The Banking Executive Magazine - June 2022 Issue

ABC ABC SEEKS ENTRIES FOR BAHRAIN OPEN BANKING SUPERNOVA 2022 Bank ABC, a leading international bank in Mena region, is inviting au- tonomous financial advisory solution providers to take part in its innova- tion challenge hosted as part of Bahrain Open Banking Supernova 2022, led by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB). The challenge, which closes on June 26, is aimed at scouting unique tech- nological solutions to power the bank’s AI-driven, emotionally intelli- gent, digital human assistant, ‘Fatema’ to serve as an autonomous financial advisor for corporates and individuals, said a statement from ABC. This initiative comes as part of Bank ABC’s comprehensive multi-year Group Digital Transformation Pro- gramme aimed at building a client- centric ‘bank of the future,’ driving digital transformation in financial services in the Mena region and be- yond. Bank ABC said the innovation chal- lenge is open to regional and global solution providers, leveraging open banking ecosystems. The proposed solution will be uti- lized to enable the Bank’s digital human avatar ‘Fatema’ to serve as a smart ‘Digital Financial Advisor’ and further augment her existing intuitive customer support capabilities. On the innovation challenge, Group Chief Innovation Officer Dr Yousif Almas said: "At Bank ABC, we envis- age the future of banking to be very different from the current way of banking. We endeavor to be at the forefront of shaping the future of banking as we make it more intu- itive, integrated and flexible for our clients." "The winning solution will be considered for integration with our Digital Assistant’s human-like con- versational AI capabilities to offer corporates and individuals instant contextual financial advisory serv- ices, at their convenience," he stated. "It may also enable the Bank to effec- tively communicate in sign language and ultimately spur financial inclu- sion in the region," he added. The proposed solution must connect the bank’s ‘Digital Assistant’ to an open banking infrastructure to en- able it to provide holistic financial advisory services through a friction- less, secure and effortless experi- ence. Furthermore, it should provide the digital assistant with the appropriate use cases and data visualisation ca- pabilities through APIs. According to Bank ABC, the full challenge criteria, technical require- ments and terms and conditions are available on Finhub973’s website. The winner will be declared on July 5, following two shortlisting rounds on June 30 and July 7, and if ready, will be given the opportunity to de- velop a proof-of-concept (POC) by integrating the proposed solution with the Bank’s Digital Assistant the BANKING EXECUTIVE 28 ISSUE 162 JUNE 2022