Nina Stoyanova: Adaptation and management of digital portfolios, digital banking services and client contacts in a pandemic crisis Speech by Ms Nina Stoyanova, Deputy Governor and Head of the Banking Department of the Bulgarian National Bank, at the opening of the videoconference "Adaptation and Management of Digital Portfolios, Digital Banking Services and Client Contacts in a Pandemic Crisis", organized by the Banker newspaper, 17 November 2020. * * * I would like to welcome you to the video conference on “Adaptation and management of digital portfolios, digital banking services and customer contacts in a pandemic crisis", organized by the Banker newspaper. In its “Strategy for the Digitalisation of EU Financial Services", the European Commission states that the future of finance is digital. However, we can safely say that not only the future but also the present of finance is inextricably linked to digitalisation. This was clearly seen in the unprecedented situation caused by the coronavirus, in which it was through digital technologies that the continuity of the provision of financial services to consumers and businesses was ensured. The pandemic is about to permanently change our way of life, accelerating the processes of digitalization in all spheres of life – work, entertainment, shopping, administrative services.
We are witnessing the emergence of new business models, services and solutions that create value, save time and effort, but at the same time are accompanied by new risks and challenges – both technological, This trend in the development of the financial sector is particularly visible in the dynamic and customer-oriented area of payments. Undoubtedly, the catalyst for these processes is the European legislation in this area, namely the Second Payment Services Directive, known as PSD2. As the main innovations in it we can highlight two aspects – opening access to payment accounts (the so-called “open banking”) and increasing the requirements for the security of electronic payments. These were the areas in which in 2020 the efforts and attention of both the business and the regulator continued to be focused. As part of the first aspect, the directive introduced two new types of payment services provided entirely on the Internet – payment initiation and account information services, and regulated the activities of providers offering them. The provision of new services requires interaction between payment service providers who maintain customer accounts (most often banks) and the respective providers that offer new services. Most payment service providers holding accounts in our market have chosen to achieve this interaction by creating special interfaces for automated access to their managed payment accounts (so-called application programming interface – API). Despite the created interfaces, the offer of the new services in Bulgaria, as well as in a number of other countries of the European Union, is still limited.