’s use of other services. Either way, it is a drawn-out process.

What if we could deploy new ways to verify that someone is who they say they are? More and more of what were once face-to-face interactions are becoming virtual, which calls for new forms of identification. At the same time, businesses have to keep delivering exemplary customer experiences.

It means striking a balance between satisfying evolving know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) checks where we can simultaneously capture KYC data and screen them against thousands of anti-money laundering (AML) lists around the world, all within a secure environment. This

makes transactions and processes as seamless and stress-free, for the individual in question, as possible.

And this is where digital ID verification services come in. Biometrics are absolutely a viable and accepted security feature across the digital landscape.

From using your fingerprint, or face to unlock your phone, to e-signatures that are securely stored by ID verification companies to be used across all types of business and financial transactions, biometrics is one of the safest ways to guarantee the authenticity, and liveness of the person involved in the process.

Biometric security uses biological identifiers, such as fingerprints and selfies, to verify that someone is who they say they are. It removes the need to remember passwords or log-in details and is extremely hard to falsify.

While checks could be monitored for quality and accuracy processes by humans, machine learning and artificial intelligence would also go through other data to verify identities and prevent ID fraud.

Issue 30 | 17

TECHNOLOGY

Not just for legacy organisations Of course, these sorts of digital checks have massive appeal for those businesses that aren’t having to undergo digital transformation, as they are already digital natives. The likes of Fintech and Proptech startups can incorporate them into their AML and KYC processes, forgoing the need for any sort of physical or bricks and mortar presence to support faceto-face verification.

Businesses are increasing their use of onboarding verification tools and techniques, which combine artificial intelligence and biometric security to confirm that genuine customers are accepted while fraudulent attempts are rejected. Not only does this improve security by augmenting human agents, but by handing over much of the process to technology, the overall onboarding experience can be accelerated.

allow them to access services on the government’s online services gateway, a system used by banks and other private sector companies as well as government agencies.

Users only have to complete a single, straightforward application in order to access more than 500 government services instead of a separate onboarding process for each one. This is saving them time and makes for a streamlined, user-friendly experience, with the assurance of high levels of security thanks to the KYC elements drafted into the NFC technology.

By incorporating digital ID verification into their processes, banks, solicitors and other organisations tasked with compliance administration can not only improve their anti-fraud activities, but they can do so in a way that ensures quality and enables a positive customer experience.

--

Two problems with one solution Preventing fraud and optimising compliance processes may be two different challenges, but digital identity verification offers a single solution to multiple problems. For example, a number of European countries including Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria are implementing changes to laws around NFC technology to enable digital identification verification. France, for example, is leading the way with a new digital service for its citizens to

Benjamin Haas Senior Sales Director EMEA IDnow

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INTERVIEW

Forte Insurance takes pride in positioning itself as “the foremost provider of underwriting services in Cambodia,” offering an unrivalled service to its clients built on value, security, efficiency and multi-lingual capabilities.

Global Banking & Finance Review editor Wanda Rich recently spoke with Charles Cheo, Forte’s Executive Chairman. Among the topics covered were the firm’s progress in digitalisation that has facilitated both communication and convenience since the outbreak of the pandemic, and Forte’s contribution to the ongoing development of the insurance industry in Cambodia.

How has Forte Insurance had to adapt operations as a result of the current pandemic?

Forte has, like many businesses, had to accelerate the digitalisation of many parts of our operations. Many of these initiatives were already underway in some form, but the need to help our customers amid lockdowns created added urgency to implement them. We are continually refining processes and services to ensure that we meet our customers’ needs wherever they are, while keeping our staff safe.

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Providing customers with exceptional service and long-term value has always been a priority for you.

What are some of the key things you have done to ensure customers are receiving the best customer experience available?

Our customers are the reason for our success - without their support, we would not be what we are today. To ensure our long-term success, it is imperative that we continue to deliver the best experience to our customers. First, we develop a product that caters to the requirements of our customers. Providing a product that meets their needs allows them to feel their money spent on insurance policies is worthwhile. Next, we must ensure that clients have the best experience and satisfaction when they file claims. For instance, with respect to motor insurance policies, we have set up a RED Team to be at the site with our clients whenever they have road accidents and call us for notification.

Our commitment is to reach the site within 30 minutes.

Our RED Team is on standby 24 hours a day. For all our insurance products, we strive to settle claims within the timeframe we outline to our clients before they decide to buy insurance from us.

INTERVIEW

Charles Cheo Executive Chairman Forte Insurance

Additionally, we take our customer feedback and complaints very seriously. To us, there is no such thing as unreasonable feedback – all complaints and suggestions must be considered and resolved before we close the case. We work to continually improve all aspects of our customer service processes.

Over the years you have introduced numerous innovative products do you have new products being released this year?

We launched a new product for farmers that insures their crops against drought. Agriculture contributes about one-fifth of the country’s GDP, and this microinsurance scheme is designed to give Cambodia’s hardworking farmers some peace of mind that they will be protected in the case of extreme weather conditions that could damage or destroy their crops.

We are also studying the feasibility of an insurance product for aquaculture in partnership with World Vision and the Syngenta Foundation.

How have investments made in technology improved customer engagement and processing times?

Technology helps us to reach customers faster and more efficiently, as well as expedite the processing time for policy documentation. Technology has played a key role in helping us to continuously engage with our customers, especially during this current pandemic. While there have been difficulties in having face-to-face meetings, we have extensively utilised various online meeting platforms that enable us to have productive and fruitful discussions with our clients. Besides online communications, customers can also conveniently buy our products via our online platform without having to come to our office and go through a lot of administrative processes.

When it comes to employment development, what programmes or initiatives do you have in place?

Contributing to the development and professionalisation of the insurance industry in the markets we serve

has been a core part of Forte’s mission since we launched over 20 years ago. We continue to support employees’ training opportunities and encourage them to obtain ACII and MII certifications. More than 30 of our staff have achieved ACII and AMII qualifications, and they now hold senior positions within our organisation.

What does the year ahead look like?

The ongoing pandemic has obviously created a lot of uncertainty around the world. Nevertheless, we are fortunate that Forte’s financial strength has enabled us to operate without significant disruption during this pandemic, and we have been moving forward with a number of new products and initiatives in the markets we serve, as well as potentially entering new markets in the region.

While it remains to be seen how long it will take for the world to return to some state of ‘normalcy,’ we continue to be optimistic about the growth prospects in the countries we serve and the region as a whole.

Issue 30 | 21

BUSINESS

Contactless Mobile Ordering:

How venues can upgrade and boost sales Contactless payments have come a long way in the past few years.

Taking precedence is mobile ordering, a completely contactless, cashless experience. For large venues, the current system for taking money is inefficient, counter-intuitive and expensive. Most venues are at one of the following stages in their ‘till journey’: 1.

Tills from the middle ages that can only take cash: In a postpandemic world these are no longer an option.

2.

Tills with card readers: All they do is take payment, so there’s no way to track stock or sales data – which is vital in a venue with multiple kiosks.

EPOS with integrated card readers: Designed to be used every day by well trained staff in relatively calm environments, retrofit these systems into a hospitality environment and they actually prove to be the slowest, least efficient and certainly the most expensive option. They are far too complex for casual staff to understand, so servers must arrive early for extra training – adding yet more expense. Even with training, casual staffers are not able to process orders quickly and frequently make mistakes – slowing service down. Even the most technologically advanced venues with the snazziest till systems still have long queues and irate customers. They just don’t talk about it…

22 | Issue 30

Avoiding costly upgrades with a brand new solution Whether it’s upgrading existing systems or starting from scratch, venues are faced with the depressing choice of software and hardware packages that are extremely expensive.

At a time when they are recovering from a long period of low or nonexistent revenue, how do venues sign off on such a technology upgrade?

Even if they could afford it, why compromise with a system that wasn’t designed for casual servers or the mad rush to the bar – let alone both at the same time!

Or is there a way to bring an upto-date ordering experience to the customer without the massive capex expenditure of new card readers, EPOS systems or touch screens?

The solution is within easy reach. Rather than pay for expensive hardware and software, why not utilise the computers that we all carry in our pockets?

The global shift towards mobile ordering It is forecast that 1.31 billion people will use a mobile ordering app worldwide by 2023. There is no doubt the pandemic has dramatically advanced attitudes towards mobile ordering by a few years in just a few months. People are now using their phones to order just about anything – especially food and drinks. A combination of digitallysavvy consumers, health and safety concerns, and multiple cost benefits has expedited this progress across the

hospitality and retail sectors – which can only be a good thing. Even the 13% of the population who don’t use a smart phone are probably attending a match with someone who does. If not, it’s still possible to service them using special assistants.

For those venues still operating tills (or who are facing a costly EPOS renewal), this seismic shift in consumer behaviour is a blessing and should be viewed as an opportunity to skip EPOS completely and jump straight to a cheaper, more efficient payment method. This is an example of a ‘Leapfrog technology’ – where you skip the present and head straight for the future – like forgoing fossil fuels and power lines and jumping straight to renewable energy.

How making a mobile order can increase sales Hospitality venues need to realise there are more benefits to be gained from forgoing a till upgrade than just the cost of the kit. By removing deliberation, ordering and payment from the service area, efficiency in the kiosk goes through the roof, with servers in click and collect fast lanes able to serve up to three customers a minute – eliminating queues and increasing sales. At the Coventry Building Society Arena, (formerly the Ricoh Arena), for example, mobile ordering Fast Lanes outperformed their neighbouring tills by 24.5%.

BUSINESS

Making the jump and breaking the mold is no doubt a daunting prospect, yet becoming a market leader (and experiencing the revenue increase) is guaranteed to be worth the plunge.

What is your next contactless step?

If you are representing a hospitality venue which is looking to integrate contactless and cashless point of sales and payment systems, it’s worth looking into mobile solutions. Even if your phone connectivity is terrible, there are options out there designed for orders to be placed even in airplane mode.

The benefits aren’t just operational and financial. The data generated by mobile ordering is far superior to anything tills can offer – since all purchases refer back to an individual email address. For the first time, operators are able to learn the annual value of a sports fan – as well as send them targeted offers both on

and off a match day. Integrating mobile payment services into fan apps only serves to enhance the cashless evolution, transferring away from outdated tills and into a user-friendly, end-to-end spectator experience with just a mobile device in the hands of customers.

Going cashless will just not suffice anymore. Large venues need to offer their customers the best experience possible, especially at this crucial time. Avoiding service areas, implementing in-seat delivery and click & collect options are all methods to keep customers safe, happy and hydrated.

Adam King CEO SwipeStation

Expectations have drastically evolved and consumers will demand that their venue experiences reflect what they’ve come to know and love in pubs, restaurants and coffee shops – where mobile ordering is optional (if not compulsory) and queues are a thing of the past.

Issue 30 | 23

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INTERVIEW

26 | Issue 30

INTERVIEW

How VTB Bank Implements its Digital Transformation After pulling off an extensive digital overhaul in 2 ½ years, VTB Bank is showing no signs of slowing down. Global Banking & Finance Review’s Phil Fothergill spoke to Vadim Kulik, Deputy President and Chairman of the VTB Bank Management Board, to find out how one of Russia’s largest financial institutions was able to achieve this – and what changes are still to come.

After VTB Group went through a number of banks acquisitions, its IT landscape has become very scattered.

“Given the colossal pace of growth and huge amounts of activity, quite naturally, the bank was struggling to digest and accommodate these disparate elements and diverse landscapes. Over time, this disparity became an impediment.

“Imagine you have over 800 systems in your IT landscape, three processing systems, six mobile banking solutions for various backoffice systems, and three different storage solutions. At this point, whenever we developed any new functionality for clients, we had to work across the landscape and perform regression testing after any minor amendment.

We could only launch new functionalities once all the tests were finished, and regression testing takes a lot of time.

“In addition, the reliability of the whole system is driven by the reliability of all the constituent parts. So, obviously, the more elements to a system, the lower the reliability of that system.

We suffered from a very low time to market around 2018-2019 - in the range of 240 days.”

With the Russian market being so competitive and advanced in terms of penetration of next generation banking services, Vadim believes that in the eyes of its customers, VTB was

lagging. “Back then, our IT team was not really doing any coding and 97% of development was outsourced. Penetration of banking services is nearly 100% in Russia, so it was clear we had to come up with a solution that would lower the time to market while also improving reliability.”

To achieve this end, having taken stock of its IT landscape, VTB had to completely rebuild the infrastructure that was holding back its technological development opportunities. “The majority of the systems in place dated back to the early 1990s so in essence, all the layers of our IT architecture, all the processes, had to be reworked - which seemed like a mission impossible,” he recalled. “It was a matter of transitioning the whole bank from one landscape to another. It started with the initial crazy idea that we had to change everything from scratch simultaneously. We actually had 2,500 teams working in parallel. Another principle we pursued was mobile first; we were going paperless to the greatest extent possible, both for internal needs and for all customer facing operations. We had a strict requirement that every process should be at least 90% paperless.

“We had to review and rehash most of our processes, and in fact, in some cases we had to petition the government to change some of the regulations. Managing such an all-out transition is very difficult. But if you manage it well, you can actually go very fast. An even bigger issue was: can you do all this in two and a half years, while it usually takes competitors twice as long? We took it as our objective to do so, by radically embracing new processes in IT and its management.”

Part of the transition has already been successfully completed. “We’ve built totally new networks across the whole country, and even the pandemic didn’t hinder us,” Vadim said. “In the end, we developed our own proprietary software

Issue 30 | 27

INTERVIEW

development platform, which now has over 20 thousand people working on it.

When we started, we only had around 500 software developers, yet we have achieved a base where we are now producing and publishing 150 changes per day and our time to market is drastically reduced.”

Of 20 thousand staff members working on digitally transforming VTB approximately 17 thousand are IT specialists; 60% of those subsequently are bank employees as well as VTB’s technological partners - T1 and Innotech Groups; the rest are tech teams on vendors’ side.

Vadim stresses that there are two key components to customer satisfaction - one related to the product and overall convenience of an application, and the other about reliability and availability. “In terms of availability, we have already transitioned our mobile banking solution to the new platform, an omnichannel platform that is microservices-based. This gave us the reliability, which has already been noticed by the customers. The product gap has been almost eradicated, and has translated into an influx of clients and a significant improvement of our ranking on the App Store. We’re actually the leading mobile banking app in terms of bank digitalisation, according to some Russian usability rankings.”

Open banking is transforming financial transactions, a development that VTB has harnessed. “The microservices architecture we’ve developed and deployed runs because of open APIs (application programming interfaces). It became clear that we could also launch a white label bank and offer this kind of service to our large corporate accounts.

Corporate clients can easily develop their own channel application, using the whole palette of our APIs. So, under the hood they have our technologies, our conveyors and our APIs. They are using it as a white label, so it opens

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opportunities for partnerships where corporate clients can offer all sorts of our services to their clients as they choose. All in all, our goal is to have eight million new clients by 2025 thanks to this platform.”

Looking at the data fusion trend, Vadim sees it as a way of breaking through the constraints imposed by single firm data. “Everything that we could learn from our limited data sets, we have already learned. Usage of third-party data has been a trend in Russia since early 2020, maybe even before that,” he pointed out.

“Consumer lending market segments endured very fast growth at a time when we had very little data about the clients, so it was then that we had to learn how to use third-party data.

“I believe the next stage of development of this technology will be about the extraction of data meanings and new insights from fused data. We’re actually very close to offering solutions to our clients for their root issues, thus maximising the probability of a successful sale, in the most convenient channel, in the most convenient form and in the most convenient place. We absolutely need data fusion in order to achieve this Holy Grail, because we need to combine digital footprints and search query results, create histories for particular clients and so on. Data fusion supports merging of data which is processable and actionable and even more importantly, it enables manipulation of such data through neural networks so that it cannot be decrypted back. We have already created a big data platform in order to help a number of other big players to exchange fused data.”

Regarding VTB’s future goals, he confirmed that there is still more to do and highlights the need to make its processes even simpler and more convenient. “The target is to

INTERVIEW

enable artificial intelligence to do most of the client’s work for them,” he said. “We also want to minimise the number of clicks and page transitions or swipes with the use of graph-based analytics and so on. Reduced guesswork and finger work on our customers’ part means that they will need no more than one click to access any service.”

“We’ll need to learn how to adapt, change, fine-tune or create new elements in our system for any emerging need. That’s why in 2022, our time-to-market aim will be reduced to 14 days, while also maintaining reliability. Additionally, we will continue improving the customer experience in order to make the best use of AI. “Since we want to continue expanding our customer base, we’re eyeing a much bigger portion of the market in Russia and will be developing new sales and engagement tools for current nonclients of the bank. For example, right now we have VTB Light, with which you can become our client with just two clicks, have a card issued to you and start performing some simple banking transactions. The whole process should take no more than two minutes. Our first stepping stone towards identifying non-clients is by using predictive analytics - engaging them via VTB Light, and eventually converting them into fully-fledged clients.

“We’re in an exciting time for digital transformation in banking, and this spirit of innovation is very present in VTB. Moving forwards, we’re going to heavily leverage our very good time to market, our robust AI and our continuous improvements of products and channels. By doing this, we will be able to consolidate our position in Russian banking, and cement our future as a leading provider of banking services. ”

Vadim Kulik Deputy President and Chairman VTB Bank Management Board

Issue 30 | 29

TECHNOLOGY

Effective Integration Will Improve Mobility in the T&L Sector Over the Next Five Years With 71% of global industry leaders believing that mobile-first technologies will be critical to the delivery process in the next five years, the focus for transportation and logistics (T&L) organisations needs to be on integration of new and existing systems to keep their expansion plans on track.

A recent global research report

by SOTI, which interviewed 550 IT decision-makers in the T&L industry across eight countries (UK, U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, France, Sweden and Australia), found that almost three-quarters (74%) have already invested in mobile technology wearables or IoT solutions to help speed up the delivery process. And with a further 80% set to invest in similar solutions over the course of 2021, the industry needs to be confident that merging old and new technology will have a demonstrable, positive impact on the supply chain for years to come.

From Manual to Mobile Over the past 12 months alone, 75% of T&L leaders confirm their organisation has invested considerably in new technology. In an industry that relies on being able to provide services faster, more efficiently, and more cost-effectively than the competition, these enablers of quick communication and real-time visibility are game changing. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that 50% of global T&L leaders believe that mobile-first technologies will increase the speed of their delivery process.

30 | Issue 30

Looking into those investments further, the role of IoT has the potential to automate and digitise the most manual and time-consuming tasks, while also enhancing the accuracy of information. Concerningly, 45% of respondents revealed that they still update multiple systems manually, so this particular stepchange has ramifications far beyond just the speed of delivery.

Elsewhere, almost one-quarter (24%) believe that wearables will play a more important role in this strive towards improved worker productivity, customer satisfaction and real-time connectivity throughout the supply chain.

Blaming Legacy The sector has identified the gaps that need to be filled, has seen where investments could be channelled to meet new levels of consumer demand and are in the process of realising that strategy.

The challenge arises at the implementation stage. The industry has legacy systems, which can also be framed under the banner of ‘culture.’ Decision makers are in a rush to change the status quo but are potentially forgetting about the transitional element of the overall transformation.

This has led to a situation, despite all this positive intention, where 57% believe that legacy systems have prevented their organisation from sufficiently upscaling their operations

during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Upon closer inspection, it isn’t necessarily those legacy systems that are causing the problem. A much higher percentage – 72%, in fact – believe the actual issue is that their systems and new technologies are not integrated adequately.

There is a nuance between ‘replacement’ and ‘integration’ that is brought to the forefront here. It’s simply not practical, and certainly not feasible, to simply rip out every piece of legacy technology and start again. Every organisation will have these legacy systems in place, and the instinct should not be to simply discard or disown them in favour of mobile momentum. The emphasis should be on effective integration of the old and the new.

The Integration Race That aforementioned inability (among 72% of respondents) to effectively integrate new systems is causing employees at 98% of T&L companies to lose time within their normal working weeks as they deal with technical difficulties. Inevitably, this isn’t just a nuisance, but a hit to shipment delivery successes, and ultimately customer reputations.

And for those wanting proof that it’s not just the legacy systems bringing the new installations down, 70% confirmed that reducing downtime of mobile devices in the field is their top concern. Without effective integration the new horizon remains in the distance.

TECHNOLOGY

Therefore, perhaps the race should instead be towards addressing this disconnect between legacy and mobile. For those who have engaged with this challenge, the results are quick and undeniable. Reduced support costs, communication costs, input requirements and scanning times were all reported by one example client, DPD Ireland, who adopted SOTI’s Delivery Connect solution. Similarly, American Airlines estimates it can solve between 90 to 95% of its field device IT issues remotely thanks to effective integration of its mobile devices into the infrastructure, courtesy of SOTI MobiControl.

Integration is the final link in a chain of investments, that will reward the sector for its positive intention. Not all industries are putting such shortterm pressures on themselves to realise digital and mobile benefits, and it would be a shame for the final implementation stage to derail such ambitions. By integrating new systems with their legacy infrastructure, T&L organisations can build their own legacies over the next exciting five years.

SOTI’s Mobilising the Delivery Workforce: State of Mobility in Transportation and Logistics 2021 Report can be downloaded here.

Sarah Edge Director of Sales UK and Ireland at SOTI

Issue 30 | 31

INTERVIEW

Maveric’s 4.0 outlook and 2025 growth mission What are some of the key priorities for Maveric Systems?

Banking business models are radically changing. In order to support our existing and future banking clients, we have invested to take leadership position in Banking technology transformation over the next four years. This mission has many exciting chapters as follows •

32 | Issue 30

Gaining leadership through proven solutions for CXO challenges in the areas of customer experience, regulatory compliance, digital operations, customer analytics and cloud enablement.

•

Becoming a partner of choice to seven out of the top fifteen global banks and fifteen out of the top fifty regional banks and select FinTech companies.

•

Further invigorating our delivery model, talent nurturing process, and customer-centric culture that assures sharp customer mindshare and builds competitive differentiation.

•

Be recognized as Top-3, niche, BankTech transformation specialist in retail, corporate, and wealth management domain.

•

Triple our revenue by 2025

All of these aforesaid priorities are part of Maveric’s 4.0 outlook which is an integral part of 2025 growth mission.

Do you have any plans for expansion?

Yes, we are expanding our footprint in Europe and India. As part of our nearshore strategy, we are ramping up delivery capacities out of Poland and in the process of establishing a delivery center in Amsterdam. In India, we recently added a delivery center in Pune in addition to our existing centers in Bengaluru and Chennai.

Today, Maveric has three offshore delivery centers in India, and five onshore delivery centers in USA, UK, UAE, KSA and Singapore.

INTERVIEW

How has Maveric Systems had to adapt operation as a result of the current pandemic?

We have made four strategic changes to adapt ourselves in the current crisis. These changes are in the focus areas of customer engagement, delivery model, employee wellbeing and continuous learning.

•

•

Customer Engagement - Through our insights led customer intimacy model, we have been introducing step changes at a regular interval for continuous enhancements and improvements. These insights are drawn out from our daily catch-ups with key customer stakeholders. This way, we have been raising the bar for effective customer engagement.

Delivery Model – Multi-layered distributed delivery approach was institutionalized. In order to gain operational transparency, many project reporting measures were put in place to strengthen the overall delivery governance. These measures ensured 100% transparency of our client project health and performance thus enabling flawless quality delivery.

•

Employee wellbeing – We are keeping a constant track of our associates health and their wellbeing. The coverage of employee medical benefits is expanded and proactive support is offered for their physical and mental healthcare.

•

Continuous learning - The final leg was on the necessity of continuous learning and development. Associates were supported with online learning models to constantly update their skills and proficiency levels to be future ready.

In your opinion, what are the primary technology issues facing the banking industry?

In my opinion, there are four critical tech issues soaring around the banking industry.

These include rising customer experience demands, outdated monolithic systems and infrastructure, increasing regulatory mandates and cyber security threats.

Issue 30 | 33

INTERVIEW

How are you different from any other IT services organization in banking when it comes to transformation?

Maveric’s exclusive focus in banking as a solution specialist for transformation is one of its biggest strengths. Our track record holds more than 65+ transformation across the banking streams of retail banking, corporate banking and wealth management.

Using our inherent banking domain strengths, transformation experience, impact led delivery model and contextual solutions, we help banks to accelerate their transformation journeys.

We have been globally recognized by leading industry analysts and banking industry forums.

Maveric's marquee customers feature among world's top 10 banks, world's biggest banks, regional banking leaders and fast growing challenger banks Why is it important for banks to select the right partner when embarking on their digital transformation? Why is Maveric Systems the partner of choice?

With so much going on with digital transformation and the way service providers are emerging on a daily basis, it makes the evaluation process that much difficult for customers today. Partners who could eliminate widespread challenges in digital banking transformation and offer the following would stand out •

Bring substantial levels of new age technology mastery along with strong domain know-how

•

On board a solution centric approach

•

Speed up the entire approach with ready templates and blueprints

•

Agility to cope-up with the rapidly changing digital priorities

•

Closely align with the bank to focus their efforts on their transformation vision, goals and practices

At Maveric, we treat every digital transformation journey as a unique experience. This helps us evolve and reach newer heights. Our

34 | Issue 30

specialisation lies in Banking right from our inception with exceptional track record and staunch delivery commitment. This enables us to be a preferred partner of choice.

Can you tell us about your services and solutions offered by Maveric Systems?

We bring our combined forces of data, digital, core banking and quality engineering for crafting and anchoring banking transformation. Some of these services are blended with our existing solutions in the areas of Open banking, data migration, data for digital, core banking modernization, intelligent test automation, analytics, digital development, microservices, SRE, and more. Formidable technology ecosystem partnerships are in place to support these services and solutions. For example, we are a certified Temenos partner when it comes to core banking practice.

As mentioned earlier, our teams are currently working towards future ready solutions which are in the fields of customer experience, regulatory compliance and digital operations.

We are seeking out leaders who could champion these solution streams in Europe and India.

INTERVIEW

Ranga Reddy CEO Maveric Systems

Brief Introduction of Ranga Ranga is the Co-founder and CEO of Maveric Systems. Through his guidance and efforts, Maveric has grown over the last two decades to become the preferred technology transformation partner of global and regional banking leaders. Ranga started his professional life in management consulting. He has worked with organisations like World Bank, American Express, Reckitt and Coleman, Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, Polaris Software, AT Kearney, NDDB and the Government of India for close to 15 years in the areas of business strategy, people management, change management and transformational leadership.

www.maveric-systems.com

Issue 30 | 35

BUSINESS

The importance of an effective social media strategy for B2B sellers In recent years selling has become an increasingly digital practice, one that was inevitably accelerated by the pandemic. B2B buyers are desensitised to the traditional methods of cold calling or emailing, expecting sellers to engage over a longer period of time, and in a more intentional manner.

Sellers need to adapt their selling strategies to align with this new reality of modern selling. A recent survey by Showpad revealed 92% of organisations believe that remote working brought on by the pandemic will remain the norm, demonstrating a clear industry level move towards embracing digital selling. Modern selling does not just mean moving existing selling tactics online, but rather modifying engagement strategies to meet new demands.

Developing a strong social media strategy is a critical part of this modern selling approach. Today, business buyers expect content to be highly relevant and timely, with social media being one of the most effective channels through which such content can be marketed.

Despite this, only 25% of B2B companies reported consistency in equipping sellers with social engagement tools to effectively interact with buyers. As such, social media is an untapped goldmine for many organisations, making it easy to stand out from the crowd with a well-established strategy.

36 | Issue 30

Sellers who engage with social media create 45% more opportunities than those who don’t, highlighting that a defined social media strategy can generate significant value in terms of revenue and that it is a key element of the e-commerce space. Additionally, social media is an important channel for building relationships with prospects, which drives up customer satisfaction on top of the existing revenue boosts.

How can organisations support their teams with social?

As with any part of a business strategy – structure is key. Many organisations treat social media as an extra, leaving it to the side of their overall vision and planning. This approach fails to appreciate the true value of these platforms and their power to engage new prospects.

Those who manage their social media channels on an ad hoc basis are underusing a valuable resource, as both algorithms and users value regular, consistent posting.

Keeping this in mind, organisations must build a strategy for social media in the same way that they would build a strategy for any other part of their business. Marketing and selling teams should come together, pooling their respective expertise to create a social media strategy which both generates value for the business and is easily manageable for sellers. Perhaps the most important aspect of this step is ensuring that the strategy aligns with the overall vision of the organisation.

Social should be used as a tool to

communicate the overall vision and culture of the organisation, thus strengthening the business’ image.

It is also vital for organisations to outline clearly defined goals and to implement review metrics for their social media strategy to measure its effectiveness. This allows for adaptation and re-development, in accordance with how the organisation is being perceived online. Additionally, organisations must ensure that their sellers have access to the right tools and training for social media, and constantly reassess this need. This is especially important for those in the B2B space who are more likely to not have as much experience with using social media for selling. Just like the social media strategy itself, this training needs to be structured, rolled out with intention, and offered to all customer-facing employees, not only to one or two who show a particular interest in it.

The do’s and don’ts of social selling Great strategy must then be coupled with great sellers. Those who are looking to get started with social media, or those who are developing their existing presence, should consider the following:

Do set yourself up as an expert in the field, by commenting on timely and relevant trends in your sector. Sellers should actually concentrate more on increasing their status as an industry leader on social media than focusing on marketing alone. Don’t overdo self-promotion, less is certainly

BUSINESS

more in this domain given that the modern buyer doesn’t want to hear cold, impersonal pitches. It may seem paradoxical, but in the long run this leads to more deals closed, and an improved customer experience.

Do make an effort to network. Social

media is all about the long game of building relationships and connections with buyers in your field, in order to reap the rewards later down the line. Spending time on engaging with buyers and having meaningful conversations may not lead to an instant sale, but it contributes to the aforementioned aim of building your status as an expert in the field. Don’t send out cold pitches before trust is established. This results in falling into the same trap of traditional sales – modern buyers do not respond well to unprompted selling.

Do maintain your personality on

social media, whilst keeping a focus on issues that are relevant to your organisation’s brand – and those of your prospects and customers. Be

creative, and engage with formats such as video, so that you can cement your reputation as a modern seller and deliver more engaging experiences. Don’t share anything without considering if it is impactful and relevant. There is a delicate balance to be struck between letting your personality shine through and remaining within your organisation’s niche, which is something that must be accounted for in your overall social media strategy.

For sellers in the e-commerce world, the importance of utilising social media to its full potential cannot be understated. When used effectively, sellers will find that they can establish themselves as experts in their fields, build lasting relationships with buyers and ultimately, close more deals. Many organisations currently fail to implement this kind of strong social media strategy, so those that do will be able to stand out from the crowd and differentiate themselves from the masses.

Iain Masson RVP UK & Nordics Showpad

Issue 30 | 37

FINANCE

Now is the time for finance leaders to take on a more strategic and valuable role

If finance leaders were focused last year on reducing the cost of operations, to ensure their enterprises survived the biggest business challenge in a generation posed by a global pandemic, what’s changed today, is finance decision-makers are being challenged now more than ever, to prioritise revenue growth through new technology and business models.

This return to an emphasis on transformation, as well as managing and restoring enterprise financial health, creates a whole new set of challenges, and pressures on finance leaders which have wide-ranging implications across the complete office of finance function.

The C-suite demands acceleration of the digital enterprise, growth, and new genuinely transformative business models as a number one strategic priority. They expect their finance leaders to play a crucial role in making this all happen. The Resurgent Finance Leader research amongst 600 finance leaders worldwide, explores

38 | Issue 30

the transformation of the office of finance, provides a view from the top and evidence into how well global finance leaders are making progress on these strategic priorities and expectations today.

If the C-suite expect digital technology to transform their industries and are racing to accelerate these plans, then it’s clear the office of finance will have to rise to the challenge too and transform fast, in parallel with the acceleration of the digital enterprise.

These research findings show how finance leaders know they have the backing of management to do so, and how business leaders are ready to embrace the finance team, as a key player to support business goals.

The vast majority (94%) of global finance decision-makers surveyed believe their organization’s executive leadership are willing to completely rethink traditional finance roles and responsibilities. Further reassurance is taken from the fact that the same proportion (94%) believe their

FINANCE

executive leaders are willing to support the office of finance, to become more strategic and accelerate the digital enterprise by enabling the function to become the hub of the of the most important strategic asset to the business: Data.

to make the transformational leap to become the strategic hub for driving more value from their data, not all of them are completely convinced their office of finance is entirely ready to drive business decisions, profitability, and performance.

The research findings reveal now is the time for finance leaders to back their own transformational capabilities and take on a more strategic and valuable role in the business. These finance decisionmakers know the office of finance could be potentially automated out of existence unless it makes the leap from background support function to strategic hub for vital data. Perhaps then, it’s no surprise that most finance leaders agree, it’s time to accelerate the change from being a scorekeeper to performance driver, and finance should be the natural home for all data.

Just under half (47%) of all global Finance Leaders surveyed are totally confident in their office of finance’s capability to capture valuable insights which drive business decisions and profitability.

The report identifies 62% of finance leaders who don’t believe current finance reporting enables them to totally accurately project performance and adapt forecasts in real-time to reflect changing market conditions. Perhaps more concerning, is the report’s evidence highlighting most finance Leaders (81%) believe how their office of finance uses technology to influence business decision-making and drive strategy needs a complete overhaul OR a lot of improvement.

The Resurgent Finance Leader report also shows however, that whilst finance leaders worldwide know now is the time for the office of finance

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FINANCE

Our research evidence shows how progressive finance leaders know a change is needed, with more sophisticated insights and planning capabilities to be able to change and keep on changing, plan for the unexpected, and generate new meaningful insights, beyond traditional budgeting processes, to always plan and be ready for new opportunities when they arrive. The research also shows that despite receiving the validation of their organizations’ leaders, who are ready to embrace the finance team as key player to support business goals, finance decision-makers believe transformation of finance needs to be reflected in wider finance team skills & culture.

Just under half (44%) of all finance leaders surveyed are totally confident their organization has the right technical skills and talent within the business to ensure technology is driving better business decisions, and a huge majority (92%) of senior finance decision-makers worldwide believe that company culture should encourage the finance team to be creative, curious, and rebellious, allowing them to think quickly and constantly challenge the status quo.

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The Resurgent Finance Leader shows there’s a huge opportunity for finance decision-makers who can enable the winning combination of transformative skills, culture and technology across the office of finance to unlock the value of vital data insights, and play a strategic role in shaping the digital enterprise. At the same time, it shows there are still gaps to fill when it comes to pulling all these vital elements together.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be this way. The opportunity exists right now for finance leaders to fill these gaps, starting with democratising access to intelligence, analytics and planning delivered via the cloud, to provide a genuine empowering and transformative experience across finance teams, utilising a winning combination of technology, skills, and culture, to transform the office of finance today and lead the digital finance function of the future.

Register now to download the Resurgent Finance Leader report and access the research findings.

Gavin Fallon General Manager Board

Gavin Fallon is the General Manager for Northern Europe, Middle East, India and Africa at Board International. Gavin is responsible for driving the businesses strategy in these regions, working with the teams across the organisation to ensure success. With more than 20 years’ experience, Gavin has spent the last 19 years at Board International working in roles including Head of Services & Consulting and Product Director.

Prior to joining Board International he worked as a consultant for SDG Business Consultants. With his passion and experience, Gavin is widely considered an expert in the application of Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) across sales and operations.

A part-time, online programme designed for the professional development of those working in banking, be it central, commercial or retail, and financial sectors.

Find out more: W wbs.ac.uk/go/banking

Global Central Banking and Financial Regulation Delivered in partnership with the Bank of England

BANKING

Contactless payment myths, debunked A contactless transaction is when an electronic device is used to pay for goods or services. The use of chip and PIN (personal identification number) technology in cards has led to an increase in the popularity of contactless transactions. However, many consumers are still unsure about how they work and what benefits they offer; here’s a roundup of some common myths that have been debunked.

cards were designed with minimal security features, including no personalisation or encryption of the card data; this meant that it could be read by either the holder or an eavesdropper using a device capable of reading magnetic strips (such as a laptop). This led to added security features being developed by MasterCard and Visa in 2009.

Myth 1:

the same.

You should always pay with your credit card because it carries lower fees than your debit card/cash for both you and the merchant.

This isn’t always true. While credit card transactions do carry lower fees than debit card transactions, no matter what payment method is used, the merchant’s bank or acquiring bank will always charge them a fee for every transaction. This fee is known as MIFID (merchant interchange fee) and it’s determined by the price and type of goods and services purchased.

Myth 2:

Contactless cards can be read from a distance by someone using equipment purchased online for cheap.

The prototype contactless card (chip and PIN) was developed after 2005 to provide faster payments through the use of the MasterCard/ Visa card payment network. The

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Myth 3:

All contactless cards are

Contactless cards can be divided into four groups; plastic; magnetic strip (Hybrid); virtual (i.e. no physical card) and chip and PIN (hybrid). Plastic cards are used worldwide, although in Ireland they are primarily used for merchant cash advances or POS transactions at service stations to pay for fuel or refills. Hybrid cards mostly come in the form of Oyster PayPassenabled smartcards which can be used on London Underground trains.

Myth 4:

Contactless payments are

not safe.

This is definitely not the case.

Contactless payments are exactly the same as chip and PIN transactions when it comes to safety. Contactless payments also have a spending limit where you’ll be prompted to enter your pin when you go over this amount.

Some people argue that they are safer transactions compared to chip cards with PINs because contactless cards are difficult for fraudsters to copy, due to their short-term security measures.

As with any card payment, you should always keep an eye on your transactions and notify your bank if something looks out of place.

Myth 5: Contactless cards are better than cash because they’re more secure.

In terms of security, contactless cards are not necessarily safer than cash, they both have different drawbacks.

Contactless cards pose a greater risk of fraud as they can be used across multiple merchants and point-of-sale (POS) terminals.

BANKING

Myth 6:

Contactless payments are too expensive for smaller amounts.

This is definitely not true, contactless payments are cheaper for smaller transactions. One of the main advantages of contactless payments is that it’s easy for small business owners to use them, as there is no additional cost or equipment needed. The merchant can simply set up their terminal to accept contactless payments.

Contactless payments are cheap, safe and easy. If you are in fact looking for an opportunity to purchase something of value via contactless payment, then this is the real deal. However, if you want to avoid any risk of your transactions being stolen or attempted theft, always remember to keep your PIN protected and always notify your bank if things don't look right.

If you have any doubt about applying for plastic contactless cards or to even enable them where applicable, it’s always best to speak to your bank directly. In contactless transactions, banks take on the role of the acquiring bank. In order to avoid being a victim of contactless related scams, it’s important to check that you have a bank-issued card and that your card details have not been skimmed. Contactless cards are a convenient way to pay but it’s very important that consumers are aware of how they work and don’t become victims of online myths.

Jean Michel Chief Technology Officer Total Processing.

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BUSINESS

El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Law” Forces Governments and Businesses to Contend with Digital Assets On September 7, 2021, El Salvador became the first sovereign nation to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. The “Bitcoin Law” was widely and vocally promoted by President Nayib Bukele, who first announced the concept at a cryptocurrency conference in Miami in June. To generate interest, President Bukele also declared that El Salvador would create its own commission-free “wallet” to receive, store, and transmit bitcoin – the “Chivo” – and that the government would “airdrop” (i.e., load) the wallet with the equivalent of $30 of bitcoin for each Salvadorian citizen who downloads the wallet and registers as a user.

In addition to adopting bitcoin as legal tender, the “Bitcoin law” generally requires “[e]very economic agent” to “accept bitcoin as payment when offered to him by whoever acquires a good or service.” But a carve out to this requirement for those who “do not have access to the technologies that allow them to carry out transactions in bitcoin,” along with conflicting statements made during the contentious rollout

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of the law, have created ambiguity as to whether businesses, as a practical matter, are actually required to accept bitcoin as payment.

While the “Bitcoin Law” has been billed as an effort designed to assist the unbanked and thrust El Salvador into the “first world” (a term used

by President Bukele in a September 7 tweet), the law has generated controversy on multiple fronts. Within El Salvador, a survey conducted by the Central American University’s Institute of Public Opinion found that approximately 70 percent of those polled would support a repeal of the law, and less than 5 percent of those polled said they knew what bitcoin was or how it was used. Although the Bitcoin Law was enacted by a supermajority of the legislature, a legal challenge has been brought by a group of citizens (including an opposition party leader), asserting that the law is unconstitutional.

El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin predictably has been described by some as “attention seeking” behavior

designed to divert attention from a struggling economy. But even among the community of cryptocurrency advocates, the move has been controversial. One of the foundational principles of many cryptocurrency advocates is the notion of “freedom” for individuals to transact outside the legacy financial system; that ideology is in tension with a governmental mandate to accept a particular alternative digital asset as payment.

By relaxing the aspect of the Bitcoin Law mandating merchant acceptance, and therefore ameliorating one of the most controversial aspects of the legislation, El Salvador appears to be angling to recapture the support of cryptocurrency enthusiasts while simultaneously allaying concerns of the businesses – large and small – that have a presence in the jurisdiction.

The Bitcoin Law has consequences beyond the territorial boundaries of El Salvador, and the expedited timeframe in which the law was enacted (and has come into effect) has provided international organizations, regulators, and businesses with limited time to plan and prepare.

BUSINESS

In the United States, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the Department of Treasury, is the primary federal regulator for many virtual currency businesses. Financial institutions that are registered with FinCEN are required, for example, to develop and implement anti-money laundering policies and procedures and file “suspicious activity reports” with the U.S. government. Notably, much of FinCEN’s guidance regarding whether businesses are required to be registered is predicated on whether the company administers or exchanges “convertible virtual currencies,” but the term “virtual currency” is defined as a medium of exchange that does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction. The Bitcoin Law will force FinCEN and other regulators to reevaluate the issue of what constitutes a “virtual currency,” and an optimistic view of this situation is that it provides an opportunity for authorities to refine their understanding of this growing asset class.

The World Bank, which has explicitly rejected El Salvador’s request for assistance in implementing the Bitcoin Law, also faces a complication.

Based on language in the Articles of Agreement of the World Bank’s International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the organization arguably would be required to accept “notes or similar obligations” backed by bitcoin, and perhaps even pay distributions to (or require additional consideration from) El Salvador when bitcoin fluctuates in value.

Financial institutions with a presence in El Salvador – or with correspondent or other relationships with Salvadorian institutions – are also continuing to sort out the impact of the Bitcoin law on their business and operations, including issues related to accepting bitcoin as payment on loans, taking custody of bitcoin, receiving bitcoin-derived funds, providing banking services for businesses that transact in bitcoin, and providing services for virtual currency businesses.

For instance, how does a firm develop appropriate “know your customer” and anti-money laundering procedures that are tailored to the unique attributes of bitcoin? How should a firm deal with the significant volatility of bitcoin given its rapidly fluctuating value (the price of bitcoin dropped approximately 10 percent the day the Bitcoin Law was enacted)?

And how should a firm properly safeguard its customers’ or its own cryptocurrency?

In these ways and others, the passage of the Bitcoin Law is accelerating the timeframe in which financial services firms are confrontng the inevitable issues relating to these nascent technologies.

It remains to be seen whether other nations will follow the lead of El Salvador’s experiment to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. A related issue that currently is under consideration in the United States – and reportedly an issue dividing the Federal Reserve – is whether to issue a “digital dollar.” There is a frenzy of activity by lawmakers and regulators around the world contending with various aspects of digital assets, in a variety of different ways. It likely will take years for the regulatory dust to settle.

For his part, President Bukele’s optimism regarding the Bitcoin Law is publicly undiminished. In the throes of the rapid downturn in the price of bitcoin accompanying the rollout of the Chivo, the official tweeted that he was “buying the dip 😉.”

Daniel Stabile1

Kim Prior1

1.

Daniel Stabile and Kim Prior are partners in the Miami office of the law firm Shutts & Bowen. Since 2018, they have taught a course at the University of Miami School of Law l in blockchain regulation and are co-authors of DIGITAL ASSETS AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY: U.S. LAW AND REGULATION (Elgar 2020).

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TECHNOLOGY

Data protection reform:

is it really 'a new direction' ?

On 10 September, the UK government launched its widely anticipated consultation on reforms to the UK’s data pr.otection laws. The consultation paper, titled ‘Data: a new direction’, runs to 146 pages and includes some significant proposals.

The last few years have seen plenty of changes to data protection rules. Since the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation came into effect in May 2018, we’ve had the impact of Brexit and the move to a revised domestic GDPR, as well as anxieties about international transfers and adequacy decisions. Whilst a period of consolidation would surely have been welcomed, it’s been clear for some time that wasn’t going to happen. Ministers have been talking up changes as part of the government’s data strategy and delivering a ‘Brexit dividend’, which has caused alarm among campaigners and privacy activist who fear a weakening of individual rights.

In reality, the proposals contained in the consultation are not quite as radical as either the government or its most vociferous critics would like you to believe. If they were adopted in full they would certainly ‘soften’ the law, but there’s to be no great bonfire of data protection law, with most of the basics staying firmly in place. This includes the data protection principles, the lawful bases for processing, (most of) the individual rights and the enforcement regime. A summary of the changes is set out below.

Accountability The most eye-catching changes are reserved for accountability. Proposals include removing the requirements for organisations to appoint data protection officers, undertake data protection impact assessments and maintain records of processing activities. These would be replaced by more flexible ‘privacy management programmes’.

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The press release accompanying the consultation states that “the government recognises that the current regime places disproportionate burdens on many organisations. For example, a small hairdressing business should not have the same data protection processes as a multimillion-pound tech firm”. This is a classic straw man. If the small hairdressing business really does have the same processes as the multimillion-pound tech firm, then it’s been very badly advised.

Nevertheless, organisations large and small are likely to broadly welcome the shift towards an even more flexible approach and, in the face of yet more legislative changes, the knowledge and skills of data protection officers are likely to remain in demand.

Innovation and individual rights Under the heading ‘reducing barriers to responsible innovation’, there are some welcome technical changes proposed that would make it easier for personal data to be used (and reused) for research purposes, a proposal to create a list of ‘legitimate interests’ and detailed proposals on the use of artificial intelligence and automated processing. This may or may not include removing the Article 22 rights in relation to automated decision-making. As AI technology continues to develop, it is right that the government takes a cautious approach to reforms in this area.

On individual rights, there are proposals to introduce a cost limit for subject access requests and to require controllers to put in place complaints procedures. These appear to echo the current freedom of information regime that will be familiar to public bodies.

Controllers will certainly welcome the proposed cost limit, given the disproportionate amount of time and effort spent on a small number of such requests.

TECHNOLOGY

Cookies and direct marketing Given recent Ministerial comments on cookie consents, it’s no surprise that the government intends to make amendments to the oftenoverlooked Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

Proposals include allowing more types of cookies to be set without consent, including for analytical purposes, and allowing charities and political parties to take advantage of the ‘soft opt-in’ to send direct marketing to existing contacts (or exempting politicians entirely from these rules in the name of democratic engagement). Whilst there is certainly an appetite for reform to cookie compliance rules, the prospect of more direct marketing from politicians may be considerably less popular. The consultation also includes a long-overdue proposal to bring penalties under the Regulations into line with the UK GDPR.

International data transfers The consultation contains a whole chapter on international transfers.

There is plenty of ambitious talk about increasing the number of countries that the UK assesses as ‘adequate’, to allow more international data transfers without restriction. Perhaps more significantly, the government intends to explore additional alternative transfer methods, for use where there are no adequacy regulations in place. There is little detail on how these might work in practice, although the proposal to allow organisations to determine their own transfer method appears to be a throwback to the position under the Data Protection Act 1998.

This is the chapter that is potentially of most interest to the European Commission, which will be looking closely at whether any new international transfer rules are compatible with the EU’s GDPR and therefore whether there is anything that may undermine the UK’s current adequacy decision with the EU.

Changes at the regulator Lastly, the consultation contains changes to how the Information Commissioner’s Office is run and managed. The cumulative effect of the proposals is to give the government increased control over the ICO, for instance by setting regular strategic priorities and imposing additional duties. Rather than being the office of the post holder, the proposals envisage that the ICO will be led by an independent board and a CEO. It would be interesting to know the thoughts of John Edwards on these proposals. He was only announced as the government’s preferred nominee as the next Information Commissioner in August, and already the role looks set for a significant make-over.

The consultation will run until 19 November 2021. If you have any comments or would like to discuss how the changes might affect you, please get in touch.

Jon Belcher specialist data protection lawyer

Excello Law,

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BUSINESS

Power to the people:

how consumers are calling the shots when it comes to data privacy The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized many aspects of everyday life. The way we socially interact, the way we work, the behaviour patterns of our everyday lives. For many, it’s also reshaped how we engage and communicate with brands and organizations. Prior to the pandemic, consumers had a choice in how they purchased goods – instore bricks-and-mortar or online; however, lockdown restrictions swiftly removed that choice and consumers had no option but to fully embrace the digital world. As a result, internet traffic hit an all-time high, with online retail sales increasing 32.4% year-on-year in 2020, and 39% in Q1 of 2021.

Changed behaviours and accelerated digital transformation triggered by the pandemic have become catalysts for conversations surrounding data privacy and, having developed a heightened awareness of their expanding digital footprints in a digitally led world, consumers are making their expectations known. Our Global Consumer State of Mind Report 2021, which captured the views of 8,000 consumers across the globe to understand the challenges and fears that consumers face around data privacy, found that people want to take back control of their digital selves – something they believe they’ve lost during the pandemic. The report found that over three-quarters (77%) of global consumers have taken steps to reduce their digital footprint for fear that they are losing control of their privacy. Furthermore, 76% believe that brands need to do more to protect their data privacy.

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These stats issue a stark warning to organizations across industries who have become reliant on data analytics to refine commercial strategies, evolve products and services, and personalize consumer experiences. While the pandemic provided the perfect window of opportunity for organizations to gather vast amounts of valuable data, that future value of that data will now be dictated by the approach organizations take to preserving privacy. A compliance oversight, a data breach, privacy-aware consumers speaking out – all of this, and more, leaves organizations vulnerable unless they are placing privacy at the core of strategies, processes and policies.

To avoid losing out to privacyconscious competitors, here are five consumer insights that should trigger organizations to pause and absorb so that they can pivot and propel forward with privacy-first data strategies.

1. Consumers aren’t just complaining – they’re taking action The past year has created a tipping point for trust and digital privacy.

Gone are the days when consumers would passively accept the ‘free’ benefits exchanged for their personal data. Indeed, invasive targeting, data misuse and an acute awareness of how the digital self has become such a hot commodity to data-driven organizations has led to a new wave of privacy activism.

Valuing their ‘right to be forgotten’, more than three quarters (77%) of UK consumers have taken steps to reduce their digital footprints; this rises to 84% of Generation Z (20 to 27 year olds), highlighting how strongly society’s younger consumers feel about their privacy and the extent to which they prioritise it. In efforts to pro-actively take back control, consumers are no longer merely calling for regulations; they are looking at the impact of their digital footprints and putting measures in place for themselves. These measures include rejecting/disabling website tracking cookies (38%), unsubscribing from email lists (36%) and using private browser modes on devices to avoid being tracked by companies (30%). A further 18% have deleted a social medial account and 1-in-5 (20%) have already made an active decision not to take out a loyalty card for fear of too much data being collected about them.

With consumers now seeking to backtrack and retrace their steps to reclaim ownership of their digital selves, these results send a warning to brands that they need to tread with caution if they intend to retain trust and long-term loyalty.

2. Privacy is now a key differentiator Adapt, evolve, or die. Data-driven organizations who are not already embedding privacy at the core of company culture and values are already behind. Privacy is set become a key influencing factor in purchase

BUSINESS

intentions with consumers signalling its importance. In fact, 6-in-10 (62%) global consumers already say it’s now a key differentiator when choosing to engage with a brand or particular product.

But how will consumers be able to identify whether a brand is behaving responsibly with their data? Demanding more than regulatory compliance, digitally-savvy consumers are now calling for the introduction of privacy certifications, with 62% globally stating they would feel more reassured and more likely to buy from a brand if it was officially certified according to a data privacy standard, similar to a Kitemark in the UK or SEI quality mark in the US, for example.

3. Consumers are questioning data for ‘societal good’ There has been considerable debate around the introduction of COVID vaccination passports, not only within the UK Government but also from the general public who are looking beyond the freedoms it could present them and are more concerned over how the data exchange will impact them in the long run. . While a vaccination passport system has been mooted as a fasttrack to the reopening of the country and international travel, it has raised a number of ethical and privacy concerns around personal data.

According to the results of our report, just 59% of UK consumers are happy to share their personal healthcare data in exchange for a vaccine passport, with the percentage dropping to

52% amongst 18-24 year-olds. This sentiment is echoed on a global level with only 44% of 18-24s happy to share such data. The past year has raised questions about the UK Government’s handling of private data in general, with more than 4-in-10 (43%) of UK consumers (45% globally) agreeing they trust the government less than brands they shop with to responsibly look after their personal data. The recent news that the NHS plans to share data about patients’ medical histories taken from their GP records for third-party research purposes, is only likely to exacerbate the issue. Indeed the planned launch for July 1 has been pushed back to September 1 due to concerns about patients’ privacy being breached.

The Government has had to be agile in reacting to the latest changes in national and international COVID reports, using big data to monitor and control the spread of the virus; however, our report shows that this agility cannot compromise personal data.

Governments need to know there doesn’t have to be a conflict between privacy and the use of data for societal good, if effective privacy-by-design approaches are adopted.

4. Hyper-personalization is threatening privacy boundaries Progressive technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), has revolutionised the customer experience. However, growing investments in AI to harness the prolific explosion of data is also creating a sense of discomfort amongst consumers and regulatory authorities alike.

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BUSINESS

Statistically, consumers have shown they are more likely to buy from a brand that offers a personalized experience.

As a result, organizations are developing hyper-personalization strategies to meet their heightened expectations.. However, a paradox is now at play: consumers want personalization and privacy; they want innovation but not invasiveness. There now exists a point of no return when consumers feel that brands have crossed ‘the creepy line’ with their personal data.

Almost 6-in-10 global consumers (59%) feel worried that businesses have overstepped the mark when it comes to their data usage during lockdown. Setting the bar of tolerance, 60% of consumers in the UK agree that they would prefer not to have access to personalized offers if it means that brands cannot track them or their shopping behaviours, a statistic that has risen over the past year and sits at a global average of 55% in 2021.

Future-thinking organizations are also understanding that investments in privacy not only enable them to meet these customer expectations but provide them with a competitive advantage in a noisy digital world. In addition to this, knowing that a privacy-centric mindset bolsters brand value, heightens investor appeal and helps to avoid the costly collateral damage of non-compliance provides an insight into why we are seeing a continued rise in the adoption of privacy technologies to overcome big data challenges. Ultimately, it will be those organizations who understand the correlation and convergence of consumer values, commercial data strategies and emerging tech markets that are able to step-ahead in a privacy-conscious, digitally-driven world.

These statistics highlight that in the pursuit of hyper-personalization, finding the fine line between algorithmic ‘coolness’ and algorithmic ‘creepiness’ will be what commands the respect and long-term loyalty of consumers.

5. Consumers are calling the shots The pandemic and an increased reliance on technology has brought about a shift in power dynamics. It is no longer only the enforcement of regulations that is holding organizations to account; it is now everyday consumers as well.

When it comes to their personal data, consumers are speaking up and acting out; they are demanding transparency and accountability; they are less concerned with loyalty benefits and more aligned to brands that are able to demonstrate responsible and ethical data use.

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Shallu Behar-Sheehan CMO Trūata

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