GITEX Global 2024, the world’s biggest tech event, wrapped up after bringing together more than 6,500 exhibitors, 1,800 startups and representatives from over 180 countries. Dubai was buzzing with talk of AI… AI and…even more AI, alongside key themes such as investment, cybersecurity, data centres and futuristic tech.
Spanning over 1,400 square metres, Huawei’s exhibition space was impossible to miss. The company wasn’t just there to show off tech either – it hosted major summits, breakout sessions and talks, and launched a number of products and joint solutions for the global enterprise market.
We thought it only right to pop by to see how a company better known for its ICT infrastructure and smart devices is diving into the world of digital finance and fintech solutions, and what it sees as the industry’s key trends.
Cloud is transforming banks’ operations
Cloud-native technologies are at the heart of digital transformation for banks, according to Huawei, with the company supporting many banks in the move from their legacy centralised architecture towards cloud-native distributed architecture.
Alvin Feng, director of global marketing and solution sales at Huawei, explained how the cloud is changing the way banks operate with insights from China’s banking sector, where leading financial institutions have shifted the majority of their services to the cloud.
“China Merchant Bank has become a software-defined bank with no legacy technology anymore, and one of the biggest Chinese banks has migrated over 90 per cent of its services to the cloud, enabling faster innovation and greater scalability,” said Feng.
This shift is especially critical for global banks that are looking to move away from costly, outdated infrastructure and toward a more agile, scalable future.
AI is boosting risk management and personalisation
During Huawei’s Finance Forum at GITEX, Dr. Jassim Haji, an international expert, strategist and researcher in AI and digital transformation, delved into how AI is enabling real-time risk assessment and fraud detection, reducing the manual processes that typically slow banks down.
“With AI, banks can monitor transactions and flag suspicious activities almost instantly,” said Haji. “AI will take up predictions on the risks, opportunities across the board, drastically improving fraud detection and risk management.”
From improving risk management to delivering customised solutions, AI’s ability to process large volumes of data in real-time is setting new standards for how banks serve and protect their customers.
Dr. Haji also praised Huawei for its commitment to “building resilient, secure and efficient financial ecosystems” for creating smarter, more inclusive services for the AI era.
Huawei’s AI data lake solution, part of its storage products, helps financial institutions turn vast amounts of data into valuable insights. The company also highlighted its all-scenario data protection solution, which boosts data resilience and ensures that banks can protect sensitive assets while scaling AI capabilities.
Resilience is crucial in today’s banking world
As banking operations become more demanding, building resilient systems has never been more crucial. Abdullah Bashmail, infrastructure director at Saudi Arabia’s Alinma Bank, explained how his company is leaning into automation and digital transformation to stay ahead.
“We’ve moved towards digital to reduce the need for branch visits,” Bashmail said. “With 99 per cent of transactions now digital, we’ve automated everything from account openings to loan applications.
“We hold weekly meetings to fine-tune our systems based on real customer feedback. The higher the satisfaction, the stronger we become.”
During GITEX GLOBAL 2024, Huawei signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Alinma Bank to take things further. This partnership aims to accelerate digital transformation at the bank, which has already been working closely with Huawei for several years.
Collaboration is key to success
A recurring theme at Huawei’s sessions was the importance of collaboration in driving digital finance transformation.
Niall Meany, strategic sales director at Temenos, touched on the collaboration between the banking software company and Huawei in supporting banks’ digital transformations, especially in terms of cloud and core banking infrastructure.
“For us, the challenge is how do you deliver business outcomes for banks and for their customers? We can’t do it on our own. It’s within this ecosystem of partnership,” he said.
Meany pointed to the strengths of both companies in addressing banking’s growing complexity: “Temenos has always been focused on banking, and by working with Huawei, we can bring together cloud infrastructure and core banking systems on a single platform to help banks manage resilience, agility, and the fast pace of change.”
Cybersecurity is a top priority for banks
The importance of cybersecurity and the rising threat of ransomware and cyberattacks, also came under the spotlight with Huawei showcasing its security solutions.
With financial data being a prime target for hackers, Huawei’s approach to cybersecurity centres around advanced protection and quick recovery systems.
“We provide the industry’s only anti-ransomware solution with six layers of protection,” said Feng. “We want to build three lines of defence… If production data was attacked, the service could be quickly recovered.”
As financial data remains a primary target for hackers, Huawei showcased its Zero Trust architecture, enabling banks to protect their most sensitive data while maintaining the flexibility and scalability essential for digital transformation.
In addition to ransomware protection, Huawei’s active-active data storage solutions are built to enhance resilience. In the event of a cyberattack, data recovery systems can also activate quickly, restoring normal operations with minimal downtime.
Alvin Feng, director of global marketing and solution sales at Huawei
Customer experience is driving banking innovation
Customers expect seamless, digital-first experiences, which means banks must be agile in adopting new technologies to meet these growing expectations, says Huawei.
“The customer experience is the main driver pushing the industry forward,” said Jason Cao, CEO of Huawei Digital Finance BU. “They are the driver to technology, to push the industry forward.”
It’s not just younger generations demanding these digital services either – everyone, regardless of age, now expects banks to offer fast, convenient and secure transactions.
This shift has forced banks to rethink their approach, ensuring that digital solutions are not only innovative but also meet the needs of an increasingly tech-savvy customer base.
“Even my parents’ generation, they’ve been educated by the internet, by fintech. They expect all financial organisations to provide the same level of services,” Cao also added.
The challenge for traditional banks lies in balancing these new demands with legacy systems.
As Cao put it: “On one hand, banks have to embrace new technology, but on the other hand, they have a huge legacy system.”
To address these needs, Huawei promotes a framework centred around ‘4 Zeros’ – Zero Downtime, Zero Wait, Zero Touch as well as Zero Trust. This framework aims to enhance customer interactions by ensuring continuous availability, minimising delays, automating processes and securing sensitive data.
The post 6 Things We Learned at GITEX Global 2024 About Huawei’s Approach to Digital Finance appeared first on The Fintech Times.
