Two Tech Banking Trends to Watch out for in 2018

Over the course of nearly a decade, Julio M. Herrera Velutini has led an international bank based in Puerto Rico. In this capacity, Julio Herrera Velutini has leveraged innovative technologies to facilitate growth and improve customer experiences.

In 2018, technology will play a huge role in reshaping banking. Here are two ways technology will do that:

1. Artificial Intelligence (AI). For long, banks have been using systems that cluster customers into similar groups and then provide cookie-cutter services to all group members. However, AI will change that. Systems that learn, adapt, and then respond to unique customer behaviors will personalize banking to improve customer experiences and eliminate redundancies in banks’ operations. Likely uses include chatbots offering individualized banking advice via mobile devices on the customer’s front end and AI technology automating repetitive processes in the bank’s administrative back end.

2. Open API Banks. APIs (application programming interfaces) are software applications that allow banks to open up and link their back end IT systems to third-party applications such as mobile apps. These linkages allow the sharing of crucial data and initiation of payments. Changes in the regulatory environment, as well as consumer preferences for seamless mobile experiences, will propel banks to open their back ends through external APIs. IDC already estimates that 50 percent of tier-1 and tier-2 banks will have at least five external APIs by 2018.