Among those technologies are mobile computing (smartphones are increasingly becoming customers’ preferred means of accessing their banks); biometrics, permitting secure identification without need for documentation or physical presence; cloud computing, making it possible to offer scalable, efficient computer services to everyone; and blockchain, which will allow to automate many banking processes that currently require intensive human involvement.

Key cognitive technologies for the development of banking include "conversational interfaces" that improve user experiences; "automated complex reasoning," which permits totally automated decision making; and "deep learning," anticipating more advanced systems for fraud detection. In addition, there's "risk scoring," the definition of dynamic clusters of customers, the construction of artificial stress scenarios, and much more. And artificial intelligence is fundamental for the development of natural-language processing, which allows computers to maintain a conversation with human beings. This would enormously accelerate customer digitalization.

On the other hand, user convenience calls for much more global and integrated solutions to meet their needs, and this will likely be achieved through platforms combining products and services from different providers. So the key question is: who will occupy the center of these platforms the way, for example, that Amazon does today? This central player will be the platform’s “owner,” establishing the rules, taking responsibility for maintenance and improvements, and validating the transactions that take place there. Consequently, it will receive a part of the income generated by those transactions and will have access to, and control of, the information generated around it, which is itself another enormous source of value.

Succeeding in such a competitive environment encompassing start-ups, banks, and probably some of today’s major digital enterprises will involve two fundamental conditions: first, possessing the most advanced capacities offered by the exponential technologies on which the platform is built; and second, being able to gain consumer confidence through an excellent reputation that stresses prudence, transparency, and a complete absence of conflicts of interest.

What is needed, then, are regulations that adequately balance the value of new digital proposals for consumers with protection from the corresponding risks. At the same time, regulation must create a competitive environment—and supervision must ensure that it is respected. How digital regulation and supervision are defined will be determinant in the speed and, to a large degree, direction of the financial industry’s transformation.