10.09.2021

  Banking vs Tech companies

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast:Banking vs tech companies

I found an interesting article in an Australian newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald.

The article reported a war between the biggest bank in Australia and tech company Apple. The Commonwealth Bank complained about a potential threat of Apple Pay, which is a contactless payment method through iPhones, and 80% of contactless payment was made by this. Their main concern was that the payment includes hidden costs to banks, although Apple is not registered as banking service, and they are not involved in building the payment system infrastructure. The bank fears that Apple will dominate contactless payments in the near future. In addition to this, Google also own a digital wallet which does not charge a fee, but it does use consumer data.

Smartphones have played big roles in our lives in these 10 years and I can say without my smartphone my life would be harder than now. For example, when I went to a concert, I used the phone for everything. Firstly, I bought the tickets online through the phone and I showed a barcode at the counter.Then, the staff asked me for my ID, so I showed my driver's licence on my phone. Finally, I made a payment by my phone, and I realised that everything was on my phone. This is a little bit scary because the system of my phone is too complicated to understand for me and I cannot control my phone.

From my point of view, banks still hold too much power for controlling their benefits in politic and economic fields, so it may be a favourable trend for the new companies to go into the banking service to benefit consumers.

On the other hand, it is true that the big techs may have too much power and dominate    everywhere. I think the scariest thing in the article is that Google's digital wallet uses consumer data. I never know what and how my information is used for. 

Sometime one of big tech companies, Amazon, suggests me products on their website which I do not think I have that kind of preference for, but actually I really want. Artificial intelligence knows about me much better than me because they have my most of information through things like contactless payment, I guess.

English is my second language, so you may find incorrect sentences.

It would be great help if you leave a comment for me. 

Thank you for reading!

Listen to the most recent episode of my podcast:Banking vs tech companies