According to Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America (BoA), one of the largest banks in the U.S., BoA wants a cashless society. Moynihan also said the heavy reliance on modern payment/money transfer technologies has changed the way money works, reports Fortune on June 19, 2019.
BoA’s Technological Steps Through the Adoption of AI
Per the report, Brian Moynihan while in a conference in Montauk, New York on June 19, 2019, outlined the technological steps BoA has taken so far. According to the CEO, BoA has adopted artificial intelligence-driven technology through the use of applications such as Erica. The latter is a voice-activated virtual assistant currently used by 7 million customers.
Furthermore, BoA has probably spent $30 billion on code just to develop and improve its technological infrastructure, over the past eight years. Also, more than half of the bank’s transactions are digitized and it will still lean towards digital, tech-enabled models because they are efficient and cheaper than traditional methods.
Technology Has Changed the Way Money Works
In the same vein, the CEO was quick to note the importance of technology, hinting that it has changed the way money works. It has helped in improving the customer experience while also saving banks billions of dollars of costs. As a consequence, BOA is embracing a shift to a cashless society.
“We want a cashless society…We have more to gain than anybody from a pure operating costs [perspective],” he said.
BoA’s CEO further outlined that the major types of technology such as the blockchain, artificial intelligence, robotics, etc. which are currently trending, apply to the banking industry. “That’s how we reduce the size of our company, [by] applying technology across all procedures,” he added.
JPMorgan and Julius Baer Look to Cryptocurrency
Asides from these comments, recent events have shown that the banking industry and several others are looking into cryptocurrency technology. JPMorgan Chase, one of the largest banks in the U.S. unveiled its JPM coin in February this year. It said the digital currency enables instant payment transfers between institutional clients.
The same can be said about Julius Baer, the third largest Swiss private bank which announced on February 26, 2019, its intention to offer digital assets services to its customers due to increasing demands.
Of recent, Facebook, a social media company released a whitepaper for its cryptocurrency, Libra. There are expectations that the virtual asset will reshape the payments industry, trigger the “un-dollarisation of the world,” and allow people in developing countries to gain access to financial services.
