The revolution in digital payment has just begun as future systems are able to learn consumer' behavior and to replace bank cards with e-payment channels, experts said on Tuesday at the 5th Annual Middle East Banking Innovation Summit.
Pedro Cardoso, head of multi-channel and customer relationship management at Dubai's biggest bank Emirates NBD, said cash displacement is poised to accelerate, mainly because the young generation, the millennials, are more open to switch from cash to digital money.
Cardoso quoted a survey conducted by debit and credit cards provider Visa, saying that "68 percent of the millennials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) believe in a cashless future while 56 percent use mobile payments."
In UAE, 2.1 million people or 22.60 percent of the total population are millennials (people born between 1980 and 2000).
Sylwia Hans, business solutions manager at Comarch from Poland, said banks and financial service providers will increasingly use intelligent software.
"Today, a lot of marketing circulation is wasted because it is not customized. But if a bank takes records of how much a customer pays for his car insurance, other insurance providers can move in and send the client alternative offers at lower prices or related to more services, " said Hans.
Cardoso launched Emirates NBD's first social media banking product. Existing and new customers with online access to their account at Emirates NBD can apply to monitor their bank balance and transactions and use other services via twitter's direct mail service from now on.
Cardoso said millennials spend on average 5.4 hours per day on social media in UAE, which is one of the longest daily duration worldwide. Seventy-three percent of them would be ready to do banking via social media channels, he said.
He added that his vision is an electronic bracelet which customers can wear and pay without any contact with card machines at points of sales such as shops, supermarkets or restaurants.
The two-day Annual Middle East Banking Innovation Summit 2015 ended here on Tuesday.
