Huawei reveals plans to strengthen the ecosystem's financial services offering at its annual Huawei Developer Conference 2021 

At the event, industry speakers and Huawei experts came together to announce AppGallery’s continued push for innovation, with a potential focus on Open Banking in the near future. The tech giant also emphasised its priority on user safety and privacy, sharing how developers can leverage HMS Core Kits to create more secure apps. 

“We are delighted to share our plans for AppGallery in the financial services space with our partners, colleagues and friends,” said Siri G. Børsum, Global VP Finance Vertical Eco-development & Partnerships at Huawei Consumer Business Group. “After an exciting few months, we’ve experienced the true potential of partnerships for the sake of innovation and growth, and can’t wait to welcome more FinTech’s from around the world who want to make waves in the industry.”  

Could Open Banking champion Financial Health? 

Dedicated to providing its diverse global audience of 560 million with access to a wide range of innovative banking and payment-based apps, AppGallery is leveraging new technology to support its partners. During the conference, Huawei shared examples of how its partners are exploring AppGallery − as well as Open Banking capabilities − to offer their customers more convenient services.  

Noffe, for example, recently joined AppGallery to offer a new service that helps children learn saving habits in Norway - using Open Banking. With AppGallery’s guidance, the app has been able to leverage the latest innovation in the industry to provide this additional choice for consumers and their children. Another case of fintech developers taking advantage of the tools and support available through Huawei to offer its customers in Europe a more convenient payment solution is Bluecode. Using QR codes, Bluecode can offer a quicker, simpler and more efficient way to pay through AppGallery payment capabilities.  

Huawei remains committed to driving global Financial Health – achievable through support from, and partnering with, Fintechs. For consumers, Huawei shared how users could use Open Banking to have more control over their finances, utilising competitive technology to make the most of their savings and improve their financial wellbeing.  

Alongside its partners, AppGallery fosters innovation  

Joined by futurist, speaker, and International Bestselling Author Brett King, Siri G. Børsum, Global Finance VP at Huawei, addressed the recent changes in consumer behaviour that have led to a higher demand for convenience. With 2020 seeing a 45% jump in the use of banking and payment apps, the pair highlighted the potential for developers in the industry.  

“We’re seeing so much innovation potential when looking at the changing landscape in the financial services industry,” said Brett King, author of The Rise of Technosocialism and host of global #1 FinTech podcast Breaking Banks. “Technology is driving that change, and when you look at some of the biggest financial institutions around the world, they tend to be digital-first organisations.”  

With AppGallery, Huawei plans to foster innovation to help FinTech developers realise their business development potential, all while advocating for the wider issue of financial health.  

Huawei remains committed to protecting user privacy 

As well as addressing AppGallery’s focus on innovation and potential Open Banking development, Huawei shared its latest updates on user safety. With privacy and security increasingly important in the modern mobile landscape, Huawei reassured developers and consumers of its commitment to protecting privacy and data.  

Børsum explained how Huawei’s full-cycle security and protection system includes developer real-name verification, a four-step review process, additional download and installation protection, as well as a prevention mechanism for secure app operation to ensure top-level protection for users of the latest banking and payment apps on AppGallery. 

Touching on Huawei's strict security protocol for onboarding apps to AppGallery, Børsum noted how before releasing apps to users, Huawei ensures a fully encrypted end-to-end channel to make sure there is no disruption from service to phones. Huawei has also established separate local data storage centres across different local markets worldwide, ensuring that each complies with the localized service distribution and deployment policy within that region. This means that all personal information is encrypted and stored in the area to which the user belongs, adding an additional layer of privacy protection.  

Huawei also supports developers through the process of onboarding to AppGallery, advising on the best ways to create a secure and reliable service. Through its Basic Security Kit, developers can leverage unified short data storage protection for their apps, preventing potential issues such as data leaks. The Local Authentication Kit also adds the ability to integrate with facial recognition capabilities which can be applied in multiple scenarios, including login and payment. Developers can even go the extra mile with Huawei’s Safety Detect Kit to further protect their apps against threats through various system checks.  

To join us or find out more, get in touch at AppGFinance@huawei.com