From related concept stocks to new highs, to the popularity of capital, and now Jay Chou’s entry… It seems that the meta universe is so popular only overnight. Banks with keen sense of smell have begun to actively plan to join the army of meta universe research and application, and explore this field by launching a series of new products and services.
The reporter found that at present, commercial banks including China Zheshang Bank Co.Ltd(601916) , Jiangnan Rural Commercial Bank, Baixin bank, Weizhong bank and so on have taken the action of “meta universe”. Insiders said that as the next generation Internet, metauniverse is likely to affect the interaction between banks and customers. Virtual digital people and digital collections will become the key factors for banking business innovation.
on the banking industry
Last December, Baixin bank welcomed the first virtual digital employee “aiya aiya”. Different from the positioning of virtual customer service, aiya is the AI virtual brand officer of Baixin bank, playing the role of future bank explorer and brand concept communicator.
“In the future, the business model and service form of banks are quietly changing. We are very concerned about the changes in users’ needs, especially the interaction with young people. Financial technology, virtual digital employees and digital assets will be our important starting points. We hope to provide users with more friendly, inclusive and secure digital financial services.” Chen Longqiang, Chief Strategic Officer of Baixin bank, said.
During the same period, Jiangnan Rural Commercial Bank cooperated with JD cloud to launch the business handling digital person “Yanxi VTM digital employee”. Yanxi VTM digital employees have a real face and can independently and accurately complete the whole process services such as self-service response, business processing, active service and risk control compliance of bank transaction scenarios. Their innovation is to extend the application scenarios to real business transaction processing links.
In addition, some banks began to explore digital employees in 2019. Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co.Ltd(600000) joined Baidu intelligent cloud to create the first digital worker in the financial industry, “Xiao Pu”. According to the data of Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Co.Ltd(600000) , Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) can receive 80000 calls a day, provide services such as customer account management, and call 500000 calls a day for scenarios such as risk prompt and business notice.
In the same year, China Everbright Bank Company Limited Co.Ltd(601818) also launched “sunshine Xiaozhi”, a virtual bank employee and financial adviser. According to Yang Bingbing, vice president of China Everbright Bank Company Limited Co.Ltd(601818) previously, in the launch of about half a year, it was at the early stage of covid-19 pneumonia epidemic, the service proportion of sunshine Xiaozhi artificial intelligence Siasun Robot&Automation Co.Ltd(300024) online incoming peak reached more than 96%, serving more than 30 million customers in total.
Some banking practitioners said that digitization is one of the development directions of banks. Digital services can replace some repetitive work of banks, and digital employees can avoid human errors and reduce costs and increase efficiency. At the same time, it can also gain more attention from young customers, improve customers’ digital experience, and play a role in “intelligent customer service”, “bank mall”, “collection sales”, etc. For example, it can provide all-weather visual virtual customer service, immersive interactive experience, etc.
What can the “meta universe” bring to the banking industry?
At present, the starting point of the banking industry in the meta universe is mainly in virtual digital people and digital collections. Virtual digital people have upgraded the interaction mode and customer experience, and the audience of digital collections are young groups interested in new products, new technologies and new concepts. These groups have strong consumption willingness and consumption ability, and are the high-quality customers of the bank.
It is understood that Weizhong bank plans to launch the year of the tiger digital collection “Fuhu” on January 25. Weizhong bank said that with the support of blockchain technology, each digital Fuhu has a unique blockchain ID, which is convenient for authenticity verification and anti-counterfeiting.
In January this year, Bank Of Jiangsu Co.Ltd(600919) announced that it would actively layout the financial meta universe in combination with its own advantages. Last December, Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China Limited(601398) Hebei xiong’an branch, as one of the first financial institutions, announced that it had “settled” in xirang, a product of yuanuniverse.
There are also banks that test the water universe by creating an immersive service experience. In 2021, Bank Of Jiangsu Co.Ltd(600919) tried a new financial service model, created a financial experience of “no need to go to financial outlets, no need to install financial apps and no need to consume mobile phone traffic”, and began to touch the Financial Universe combined with its own characteristics. Ping An Bank Co.Ltd(000001) also takes “meta universe” as the theme of the annual bill in 2021 to present users with a year’s digital financial life.
Gao Feng, chief information officer of Bank Of China Limited(601988) Industry Association, said, “in the era of meta universe, the interaction mode between banks and customers will change greatly, and virtual digital people and virtual business hall will become the key factors in the competition of banking business.”
In the metauniverse, by embedding the scenario to complete the financial service scheme, customers can experience finance in a more intuitive and convenient way, and banks can also understand customers more comprehensively. At present, they are infiltrating into the bank’s digital employees, senseless experience of financial products, immersive customer companionship, digital product manufacturing, real-time creation of financial products, etc.
Some analysts pointed out that strictly speaking, the current participation of the banking industry in the meta universe does not rule out the factor of “gimmicks”. At present, the meta universe is still the “prototype in the prototype”. Both application and technology are in the primary stage. It is still difficult for the banking industry to explore the meta universe. Firstly, the technology and application path of meta universe are relatively complex, and the existing infrastructure is not enough to realize the real meta universe. Secondly, the financial industry is special. New technologies such as VR technology, brain computer interface and three-dimensional interaction will bring new challenges to financial identity authentication, anti money laundering and information security. There are no industry standards to refer to and many concepts have not reached industry consensus.
