[GBF] “The metaverse is the biggest challenge for the financial sector”

The integration of the world of finance and the virtual space of the metaverse is currently the biggest challenge for the global financial sector, among other tasks on the road to digital transformation, said Wednesday the chief digitization strategist of the Shinhan Financial Group.

“The biggest problem for the global financial industry is the metaverse,” Sunny Yi, chief digital officer of Shinhan Financial Group, told the Korea Herald’s Eurasian Economic and Cultural Forum.

“The industry faces unprecedented tasks, such as dealing with promising, cutting-edge companies without guarantees,” he added.

Traditional financial services revolved around lending backed by collateral, but new ventures such as online home rental platform operator Airbnb lack collateral in the sense of traditional finance, Yi said.

Human resources are also a key task, with the cost of hiring new programmers in line with current trends and updated skills increasing over time. Companies must also decide how to use the existing workforce for digital transformation.

For the Korean financial industry, the unique East Asian culture of using personal signature stamps to transfer ownership of assets is a must for businesses, translating it into a more digital-friendly tool.

“But ultimately, digital transformation is not just about the evolution of technology, but how leadership and business rewire their system,” Yi said.

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