Perspectives: Monetizing Data & AI Investments

While the trajectory of ‘digitization’ in financial services is encouraging, there is still significant demand from customers to expand and evolve their digital experience.

The Indian life insurance market is the fifth largest in the world.  Although the per capita premium remains lower than in other emerging markets, the size and growth of India’s working class remains one of the largest globally, presenting enormous opportunity for life insurance companies to expand into and within the Indian market.

In the world of financial advisory, growth strategies often focus squarely on the end client; after all, growth is achieved through new client acquisition or new asset acquisition from existing clients.  While this logic is not incorrect, it fails to acknowledge the intricacies of third party distribution. 

While firms have found tremendous success in using these loyalty metrics to successfully grow customer relationships, they are lagging indicators and provide little help in providing immediate insight into whether or not improvements and initiatives are moving the needle. 

Credit has seen its fair share of ups and downs, from being the crux of financial services, to commoditization and mass distribution, to now being re-engineered. In the realm of Wholesale Credit, a revolution is underway.

We are on the cusp of a revolution within financial services that will have far-reaching ramifications for the +1 billion unbanked, current models of financial intermediation across entities and borders, and ultimately the very nature of how end-consumers understand financial health. As this understanding held by customers evolves, so too must the operations, services, and visions of providers.

Cities are at a standstill, but they are bound to get moving again. Urban mobility will never be the same, and contactless payments will shape the new normal. Trends are shifting, preferences are being broken, and opportunities abound!

The COVID-19 pandemic has re-shaped the landscape for marketers. They are not only forced to cut budgets to save costs, but also face the challenge of keeping up with new emerging customer behaviors. These unprecedented changes call for a broader shift in marketing tactics and investments to successfully navigate the current transformed landscape.

Innovation has been in vogue for over a decade but the need to be innovative has never been felt as strongly as today. As businesses are learning to thrive under the lasting effects of the pandemic, they need to reinvent products, services and customer experiences to satiate emerging patterns of demand. To truly capitalize on the opportunity, business leaders need to look beyond internal capabilities and embrace a networked model of innovation to drive positive impact.

The pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for the insurance industry. Experiences of the world’s biggest economies (U.S. & China) offer valuable lessons as to where the industry can improve and change in order to better handle similar events in future and build sustainable risk management systems.

We are on the cusp of a revolution within financial services that will have far-reaching ramifications for the +1 billion unbanked, current models of financial intermediation across entities and borders, and ultimately the very nature of how end-consumers understand financial health. As this understanding held by customers evolves, so too must the operations, services, and visions of providers.

Real time payment (RTP) transactions are likely to exceed 300B by 2023, growing at 40% per year worldwide. Financial Institutions need to quickly find their own space in this ecosystem. They must redefine their value proposition and rethink their business models around this phenomenon.

Digital Transformation is about developing new capabilities and leveraging new channels to design and deliver a better client experience.

Competition is an important facet of business world, and the process of seeking growth is a continuous one. One should never stop trying to win new customers or retain existing ones. After all, competitors are always trying to win your customers over, especially in mature markets.

Getting the Basics Right

The rising aspirations of consumers combined with the limited access to, and opaque nature of traditional financing solutions, has given rise to innovative products for underserved segments. BNPL is one such solution that offers short-term financing to users with the ability to pay in definite installments with low to no interest rates.

The payments industry has been experiencing explosive growth across Latin America over the past few years: cash usage has decreased ~20% as consumers pivoted towards payment products that are well integrated into the financial ecosystem.

The payments industry has been experiencing explosive growth across Latin America over the past few years: cash usage has decreased ~20% as consumers pivoted towards payment products that are well integrated into the financial ecosystem.

As younger generations start to play for competition and skill development, there is a rise in payment flows, volumes, and subsequent opportunities arising out of the same. Financial institutions are not only presented with the opportunity to monetize on gamers but also target younger Gen Z and Millennial consumers to upsell and cross-sell their existing products.

Gen Z is not merely a younger version of millennials; they are poised to disrupt all aspects of the economy. Companies must therefore adapt in time to cater to the preferences and expectations. ​

The right telehealth platform is critical to meeting patient expectations and providing the best possible provider, patient and administrator experience. Today patients are demanding more control over their healthcare and want to access care from anywhere.

Real-time payments are increasingly recognized as a critical component of modern financial systems, offering speed and convenience in an interconnected digital world. As we venture into the future, the recent launch of the Federal Reserve's instant payment service, FedNow, stands at the forefront of a payment revolution in the US.

Significant shifts are underway in the cross-border payments sector, across the demand-side and supply-side. Consumer expectations from domestic payments (instant, fully traceable, risk-free, etc.) are being applied to the more complex cross-border space. Businesses that capitalize on these shifts stand to shape the future of the industry.

For several years, it has been said that “data is the new oil” and arguably, the most valuable strategic asset for a business. Whilst getting value out of data might be less straight-forward, it is true that data needs to be refined to make it valuable.

To remain competitive in the evolving financial landscape, card networks are uniquely positioned to bridge this gap between traditional payments and new blockchain networks as transaction facilitators, leveraging their global reach to make transactions on their networks quicker, cheaper, and more secure.

The use of gamification has proliferated across all industries, with retail, entertainment and education leading the charge. Apps like Duo Lingo, Kahoot, Fitbit, Starbucks etc., are all some of the most prevalent examples.

As COVID is rapidly changing the factors that influence attrition and the customer profiles that are at risk, retention programs should not only be proactive and holistic, but also quick to deploy.

As these technologies become more accessible to the wider public, AR and VR are expected to grow into a $125 billion market by 2025.

Healthcare systems in the US are facing substantial financial challenges. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, factors such as labor shortages, supply chain interruptions, and macro-economic pressures have all compounded the already mounting cost pressures. Over the same period, government reimbursement increases have not been adequate: while the economy-wide inflation in the US grew by 12.4% between 2021 and 2023, Medicare reimbursements for hospital inpatient care only grew by 5.2%.