June 2022

What will the future of finance look like? Automation, customer service based on artificial intelligence, debt collection involving cryptocurrencies: these are some of the ideas that emerged during the largest networking event in the FinTech industry - FinTech Rejs 2022, which took place on June 9 in Wrocław, Poland. This event is organized annually by Banking Magazine and is aimed at people interested in technological innovations - especially in the financial sector.

How does Generation Z approach finances?

CRIF made a double contribution to this year's event: Piotr Badura, Vice President of CRIF and KBIG, presented the results of the financial awareness survey of young Poles conducted by CRIF in recent months, in cooperation with its partners - Wrocław University of Economics and Banking Magazine - under the scientific guidance of DSc Barbara Mróz-Gorgoń - Associate Professor at the University of Warsaw.

The aim of the study was to understand the financial behavior of Generation Z, which is significantly different from its predecessors. The research covered the knowledge and behavior of the respondents - students and university graduates - related to: financial management, financial knowledge, the approach to saving and liabilities, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their financial situation.

62% of respondents believe that they manage their finances effectively - most often through mobile banking applications. Half of the respondents said that their monthly income is not only enough to live on, but that they are also able to regularly save money. The majority positively assess the use of technology in banking - especially their User Experience - 84% agree that the applications and processes are intuitive. Due to a low level of knowledge related to finance, they are wary of new solutions, such as open banking, and they are especially concerned about cyber-attacks.

These are just some of the conclusions that could be drawn from the results of the study. Young consumers are aware - more than their older counterparts - of the need to save and manage their finances effectively. They are already setting aside funds for their future. Their interactions with financial institutions take place almost entirely in the online world.

The full report containing the conclusions from the research on the financial awareness of young Poles is available on the crif.pl website (in Polish).

After the presentation of the research report, a discussion took place with the participation of Piotr Badura, Vice President of CRIF and KBIG, and Jakub Krassowski, COO of Finelf, and Stanisław Iwan, a representative of the younger generation, moderated by DSc Barbara Mróz Gorgoń.

Modern technologies in the financial industry

The conference opened with a discussion panel on "Modern technologies in debt management processes" moderated by Rafał Tomkowicz, Editor-in-Chief of Banking Magazine, attended by: Piotr Maciągowski, CEO of E-kancelaria, Dariusz Łachowski, CSO of Evobot 2.0, Kamil Paduch, Management Board Representative of Tide Software, and Tomasz Strama, COO of Asseta S.A.

What was talked about during the discussion? The fact that the debt collection market is highly dependent on legislation - whether and how it will be able to develop will be determined by the legislation. Also, an interesting idea emerged - that debt collection involving cryptocurrencies could be the future. Since digital currency is increasingly entering various sectors, why not use it here as well? Blockchain provides a high level of data security, which could prove to be a great alternative for many transactions.

In the financial services sector, personal contact between people will not disappear completely, but will be somewhat reduced. In many interactions, especially the repetitive ones, with a low level of complexity, that can be standardized - people could be replaced by bots. On the other hand, human contact will remain where empathy is necessary to solve complex problems.

Risk assessment and new regulations, data and PSD2

In the next panel about "Modern technologies in the area of risk assessment", involving Dominik Wolski, VP of Business Development at Kontomatik, Bartosz Pundyk, CSO of SLSolutions, Paweł Kunat, Sales Director at ERIF BIG SA, and Michał Konopka, CEO of SirAnalyst, participants discussed the changes introduced by PSD2 and the need to analyze and categorize data.

The amount of data available on customers' bank accounts is almost unlimited. More and more sectors use or are thinking about implementing solutions based on open banking in their organization. Experts pointed out that this method of verification is more secure - the paper version is easier to falsify - as opposed to electronic data automatically downloaded from the account (with the consent of the account owner).

Panel participants also pointed out the problem of effective management of such a large amount of data and the lack of data about the younger generations - especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha. The solution to the first problem could be all kinds of software focused on data analysis, consolidation and categorization - taking place automatically, without the need for user involvement - and as a result providing business information that will be the basis for making decisions, and preferably - suggesting the best solution.

Sailing towards the future of finance

During the conference, there was also the opportunity to listen to presentations on the legal aspects of the use of cloud computing in the FinTech sector, and sentiment (tone) analysis by machine learning of the reports of listed Polish companies, and to read the report on the visibility of lending institutions and comparison engines in the Google search engine.

The event ended in an unusual way – networking on a boat sailing down the Odra River, during which delegates exchanged ideas on the development and future of the sector with other industry experts.