There are a number of advances in certain technologies that can be implemented within fintech to change the financial services industry. Artificial intelligence, being one of them, can be applied to financial institutions to help automate certain tasks. Once this technology is fully optimized for the business, it will be very beneficial in terms of the efficiency of the business operations. However, there is the downside with the jobs that it has the potential to offset. AI can also be used in financial advising for areas like investing and wealth management. Machine learning will be able to use algorithms and find patterns that can assist financial advisers to make decisions. There is a lot of data in the markets, and AI will be able to sort through it and analyze it more efficiently than humans. I feel that AI should only go as far as providing information to humans, who are ultimately the ones who make the decision.
Another piece of technology that will obviously continue develop and grow is mobile payments. One of the more recent advances is host card emulation, where payment information is stored and transmitted through the cloud. With these new types of payments, biometrics will eventually be used to identify who is making the transaction. Biometrics that can be used are fingerprints, facial recognition, and iris scanning.
Article: http://www.biztechmagazine.com/article/2017/01/what-s-ahead-fintech-2017
I think that all of these new FinTech innovations will be helpful for the greater public, but I do worry about the people who have traditionally held these jobs, since they would have to be retrained to stay relevant. Furthermore, I hope the industry as a whole keeps security at the forefront, as more complex digital processes can result in higher risk of data loss, theft, etc.