Problems of Digitalization and the Prospects for Biometric Identification — at the Banking Forum in Azerbaijan

The digital revolution has engulfed the banking sector. Global financial institutions work to transform their product line and services. Recent trends and challenges of digitization will be the key topics of the III International Banking Forum, which will take place in Baku on 15-16 November. Representatives of a hundred organizations and companies from the USA, Japan, Europe, China, and the CIS will participate in this event.

The title “Cashless economy: transformation from traditional banking toward digital banking” sets the forum’s main topic. Foreign and local speakers will present reports and presentations highlighting the latest trends in banking transformation. It is impossible to compete in the modern market without large-scale digitalization of services, operating processes, and organizational structures. American multinational company VISA, providing services for carrying out payment operations, surveyed 36,000 customers. The research aimed to determine how popular mobile payments and online banking are among users. According to the results, these services are used by 91% of residents of Turkey, 89% of Denmark, 87% of Norway, 86% of Sweden, and 87% of Israel.

“Over the past year, digital banking has made a giant leap forward. The omnichannel approach is gaining popularity. Customers want to be able to solve financial issues and communicate with the bank at any time and place convenient for them”, says Daniel Fukson, Head of Business Support of Penkių kontinentų bankinės technologijos (BS/2) belonging to Penki kontinentai, representatives of which will also participate in the Forum.

It is important to anticipate the potential needs of banks and their customers for companies developing specialized solutions. The equipment and software offered by the companies BS/2 and ASHBURN International (also part of Penki Kontinentai) comply with the latest trends. The group of companies provides services for the transformation and modernization of bank branches.

Daniel Fukson will make a report “Rethinking the role of ATM as a channel for interaction with customers” at the Forum.

“Today ATMs not only issue cash or make currency exchange, but also help banks to get client’s feedback. For example, by the users’ requests history, an individual package of services can be offered (payment for the car/apartment loan). Given the history of the actions, ATMs can recognize the user and adapt linguistic version, provide options for the last or most used operations”, he says.

Penki Kontinentai will present innovative equipment and solutions for payments, currency exchange, and biometric identification to the forum’s guests. A decade ago, face recognition was the subject of scientific research, but now it has become a real technology. Biometrics is a more secure identification method than PINs.

In the digital era, the banking business does not revolve around the product, as it used to be, but around the client. The user’s convenience is the main advantage of modern digital banking solutions. The International Banking Forum will host an exhibition of innovative equipment and software for the financial sector. The participants are such major banks as Citibank, Commerzbank AG, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, Standard Chartered Bank, Mastercard, Discover Financial Services, DinersClub, and American Express, Samsung Pay, UnionPay, and other financial and technological organizations.

The organizers of the III International Banking Forum in Baku are the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Financial Markets Supervision Authority of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Center for Analysis of Economic Reforms Communication the Republic of Azerbaijan, and Azerbaijan Banks Association. Top and middle management of regulating authorities in the financial and economic sphere, representatives of the board of commercial banks, heads of local and foreign financial and public organizations, representatives of foreign embassies in Azerbaijan, and other invitees will participate at the Forum.