Banks and the use of (new) technologies have always been in a particularly tense relationship. On the one hand, banks are inconceivable without modern data processing and IT. New technologies can provide financial institutions with a variety of competitive advantages, which can be critical in today's business environment. On the other hand, new technologies not only make things easier, but often also bring with them new problems.
The sector was therefore not always as open to new technologies as it should have been. In recent years, however, the pressure to adapt from FinTechs and neo-banks has increased. However, the prerequisite for use is secure and fast implementation, which is usually a major challenge in view of the existing core banking systems.
Along the same lines as digitization, mobile applications are also entering the financial sector market. Technology evolves every day and ends up investing all banking services through the functionalities of applications. Thus, banking services' transformation becomes practically inevitable, as institutions compete with each other in trying to provide maximum convenience to their customers through the new functionalities of mobile technological devices.
To take full advantage of this digitization, each bank should consider four critical strategic principles:
Decentralized finance is a FinTech trend that has the potential to fundamentally change the financial system. The basic idea behind the development of Decentralized Finance (DeFi) was to make sending money and granting credit as easy as sending a message - globally, independently of the institution and in real time. Because decentralized finance works completely without banks, payment service providers or other intermediaries are based on blockchain technology. Decentralized finance is not a specific individual project, but the generic term for a large number of ideas and projects that aim to create a new, decentralized, transparent and trustworthy financial system.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, both of which use blockchain technology, form the technical basis for decentralized finance. Ethereum enables so-called smart contracts thanks to an implemented programming language.
These are intelligent contracts that could already set payment conditions for a transaction, which would then be automatically entered into, without the intervention of third parties, if the agreed prerequisite was met. As a result, unlike the banking principle, the transaction is completely protected from manipulation by third parties.
On the basis of these smart contracts, a completely new financial system could be built in the near future. However, this would not be free of technical risks either, such as programming errors within the contracts. Complicated operation could become an obstacle during the introduction which could deter potential users. There is also a residual risk of the parent organization of the individual DeFi projects exerting influence on not yet fully decentralized technical solutions.
In addition, the consequences of a lack of scalability and liquidity bottlenecks as well as the question of regulation, would have to be given more attention. All in all, decentralized finance still has a long way to go, but also enormous potential. So far, the question of how DeFi can be regulated and how established financial service providers will position themselves in relation to this rapidly growing technology has so far been completely unresolved.
Hyperlink InfoSystem has a rich portfolio of mobile apps developed for the banking and finance industry. We are a leading agency in mobile app development in the UK. Our developers follow the right approach during development. With the critical role technology plays in our lives, companies should contact us for excellent mobile applications customized to their operation irrespective of their size.