The Banking Executive Magazine - June 2022 Issue

The Metaverse also presents the steps to build a Metaverse and reveals the criticisms and concerns over the Metaverse. Metaverse growth and outlook are depicted. The article focuses on Metaverse banking and the uptake of Metaverse by fintechs. The issues of Metaverse governance and impact on society are raised. The article concludes with recommendation for Arab banks to develop their tech- nologies and adopt short and long terms strategies to embrace the Meta- verse. THE ADVENT OF THE METAVERSE According to Wikipedia, the meta- verse is a single, universal and im- mersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), extended reality (XR), multisensory extended reality, and simulated reality. A metaverse is a network of 3D virtual worlds focused on social connection. Metaverse development is fueled by increasing demands for immersion. Recent interest in metaverse devel- opment is influenced by Web3, a concept for a decentralized iteration of the internet. The term Metaverse became popular after Facebook famously changed its name to Meta in order to align with the future of virtual reality and the way we connect work, and play to- gether. Besides a rebranding of a so- cial media giant, the Metaverse is clearly on the rise for adoption by many industries. The Metaverse can be an exact replica of the physical world, or it can be a virtual world with features not yet seen in the real world. Meta Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Zuckerberg explains the Meta- verse as: "A blend of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI). You can move from object to object, world to world using augmented reality." Facebook changed its name to Meta because 3D virtual spaces will let users socialize and work from the comfort of their homes and allow businesses to automate and simplify their processes. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, be- lieves that: "The Metaverse can help businesses reduce wastefulness and increase productivity. Incorporating technologies like Artificial Intelli- gence AI, Augmented Reality AR, and Virtual Reality VR will benefit or- ganizations and save them money. " NVIDIA is one of the largest manu- facturers of graphic processing units (GPUs) which will be equally promi- nent as the Metaverse uses GPUs to run its operations. NVIDIA developed NVIDIA Omni- verse™ which is a scalable, multi-GPU real-time reference devel- opment platform for 3D simulation, design collaboration, and based on Pixar's Universal Scene Description and NVIDIA RTX™ technology. ISSUE 162 JUNE 2022 the BANKING EXECUTIVE 41