How IoT Will Enhance Banking

We’ve covered before how the blockchain can revolutionize finances, but how can IoT help banking in general? What are some IoT innovations that you’re likely to physically see when you want to manage your finances?

Let’s take a peek at how IoT can adapt to banking and finance.

1. Home Assistants Become Personal Bankers

Internet and phone banking is a very convenient way to manage your finances, and IoT has taken it a step further. Now, some banks offer a personal assistant service so you can perform banking on them.

For example, if you have a Capital One account and an Amazon Echo, you can combine the two and view your details through your Echo. The number of commands at your disposal is surprising, from paying off credit card bills to checking loan payments.

2. Better Identification of User Needs

One strong point of IoT is how it can churn through a lot of data quickly and efficiently. It’s proposed that banks can use this power to analyze how people use their banks, then use this technology to improve their services.

For one, ATMs are a key area for analysis. These can inform the bank not only how much is being taken out, but which spots see more transactions than others. This allows the bank to better identify where the hotspots are and move their ATMs to an advantageous spot.

3. Your Body Becomes Your Credit Card

Biometrics are a convenient way to authorize yourself. You may already be using it; some banking apps allow you to use your phone’s fingerprint reader to log in. By using the unique data on your body to authorize payments, it reduces the chance of fraud.

In the future, we may even use RFID chips embedded in our skin to make payments. The public’s current reception to this technology, however, isn’t very positive: only 1 in 10 Londoners said they’d get a chip to speed up payments.

4. Managing Your Spending Gets Easier

It’s easy to get lost in a shopping spree and forget how much you’re spending. By connecting your bank account to your phone, wearables, and home assistants, you can get real-time updates on how your balance is faring. This allows you to cut off your big spender moment before you make a sizable dent in your bank account.

In fact, one of the very first proposed banking IoT devices stopped you from overspending. Back in 2016, there were reports on a wearable that shocked you every time you spent too much money.

Banking on IoT

IoT in banking is exciting, but it’s much more than blockchains and cryptocurrencies. There are ways that IoT can enhance our regular transactions too, from learning about our spending habits to paying off debts using an Amazon Alexa.

Would you trust an Amazon Echo with your banking details? Let us know below.