The fiduciary sector in upheaval

A libaba, the world's largest retailer, does not maintain its own warehouse. Airbnb, the world's largest accommodation provider, does not maintain its own real estate. Uber, the world's largest taxi company, owns no vehicles, and Facebook, the world's most popular media company, produces no media content itself. The companies have one thing in common: they operate from the Internet.

Banking services without banks?
Internet companies are changing habits, opening up new possibilities, and thereby changing

Bill Gates: Banking services will still be needed in the future, but no more banks.

business models, value creation processes and, as a consequence, shake up entire industries. In 1994, when the Internet was not yet as important as it is today as a disruptive technology, Bill Gates made the statement that banking services would still be needed in the future, but that banks would no longer be needed. Initially discussed in contradictory terms, it is becoming more and more apparent how seriously this statement should be taken.

However, according to the available studies, the market shares of fintech companies are still largely in a modest range. Depending on the product segment, shares are said to be in the per mille range. This is certainly due to the high level of regulation and also to customer behaviour. Clearly, people are more willing to spend the night with strangers or get into a vehicle than to entrust their savings to them.

The situation is different for payment services in online retail, for example, where the micropayment area is an essential part of the business model. Payments in this area are increasingly being processed by non-bank providers such as PayPal, a virtual account whose identity is defined by the PayPal member's e-mail address, without an account number and without an actual bank account.

Payment flows - the Eldorado of Big Data companies
Payment flows are a veritable El Dorado for companies geared towards Big Data models. The acquisition, analysis and linking of customer data is almost nowhere as open as in the payments made. Statistical evaluations allow, for example, price comparisons between different regions. At the same time, however, every bank transfer also reveals the per

The digital shift is currently happening in the undiscovered for many.

The personal image of the person in question is becoming more and more open in terms of habits, personal feelings, preferences and the current phase of life. It's no wonder that companies such as Facebook, Google and others have acquired a banking license or are working intensively on this. Data is known to be the currency of the future.

The process of change within the banking industry is sweeping through the entire financial services sector. This also applies to the fiduciary sector. Online accounting software and cloud computing have been part of the offering for some time. The new trend is to integrate manual activities into the applications and to use them in a more efficient way.

"Technology follows Lifestyle" as a driver

automate the associated follow-up processes. For example, customer and supplier invoices can already be scanned and independently posted by the system. At the same time, the associated processes are triggered.

Limits of digital systems
The applications reach their limits with more complex requirements and especially with interdisciplinary questions, such as the tax implications. This will continue to be one of the sticking points of digital systems in the future, due to different starting points, intentions and constantly changing framework conditions. This part must continue to be covered by specialists, whether through personal contacts or through the digital possibilities such as chat or direct messaging.

This digital shift is currently going undiscovered by many and is still in an early phase. As is usually the case with such change processes, only early demand groups are involved. In the current phase, it is important to involve these groups in the further developments of digital services and to recognize and take into account their requirements, needs and benefit arguments. Influencing factors such as simplification of processes and applications, time savings, time-independent use, increased convenience and the integration of technology into the usual daily routine (technology follows lifestyle) are the drivers that will ultimately establish the new offerings.