Bank branches are fast disappearing from our neighbourhoods. We increasingly deposit money, apply for loans, and pay bills via digital platforms. Unlike bank clerks, chatbots never sleep. They answer our questions whenever we ask them. AI will soon be our trusted financial advisors, telling us where to invest and how much we’re likely to earn. Wall Street will no longer hold a monopoly on algorithmic investing. The question is – would you entrust a machine with your savings?

What if you could get insured in 90 seconds? Or have a claim approved by algorithms in three minutes? Digital insurance is getting smarter and impressively efficient. Sensors will soon track our bodies, vehicles, homes to spot risk factors. In the future, a healthy diet and exercising may lead to lower premiums. Drones will inspect buildings for defects, and data analytics tools will check paperwork to uncover fraudulent claims. Blockchain will empower people. By forming a peer-to-peer insurance network, a group of individuals might make corporations obsolete.

Did you know that in the future, banks might know us better than we know ourselves? But how will they achieve that? Banks record physical and digital interactions with customers. Their apps help us manage spending habits, our voice commands approve transactions – and all these transactions generate valuable data, enabling banks to provide increasingly personalised services. In the future, some banks will operate virtually, without any physical branches. The rollout of 5G networks might even support the use of VR in branches. Smart banks of the future will be a technological wonderland.

Open banking policies force banks to provide third parties with access to our financial data. This enables startups to develop money-saving apps. Digital platforms also enable you to lend money to others. But will peer-to-peer lending platforms stand the test of time? Banking services will soon be integrated into the offerings of non-bank businesses. Welcome to the age of banking-as-a-service! Personalisation will be taken to a whole new level. Whether you’re passionate about religion or the environment, there’ll be a niche bank that caters to your needs – and values.

There’s thousands of hackers lurking on the web. Like any criminal, they want to get the most money with the least effort. And banks are ideal targets. Stealing biometric data or login details enables criminals to siphon away millions of dollars. But banks are getting increasingly high-tech as well. They use smart algorithms to protect our accounts. Will this be enough, though? As more and more IoT devices go online, criminals have more points to attack. And once quantum computing hits the mainstream, traditional encryption methods might become useless. What then?

In many ways, people are no longer separate from technology. It is, therefore, important to keep an eye on the moral side of technological developments. We need to philosophize about the implications for the world of tomorrow and ensure we take important ethical considerations into account. We need to determine our boundaries and have (and voice) opinions about how people and machines should work together. What will happen to our individual rights and how will we deal with privacy and risk management? How will we remain happy in the world of tomorrow?

Robots will take care of manual tasks in the banks of tomorrow. More automation enables employees to show their creativity. What other skills will they need? In the future, employees in finance will need to become digital natives, and know how to use tech to their advantage. They’ll need to be able to assist customers in person as well as remotely. As banks, startups and tech companies all scramble for customers, the finance industry needs to diversify its workforce and hire thousands of software developers, cyber-security experts, and engineers.

The future of work requires a new type of manager, one who challenges the status quo and is willing to abandon 20th century ‘best practices’. There will be a move to flatter hierarchies as millennials are great team players and see traditional hierarchies as outdated. They are result-driven and expect their managers to be the same. The managers of the future offer employees opportunities to develop new skills and explore new positions.

The organisation of the future is hyper-connected. It constantly monitors customers and competitors. By cooperating with startups and scientists, it stays on top of the latest technology trends. Also, its leaders rely on smart algorithms to analyse the world. They have a flexible workforce that rapidly develops new products and services. No challenge is too hard for them. Managers inspire and offer vision of a better future. And their organisations aren’t afraid to veer off the beaten track.

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