FinTech is the New Black?

Traditionally, banks have been the stabilising forces for every economy. Haven’t they? Especially the banks in England have been inspiring central banks in other parts of the world.

But it’s also high time to learn from the experiences, augment the progress, try to peak into the future to keep enhancing the present model of banking. I’m not denying that banking has progressed but is it enough?

Would we see economists sitting at a round classy desk discussing policies? Or they’d be replaced by intelligent machine which runs on some machine learning algorithm?

The real question is: How will FinTech change banking over the next generation?

The field of technology is probably growing faster than speed of light! Consider the impact of innovations like — Blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Augmented/Virtual Reality etc.

Blockchain opens doors for cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency is not mere digital payment through PayPal or M-Pesa. This currency is in a different league altogether. These currents hold their own unit of account and payment systems. They allow peer-to-peer transactions WITHOUT central banks! But they pose no challenge to the current system (fiat currency system) since it is too new, too risky, too volatile, too dynamic, the underlying technology (blockchain) isn’t scalable. But prevention is always better than cure. Long ago, some experts said that personal computers would never be adopted and tablets would only be used as expensive coffee trays. So it’s not at all a wise choice to dismiss crypto.

Artificial intelligence will automate a lot of the present jobs. It will affect not just the middle class (for once, something is not ONLY affecting them) but also the upper class. Artificial intelligence is what it is because of the data it gets. Data is the new oil, people. About 90% of data available today was generated in past two years. Internet, and hence, data is now abundant, ubiquitous, and increasingly valuable when we pair it with artificial intelligence.

Check out the article I wrote on the same —

Are we creating digital Satan?

Humans would still be needed. We need wisdom. Machines don’t have that yet.

One can’t predict exactly what will happen, but let me assure you that such technologies will bring about a revolution nobody would be able to stop. Only those who adapt will survive. Rest will just sit back and see practical example of Charles Darwin’s Survival of the Fittest being applied on them, making them realise that they’re not fit. Just the way Internet completely took every damn thing online, blockchain will take everything and put everything in a decentralised format. Artificial intelligence will make decisions more dependable, better. Customer experience could and would be enhanced with AR and VR. The world of finance is about to see a crazy level of disruption. But it’s going to be amazing to be a part of it!

FinTech is the New Black? was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.