Metaverse financial services: the search continues

In the so-called Web 2.0, which is to say the Internet, financial services and banks have used these technologies primarily for training employees, to create spaces for the interaction of customers or for employees, “online banking” offers, as well as virtual investment. advice service. These offers and services are now quite mature and are offered by all companies. But, really, it doesn’t change the basics of theirs business model, which remains similar to that in the physical world. Looks like agency but online. It’s like a training class, but online, in front of your computer.

But everything can be different in Metaverse, which offers more insights, and can irritate models more deeply.

We can now observe the initiatives of the pioneers, reported in particular in this recent report (June 2022) by McKinsey which analyzes the current and potential impacts of the Metaverse by the activity sector.

By 2022, initiatives have multiplied, and will inspire others. It has to do with communities and metaverse payments.

In March 2022, HSBC bank announced a partnership with The Sandbox, to purchase a virtual farm there intended to create a community with e-sports fans.

The Marketing Director of HSBC Asia-Pacific stated on this occasion:

“The metaverse is the way people experience Web3, the next generation of the Internet, using immersive technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality and extended reality. At HSBC, we see great potential in creating new experiences through emerging platforms, opening up a world of opportunity for our current and future customers and the communities we serve. Through our partnership with The Sandbox, we foray into the metaverse, allowing us to create new brand experiences for our current and future customers. We are excited to work with our sports partners, brand ambassadors and The Sandbox to co-create experiences that are educational, inclusive and easily accessible.

London-based FinTech Sokin announced in February 2022 that it will launch its own metaverse community, designed to process entire e-commerce transactions. The metaverse world of Sokin will host a 3D community of brands and retailers – from sports to fashion and beyond – and allow consumers to meet, communicate, transact, invest and shop in a global ecosystem and virtual economy. Consumers shop through the mobile app peer to peer accessible from Sokin within the metaverse.

The metaverse world of Sokin will thus host a variety of brands and companies that visitors can access (each room is dedicated to a brand, which visitors can access for their purchases), for example a football club, a hobby or a fashion brand.

Neobank Zelf, which wants to be a Metaverse bank, has launched a banking service for the metaverse, the MetaPassaccessed via Discord messaging, for gamers (Note the beautiful design of the site!), Which allows in particular to buy and exchange NFTs like buying bread in a bakery (but the gamers do they still go to bakeries?).

TerraZero bank specializes in Metaverse mortgage loans, perfect for buying land there or building investment projects there.

For financial services, an extension of customer categories is planned, which is no longer limited to gamers or in interactions with special communities such as sports fans. The services offered will also expand.

McKinsey’s report quotes in particular:

• Marketing: financial institutions are ready to set up branches digital in Metaverse, to establish their brand there and establish their credibility, allowing the customer to have interactions with his bank in a hybrid way, in the physical or digital world and in the Metaverse world;
• Infrastructure: this is equivalent to digital identity services, digital payments, holding NFTs, cryptocurrencies or other digital assets;
• New products and services related to Metaverse: cyber insurance for example.

But the more tools and customers develop, the more new services will be found, which equates to more opportunities for financial services:

• Services for owners of purses in the metaverse, as in multi-cash management,
• Loans and project funding arrangements for the metaverse,
• Consumer credit services,
• Loyalty programs, deferred fees,
• Financialization of all, as more and more digital assets are created and used in a metaverse context, such as being used as collateral for loans.

Of course, the rise of these services will depend on the rise of goods and the adoption of the metaverse by consumers of all classes. And banks and financial services may decide not to take much interest in it right now. But when the time comes, they also need to be equipped with the talents and skills needed to thrive there and get an interesting place. It’s worth expecting a bit from the Human Resources departments.

For here again, what hinders it is not the technology, but man’s capacity to adapt to it.

Enough to encourage the birth of new start-ups and unicorns in the financial services market.

The search is in the metaverse.

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