Access Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Wigwe bared his mind on the future of banking at the Africa FinTech Foundry (AFF) Disrupt 2019 conference, powered by Access Bank recently.

He said; “Today, becoming an intelligent bank is not an option, it is a necessity, as technology is redefining the way banks operate. AI, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Virtual Reality, robotics, Cryptocurrency – all brought enormous opportunities for banks to significantly improve the way customers’ access and manage finances.”

“With automation technology, banks and Fintechs are able to grant credit in seconds. A manual review of 12,000 documents used to take 360,000 hours, but today, this could be done in seconds using AI.”

“The blockchain can be used to execute smart contracts, eliminating manual costs of transactions. Robotics technology is used to serve customers in banks, and there is so much that can be done with data, as big data analytics help an intelligent bank understand its customers.”

“From a business perspective, and with the benefit of hindsight, traditional banking environment did not provide opportunities for scalability. Most years, it was business as usual, as banking processes were manual and in-branch, creating the need for brick and mortar branches with their expensive overheads, and in the case of Nigeria, low level of financial inclusion.”

“Technology has changed everything. Not only is this continuing, the rate of development and evolution is speeding up exponentially. “Technology-driven financial institutions will disrupt traditionally-run banks by taking advantage of any inherent weaknesses in their business models.”

“They will do this by offering better value propositions to their customers. “Today, it is our task to brainstorm these weaknesses and uncover opportunities in our current business models that technology will help us solve.”

“Today is a gathering of the best technology brains ready to re-define the future of intelligent banks and Fintechs and create new disruptions for our industry.”