Security and collaboration are top priorities at Money20/20 Singapore
A Barclays survey of Money20/20 attendees has revealed that security and collaboration are a major focus for Asia’s payments, fintech and financial services leaders.
The polling, taken on-site at the Money20/20 event in Singapore in March 2019, provides a range of insights into the evolution of the payments and tech industry in the region. The three day event brought together thousands of industry experts, with over 300 speakers sharing their insights on recent developments and discussing expectations for the future.
Barclays’ research at the event found that an emphasis on security was deemed essential for attendees, with the majority (55%) acknowledging that to keep customers loyal and provide a great experience a focus on security is required. However, despite this recognition of the crucial role of security, most respondents (62%) believe that their company could do more on cyber security or need to invest further.
Collaboration also scored very highly, as ‘partnerships with external organisations’ was selected as the most popular response when attendees were asked to identify the best way to increase productivity in their organisation. The benefits of collaborating were further underlined by the majority of respondents (52%) indicating that they believe the role of banks in payments innovation to be best served by partnering with fintechs for mutual benefit.
High confidence in Asia
Turning to the region specific questions, it’s clear that confidence in the potential for Asia to drive change in financial services is high, with almost half of the respondents (44%) predicting that the biggest rise in payment innovation in the next five years will be in China, with one in five (21%) selecting India.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the important role Asian companies have played in advancing its adoption in recent years, when asked which technology would most revolutionise the way they work, two in five (39%) selected Artificial Intelligence, followed by a quarter (26%) who opted for blockchain.
The rapid evolution of the payments landscape was also very apparent, with frictionless payments essential for promoting customer loyalty and a great experience for more than half (53%), and digital payments identified as the most important B2B payments innovation (32%), closely followed by connectivity (25%).
Phil Bowkley, Global Head of Financial Institutions Group at Barclays Corporate Banking, said: “The results from our polling showed that Asia is a leading region for innovation in fintech and payments, with the advent of AI and other new technologies helping to drive the industry forwards. It was pleasing to see a focus on partnerships and collaboration identified by the leaders we spoke to, with both our survey and the panel sessions at Money20/20 highlighting the benefits of working together to help accelerate both innovation and problem solving for mutual benefit.
"Across Barclays, we’re committed to finding ways to harness the power of new technology and simplify payments, and look forward to exploring these themes further at the next Money20/20 event in Amsterdam in June.”
The survey of attendees in Singapore marked the launch of a global project to assess how attitudes of Money20/20 attendees vary across different regions. Barclays will undertake further polling at other Money20/20 events later in 2019, in an attempt to understand better what the priorities are for individuals and companies at the cutting edge of payments and technology innovation across the planet.