The conference began with a series of cutting-edge tech demonstrations, keynote talks, and fireside chats covering important subjects like next-generation fraud strategies, financial services applications of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), and the possible effects of geopolitical developments on the outlook for the world economy.

The prevention of fraud in the future

"I can become you for $70."

During his keynote address on the next generation of fraud techniques, Bryan Lewis, president and CEO of Intellicheck, an identity validation platform with its headquarters located in New York, laid out the harsh truth.

The ability of financial criminals to acquire and sell customers' payment and identification information, together with their login credentials, is growing.

The practice of "treating your customers like criminals," which involves requiring customers to go through multiple authentication steps, and the reliance on knowledge-based authentication, which essentially confirms data that fraudsters may already possess, are two major ineffective fraud strategies that players in the industry are currently using, according to Lewis.

He states, "You have to do more than just confirm data."

Lewis proposes that an effective strategy to prevent fraudsters is to use authoritative data sources that include hidden encoded security measures to validate the ownership of given papers.

The majority of people are unaware that there are 250 distinct license versions available in North America. They all have unique secret encoded security mechanisms, such as digital signatures and unlockable subdirectories, in addition to unique barcodes on the rear. The adversaries are unaware of that.

Lewis also contends that establishing "data consortiums" among major financial institutions and utilizing proxy detection—which entails analyzing the IP addresses and geolocation of questionable activity—are efficient next-generation fraud prevention techniques.

Lewis concludes by making the case for behavioral analytics as a means of apprehending financial offenders.

"We will type our social security number rapidly if we are typing it. It will follow a completely different pattern if I am reading it off of something and I don't know the number.

He claims that there are more advantages to using efficient fraud prevention techniques than merely "stopping the bad guys." Lewis believes that fintechs have the potential to improve client loyalty, decrease onboarding abandonment, and raise conversion rates when used properly.

The geopolitical environment

In just fifteen minutes, Manas Chawla, CEO of London Politica, had the difficult challenge of summarizing the major geopolitical developments that might influence the picture for the world economy in 2024.

In order to predict the course of the world economy, Chawla has identified four major geopolitical occurrences that he feels would have the most impact.

He claims that regardless of the outcome of the next US presidential election, the world economy is certain to become unstable.

Chawla asserts that the highly politicized character of US politics means that the loser will not accept the outcome. This has the ability to "permanently tarnish American institutions" and "could very well lead the world into geopolitical and economic recession," among other negative effects.

Furthermore, there are no indications that the war in Ukraine will end soon; it is turning into an attrition war, and the detrimental effects on the global economy are still being felt.

Chawla does, however, provide some hopeful examples of "real sources of optimism," such the strengthening of the US-China relationship and the expansion of developing markets, particularly India.

Is generative AI a thing yet?

A discussion about GenAI and its applications in financial services capped up the day.

During the discussion, the panel of experts covered applications for generative AI programs like ChatGPT, which prioritize income generating in addition to efficiency.

The idea that AI could be used to "underwrite the risk of a particular transaction," like purchasing a home, was advanced by partner Arvind Ayyala of the investment firm Geodesic Capital. This could help create new revenue streams by reaching a segment of the population that has previously been "circumvented."

A somber question on the biggest concern for the future of GenAI brought the debate to a close. The University of California affiliate professor Charles Elkan responded, saying, "The nightmare scenario is that artificial intelligence in general really does lead to the end of democracy and then ultimately leads to war."

There are a lot of exciting things planned for the conference, such as more panels, demos, and even a keynote speech on the "Gen Z worldview" and what banks and fintechs need to know about it.