Fintech Futures

Visualizing the future through science fiction

Introduction

The banking industry is experiencing an Uber moment. Technology-led innovations are creating a sharing economy of financial services. This sharing economy is constantly satisfying the unmet needs of harrowed customers, who are currently fed up transacting within the shackled legacy of the traditional banking systems.

Some of the fintech start-ups disrupting banking services are Robo-advisor, Wealthfront and Betterment - financial advice driven AI services; Prosper and Kabbage - P2P small business loans providers; LendUp and Oportun - personal loan start-ups or Moven and Digit - digital banks that eliminate the need for a physical branch completely

The rising star of this narrative in recent times, however, has been the "Blockchain" technology. The internet of things needs an extremely secure ledger of everything. This ledger has got itself discovered as the Blockchain. This ledger might just transform our traditional sense of money and value and subsequently all our actions that occur around money. Open source blockchain technologies like Hyperledger and Ethereum are already being used to create disrupting innovations in the financial and non- financial worlds. An extremely interesting example is Indorse, a new platform based on Ethereum, creating a truly decentralized professional social network, where you own all your data and get paid directly for contributions.

In this release, we have visualized this future through the lens of 3 movie posters.

Movie 1: all inclusive

Synopsis:

Jumoke, a 27-year-old refugee from Syria, entered Europe a decade ago. He is a contractual manager for the tech farms in Birkenfield, Germany, lives in a 3D printed shelter with his younger sister, and mother.

Like all refugees, he is still finding a place in the social structure of the New World Order. He missed out on a regular education, and doesn't have access to any government services, but is a gadget freak and connects with the world through his collection of smart devices.

His work on the tech farm of overseeing the drones, earns him "LabrCoins", which directly credits to his Converge account (The new version of yesteryear Facebook). He purchases all the basic necessities of life through LabrCoins, available to all refugees in his smart hamlet at a subsidized rate, through Converge.

His biometric identification number, through retina scan, allows him to be verified as a refugee, and avail these privileges, and make secure purchases.

Background:

About 2 bn people in the world today, are still unbanked in the developed as well as the developing countries. The advent of cryptocurrencies, blockchain based identity and validation systems could open up markets of up to $380 bn in revenue. The blockchain based inclusion would make it easier for the unbanked to issue loans and generate revenue for themselves as well as the economy. Aid groups are interested in blockchain’s potential to build identities for disenfranchised people to transfer digital cash, thus bypassing middlemen who are either expensive or outright corrupt. This would reduce or perhaps prevent aid groups accidentally double spending, thus spreading the benefits of aid more equitably.

· Abra, a start-up, uses blockchain to enable person-to-person payments without     going through a conventional agent network. Instead, it employs its own users as   tellers, like Uber aggregates car drivers.

· Recently, the new government in Tegucigalpa started working with Factom, a   blockchain developer from Austin, to build a backup to the main titling record.

· Microfinance companies like Oradian are already bringing cloud-based banking   to the villages of Africa.

It’s only the beginning.

Download this movie poster here

MOVIE 2: THE KARMA COLLATERAL

Synopsis:

Jen wanted advice on a new car purchase, the bot suggested two car options. The first, a financially viable option with a Green Rating of 7/10, SelfDrive score of 9/10 was most sought after car in her social group. The second, a slightly more expensive car had a Green Rating of 9/10, SelfDrive score of 9/10 and was certified by the Ethics & Humane (E&H) Group. The second option however, meant Jen would need a loan.

Jen pondered over the algorithmically best option as she smelled her coffee. She gazed at her favorite tree outside the window and said "go ahead and buy the second car and get me a good loan deal". The bot, slightly surprised, asked Jen if she was sure, she nodded resolutely.

That evening as the family went out for a celebratory maiden ride in the new car, Jen received two hundred likes from supporters of the E&H group. She also received three carbon-credits for reducing her carbon footprint. The bot notified Jen that her application for buying a house in the most green neighborhood in the city had been approved and that the neighborhood's secretary had personally given Jen one Social-Equity Credit. It further informed her that she also just received 2000 P2P donations that reduced her car loan amount by 14%. The bot then slowly said “My algorithm could not foresee the benefits of the reaction people have had to your purchase. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go recalibrate myself”.

Jen smiled peacefully, as only a human can and went into the meditation room.

Background: 

Today, with every move we make, we are creating a data deluge, stored on the internet by behemoths like Google & Facebook, developing an unprecedented intelligence. This data can now be utilized to determine financial expectations and opportunities for an individual, derived from users’ interaction with smart products. This data is put to use for multiple purposes with the help of AI and machine learning, for eg., determining credit scores to disburse loans. Credit assessment will no longer be dependent on your past but your current actions and future promise.

· Companies like Cignifi are already tracking smartphone usage to create     “Predictor Inclusion Score” that is supplied to banks to determine loan requests     in developing countries like Chile.

· Lenndo, AvantCredit and InVenture have written algorithms that take into     account non-traditional variables, like social media use, cell-phone data, and   even a person’s punctuation – to decide whether they’re a good credit risk.

Download this movie poster here.

MOVIE 3: THANK YOU FOR SHARING

Synopsis: 

Dave was on a holiday with Julie, his humanoid girlfriend; they were sitting in a beautiful café, overlooking the stunning backwaters and sipping coffee. Creating music was one of his many talents, which funded his survival, he thought of this interesting piece of music, as he was looking at the scenary in front of them. He transferred this thought onto his Smart Slate, which rendered the exact notes, and uploaded on Music Central. Music Central was a shared cloud based repository of music that algorithmically threaded together music pieces from different creators, resulting in stunning compositions.

As the music was uploaded, his multi-currency smart wallet started filling up with "MusicNotes" – the currency on Music Central that you would earn, if the final compoosition was downloaded by someone. As they got up to leave, he tapped his smart wallet on the coffe mug to pay for the coffee.

His smart wallet kept buzzing through out the day, till his watch announced “ Good news Dave! Your next travel goal of scaling the Mount Everest will be possible with all the MusicNotes you have earned” He kissed Julie that night, and said “Charge your batteries honey, and get ready for your next adventure in the Himalayas!”

Background:

Monetary and non-monetary exchanges have been the basis of human relationships, since the advent of civilization. Going into the future, we need to account for interactions with smart products and the monetary barter between them, giving rise to cashless payments, cryptocurrencies and maybe digital assets. “Blockchain cooperatives” where assets, like cars, can be programmed to be shared, according to “smart contracts” set up on the network. So, for example, you might drive your Tesla to work, then put it into autonomous “sharing” mode. It would then leave the parking lot and make its way onto the road, where it could be hailed by anyone on the blockchain network.

· Abra is one of the largest multicurrency digital wallet for cryptocurrencies   specializing in P2P exchanges.

· Recently Kodak issued KodakCoins. KODAKCoin allows participating     photographers to take part in a new economy for photography, receive payment   for licensing their work immediately upon sale, and sell their work confidently   on a secure blockchain platform.

Download this movie poster here.

Author: 

Fatema Ranpura - @FatemaRanpura (Twitter)

Visual design: 

Omkar Lotlikar - @omkar_lotlikar (Instagram)

Contributors:

Megha Aggarwal – megha-aggarwal (Linkedin)

Nilay Kachalia - @nilaykachalia (Instagram)

Sudhir Menon - @sudhirvmenon (Instagram)

Apala Lahiri Chavan - @futuristapala (Twitter)

Kalika Sharma - @ka_li_ka (Twitter)

Institute of Customer Experience Website: 

http://ice.humanfactors.com