Atos, a global leader in digital transformation, together with Worldline, European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, highlights in the new Digital Vision for Financial Services opinion paper how a revolution in digital payments and transactions will dramatically change our relationship with money and all traditional financial organisations and new entrants into the market.

The shift from physical money to digital transactions when combined with new regulation and emerging technologies is creating an environment of radical change across the sector. Further profound implications are expected for traditional insurance structures for example, as Internet of Things and data utilisation methods lead to traditional policies disappearing to be replaced by ones based on real-time and personalised data. 

From more agility and innovation by incumbent operators to innovating at scale by smaller FinTechs, experts argue the full spectrum of Financial Services organisations must fully embrace the challenges, but also the opportunities of Open Banking, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and emerging technologies.

Speaking following a roundtable event held at the new offices of Atos UK and Ireland for the paper’s launch, Adrian Gregory CEO, Atos UK&I said: “Banking and insurance services are evolving at an unprecedented pace. A changing regulatory framework together with rapid advances in technologies are spawning a new era for the financial services industry. As consumers we have potentially more choice, more information and more control than ever before.” 

Presented by some of the leading subject matter experts within Atos and Worldline and across the sector including Salesforce, Microsoft and Dell EMC, Digital Vision for Financial Services positions the current age of digital transformation as arguably the most critical period in Financial Services history.

Rob Price, Chief Operating Officer, Worldline, UK and Ireland: “Digitising payments should help to increase users’ physical safety as well as improving transaction speeds. Yet this will only become a reality when there is the incentive, not only for the consumer – but also the merchant and the bank. This is where the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) will help, improving security and driving innovation so that transactions can be executed more widely.”

Peter Roe, Research Director, Financial Services, TechMarketView LLP, said: ”As Financial Services providers look at the vast array of new technologies at their disposal, they need to consider carefully how they and their suppliers can realise the potential benefits of digital as they modernise their business processes.

“This requires that each party fully understands the specific business processes, the risks inherent in change and the wider implications for organisational culture and behaviours,” added Peter.

This is the seventh paper in the Digital Vision programme and comes after Atos recently announced a multi-year contract with Aviva to deliver data services as part of its digital transformation programme.