The banking and insurance industries are facing challenges that, until recently, were not part of their daily lives. Faced with a new, more aware, more demanding and more digital consumer, it is necessary to completely rethink how to adapt to the scenarios and needs of the public. If you add to this the fact that new players, the famous FinTechs and insurtechs, are entering the markets with force, the challenges of agility and productivity are of immediate attention. Jason Simon, a FinTech expert, has focused on financial services company Scotiabank and explains how it has become increasingly involved with the FinTech space.

“Through agreements with NXTP Labs and collaborations with various Start-Ups, Scotiabank has been looking to generate fast and intuitive mobile products and services that enhance its users' experience,” explains Simon. “Being one of the benchmarks in local banking is one of the main challenges Scotiabank has set for itself since it has established itself in several Latin American countries.”

As the years have gone by, it has been reflected in the recognition given by its clients and in the sustained increase, it has had within the industry, which today shows that it is the third largest private bank in Chile, after the acquisition of BBVA Chile. But this growth also has to do with the adaptation to the national market and the development of new products and areas that today set the standard in the industry in recent years.

One of them, and perhaps the most important in recent years, is Digital Banking and the transformation process that the entity is developing. In a country like Chile, this began in late 2016 with the appointment of Daniel Kennedy as VP of Digital Banking, to lay the groundwork and define strategies in a sector that is betting everything on digitizing a large part of the product offering.

This is in addition to Scotiabank's growing concern for its users to have the best service experience. This makes the bank promote a relationship and direct communication that allows them to feel part of the institution.

“When the decision was made to start this Digital Transformation process, Scotiabank thought about being more than just 2.0 technologies, so it focused all its efforts on working with customers, co-creating solutions with them and delivering tangible results,” says Simon. An important part of Scotiabank's Digital Transformation process is the Digital Factories.

For this reason, five of them were created in key markets for this development. Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile share the practices that have been successful locally, so that the quality standard is the same regardless of the market.

In these Digital Factories, banking experts and top technology talent are 100% focused on creating digital experiences that satisfy and delight those customers. At the regional level, according to Simon, the work of an entity like Scotiabank has been extremely easy because of the excellent level of specialists.

“As technological solutions advance, new trends are emerging that contribute to the banking industry, for example, in the simplification of processes. For Scotiabank, FinTechs are becoming increasingly relevant both locally and internationally, because they think differently and move faster than banks,” asserts Simon.

They can generate solutions in a very short term to provide a service that Scotiabank is not even contemplating. Even so, they do not have clients, something that Scotiabank does manage. Therefore, the relevance of these for the bank has to do with the management of alliances that serve to improve the banking experience of customers at a general level.

“During the next few years, I expect to see a greater appetite for angel investors because there are very good ideas here that can be further developed. On the other hand, we have a responsibility to support the growth of women in technology. Although historically this has been an area dominated mostly by men, we must work to ensure that Chile's digital market is more open to hiring these human resources,” Simon concludes.

About Jason Simon

Jason Simon is a FinTech and digital payments expert who became involved in cryptocurrencies when they were first introduced. He enthusiastically follows what is happening in the evolving world of finance, excited about the prospects digital currencies offer global consumerism. When he's not involved in helping advance the digital payments space, he enjoys spending time with his family and improving his community.

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