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Digital transformation is rocking the financial services industry.Digital-only banks are redefining retail banking, open banking is pushing fintechs and legacy players to tap into customer data for more personalized services, and online transactions are swelling from widespread digitization. And these trends will continue at breakneck pace as more financial institutions up their digital capabilities and digital-only upstarts gain a greater foothold in the marketplace.Business Insider Intelligence Head of Content Shelagh Dolan recently spoke with Daniel Van Dyke, Director of Research, Financial Services, at Business Insider Intelligence, where he leads Business Insider Intelligence’s Payments, Fintech, and E-Commerce coverage areas. Van Dyke’s team delivers actionable insights on advancements in how value is stored, managed, transferred, and spent, to an audience of top banks, retailers, and payment companies.

The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

SHELAGH DOLAN: Tell us a little about your role on the team day-to-day.

DANIEL VAN DYKE: In a nutshell, my job is to make sure we’re producing research that financial services clients need to stay ahead of digital transformation. I work with seven talented analysts across our UK- and US-based Fintech, Payments, and E-Commerce teams to ensure our research is relevant, accurate, timely, and well communicated. On a typical day, I’m guiding or editing our longer-form content like the Future of Fintech, Payments Ecosystem, and Online Grocery. I’m hands-on, so that takes most of my time. But I also write some of our exclusive enterprise reports for corporate subscribers, like the Mobile Banking Competitive Edge, and occasionally get the word out by holding webinars or speaking at conferences, such as Money 20/20.

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SD: What are some of the emerging markets you’re watching for finacial services innovation?

DVD: Recently, I’ve been most interested in Brazil, China, Kenya, and India. And not coincidentally, these were featured in a recent report of ours which highlighted key global regions for payments. Each region is interesting for different reasons; Brazil has a robust and growing card market, China is the global leader in mobile wallets, Kenya is the birthplace of mobile money, and India is experiencing a rapid government-prompted pivot from cash.

SD: What are some of the most mature markets for financial services innovation — in other words, which markets could be models for those that are up-and-coming?

DVD: On the developed side of things, other than the obvious (US), I’d highlight Australia, Sweden, and the UK. Australia is a market where government initiatives and regulations are driving payments change, Sweden is a great example of a post-cash society, and the UK is leading the way with contactless card adoption. These were also the subject of a Global Payments Landscape report on developed regions.

SD: What are some new fast-growing payment types to watch?

DVD: IoT payments are about to have a moment. And by “IoT payments” I mean retail, person-to-person, or bill payments through connected televisions, connected cars, wearables, and smart speakers. In total in the US, we project volume through those categories to more than triple from $20 billion in 2018 to $62 billion by 2023, on the back of rising consumer usage of those devices as well as growing consumer familiarity with voice commerce. We’ve written about a lot of these types of digital payments and how they’ll evolve over the next five years in our Payments Forecast Book.

SD: Are there any payment types we’ll soon be seeing a lot less of?

DVD: Checks, although New York landlords seem to have missed the memo. And cash, although regulation and holdouts (looking at you, bodega operators) will make it a slower death. We also predict slower forms of ACH to drop off as faster payments take their place. Our Payments Ecosystem Report sums up our high-level view of payment types across the industry in more depth.

SD: What’s the most interesting digital feature you’ve come across?

DVD: On the banking side of things, I’d point to account aggregation, which is the ability to view multiple accounts, credit cards, and other financial accounts in one portal. It’s been around for a long time, but it’s catching on now thanks to strong customer demand, increasingly powerful budgeting use cases, and international open banking regulations. I profiled this feature and 32 others in a report last year which stacked up the top 20 US banks according to whether or not they support the mobile banking features which customers say they demand most.

SD: What are some of the most popular digital features with consumers? What are the must-haves?

DVD: People love security features. Of the 30-odd features I mentioned, the three that came out on top in our survey are the ability to turn a card on or off temporarily, the ability to tell your bank that you’re travelling in mobile banking, and the ability to file a card transaction dispute. 2018 was a massive year for data breaches, and that could be part of what’s behind the high demand for safety-related capabilities.

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