AI and stablecoins in the new world of digital banking

We’re living in an exciting time for all things digital. The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of digital technologies, and mobile banking was certainly part of that, as people and businesses pivoted from the physical to digital, and payments was a place where we saw significant change. That has sustained and accelerated over the past few years. Cash has not disappeared, but we are seeing a new baseline around how businesses and banks operate.

For Absa’s clients, the focus is now on being able to get business done wherever you are. This is underpinned by an understanding that business doesn’t only happen during office hours. Digital banking enables that. As a result, the bank is seeing sustained double-digit growth in digital payments.

The technology and capabilities are moving so fast, in some respects the regulators are struggling to keep pace with the changing environment. Absa will never operate outside of regulation, so we’ve been working closely with our industry regulators to ensure that the right regulations are in place and that when we launch products into the market, they’re safe for our clients.

A lot of our research and development focus is now around the next potential technology revolution, which is the utilisation of artificial intelligence (AI). We often hear about how AI is going to replace humans in the workplace. That’s not the case at all. But what one is starting to see is much higher productivity levels and higher quality of work among people who are using generative AI (GenAI). Personally, as an early adopter of ChatGPT and a frequent user of Copilot, I’m getting through a much higher quantum of work.

I heard a comment a little while ago, which is spot-on: GenAI is not going to take your job, but people who are using GenAI will. That’s because they are simply so much more valuable. At Absa, we are building use cases for AI in digital banking, and we’re already seeing improved efficiencies in this space.

Another digital technology that’s high on Absa’s agenda is stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies that are designed to maintain a fixed value over time. We have developed a gold-backed stablecoin, which has a use case around cross-border currency flows. Cross-border transactions have traditionally been a point of reasonably high friction, but in a blockchain environment, these trades are immediate provided the compliance checks have been done.

We’re investigating a number of use cases around stablecoin, and it’s been a fascinating journey from an R&D perspective. We expect this to scale quite significantly in our environment as clients grow more accustomed to it.

We’ve already seen this with cryptocurrencies. Crypto is more materially an asset class than a transacting capability, but we’re seeing more and more transactions happening. In June, South African retailer Pick n Pay announced that it was processing R1 million a month in crypto transactions.

It’s a relatively small amount, but think about it for a moment: that’s R1 million a month in Bitcoin that people are using to buy their groceries!

As a Pan-African bank, Absa is keenly aware of the realities that our clients face when doing business. The issue of deteriorating domestic currency values is one of those realities. Having access to a gold-backed stablecoin, which is not exposed to those fiat currencies, would be attractive to African businesses. We see this as a genuine growth opportunity – perhaps not immediately, but certainly over time.

Whether you’re a bank, a corporate treasurer, or simply someone who’s interested in the possibilities of digital technologies, this is an exhilarating and exciting time.