GIB Global Investment Digital Banking： Blockchain Technology Empowers Traditional Banking Industry
Blockchain technology has been widely concerned by governments and international organizations. As an important force supporting the development of the real economy, the research and layout of blockchain technology is of great significance for consolidating and cultivating the ability to serve social and economic development and improving the level of comprehensive financial services. Some people think that blockchain technology may be one of the core technologies with the greatest potential to trigger the fifth wave of subversive industrial revolution after steam engine, electric power, information and Internet technology, and it can jointly promote economic and financial transformation and upgrading with new technologies such as big data, mobile Internet and cloud computing. Perhaps it can be said that the blockchain economy is now on the eve of the outbreak. Whoever dares to explore and take the lead in this round of major historical opportunities will become the leader of the legendary swordsman in the financial field in the next stage.
GIB Global Investment Digital Bank is an international online bank established by AFF Technology Diversified Financial Group, which is jointly founded by professionals in the financial field and experts in the foreign exchange investment field to provide professional fund management services. Recently, Iain Gray, Chairman and Founder of GIB Global Investment Digital Bank, and Mark Wang, Marketing Director of GIB Global Investment Digital Bank in Asia Pacific, had a dialogue with Forbes China on the impact of blockchain technology on traditional banking.
Iain Gray, Chairman and Founder of GIB Global Investment Digital Bank
The following is Forbes China andIain Gray, Chairman and Founder of GIB Global Investment Digital BankDialogue.
Forbes China: Can you describe the motivation of establishing GIB Global Investment Digital Bank? How does your rich experience in the past 40 years relate to your plan to bring an extensible blockchain network to GIB Global Investment Digital Bank?
Iain Gray：I think one of the biggest value propositions of blockchain is that it can bring transparency and fairness to everyone. Although this is a great technology, it was not very practical when I first came into contact with it, because verification on distributed networks is slow and expensive. Therefore, I decided to build a high-performance blockchain to make up for these shortcomings and help make this technology applicable to everyone.
My work experience in the past 40 years, including creating remarkable economic and social benefits for the country and enterprises, has focused on resource integration, teamwork and capital operation for many years, and participated in projects spanning the fields of construction master planning, mining, information technology, biotechnology, fashion and real estate development. When working in another emerging technology field, these experiences are very important, and we plan to reproduce similar results in the blockchain by using the knowledge gained from previous related experiences.
Forbes China: Can you describe the main advantages of distributed applications in decentralized blockchain and how they can improve existing application prototypes? Are they a direct competition for today’s popular applications or a supplement?
Iain Gray：The characteristics of blockchain will change the core criteria between financial systems; Because of its security, transparency and non-tampering, the trust mode between financial systems no longer depends on intermediaries, and many banking businesses will be "decentralized" to realize real-time digital transactions. The application of blockchain will produce the most direct and effective application in five financial scenarios, such as cross-border payment and settlement, bills and supply chain finance, securities issuance and trading, and customer credit reporting and anti-fraud. In terms of cross-border payment settlement, blockchain will be able to abandon the role of transit bank and realize point-to-point fast and low-cost cross-border payment.
A large-scale transformation from traditional applications to blockchain-based applications seems unlikely in the short term. However, I believe that in the long run, the application of blockchain technology will open up many exciting possibilities, subvert the rules of the game in the banking industry and possibly reshape the entire industry structure.
Forbes China: Do you think the trend of blockchain technology upgrading and traditional banking going to the public will continue?
Iain Gray：The times are constantly changing, and the technology is constantly being iteratively updated. We should adapt to the development of the times, and even lead the development of the times. If we remain unchanged, we will fail and be eliminated by the times we love.
Facing the oncoming opportunities and challenges of blockchain technology, GIB Global Investment Digital Bank first paid attention to this issue in 2018. When we first decided to prepare for the construction, we spent two years conducting market research, data analysis, sand table deduction, etc. We submitted research reports to local governments and applied for relevant compliance licenses and authorizations from national governments. So far, we have applied for relevant compliance licenses and authorizations from 15 countries, including the United States, Dominica, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Laos, Malaysia and Thailand. We welcome people from all walks of life to supervise us. In this increasingly mature era of decentralized development, the supervision of various places will bring us great development momentum.
Forbes China: What is the prospect of bank digitalization?
Iain Gray：In my opinion, what we are discussing today should not just be a simple bank digitalization, but a real digital bank. Real digital banking not only refers to providing financial services through mobile phones and Internet channels, but also has a much deeper meaning, from the underlying technology to the brand-new changes in users’ consumption habits. It should be widely used by consumers and have powerful functions, including higher bandwidth, advanced data security and stronger privacy protection, stronger security and more intelligent service. This is what we should do.
Mark Wang, Marketing Director, Asia Pacific Region, GIB Global Investment Digital Bank
The following is Forbes China andMark Wang, Marketing Director, Asia Pacific Region, GIB Global Investment Digital BankDialogue.
Forbes China: How do you understand the impact of blockchain on the current industry?
Mark Wang：Blockchain technology is one of the core technologies that have the greatest potential to trigger the fifth wave of subversive revolution after steam engine, electric power, information and Internet technology. The application of this technology in the financial field will completely change the transaction process and the way of keeping records, thus greatly reducing transaction costs and significantly improving efficiency. In the past year, blockchain technology has become one of the most concerned topics in the global innovation field, and it has been enthusiastically sought after by venture capital funds.
Affected by the epidemic, online demand has risen sharply, and the iteration of transformation and upgrading of traditional banking industry is imminent. So global investment in digital banking is a huge opportunity, and the biggest question is, how do we seize this opportunity? So GIB Global Investment Digital Bank came into being!
Forbes China: What opportunities and challenges will blockchain technology bring to the banking industry?
Mark Wang：Faced with the oncoming opportunities and challenges of blockchain technology, a number of leading banks in the world have begun to actively deploy to seize the first-Mover advantage.
In our brand-new GIB global investment digital bank, there are mainly four interrelated and complementary elements: connectivity, automation, innovation and decision-making. Connectivity refers to how banks can develop products with high loyalty and monopoly through the rapid development of social networks. Automation refers to how to use digital processes to provide a better customer experience and use resources more effectively. Innovation refers to how banks constantly innovate themselves in the rapidly changing industry. Decision-making refers to how to use big data technology to quickly and accurately predict user decisions and bank decisions on some issues (such as risks).
Forbes China: What period is the blockchain technology in for banks?
Mark Wang：At present, blockchain technology is a window period for banks. Taking the application of blockchain technology in cross-border transactions of banks as an example, blockchain technology can significantly reduce the time and cost of cross-border transactions of banks, but at the same time it will also affect the intermediary business income of banks, such as the downward pressure caused by cross-border transaction fees and commissions. Specifically, at present, banks can collect considerable transaction fees and commissions in cross-border transactions, and the exact exchange rate of transactions is determined by banks. However, blockchain provides almost instantaneous trading opportunities, reduces credit risk, and also optimizes foreign exchange transactions and liquidity within the network. With the simplification of domestic and international payment processes and the increasing competitive pressure among banks, the scope of additional fees charged by banks will be reduced.
In the long run, it is an international trend for commercial banks to use blockchain technology to improve efficiency and innovate management mode.
Some international banks with a keen sense of smell have begun to actively plan. For example, GIB Global Investment Digital Bank has gained the initiative in the fierce competition in the future by joining the blockchain research and application army. As early as 2018, a group of financial elites with keen investment vision began to build GIB Global Investment Digital Bank. In 2019, the bank was formally established in Washington, USA. In the same year, GIB developed version 4.0 of digital banking, taking blockchain technology as its underlying technical architecture, making capital storage more secure. At present, GIB has applied for relevant compliance licenses and permits from many countries, including the United States, Canada, Laos, Australia, etc., to provide users with a legal, compliant, safe and reliable investment environment.
Forbes China: In what ways do you think the blockchain can play a role?
Mark Wang：The essence of blockchain is "decentralization", which allows blockchain to solve some key problems faced by financial exchanges today. In the field of cross-border payment and settlement, blockchain technology helps to realize point-to-point transactions and reduce intermediate costs. The potential advantages of blockchain technology in capital transfer, especially in cross-border consumption and payment and settlement business, are particularly prominent. In the field of bills and supply chain finance, blockchain helps to reduce human intervention, cost and operational risk. The point-to-point value transfer mode of blockchain eliminates the intervention of intermediaries, does not need specific physical bills or central system control verification, and solves the industry pain point of illegal operation caused by human operation.
Through the advanced technology architecture such as blockchain, GIB will realize real-time intelligent, embedded and ubiquitous open financial services smart banks. On the basis of intelligent investment and scene intervention technology, GIB provides users with better financial solutions, so that users can enjoy a faster and smoother financial service experience.
Forbes China: Finally, please talk about the future prospect of blockchain entering the banking industry?
Mark Wang：At present, commercial banks mainly develop applications around electronic transactions, commercial bills, payment and transfer, digital currency, information storage and internal management. In the future, we believe that blockchain will be more widely used in commercial banks in the following aspects:
1. Peer-to-peer transactions, such as cross-border payment and remittance based on p2p mode, trade settlement and the sale of securities, futures and financial derivatives contracts, etc. The application of blockchain technology can improve the efficiency and security of commercial bank transactions.
2. Registration, blockchain has the characteristics of credibility and traceability, so it can be used as a reliable database to record all kinds of information, such as storing anti-money laundering customer identity data and transaction records.
3. Intelligent management, that is, using the "intelligent contract" to automatically detect whether there are various effective environments, once the pre-set procedures are met, the contract will be automatically processed, such as automatic interest payment and dividend payment.
The future development of blockchain in commercial banks is immeasurable. In the future, blockchain will push commercial banks to the peak. In the future, not only the banking industry, but also blockchain technology may subvert more industries.
Disclaimer: The information related to Brand Voice is creative content, not Forbes news content.
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