Learning EP4 – How To Use Web 3.0 To Design Financial Services?

疫情自學系列 IV：如何用 Web 3.0 設計金融服務？

My takeaway is that there are still many Web 3.0’s business opportunities for uninsured or under-insured customers. And what will these segments need? More customer-centric and personalized products. I can think of a few examples, such as cardiac disease patients can ….

我從這場對談得到的反思，就是在未保險或保險過低的族群間一定還有很多 Web 3.0 的機會等著大家去開發，而這些人需要什麼呢？我認為就是以客戶為中心的個人化產品。我可以想到一些例子，像心臟病的病人可以…

Web 3.0, you may hear about it a lot lately. Perhaps from a news clip of Meta (Facebook)’s metaverse; or from a white paper of newly-minted cryptocurrencies.

The first notion of Web 3.0 was brought up by The New York Times‘s journalist John Markoff in 2006 (you can find his original article here). Not too surprisingly, now it seemed to have limitless applications. Today, I’m going to share some Web 3.0 knowledge and tell you how it will shape the future of the financial service industry.

Web 3.0 Knowledge Certificate in Financial Services

Singapore MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) organized the 2021 SFF (Singapore FinTech Festival) event on Nov 8~12. The grand Finance convention aimed to showcase how Web 3.0 and relevant technologies (e.g., DLT, IoT, 5G, AI, ML) can change the landscape of the financial service industry. FinTech startups also demonstrated how to use it when expanding their footprints.

Yes, I know, that’s a lot of acronyms. But hey, we are talking about FinTech. For all we’ve learned so far, it’s the industry’s new favorite, it’s evolving, and it’s full of dazzling short names to attract tech-savvy audiences.

As you may have guessed from the title, this article is about my learning from the Web 3.0 Knowledge Certificate in Financial Services issued by NUS (National University of Singapore) and AIDF (Asian Institute of Digital Finance). During the first 3 days of SFF, experts from over 60 countries shared their industry insights and know-how, and these sessions became the knowledge base of the 3 modules.

The 3 modules were Designing Financial Services, Building Financial Services, and Sustainable Financial Services. Participants of SFF can opt for the program then get a certificate after answering relevant questions in each course with an average mark of 60%.

In this article, I will introduce the first module in the certificate:Designing Financial Services.

I will write another article about the thought-provoking 2021 Singapore FinTech Festival. Stay tuned and subscribe to my newsletter. Then you will get the notification when I released the article.

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Web 3.0 inDesigning Financial Services

Kicked off by Sopnendu Mohanty, Singapore MAS’s Chief Fintech Officier’s interview on Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase and General Partner of the well-known Silicon Valley venture capital company a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), the first module contained 15 videos in total.

Mr.Mohanty and Mr.Srinivasan’s talk set the tone of the convention. Web 3.0, also called the Semantic web, was defined as an innovation of the back-end. It’s decentralized, transparent, and about empowering people so that everyone can contribute to the world wide web without the intervention of tech conglomerates.

Throughout the program, I understood better what Web 3.0 is about and how it can affect every sector in the financial service industry. Whether it’s capital market, insurance, asset management, consumer banking, or wholesale banking, the impact will be permanent and at full scale.

Below are Web 3.0’s impact in mainly two markets: insurance and consumer banking.

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Web 3.0 in Insurance Market

SFF organized two interview sessions on the subject of insurance.

The first interview featured Mike Wells, the CEO of insurance conglomerate Prudential, and Julian Teicke, CEO of a digital insurance company WeFox. It was a dialogue between a 160-year-oldconglomerate and a 6-year-old InsurTech startup. Both CEOs expressed their confidence in thriving in the future insurance domain.

To start with, Mr. Teicke attributed the success of his unicorn company(WeFox’s latest post-money valuation reached US$3 billion) to offering what incumbents struggle to achieve, such as digital transformation and agility. Then, Mr. Wells responded by emphasizing that the essence of insurance is trust; and all the innovations should not deviate from that core value.

One thing that both CEOs agreed on is that there’s still huge potential in the insurance industry. Mr. Wells further reiterated that the future insurance sector wouldn’t be a winner-take-it-all market. He explained that Prudential’s Asia business showed strong momentum despite a flat market share. Therefore every player can benefit as long as he is still in the game.

My takeaway from this session is that there are still many business opportunities for uninsured or under-insured customers. And what will these segments need? More customer-centric and personalized products.I can think of a few examples, such as cardiac disease patients wearing a smartwatch and sharing their heart rate data with insurance companies, or less wealthy customers could take a contract dietitian’s advice and report the contents of their daily meals.

The second interview discussed how tools like AI and smart contracts might change the insurance industry completely. SFF invited an impressive panelist: Hugh Karp, founder of UK’s Ethereum-backed insurance company Nexus Mutual; Annabelle Kwok, a young entrepreneur from Thailand who created two AI startups by the age of 24, sold one of them toPrudential and currently served as its Director Of Regional AI; and Jonathan Larsen, the Chief Innovation Officer of Ping An Group.

From both sessions, it became clear how Web 3.0 canlead to a more efficient market by reducing information asymmetry. Customers and insurance companies will no longer be the opponents across the chessboard when it involves premiums and claims. No more gaming the system from either side!

On the one hand, insurance policies will be more customized, and we will see all sorted risk mitigation insurance products. On the other, technologies like IoT can significantly reduce operating costs by educating customers to be more risk-averse and be more responsible for their well-being.

Apart from the recent news that Tesla is using drivers’ safety scores to set the price of their insurance premiums. In the future, we may see more insurance companies using IoV(Internet of Vehicles) devices to track your every move when driving a car, or executing a smart contract via quantum computing to improve the hideous insurance claim process. Of course, the plan won’t be viable without customers’ consent to submit their data to insurance companies.

One more thing, I’m not saying that we can forgo the social benefits. When it comes to insurance products, we should always add AI ethics into the equation. You can read more on this subject from my other article, “AI in Banking: Which is Better? Result or Ethics Driven? ”

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Web 3.0 in Consumer Banking

MAS arranged two interviews discussing how Web 3.0 may change consumer banking. The first pair of subject-matter experts is FinTech v.s. Incumbent. Forest Lin, President of the Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent, represented FinTech. At the same time, Nuno Matos, CEO of HSBC Wealth and Personal Banking, unarguably took the role of an incumbent.

We saw Mr. Matos emphasize how “trust” will be a valuable asset of traditional financial institutions against new players. Meanwhile, Mr. Lin reiterated that the goal of FinTech companies is never about replacing incumbents. Instead, FinTech players recognized incumbents’ long-developing know-how. They simply want to be the bridge between customers and financial institutions via embedded finance solutions.

With technology conglomerates and FinTech unicorns’ recent aggressive moves to step into the financial service industry, it’s hard not to see these two as competitors.

Nevertheless,I think at least for the next 5~10 years, incumbents can still keep most customers as they hold the “ultimate trust” from them. In addition, as shared in my other article, “What You Need to Know When Using AI and ML for Open Banking;” even though the current customer spectrum seems to favor the convenience brought by Open Finance, the general public still has doubts about data sharing.

Meanwhile, the situation can always take a big turn. Challengers are likely able to build the same level of trust using technologies like Defi (decentralized finance) and win over customer segments (e.g., Gen Z) born in a mobile-first era.

During the second session, Mastercard’s EVP Sandeep Malhotra interviewedOki Matsumoto, CEO of Japan’s online securities trading firm Monex Group and UOB‘s Group Head of Personal Finance Jacquelyn Tan. The discussion focused on Web 3.0’s impact on the financial ecosystem. Ms. Jacquelyn mentioned some terms like omnichannel banking andplatform economy.

It may not be a new concept, but to unfold Web 3.0’s potential in consumer banking, I believe that financial institutions should clear the path for a seamless customer journey and connect all the touchpoints during the business and operation process before reaching out to external strategic partners.

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Web 3.0 in Other Domains

Countless Web 3.0 applications are entering the financial service industry at full speed, and it’s affecting every segment.

For example, you may hear about embedded finance solutions targeting SME banking, next-gen payment for cross-border transactions, sustainable finance for meeting COP26‘s goal, or CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) that many authorities are eager to study to show their commitment to digitalization.

On the scope of SME banking, Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of OECD, shared the data showing how alternative finance is booming even during the pandemic outbreak. Global alternative finance market volume except China reached YoY 51% and a record US$53 billion in 2020 from the business segment.

Interestingly, from the original report published by Cambridge Centre For Alternative Finance in Jun 2021, we see China’s alternative finance volume has dropped tremendously since 2017. A trend that aligns with the authority’s tightened policy on local P2P lending platforms. 

The data also indicated that the rest of the markets are catching up fast, which may be due to SMEs’ lower lending costs in terms of alternative financing vehicles.

What’s more, there was a high-level panel discussion on CBDC on the first day with Dr. Patrick Njoroge, Governor of Central Bank of Kenya, and H.E. Serey Chea, Assistant Governor of the National Bank Of Cambodia. The two explained the role of CBDC, its complications, as well as its prospects.

Currently, more than 87 countries are studying CBDC. I believe governments’ priority should be figuring out what results they want to achieve with a DLT book, rather than searching for another secret weapon to compete with other nations.

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Final Thoughts

So, what do you think about Web 3.0 now? Do you think financial institutions should take it all in so that they can have a winning chance in front of emerging FinTech startups?

For what it is worth, let me share a quotein the last video fromMichael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard.

It’s never about the technology, but the bigger problem we are trying to solve.

Michael Miebach, Singapore FinTech Festival, Nov 2021

Here’s to summarize my takeaway from Day 1 of SFF’s Web 3.0 program.

First, identify your endgame. 

Ask yourself this: what do you want to achieve from introducing Web 3.0 to your organization? Additionally, is it to improve your product offerings, create personalized pricing, or expand the scope of financial inclusion in your neighborhood?

Confirm your destination, then identify the right tool to clear the path.

Second, widen your market.

In a Web 3.0 world, having a digital identity is the key. The world’s unbanked population is around 1/4 of the total population. Suppose we can build a robust financial infrastructure, then we can incorporate those previous financial-excluded by giving them digital access rights. In that case, we will be looking at an infinite market base.

You may need regulators’ support during the time being. Read my article “What Are 3 Traits Important for the Success of a Fintech Hub and Job Seekers” and choose your battlefield wisely.

Last, ensure commercial viability for all.

When it comes to empowerment, everyone on the distributed ledger can drive the network further. Rather than thinking about eliminating competitors, try to encourage more collaboration.

A constructive approach would be to build an ecosystem (e.g. DAO) that is open and transparent, invite people in, offer tangible or intangible returns (e.g. airdrop or whitelist) to foster development, then wait for the network to grow itself. Through collaboration, you will have a commercially viable network, and it will be a long-standing one.

15 years have passed since John Markoff published his Web 3.0 article. While its definition is still constantly changing, its scope is getting wider every day. Even now, at the convention of SFF, we need experts like Balaji Srinivasan to explain what is it really about.

Web 3.0’s role in the financial service industry is still a work-in-progress. Its potential is beyond imagination. So, are you ready to ride on the trend of this transformation?

What’s your take from this article? Give me a shout-out below or drop me an email to tell me all about it!

Meanwhile, don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter so that you won’t miss the latest update. You can also check out my other industry sharing here. 

Last but not least, if you get some useful insights from my article, please feel free to click the icon below and support my writing project. This way, I can continue to create high-quality content on this website without ads.

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Web 3.0，你最近可能常聽到這個詞，或許是從一則最近很夯的 Meta (臉書) 新聞，或某篇新鑄造的加密貨幣白皮書。

第一個提出 Web 3.0 概念的是紐約時報的記者 John Markoff (你可以在這裡找到他在 2016 年發表的文章)，現在，相關的運用似乎無邊無際。今天，我要分享一些 Web 3.0 的知識，並告訴你它將如何影響金融服務產業的未來。

Web 3.0 金融產業知識課程認證

MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) 新加坡金融管理局在 11 月 8~12 日舉辦了 2021 SFF (Singapore FinTech Festival/ 新加坡金融科技節) 。這個金融界的年度盛事旨在展現 Web 3.0 和相關科技 (如 DLT分散式帳本、IoT互聯網、5G、AI 人工智慧、ML 機器學習) 將如何改變金融服務產業樣貌，金融科技新創們亦藉機演示如何運用 Web 3.0 拓展版圖。

是的，我知道，上面這段這也太多縮寫了。但是別忘了，今天要談的是 FinTech (金融科技)；它是高速發展的產業新寵，亦充斥各種酷炫的新名詞來吸引精通科技的觀眾。

或許你已經從標題猜到了，本文要分享的是我從 SFF 新加坡金融科技節Web 3.0 Knowledge Certificate in Financial Services (Web 3.0 金融產業知識課程認證) 課程學到的 Web 3.0 知識；這個證書是由 NUS (National University of Singapore)新加坡國立大學和 AIDF (Asian Institute of Digital Finance)亞洲數位金融研究所共同規劃和頒發。在 SFF 前 3 天，來自超過 60 個國家的專家不吝情地分享他們的洞見和知識，這些分享環節就成了 3 個 Web 3.0 模組的課程內容。

這 3 個模組分別是 Designing Financial Services (設計金融服務)、Building Financial Services(打造金融服務)，和 Sustainable Financial Services(永續金融服務)。SFF 的與會者可以選擇參加這個證書課程，並回答每節課後的隨堂 Web 3.0 相關問題，最後若平均分數達到 60 分就可以拿到證書。

在本篇文章我將先介紹第一個認證課程模組：Designing Financial Services(設計金融服務)

我之後會寫一篇文章分享發人省思的 2021 新加坡金融科技節，敬請期待。在此同時，可以先訂閱我的電子報，文章上傳後就會優先通知你。

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用 Web 3.0 打造金融服務

第一個模組包含 15 段影片，以新加坡金融管理局的首席金融科技官Sopnendu Mohanty 對前Coinbase 技術官及現任頗負盛名的矽谷創投公司a16z (Andreessen Horowitz) 一般合夥人 Balaji Srinivasan 的採訪打頭陣。

這個訪談為整個大會設定了基調。Web 3.0 又稱為語意網絡，被定義為一個後端的創新。它既去中心化、透明，又意在賦權於民，讓每個人都能免於科技巨頭的干擾，對網際網絡做出貢獻。

從這個課程中，我更了解 Web 3.0 到底是什麼，還有它將如何改變金融服務產業的各個環節。不論是資本市場、保險、資產管理、個人金融，亦或企業金融，這些影響都是永久且全面性的。

以下我將主要說明 Web 3.0 對其中兩個市場的影響：保險市場和個人市場。

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Web 3.0 在保險市場

針對保險市場的議題，SFF 大會安排了兩場訪談。

第一場的採訪對象是保險巨頭英國保誠人壽的 CEO Mike Wells 和保險新創 WeFox 的 CEO Julian Teicke，這是一段 160 歲的產業巨擎對上僅 6 歲的保險新創對話！兩位 CEO 皆強調對自家公司在保險市場繼續發光發熱的絕對信心。

WeFox 的 CEO Julian 先表達旗下新創獨角獸的成功 (WeFox 的最新估值已來到美金 30 億元) 應歸功於能提供傳統業者所不能及的敏捷和數位轉型；接著保誠人壽的 CEO Mike 則回應保險的本質在於信任，並強調任何的創新都不該脫離這個核心價值。

兩位 CEO 倒是一致同意保險產業還有巨大的商機；CEO Mike 進一步解釋道近年來保誠人壽的亞洲業務即使在市佔率不變的情況下，依然有爆炸性的成長，因此他重申未來的保險市場不會是贏家通吃，只要能留在市場上，人人都能受惠。

我從這場對談得到的反思，就是在未保險或保險過低的族群間一定還有很多機會等著大家去開發，而這些人需要什麼呢？我認為就是以客戶為中心的個人化產品。我可以想到一些例子，像心臟病的病人可以戴智慧手錶並和保險公司分享他們的心跳數據，或較不富裕的客戶也可以接受營養師的建議並回報每天的餐點內容。

第二場訪談主要在討論 AI 和智慧合約將如何徹底改變保險產業。主辦單位邀請了幾位有驚人履歷的保險專家與會：以太坊技術的英國保險公司 Nexus Mutual 創辦人Hugh Karp、來自泰國的年輕創業家Annabelle Kwok (她在 24 歲就已經創辦了兩間 AI 新創公司，後來更將其中一家公司賣給英國保誠人壽，並加入後者擔任區域 AI 主管)，還有平安集團的首席創新執行官 Jonathan Larsen。

從這兩場座談，可以看出 Web 3.0 會促成一個更有效率的市場，大舉免去資訊的不對稱。未來在談保費跟賠償時，客戶和保險公司將不再是棋盤兩邊的對手，任何一方都不能在系統耍詐。

一方面，保單將更客製化、更多可以降低各式風險的保險產品將紛紛出籠。另一方面，Web 3.0 和物聯網可以大幅度地藉由教育客戶做好風險趨避和更為自己的健康負責來降低營運成本。

除了最近特斯拉剛宣布要用客戶的駕駛行為分數來決定其保險費用，在未來，我們可能會看到更多的保險公司透過 IoV 車聯網紀錄你開車時的一舉一動，或是透過量子計算啟動智慧合約來改善令人詬病的保險索賠流程。當然，這些方案要成功上線的前提是客戶願意提供數據給保險公司。

另外，這也不是說我們可以忘了社會福利；當牽扯到保險時，我們必須時時提醒自己將 AI 倫理納入考量。你可以在我的另一篇文章 “AI in Banking: Which is Better? Result or Ethics Driven? ” (銀行裡的人工智慧：哪一個比較好？結果導向或倫理導向？) 看到對這個議題的討論。

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Web 3.0 在個人金融市場

新加坡金融管理局安排了兩場座談討論 Web 3.0 將如何改變個人金融市場。第一組上場的專家由金融科技公司對上傳統金融機構，邀請到的是金融科技代表—中國科技巨頭騰訊的金融科技業務負責人林海峰 (Forest Lin)，及老字號代表—HSBC 的財富管理及個人銀行負責人 Nuno Matos。

HSBC 的 CEO Matos 強調「信任」是傳統金融機構得以對抗市場新玩家的重要資產，而騰訊的林海峰先生則是重申金融科技公司的目標並不是取代既有業者，相反的，他們認可金融機構長久以來培養出的專業，發展重點其實擺在透過嵌入式金融方案 (embedded finance) 成為消費者和金融機構間的橋樑。當然隨著近期科技巨頭和金融科技獨角獸積極進入金融服務產業佈局來看，的確很難不把這兩者視為競爭者。

儘管如此，我個人認為至少在未來的 5~10 年，金融機構仍可以打出「絕對的信任」這張王牌保住客戶。加上如同我在另一篇 “What You Need to Know When Using AI and ML for Open Banking” (關於 AI 和 ML 在開放銀行的運用，你不可不知的二三事) 一文所分享的，即便目前客戶大多傾向享受開放金融帶來的便利，普羅大眾仍對分享自身數據有諸多懷疑。

然而，這樣的情況也可能突然急轉直下，尤其是挑戰者們可能運用各種 Defi 去中心化金融方案取得客戶信任，這對出生於行動優先時代的 Z 世代客群可能特別有用。

在下一場座談中，Mastercard 的資深副總裁 Sandeep Malhotra 採訪了日本線上證券交易公司Monex Group 的負責人 Oki Matsumoto，和 UOB 的集團個人金融服務負責人 Jacquelyn Tan。過程中兩位講者探討了 Web 3.0 對金融生態圈的影響。UOB 的Jacquelyn 提到了幾個名詞，如全通路銀行業務 (omnichannel banking) 及平台經濟 (platform economy)。

這或許不是新觀念，但我相信若要充分發揮 Web 3.0 在個人金融業務的潛力，金融業者應該全力打造一條順暢的客戶旅程 ，並在接觸外部策略夥伴前打通所有業務和營運流程中的接觸點。

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Web 3.0 在其他領域

不可計數的 Web 3.0 運用正在全力進入金融服務產業，並且滲透到各個部門。

你可能聽過提供中小企業的嵌入式金融方案、用於跨境交易的次世代支付、為了第26屆聯合國氣候變化大會 (COP26) 目標蓬勃發展中的永續金融，或各國央行為表達對數位化支持積極研究中的 CBDC (中央銀行數位貨幣)。

在中小企業金融層面，經濟合作暨發展組織 (OECD) 秘書長 Mathias Cormann 在大會中分享了替代性金融 (alternative finance) 的相關數據，顯示替代性融資即使在疫情期間仍有爆發性發展：全球市場不含中國的企業替代性金融總值在 2020 年達到年增長 51% 和破紀錄的 530 億美元成績。

有趣的是，從 2021 年 6 月 Cambridge Centre For Alternative Finance 發表的原始數據文件中，我們可以看到中國的替代性金融份額在 2017 年後急速下降，和中國政府大力緊縮 P2P 借貸平台的相關政策之趨勢吻合。

從報表中也可以發現其他的市場急起直追，推測應與中小企業可以從替代性金融工具取得較低融資成本有關。

從較高的層面來看，SFF 大會在第一天有一場 CBDC 的座談，與會者是肯亞央行行長 Patrick Njoroge 博士，以及柬埔寨中央銀行助理行長兼總幹事 H.E. Serey Chea 女士，他們討論了 CBDC 的角色定位、可能帶來的問題和展望。

目前，全世界共有 87 個國家在研究 CBDC，我認為與其為了和各國競爭忙著尋找祕密武器，政府的當務之急應是自問他們究竟想透過 DLT 分散式帳本達成什麼目的。

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寫在最後

那麼，讀到這裡你現在對 Web 3.0 有什麼想法呢？ 你覺得金融機構應該全盤接受它才不會敗給崛起中的金融科技新創嗎？

不論你的答案是什麼，讓我先分享一段 Mastercard CEOMichael Miebach 在最後一段影片中的發言。

It’s never about the technology, but the bigger problem we are trying to solve.

(這從來就無關科技，而是我們到底想要解決什麼更大的問題。)

Michael Miebach, Singapore FinTech Festival, Nov 2021

我來總結一下參加第一天新加坡金融科技節 Web 3.0 課程的啟發吧。

第一、確認你的最終目標。

問你自己：你想要透過引進 Web 3.0 為你的公司得到什麼呢？是為了改善現有產品、做出個人化定價，亦或為了你所在的社區擴展普惠金融？

確認你的目的地，然後再找到正確的工具來清出一條路。

第二、擴大你的市場。

在 Web 3.0 的世界，數位身份是絕對必要的。全世界的無帳戶者占總人口數的 1/4，若我們能打造一個強而有力的金融基礎建設，透過給過去未接觸金融產品的人數位通路權限把他們全部納進來，那麼，你將奠定一個無限大的市場基礎。

當然過程中你可能會需要監管機關的協助，可以參考我之前發布的文章 “What Are 3 Traits Important for the Success of a Fintech Hub and Job Seekers” (三個讓「金融科技中心」在這場各國軍備賽中脫穎而出的特點和他們對求職者的重要性) 並審慎選擇適合你的戰場。

最後、確保所有人都能盈利。

當談到賦權，所有在分散式帳本上的人都可以帶動網絡的發展，因此與其思考如何消滅競爭者，倒不如鼓勵合作。

具體作法可以是打造一個開放且透明的生態圈 (如 DAO)，邀請人們進入你的圈子，提供有形或無形的回饋 (如空投或白名單的權利) 來促進發展，然後就可以靜待其成長茁壯。透過通力合作，你會得到一個持續且營利的網絡。

從John Markoff 發表那篇 Web 3.0 的文章已經 15 年過去了，它的定義還是常常在改變，但涵蓋範圍卻越來越廣了。即使是現在，在 SFF 大會上我們仍需要Balaji Srinivasan 這樣的大頭來解釋它到底是什麼。

Web 3.0 在金融服務產業的角色還是一個進行式，而它的潛力是絕對超乎想像的。那麼，你準備好要搭上這班轉型的列車嗎？

你有從我的文章得到什麼啟發嗎？歡迎在下方留言或透過 email 跟我分享。

若想收到 Second Star To The Right 的最新文章， 歡迎訂閱我的電子報；你也可以在這裡閱讀我的其他產業分享。

最後，如果覺得我的文章對你有幫助，歡迎透過以下綠界或讚賞公民 Liker 的連結支持我後續的寫作計畫，也讓這個網站能以無廣告的方式走得更遠，謝謝。

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