Banks went online over 2 decades ago. This was a revolution that irreversibly changed and significantly simplified our everyday lives via online access to customer control panels, account balances and operations, instant transfers, sms-authorised service and product purchases.
It also blazed a trail for their successors, i.e. those more “traditional” industries that rapidly found their way online, forever changing the habits, needs and expectations of customers worldwide.
It turns out that this is still not enough.
Today technology promises to take us to a whole new level, through the enticing and immersive vision of the metaverse. Unsurprisingly, almost every industry is looking to position itself in the new-tech reality, and considering how to best tap the potential it brings.
Its development is also being closely monitored by banks.
The metaverse – the new shape of user experience
The metaverse is much more than technology. It is a symbiotic environment of new possibilities, experiences and dynamically changing IT systems that follow the needs and ideas of creators and users. At its core, the metaverse is about building a sense of mutual, seamless interpenetration between the real and virtual worlds.
The metaverse therefore cuts across a variety of areas, such as:
- space – which we can enter, visit without being physically present, or which we can shape according to our desires and expectations,
- community – via real people interacting and engaging, responding to individual needs and forming relationships, despite physical distance,
- property and assets – owned, sold and developed, subject to market rules and other regulations, either within closed or open environments.
The metaverse is all about mobility and accessibility. It is a change that enters and transforms every area of our lives.
Ultimately, it is the next great technological revolution.
How and why are banks entering the metaverse?
Before entering the metaverse, banks need to answer some major questions, including:
Is this just a fad or already a kind of “must have” and a new standard expected by customers, employees and the business environment?
How can we capitalise on this fundamental change by creating entirely new value and new user experiences?
What should be the driving force to expand our presence in the metaverse: even more effective marketing and better tailored products, or creating community spaces and increasing engagement?
The largest banks are now poised to enter the metaverse, with more and more looking at the giants and planning to quickly integrate new technologies into their business model.
Metabank customers – what do they get besides user experience?
State-of-the-art technology provides a panoramic view of a physical bank from anywhere and at any time, allowing customers to visit the bank without being physically present.
Customers can select their avatar, enter a virtual lobby and access the banking services of interest.
In theory, they get the same level of service and security, but with a more personal approach, even more personalised advisory and much better data visualisation.
Banks consider the metaverse as an opportunity to establish more lasting relationships, better profiling or, for example, recovering leads lost in other customer communication channels.
What value does the metaverse add besides user experience? That remains to be seen, of course.
Just like how quickly the dynamic development of the metaverse will be followed by regulatory changes, and how the existing and new risks will be mitigated.
Security and regulatory issues need to be clarified before banks and customers can take full advantage of new technologies.
The role of lawyers in the development of the metaverse
The metaverse is already a giga-trend that seems to be bringing all today’s leading technologies together into a coherent, virtual whole. A whole designed to build the most ambitious digital user experience we can imagine. An experience in which the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds are blurred.
Being well aware of the growing importance of this concept, we have developed the first extensive report on the metaverse in Poland (link).
The metaverse brings not only new opportunities, but also entirely new organisational and legal challenges, in particular for the financial sector facing a very cautious position of the supervisory authority.
Szymon Ciach, specialising in new technology, will discuss the most important legal issues related to the metaverse from the perspective of the financial sector at the FinTech InsurTech conference.
Any questions? Contact us
