Bank Accounts May Disappear in 5 Years - Bitcoin
Bank accounts, as we know them, may disappear in just five years. The forecast is for Marcus Schenck, one of the top executives of Deutsche Bank, one of Germany's most important financial institutions.
The statement was made during the Bloomberg's European Capital Markets Forum, according to a report by Business Insider. Schenck, who is co-head of the German bank's corporate and investment bank areas, said a recent trip to China had opened his eyes to the disruption that new technologies could provoke in retail banking.
Asked by a member of the audience how he and other panelists - Barclays CEO Jes Staley and Societe CEO Lorenzo Bini Smaghi - were preparing for the technological breakup, Schenck told a story about visiting a manufacture of computer chips.
"The previous week, I was in China and saw a company that is producing microchips that are used for mining Bitcoin or any kind of blockchain technology," he said. "There is a thesis that at some point in 5, 10, 15, 20 years, who knows, the bills will disappear and will be replaced," he said. The scenario, Schenck said, indicates that financial institutions need to monitor what is happening.
Digital storage without bank accounts
The executive's argument concerns the creation of individual portfolios for crypto-coins - in which people can store their money digitally but without the need for a third party as a bank.
"The technology is impacting the different businesses we are operating in," Schenck said, noting that retail banking "has a completely new normal evolution." In their assessment, "the vast majority of activities are moving towards more and more electronic interaction with customers."
In addition to changing the way banks themselves operate, technological advances in the financial sector are also changing the skills people need to have to work in the industry: "I do not think we are far from saying that anyone who wants to work in a bank is better speak English and be able to encode, "Schenck said. "Being able to code, I think, will be as relevant as being able to speak English."
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