Recently, "new infrastructure" has caused heated discussions.
On April 20, the National Development and Reform Commission held a regular online press conference to clarify the scope of "new infrastructure" for the first time in terms of information, integration, and innovation. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, the new infrastructure system is called the new infrastructure system that is guided by new development concepts, driven by technological innovation, based on information networks, and facing the needs of high-quality development, providing services such as digital transformation, intelligent upgrading, and integration innovation.
It is worth noting that the 5G, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, blockchain and other new technologies used in the "new infrastructure" are also technologies that banks often use in the development of financial technology. Therefore, the rise of "new infrastructure" has also strengthened the transformational power of the banking industry's financial technology. Looking at the annual report data of listed banks in recent years, we can see that the banking industry continues to increase investment in technology and promote digital transformation, and it is expected that financial technology can break through some of the problems faced by the current traditional business model.
So, what is the current development of banking financial technology? In the future, where should the banking industry continue to increase investment in technology?
Bank technology investment accounts for a significant proportion
After large state-owned commercial banks, some joint-stock banks, and city commercial banks took the lead in disclosing their operating results in 2019 in late March, since April, some joint-stock banks and city commercial banks have successively announced their operating results in 2019, and the performance of the remaining listed banks The disclosure work will also be completed before the end of the month.
A review of the disclosed annual report data of listed banks reveals that financial technology plays a very important role in most listed banks, and banks are accelerating their digital transformation.
The annual report data shows that in terms of capital investment, the financial/information technology investment of the six major banks accounted for more than 2% of the bank's operating income. Among them, China Construction Bank became the first of the six major banks with a capital investment of 17.633 billion yuan. In 2019, the total investment in technology/information of the six major banks exceeded 70 billion yuan.
ICBC mentioned in its annual report that fintech is the “highlight” of ICBC’s innovation and development in 2019. ICBC insists on focusing on ecology, scenarios, architecture, technology, and systems to promote the deep integration of technology and finance.
The Agricultural Bank also stated in its annual report that in 2019, the Agricultural Bank of China will strengthen the tracking, research, and introduction of cutting-edge financial technology, focusing on serving the "three rural" and the real economy, preventing and resolving financial risks, and continuing to increase the innovative application of financial technology to boost products , Service, and business model innovation, effectively empowering digital transformation strategies.
Small and medium banks are also increasing their investment in technology. From the annual report data, China Merchants Bank (600036, shares), China CITIC Bank (601998, shares), China Everbright Bank (601818, shares) and Changsha Bank (601577, shares) and other joint-stock banks and city commercial banks have invested in financial/information technology Both accounted for more than 2.5%. Among them, China Merchants Bank invested 9.361 billion yuan in information in 2019, accounting for 3.72%.
Accurately grasp the "new infrastructure" tuyere
It is not difficult to see from the scientific and technological investment of various banks that banks attach importance to the development of financial technology. As a result, "new infrastructure", as an area that highly overlaps with the infrastructure construction required for the technological transformation of banks, has received widespread attention.
As the banking industry that took the lead in implementing the "new infrastructure", the development of financial technology and "new infrastructure" has attracted much attention.
Bank of China President Wang Jiang mentioned at the Bank of China performance conference that in 2019, Bank of China's financial technology system and mechanism innovation achieved new results. The Bank of China Financial Technology Co., Ltd. was established to actively promote the construction of application scenarios of new technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things, blockchain, and virtual reality.
Wang Jiang said that in 2020, the Bank of China will fight for five key battles: technological reform, data governance, smart operation and branch transformation, scenario construction, and risk prevention and resolution, to promote technological transformation and digital transformation.
As the top six major banks in technology investment, CCB stated that in 2019, the effectiveness of CCB's financial technology will be further released. The bank continues to consolidate the foundation of financial technology, actively promotes the construction of basic financial technology platforms such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things, builds collaborative evolutionary smart finance internally, and promotes the improvement of digital operation and management capabilities.
CCB also stated that in 2020, CCB will adhere to the “new finance + high-tech” layout, effectively accelerate the expansion of digital operations, and further sink inclusive finance, “agriculture, rural areas and farmers” finance, community finance, housing leasing, and finance. Focus on services such as technology and promote the expansion of new financial practices.
China Merchants Bank mentioned in its annual report that in 2019, the bank will continue to focus on openness and intelligence, and continue to improve basic technological capabilities. In terms of "cloud + API", we accelerated the transformation of the system architecture, created an open IT architecture, and established a large-scale digital infrastructure based on cloud computing technology. During the reporting period, the total number of X86 server deployments increased by 60.67% year-on-year. The new generation of PaaS (platform namely Services) The platform expanded its use, and the proportion of applications on the cloud across the bank reached 44%.
Continue to advance digital transformation
Promoting digital transformation is one of the purposes of banks to vigorously develop financial technology.
The digital transformation of banks mainly starts with the transformation of outlets and the upgrading of products and services. In terms of branch transformation, the birth of smart bank branches is an important step in the digital transformation of banks.
ICBC stated in its annual report that in 2019, ICBC released a new generation of smart bank flagship store in Beijing. This branch is based on the overall idea of "finance + technology + ecology" integration, through the introduction of 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and the Internet of Things. Among them, more than 20 technologies are the first to be applied in the industry, creating a forward-looking financial service experience with a sense of science and technology, a sense of the future, and a smarter experience for customers, promoting the integration of finance, technology and ecology, and creating a "technology-driven , Service collaboration, scene link, ecological integration" new generation of smart outlets, implement smart hall management, smart business management, smart marketing services and smart risk control to further improve service quality and efficiency.
The Agricultural Bank of China disclosed in its annual report that as of the end of 2019, the bank's online credit balance exceeded 580 billion yuan, and 22,000 digital intelligent outlets had been established, with an intelligent coverage rate of 100%. The Agricultural Bank of China stated that in 2019, the bank will focus on the construction of the branch financial ecosystem, innovate the branch service model, and launch the first batch of "5G+ scenario" smart branches to provide customers with financial services "at your fingertips".
At the same time, reforming products and services is also an important way for banks to promote digital transformation.
China CITIC Bank focused its digital transformation on two major battlefields. On the one hand, improve and optimize core business, continue to deepen the digitization of existing advantageous businesses and customer interfaces, enhance core capabilities, and expand leading advantages; on the other hand, actively innovate data-driven business development models, seize incremental opportunities, and advance New business areas or market segments such as tail customers and pension finance.
Li Qingping, Chairman of China CITIC Bank, said at the bank’s performance conference: “We are highly concerned about the changes in the new economy, new models and new trends brought about by the Internet era. We must do our best to increase investment in science and technology, and spare no effort to increase technological resources. Energizing business will bring more sparks from the collision of finance and technology."
Source: Financial Times
Author: Greek Left
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