The financial system does not escape the process of transformation that is going through the rest of the economic sectors and that goes far beyond digital renewal.
Just as 30 or 40 years ago it was unthinkable that in a service station you can buy products so alien to the automotive world, like diapers or toys, today it is strange to think of a bank inside a supermarket or in the service station itself. But the industry points towards that.This is at least the vision of Banco Comafi, whose executives imagine an entity that is where the consumer needs it, instead of the latter necessarily having to go to a branch.
"It seems to me that banks are going to a mixed world, where we will end up mixed and integrated with retail and service stations, that is, we have to be where the customer goes instead of having to go to a branch" , says Crisanto Ayanz, manager of Products and Digital Transformation of the company.
The executive believes the new trend is that banks are mixed and integrated with other items, in line with the model of coffee banking already landed in the local market and figure correspondent banking that the Central Bank created but It has not yet been implemented.
"In Argentina the first branches with coffee started to be seen, basically with meeting rooms and Wi-Fi, without physical money, it seems to me that this concept will become even stronger", explains Ayanz, in an exclusive interview with iProUP.
In line with this vision of being present in some place of transit of the user, the Comafi also believe that part of its service is to offer assets in which people want to invest, such as Bitcoin or other digital currency."Banks will start mixing financial assets with blockchain technology or directly sell virtual currencies when regulation permits" said Ayanz, who adds: "Always be listening to the customer and see where you want to channel their savings."
The person in charge of carrying out the digital transformation of the entity indicates that the potential of this technology is enormous: "It goes beyond virtual currencies, it will bring many possibilities to the financial industry regarding the use of information and above all in smart contracts, both in the protection of these data as in the ownership ".Stop forgetting the keys
On this concept of ownership, the executive highlights that not only covers assets that a banking client has, such as a promissory note, the share of a mutual fund or a fixed term. In fact, it mentions two specific concepts: security and digital identity.
"We will be with better levels of security, because the data will be in a chain in blocks (definition in Spanish of blockchain), they will be stored in many places at the same time", explains Ayanz.
The executive adds that this technology will also help the development of digital identity. "It does not make much sense to assume in the future that a person can manage with up to four banks, since the average Argentine operates with two or three," says the manager of Comafi.
At this point, Ayanz adds: "It makes sense to think of a digital identity that can be protected in a blockchain ecosystem, which is why any transaction, from drinking coffee in a bar to entering a Home Banking requires a single password, token, biometrics or fingerprint, no matter how many banks the person operates. "For the manager, the concept involves leaving behind the paradigm of a key and an ID for a bank, another for another and a special app for a cafeteria.
"It seems to me that we are going to a world where there is going to be a unique digital identity: in a transaction, the algorithm will ask you for a biometrics to approve it, reducing levels of fraud and, above all, making things simpler for the client, "says the executive.Artificial intelligence, in phase 1
At the moment, in the Comafi they are using artificial intelligence in what Ayanz defines as "Phase 1" and that is related to the assembly of their bot, a digital advisor that with algorithms and a series of pre-armed responses chat with clients. to solve your doubts.
"The bots come to be a much simpler link, the interesting thing is that we can add them to the platforms that customers already use, such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp or anyone they are used to communicating with today", says the manager. Products and digital transformation of the bank.
In that sense, the Comafi bot -or its virtual assistant- is Sofia, who is in Phase 1 of artificial intelligence and is able to answer 80% of the questions. The idea is that a user can check their balance by WhatsApp, if that is the app they use the most, and even make a transaction from the same chat, Ayanz details.
"It makes more sense to do it out there instead of having to enter a Home Banking, leave your communication environment to use financial functions," reflects the executive.
In addition, the interesting thing about artificial intelligence is that it takes the different tones of voice, tonalities, ways of thinking and incorporates that into a memory to understand how to evolve in the way of asking, he adds.
The next stage that Comafi plans to go with this innovation are the reference systems. "Until now, the industry has been inefficient in this aspect, for example, it does not manage promotions and discounts, when inviting people to take advantage of a rebate in Mar del Plata when the person is in Tucumán," Ayanz acknowledges.
Thus, artificial intelligence, geolocation and the combination of technologies will enable, on the one hand, to know more about the client through "big data"; In the second instance, install questions and quick answers depending on where you are. Third, offer promotions and specific services in that area.Massify the QR, a necesary step
When talking about the means of payment, Ayanz says: "To make a big leap, the first thing is to mass the use of transactions with QR codes, I believe that when implemented, the financial industry will take the intermediate step to later exploit the payments from cell phones", he says.
In his vision, one of the keys to mass use is through the SUBE card: "That can be paid from the cell phone along with the QR code will serve as a bridge for different social segments to learn and become familiar with payments by smartphones."
With all this, and based on international experience, who leads the digital transformation of Comafi is convinced that media such as the QR will be massified. "It is a global trend and as a region we are not going to escape from that, we only need infrastructure and investment," he says.
In relation to the link of the banks with the fintech, an increasingly hot topic in the city of Buenos Aires, Ayanz believes that they are two players that should be strengthened, in line with the philosophy of the Group, which besides being the main shareholder of the Comafi also he owns Nubi, an online service to withdraw funds from PayPal."What the fintech are doing is getting into specific links in the value chain and looking at them with a technology and at an extreme level, which generates a coexistence between fintech and banks, today it is a symbiosis," says the executive.
Precisely, the team led by Ayanz seeks to rely on innovation to simplify the daily operations of users. Having a unique digital identity, doing a banking operation in any other business or simply asking for the balance of the account from WhatsApp are some of the ideas and future projects. Everything points to the same thing: making people's lives easier.