The constant developments in the technological world, the improvements in connectivity and the numerous access barriers that are being broken every day to reach the digital market; They are part of a panorama that increasingly challenges the financial system, from which, although important progress has been achieved in recent years, They also still have great pending issues in the matter.
Gone are the cumbersome checkbooks, the tedious lines or having to go to the bank every time a transaction needs to be made. However, there is still no complete interconnectivity between financial entities, security continues to be a constantly evolving front and cash remains king in many countries.
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In the case of Colombia, a recent report by Cobis Topaz, an expert firm in financial evolution, maintains that the market’s next objective will be to reach a state of Open Baking or open banking, in which users can freely move their money from one place to another. account to another, without having to fall into cumbersome procedures, and from where tax authorities can better monitor money movements.
In this sense, Tamara Sánchez, legal analyst of this company, detailed five pending tasks or challenges to reach the ideal scenario in the Colombian case, taking into account that there are several challenges associated with data privacy, which will be vital for the openness of data and interoperability between institutions, be a success.
Open banking.
Clear rules
One of the first aspects to work quickly for these analysts is regulations at the national and international level, a point in which they stated that Colombia has made good progress, even better than countries like Chile or Ecuador. They barely have a data protection law that has existed here since 2012.
“The concept of open banking is evolving globally, encouraging customers to share their financial data with authorized third parties, such as Fintech and financial institutions, in order to improve the services and products offered. However, banks that operate in various parts of the world face an important challenge: understanding and complying with the different legislation regarding data protection that governs each region,” he said.
That said, he indicated that local regulations should be reviewed depending on the type of data that will be shared, as well as taking into account strong international regulations, such as the European Union’s Data Protection, and analyzing how these influence local regulations, making it clear that some nations will be stricter than others.
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On the other hand, the second challenge has to do with the internal rules of each bank, since in some cases there are different processes in the management and security of information, which will lead institutions to agree on how they will manage these differences and reach operational consensus.
“This includes, for example, that suppliers understand the importance of guaranteeing privacy, and know what they are doing to comply with the laws, and that, internally, collaborators are trained and periodically updated on these issues, and understand the importance of information security and are committed to it,” he explained.
open banking
The Time
Education and internships
The education and behavior of users regarding the management of the different financial tools that exist in the digital world is another front that requires special attention during the next year. This is why they warned that progress must be made more quickly in raising customer awareness about the care of their information.
“The goal there is to educate them about the importance of sharing their data to improve the experience, services and benefits, but also that they understand who they deliver them to and what their rights are as owners, and how to apply them when misuse occurs,” said Tamara Sánchez.
These experts were emphatic that as people better understand how to manage their personal data, thanks to the awareness raised by banks, they will gain greater trust in these entities and this trust, in turn, will translate into greater profitability for the banks. banks.
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“It is very important that banks guarantee, through internal regulations and standards, the protection of the data of their related parties. This implies carrying out periodic training, adapted to the specific needs of each internal work area, since the implications in data management They are different in a purchasing department compared to a marketing department,” he stated.
Taking this into account, the fourth challenge arises: promoting ethical practices. Here they state that this responsibility must be extended to suppliers, who must also comply with the obligations related to the protection of personal data when they act as processors or co-responsible in its processing.
“In our consultancies, we have observed that it is essential to have with a data protection officer at each financial institution. This professional is responsible for carrying out meticulous monitoring to guarantee better control of the data, not only of clients, but also of collaborators and suppliers,” Tamara emphasizes.
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Fifthly, but no less important, Cobis Topaz put on the table the influence that artificial intelligence is having on the financial system, highlighting that although it is helping to make everything easier for users, it also poses challenges in security matter that must be addressed soon.
“By 2025, in the field of privacy and data governance, greater implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in automation processes is expected, which will facilitate the efficient protection of personal data and the detection of fraud. And with stricter regulations globally, it will be crucial to carry out awareness programs and training to minimize the risks associated with human management of information,” they concluded.
