This book discusses and explores 10 emerging technology trends and their impact on the Financial Services industry.
The structure of the book can be split into four main parts:
Part One—Background and Context Setting
The first part starts (in Chapter 2) with a short overview of the Financial Services industry covering the main players which are summarized in Figure 1.1 below. This chapter is not meant to provide an in-depth overview but to provide sufficient context for the rest of the book.
Figure 1.1 High-level summary of the industry
This is followed by (in Chapter 3) a history of the Financial Services industry and how technology has helped or hindered the growth of the industry. Again this chapter is not meant to provide a detailed chronological history with in-depth discussion, but it is to provide a sufficient context to explain how the industry has evolved with a particular nod to technology. This history is summarized in Figure 1.2 below.
Figure 1.2 The four stages of the financial services technology evolution
This first part then concludes (in Chapter 4) with a summary of the key challenges that the Financial Services industry is currently facing. These are summarized in Figure 1.3 below.
Figure 1.3 Summary of the challenges of impacting the financial services industry
Part Two—Exploring the Impact of the 10 Emerging Technology Trends
The second part is the main part of this book. It contains 10 chapters (from Chapters 5 to 14) with each chapter discussing an individual technology trend and its impact on the Financial Services industry. The 10 trends are summarized in Figure 1.4 below.
Figure 1.4 Summary of the 10 technology trends
The structure of each chapter is similar. Initially, an overview of the technology is given with the benefits it can provide at a general level. Then each chapter will discuss how the technology is currently being used within the Financial Services industry followed by a discussion on the pragmatic challenges of implementing and using the technology. This leads to how the technology either helps with or hinders the key industry challenges listed in Chapter 4. Each chapter then ends with a case study followed by a small summary of the key points to aid understanding.
Part Three—Wrap Up and Looking to the Future
The third and final part is a summary of the book outlining the key themes and challenges going forward.