◎ Reporter Chen Jiayi Intern Xu Xiaoxiao
With the 2023 annual reports of A-share listed banks coming out in succession, financial technology related investment has also surfaced.
Among the listed banks that have disclosed the investment data related to financial technology, 6 state-owned banks and 7 joint-stock banks will invest more than 177 billion yuan in financial technology in 2023, of which 10 banks will invest more in financial technology than in 2022. However, the growth rate of financial technology investment of listed banks has slowed down, entering a new stage of "accumulating momentum" and seeking benefits from digitalization.
Investment growth slowed down
In terms of classification, state-owned big banks have obvious advantages in the scale of science and technology investment. According to statistics, the financial technology investment (information technology investment) of six state-owned big banks in 2023 will be more than 10 billion yuan, totaling 122.822 billion yuan.
Compared with state-owned banks, joint-stock banks have less scientific and technological investment of more than 10 billion yuan, and the differentiation is also obvious. As of the press release, 7 listed joint-stock banks have disclosed relevant science and technology investment data. Among them, CITIC Bank In 2023, the investment in science and technology will exceed 10 billion yuan for the first time, reaching 12.153 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 38.9%; Minsheng Bank The year-on-year growth rate of FinTech investment was 27.19%, ranking top among peers in terms of growth rate; China Merchants Bank 、 Everbright Bank 、 Ping An Bank In 2023, financial technology investment will decline. However, China Merchants Bank still ranks first among joint-stock banks with an investment of 14.126 billion yuan.
Looking back at the data of the past three years, the financial technology investment of listed banks has generally said goodbye to high growth, and the growth rate has slowed down significantly. The data shows that from 2021 to 2023, the total investment in science and technology of six state-owned big banks will be 107.493 billion yuan, 116.549 billion yuan and 122.822 billion yuan, with year-on-year growth rates of 12.34%, 8.42% and 5.38% respectively.
Change of input center of gravity
How to view the slowdown of science and technology investment growth?
In the view of Zhang Chunxin, academic vice president of Oceanwide International Finance School of Fudan University, director of Financial Technology Research Center and professor of finance, the slowdown of the overall growth of the industry is the main reason for the decline of the growth rate of science and technology investment. "With the accumulation of scientific and technological investment, the bank is also screening and eliminating according to the advantages and disadvantages of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements".
Su Xiaorui, a senior researcher of Suxi Smart Research, said: First, some institutions actively adjust their investment based on current input and output considerations, and shift the focus of science and technology work to the integration of specific businesses and scenarios; Second, after the accumulation of some institutions in recent years, the technology architecture and application mode have been relatively perfect. Compared with the massive investment in the initial stage from 0 to 1, the investment in the subsequent maintenance stage will naturally decline, which is the law of the development of bank financial technology.
From the input field, we can also see the signs of the shift of focus - banks began to pay attention to new technologies such as big models. In 2023, many banks will test new technologies such as big models and generative artificial intelligence (AIGC). For example, ICBC's annual report shows that the bank will accelerate its operations in 2023 Digital person , large model and other new technology applications. Zhang Bin, chief information officer of Minsheng Bank, said at the performance meeting that the bank fully used new technologies to inject new momentum into digital finance. In addition to exploring the application of digital people, the Internet of Things and other technologies, it accelerated the construction and application of large models. At the end of last year, it realized the pilot application of knowledge Q&A, code assistance, customer service agents and other scenarios.
Step into the stage of seeking benefits from digitalization
Although it is impossible to quantify the input-output ratio, with years of "real gold and silver" continuous investment, the bank's technology and data base capabilities have been significantly enhanced. Fintech has entered a new stage of "building momentum" and seeking benefits from digitalization, accelerating its integration with retail, corporate credit, risk control and other business fields.
"In the early stage, we have done a lot of basic, pioneering and strategic work around digital transformation, and now we have reached a new stage of seeking benefits from digitalization." Industrial Bank Chairman Lv Jiajin said at the performance conference at the end of March.
The annual report of Industrial Bank disclosed that since the upgrading of mobile banking and "five online platforms" in 2022, the number of mobile banking monthly active users (MAU) increased by 44.11% to 22.5262 million; The financing balance of Industrial Pratt&Whitney online platform increased by 646.44% in recent two years to 69.195 billion yuan; The number of Xingye housekeeper customers increased by 43.56% to 1.1923 million in the past two years, and the monthly average MAUs of Xingye Life and the shopkeeper Qian increased by 43.54% and 220.09% respectively in the past two years; The scale of institutional investment of the Bank platform has increased by 619.71% in the past two years.
Last year, after the launch of ICBC's first big model based outlet employee intelligent assistant, the number of intelligent processing businesses in the operational field throughout the year was 320 million, an increase of 14% over 2022.
"The layout of FinTech is a long-term project, with a large amount of investment and a long duration, which requires long-term strategic planning and strong financial support." Zhang Chunxin said that FinTech investment often requires five years or more of precipitation to gradually see results.
However, the interviewee said that while vigorously applying financial technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency, we should pay attention to risk prevention.
Zhang Chunxin believed that while carrying out innovation, banks should evaluate and improve internally, make long-term planning and deployment, and do a good job of compliance in actual operation. At the same time, the relevant regulatory authorities should also play a corresponding role.
Su Xiaorui said that in the process of application of new technologies, the "black ash industry" around new technologies is also developing. For example, with the deepening of AIGC technology, the use of AI face changing and other means to carry out capital fraud has increased. Banking institutions must be highly vigilant. They can use technical means to intercept in advance or monitor in the event to weave a protective net for capital security and protect the legitimate rights and interests of financial consumers.
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