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Opinion | How the coronavirus is turbocharging Hong Kong’s fintech revolution
- Forced to adapt quickly, Hong Kong’s banking and financial services industry has hastened its adoption of digital transformation and AI in the name of survival, supported by a rapidly evolving regulatory environment
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Covid-19 has changed consumer behaviour forever and Hong Kong’s banking and financial services industry urgently needs to adapt. Digital transformation with artificial intelligence has quickly become the top priority for those not wanting to be left behind.
The pandemic has prompted a struggle for business survival, forcing innovation and digital transformation as many businesses suddenly found themselves at a loss without their physical sales and distribution channels.
The world witnessed the near-overnight adoption of work-from-home arrangements, Zoom meetings, food and grocery deliveries, online banking, investment and insurance, cashless payments, and virtual events such as webinars. Although Hong Kong’s finance industry has already embarked on its digital transformation and AI journey, many were not far enough along when Covid-19 hit. Early adopters, however, are reaping the rewards.
Last year, Hong Kong’s banking and financial services industry saw growth in AI awareness and understanding, and the development of new AI and data capabilities in key focus areas such as chatbots, robo-advisers and automation with robotic process automation (RPA). These paved the way for solutions to Covid-19 problems such as reduced staffing in the frontline and customer service centres.
With Covid-19, chief experience officers have reprioritised their digital transformation plans and shortened timelines. Companies which already have chatbots and RPA systems are making them more sophisticated.
Newer chatbots will be context-aware and more human-like. Robo-advisers in the coming year will also be more intelligent and there will be more expansive use of RPA across organisations in mundane, routine tasks. Chatbots and robo-advisers may be further integrated with RPAs for fully digital self-service processing.
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