The banking and financial services (BFS) industry is driving today’s rapidly evolving digital technologies. Not only have we seen the pandemic accelerating the adoption of digital payments and wallets, contactless banking, and other credit schemes, such as “buy now, pay later” solutions, but the impact can be perceived across the board. Consumers are each time more focused on frictionless spending journeys, while Fintechs and startups are enabling the next-gen marketplaces: more efficient, automated, and with reduced costs.

While we navigate through this new landscape, disruptive technologies are here to stay and have pushed traditional institutions into mandatory innovation. The growth of cryptocurrencies, digital asset wallets, fiat and asset-backed stablecoins, as well as NFTs, has generated significant market interest in recent years. CNBC reported that the current cryptocurrency market value is roughly 1 trillion as measured by total market capitalization. 

Despite the recent crypto winter and setbacks, the reality is the paradigm has already shifted, with banks and asset managers slowly embracing cryptocurrency while continuing to adopt tools to embed capabilities and make them accessible for their customers via existing digital and mobile applications. Furthermore, the prospects of an interoperable and virtual environment as presented by the metaverse is attracting the new generation of consumers: digitally savvy, empowered, and expect to have their needs met as they work, play, share, or buy across virtual and real-life spaces. This interoperable future for consumers will challenge traditional financial institutional relationships with consumers and applications as authentication will be come more decentralized and portable. Transaction history and behavior will be documented on chains and customers will enable access to brands via their own custodial and non-custodial wallets.

Tapping into the Metaverse’s Potential

With virtual spaces gradually expanding into a commercial marketplace, organizations are carefully starting to jump into the metaverse to connect better with consumers. Nowadays, it’s already happening – recently, the first payment card and loyalty program built for the metaverse has been launched by global blockchain and fintech solutions company Liquid Avatar Technologies. Its LQID card is a physical prepaid debit card that can be used offline and online, and also allows the holder to earn points by participating in virtual experiences. According to Liquid Avatar Technologies Chief Revenue Officer Michael Konikoff, the LQID card is also the first-ever payment card for the metaverse. Being the first of its kind to implement a loyalty program in a virtual environment, users of the LQID card can explore immersive virtual land and NFT opportunities at Afterlife Islands while earning loyalty points that can be redeemed for Aftermath Islands virtual gift cards that can be used to purchase virtual land in the metaverse.

The launch of the first-ever payment card and loyalty scheme in the metaverse only marks the beginning, as digital assets and the ongoing rise of the metaverse continue to spark interest among consumers, brands, and creators. As the cryptocurrency, digital asset market, and the metaverse accelerate, financial institutions are presented with the opportunity to unlock the future of customer engagement through new channels and experiences. The first step in sight would be to reshape their business strategies to make way for the future of transactions and customer service, and to acknowledge that the metaverse has the potential to become a new channel of choice and an important customer touchpoint. Customers will also begin to craft their own identify verification via non-custodial wallets. They will be able to link their wallet, verification, and history from application to application as they see fit, enabling access, offers, and experiences just by their wallet access.

As a company that has been at the forefront of innovation, Teleperformance can provide strategic support to forward-thinking financial institutions that are ready to dive into the metaverse. In a rapidly changing financial services environment, count on us to accelerate end-to-end solutions your customers need and expect.

With the metaverse on the verge of expanding into a huge commercial marketplace, our proven BFS strategy and fintech end-to-end solutions create highly secure, frictionless experiences that drive customer loyalty across traditional, virtual, and digital channels:

• Payments
  Elevated fintech services to boost and simplify payments processing, B2B onboarding, payment investigations, cash management services, regulatory reporting, chargeback, disputes, and issuer/processor management
• Customer support
  World-class CX throughout the customer journey across different channels, providing support in B2C customer service, frauds and alert management, dispute resolution, complaints management, collections, customer helpdesk and admin, and general inquiries through voice and chat
• Finance and accounting
  Fintech services across procure to pay, order to cash, record to report, collections, and payroll processes
• Enhanced services for today’s emerging markets
  NFT marketplaces, wallets and payments, cryptocurrency, blockchain applications, social, gaming and the connective bridge between traditional and decentralized financial institutions as well as community services and content moderation.
• One Office Support across the ecosystem

Learn more about how we can help you redefine a BFS strategy that embraces the potential of the metaverse. Contact us today to learn more about out banking customer service!