We’ll be mid-way through FinovateSpring in less than a week, and many of the trends predicted at the beginning of the year are out in force.

On May 8 and 9, dozens of companies will take the stage to demo their newest technologies. And on May 10 and 11, the conversation continues. We’ll host experts on stage as they decode and decipher tomorrow’s trends and help you not only figure out what they mean for your organization but also offer up implementation ideas. Register today to save your seat!

So what’s at the top of the trends list for this year’s event?

APIs

Europe isn’t the only country with its eye on open banking. Because of the efficiencies they stand to gain, banks across the globe are considering how they can get ahead by creating a more open ecosystem. Additionally, many banks are finding value in buying and integrating white-label technology over building new technology in-house, which is creating a larger market for open APIs and SDKs across fintech.

AI and machine learning

While they’re not the same, these two enabling technologies go hand-in-hand. And it’s no wonder they came out on the top of the trends list at FinovateSpring– AI and machine learning have empowered banks to create technologies that help with everything from automating investing, enhancing marketing efforts, and improving customer service.

Lending

This is always a space worth paying attention to, because there is a lot of money to be made for both banks and fintechs if they do it right, and there’s a lot of money to be lost if they do it wrong. Additionally, with the increasing prevalence of enabling technologies such as the blockchain, AI, and cognitive computing, lenders are discovering improved underwriting, loan issuance, and debt recovery options.

What are you hoping to discover at FinovateSpring next week? Check out our agenda to learn more of what’s in store. Have questions? Visit our contact page to get in touch and we’ll help you out.

The future [of banking] depends on the customer’s needs, says Alex Jimenez, Vice President Senior Strategist at Zions Bancorporation. Jimenez gives us a snapshot of his views on where the US banking industry is heading ahead of his session at FinovateSpring 2018 about “The platformification of banking, providing customers more choices“.

A couple of years ago, Ron Shevlin predicted that banking would move to become banking platforms “much like how Amazon is a platform in retail.” Usually, it takes a few years for banking executives to latch on to Ron’s ideas.  It’s no surprise then that the idea peppers many strategy documents throughout the US banking industry today.

There are some early signs that the US banking industry is moving towards this future state. While we can point to open banking and PSD2 in Europe, there are significant differences in the regulatory environment between markets that makes such a jump merely speculative. Instead, I point to two separate trends: banks publicly publishing their APIs, and early examples of banking platforms.

Publicly publishing APIs isn’t a new practice, but it is in banking. Without getting into the possible impact of the recent Facebook API controversy, some of the more forward-looking banks in the US have public pages where developers can access their APIs. This practice doesn’t constitute open banking, but a permissioned extension to the banks’ model. A developer applies for inclusion, downloads the API standards, builds experiences around the APIs, tests it in a sandbox, applies for certification, and then deploys with the bank. Some of the US banks that have published their APIs are doing it because they are international, like Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Chase. However, there are others that have some international business but are focusing on building a US platform, like CapitalOne and Silicon Valley Bank.

Beyond the banks, companies that form the technology backbone of many community banks and credit unions have also begun to publish their APIs. FIS offers CodeConnect “a centralized fintech hub that gives developers access to the FIS product catalog in one central marketplace.” Similarly, Fiserv offers their DNAappstore “a collaborative community and online marketplace for trying, buying and selling custom DNAapps that enhance and extend the robust functionality of” their DNA® account processing platform.

Further, APIs are a topic of discussion for most bank CIOs, and increasingly throughout the executive suite.

Early adopter US banks and fintech firms have begun to build out partnerships that extend their initial capabilities.  For example, Radius Bank have extended their usual community banking offerings, as they pivot to be a true digital bank, to include services such as Aspiration’s “pay as you wish” checking accounts, Mantl’s account opening, and Prosper’s online personal loans.  Recently, PayPal announced an extension into traditional banking services through partnerships with “a Delaware bank handles debit cards, a bank in Georgia deposits checks that users take pictures of, and banks in Utah offer loans to customers and small businesses.” Other smaller fintech firms, like MoneyLion, have also announced entry into traditional banking products through similar partnerships with banks.

We will see banking-as-a-platform as a regular banking model alongside the laggards in the industry with a traditional model. Ultimately, where the future lies will depend on what resonates with banking customers.

We’re just two weeks away from what is shaping up to be spring’s blockbuster fintech event. FinovateSpring is coming to Santa Clara, California on May 8 through 11.

On the blog, we started off our coverage of the upcoming event with our Sneak Peek series and took an in-depth look at some of the topics that will be considered as a part of the discussion days. Today, we’re unveiling the keynotes. Here are the speakers that will take the stage on days three and four of the event to offer up insight on the blockchain and voice technology:

Bettina Warburg

How Blockchain will revolutionise the industry

Warburg is a thought-leader in the emerging blockchain space and leads the blockchain practice at Animal Ventures, including research, development, and commercialization across the ecosystem of blockchain innovation.

Warburg is passionate about the convergence of technology and politics and the impact it will have on our future. She is the Executive Producer of a new tech show called Tech on Politics, interviewing some of the greatest minds in technology, media, venture capital, and government about the convergence of technology and politics. As a Public Foresight Strategist at the Institute for the Future, a Silicon Valley think tank, Warburg brought a futures lens to a variety of strategic initiatives with top corporations, foundations, education institutions, and city governments.

In 2016, Warburg was invited by TED to be one the first speakers ever to unpack the topic of blockchain to a global audience. She has given talks and curated conferences such as Skoll World Forum, Salzburg Global Seminar, City Innovate Summit, Personal Democracy Forum, and at numerous universities. Warburg’s work has been cited in publications such as The Atlantic, Center for Public Impact, ICMA.org, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Adam Cheyer

The rise of Natural Language Processing (NLP), smart speakers (Alexa), and a future with far less screen time

Cheyer is co-founder and VP of Engineering of Viv Labs, a startup whose goal is to simplify the world by providing an intelligent interface to everything. In October 2016, Viv was acquired by Samsung. Previously, Cheyer was co-founder and VP of Engineering at Siri, Inc. When Siri was acquired by Apple in 2010, he became a Director of Engineering in the iPhone/iOS group.

Cheyer is also a Founding Member and Advisor to Change.org (180 million people taking action, victories every day), and a co-founder of Sentient.ai (solving the world’s hardest problems through massively-scaled machine learning). As a researcher, Cheyer authored 60 publications and 25 issued patents. At SRI International, he was Chief Architect of CALO, one of DARPA’s largest AI and machine learning projects. Cheyer graduated with highest honors from Brandeis University and received the “Outstanding Masters Student” from UCLA’s School of Engineering.

We’ll see you on May 8 through 11 at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California. If you haven’t saved your spot, register today. And don’t hesitate to contact us with any enquiries or customer service needs.

Don’t tell me your values. Show me your budget. So goes the old saw that reminds us that there’s a strong correlation between what we say is important and how we actually spend our time.

Our discussion days agenda for FinovateSpring is no exception to this rule. On Days Three and Four, when we turn from the live fintech demos to the deep dives and panel discussions, we’ll tackle a handful of topics that reflect some of the most critical trends facing the fintech industry. These trends may very well serve as the lens through which fintech innovation in 2018 is viewed.

Open Banking, APIs & Regulation: Shifting Sands of the U.S. Banking Industry

Coming on the heels of FinovateEurope, where open banking, PSD2 regulations, and GDPR in the Eurozone are driving both innovation and VC investment preferences, the U.S. financial community must remain on the offensive when it comes to adopting the trends toward providing more third party access and offering consumers more control over their data.

The kind of government-led open banking initiatives sweeping Europe are unlikely in the U.S., both due to the structure of the American banking system and a political climate more inclined to reduce regulations than enact them – especially in terms of the financial markets. But should the success of open banking spur increased interest in similar legislation in the States, observers like Keri Gohman, President of the Americas for Xero, suggests that innovation would be best served if banks and fintechs led the way.

While it undoubtedly opens up opportunities for banks and other financial institutions to provide better digitally enhanced services to businesses and consumers, U.S. banks will be in a better position if they partner to create standardization before the government steps in. By doing so, and by using secure APIs, they can ensure the needs of small business owners and consumers are met safely and securely.

Gohman puts data and tools like APIs at the center of fintech innovation. With more banks taking advantage of APIs to make customer data securely available to third parties, goes the argument, FIs in the U.S. can begin providing many of the benefits of open banking – and the protections of GDPR – in a more nuanced, customer-centric way than a legislator or regulator could.

Digital Acquisition and Servicing Models: New Tools and Technologies for Remote Clients

How does the rush to digital transformation affect digital acquisition and servicing models? Are there lessons to be learned from the successes of the financial mega-brands? What are the new tools and technologies they use to sell to and service client accounts remotely? From cobrowsing solutions to partnerships that enable identity verification to speed client onboarding, companies are leveraging machine learning and AI to help them get the right information to and from the right clients in real-time.

Avoka, a multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner and specialist with solutions that help financial services firms transform their account opening and onboarding functionality, cited four challenges banks face when trying to boost digital customer acquisitions: (1) build omnichannel engagement, (2) demonstrate brand and value proposition, (3) meet regulatory and compliance requirements, and (4) go to market within weeks or months rather than years. For this multiple-time Finovate Best of Show winner, the solution is a dedicated platform. In the same way “banks already have a dedicated platform to market their services … Now they need one designed to capture the online account opening transaction.”

 Natural Language Processing, Smart Speakers, and a Future with Far Less Screen Time

Leveraging technologies such as NLP and smart speaker solutions like Alexa has enabled financial institutions to offer both new services and remove friction from old ones. How far can financial services take a screen-less user experience when it comes to banking?

It seems like every other day a new bank is announcing that it is leveraging Alexa to add to the user experience of its customers. Envestnet, demonstrating its technology recently at FinovateEurope, showed how a digital personal assistant, enabled with machine learning, AI, and advanced NLP could serve a professional financial advisor, scheduling and rescheduling appointments, providing timely reminders of important upcoming events, anticipating potential conflicts and suggesting alternative options. The rise of speech as a primary interface with technology makes sense in a world in which the smartphone is the primary technological accessory.

How are financial institutions and financial service providers making the most of this customer experience? How does the rise of speech as an interface in the West compare with the technology’s use in the East and elsewhere? And does the growth of natural language processing, and speech-directed computing pave the way for wider adoption of augmented reality technologies in financial services?

Will E-commerce Giants Become the New Banking Competitors?

As Finovate founder Jim Bruene pointed out recently, e-commerce giants like Amazon.com are already “in the banking business.” Bruene listed the number of services – from mobile payments and, gift, debit, and store cards to lending, currency conversion, and corporate credit lines – and concluded “the prime concern for banks is whether Amazon can move payment volume from bank-issued credit cards, where the industry enjoys healthy profit margins, to debit/ACH with narrow-to-non-existent margins.”

But banks and credit unions remain on edge. An Infosys Finacle study reported that nearly half of all FIs surveyed view technology companies like Amazon to be a significant threat. Writing in the Financial Brand, Jeffry Pilcher noted that analysts believe that the bigger challenge to traditional banks isn’t the fintechs, it’s big tech. And the nature of the challenge is more nuanced. Pilcher quotes Forrester analyst Alyson Clarke who observed:

The threat is not about Amazon taking market share, it’s that they become the customer interface, and the banks become the ‘ingredient brand.’ When you lose that connection with your end customer, you’re simply a no-name product manufacturer. And when you no longer have brand, the only things you have left to compete on are price and features.”

For more about our Discussion Days at FinovateSpring 2018, check out the agenda.