DECEMBER - 20198There are four major digital trends that are influencing the banking industry, especially Retail Banking. Active and timely involvement with these trends will help banks benefit from these industry advancements.1) Digital Banking ­ being able to offer most everything on a customer's digital device of choice, like a smart phone, in a paperless way and in minutes while offering the banking center services for building and nurturing relationships. For e.g., completing paperless customer acquisition with digital signatures, all from your smart device and in minutes. 2) Co-bots ­ purposeful and automated collaboration between robots (commonly referred to as "robo" or "bots") and humans to offer exemplary services. We refer to this as our "High Tech/High Touch" approach to have the bots focus on highly repetitive and more predictable transactions and having the bot-assisted humans focus on high-value and complex transactions. For e.g., Retail contact centers where typical customer email inquiries get answered by bots in seconds versus what traditionally took up to a couple of days; and as a result, freeing up the customer-service professionals to assist with other value-add services such as promoting and selling a mortgage product. Such automations, including robo-advisors are enabling the "the service to sale" opportunities.3) API-based Fintech Services ­ these are the services offered by start-up firms with innovative financial offerings. While the initial focus of some of these companies may have been to displace financial services firms, that approach has evolved over the years. These companies have realized that customer trust, relationships and regulatory experience take time to build. Instead, they are now focusing on their core competency and collaborating with tech-savvy financial institutions to drive API-based integration of their innovative digital technologies. It creates a win-win. For e.g., there are a wide range of Fintech firms offering API-based capabilities in the areas of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence to help banks speed up their time-to-value. 4) Blockchain ­ it is a shared ledger technology that allows participants in a business network to transact assets where everyone has control, but no one is in-control. It provides a single point of truth for digital transactions. Once the transactions have been validated, transactions and digital signatures of transactions are immutable. This technology is continuing to mature, and it is positioned to offer many advantages either individually or in conjunction with other emerging technologies, like quantum computing. For e.g., financial institutions are starting to apply blockchain-related technologies in the areas of cross-border payments, smart contracts and fraud management.At Comerica Bank, the Retail Bank team, the Marketing team and the Technology team are co-envisioning and co-creating our future capabilities. Retail Banking is going through major transformation and multiple forces are driving the above trends. Customer expectations, rapid technology advancements, regulatory requirements, disruptive new entrants, and By Sangy Vatsa, EVP & CIO, Comerica Bank [NYSE: CMA]TRANSFORMATIVE RETAIL BANKINGMY OPINIONIN
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