Sibos 2019：ハイパーな世界

The overarching theme @Sibos 2019 was hyperconnectivity which naturally octopuses into several other headlines. In particular, there was buzz around:

• Hyperdata – Data access is exploding with exponential growth in APIs, API calls, and connected devices as well as with the capture of unstructured data via machine learning. In addition, ISO20022 and real time payments are bringing a whole new flow of transaction data.
• Data analytics – what to do with all this data? There was much discussion regarding how to harness data and translate it into knowledge for both bank employees as well as customers.
• Hypersecurity – Malefactors have proven time and time again that they will find the weakest link. More links, more weaknesses. Hence, improving cybersecurity was a popular topic and one that Ronan O’Kelly called out in his Linkedin blog.
• Trust - With the rise of new threats and vulnerabilities, not surprisingly, the topic of trust--trust building and maintaining--was a headliner. Trust is increasingly viewed as a golden asset, one that banks risk losing and fintechs struggle to establish.

When asked what keeps him up at night, an executive at a bank-as-a-service provider said the challenge of building consumer trust so his bank can generate more business selling direct to consumers than selling its services to banks.

Top trends on the flywheel – in terms of the beat @Sibos overall: PROGRESS. No eyebrow raising announcements or tech breakthroughs but rather material, incremental progress across a variety of initiatives. Progress is being propelled by steady growth in collaboration between banks, fintechs, big tech, and market infrastructure providers. A useful way to summarize the progress of the top initiatives discussed @Sibos is their position on the “flywheel.”

Less common appearance of two topics

• Small business banking – while the corporate segment tends to be the darling @Sibos, the topic of moving down market and democratizing access to payment/cash management services for small business sprung up in several conversations
• Consumer data – there were glimmers of vanguard banks positioning themselves as data guardians for consumers. The head of corporate banking digital transformation at a global bank suggested that banks could help consumers monetize their data. That did raise eyebrows.