Technology and the togetherness effect

摘要

Technology is doing much more to banking than merely speeding up processes and making the individual firm more efficient. It is upending the entire business model and prompting competitors to collaborate on introducing changes in ways they would not have even dreamed about previously. The emphasis is on finding market rather than company solutions. In this month's issue, Kat Van Hoof explores the challenges of applying blockchain to the capital markets (see page 44) and Joy Macknight hears how Commerzbank is working with others to resolve industry issues and has co-invested with arch rival Deutsche Bank in a fintech venture (page 78). The latest technology also takes hold where there is a young demographic and so there is great excitement about the prospects for artificial intelligence and robotics in Africa (page 72). In other regional coverage, James King looks at the prospects for banks in the United Arab Emirates and considers how an overbanked market is set to shake out with impending mergers and acquisitions (page 64).