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You’ve probably at some point had to transfer money abroad, outside of the European Union. This was most likely a time-intensive process with uncertainty of when exactly your transfer would arrive, and linked to high fees. But have you ever wondered what actually happens in such a transaction? If you thought it was simply a transfer between one bank and another (e.g. as you’d do to transfer funds from Rabobank to ABN AMRO), you’re wrong. The image below showcases a simplification of what goes on behind the curtains.

When a customer initiates a payment transfer, the sender bank or money transfer operator first performs extensive Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) activities. These include the identification and verification of the customer’s details (e.g. identity, address, signature), determining whether the customer is a politically exposed person (PEP) or linked to one, whether he/she is associated with ultra high risk countries (UHRC), whether he/she acts on behalf of another person, monitoring the customer’s transactions for irregularities, and identifying and verifying the source of income, among others.

Subsequently, the bank processes the transaction through the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) network or through correspondent banking. The former is a secure messaging network used by over 11,000 financial institutions in more than 200 countries, which enables the sending and receiving of information about financial transactions (SWIFT, 2016). The latter refers to a bank with access to foreign exchange corridors and which facilitates transfers via nostro accounts (a bank’s own account denominated in a foreign currency at a foreign bank) and SWIFT. Then, once the beneficiary bank receives the transactional information, KYC and AML activities are again performed, after which the funds are transferred to the beneficiary. It should be noted that depending on the sender’s and the beneficiary’s bank, several additional banks may be intermediaries in the process, each of which has to perform the previously-mentioned activities. This can result in a highly inefficient process. For instance, depending on factors such as the bank, currency, destination country and time of initiation, a transfer can take up to several weeks. In addition, due to the number of parties involved, it can be unclear when the payment will reach the beneficiary and there is a high rejection rate (World Economic Forum, 2016).

The new technology we propose is blockchain technology. Blockchain applications make use of a distributed ledger which allows for real-time updates, and makes it possible to eliminate unnecessary third parties. For a detailed explanation on how blockchain exactly works, please check: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJW-DKPl92U

This is what it would look like

The benefits of using blockchain applications are:

• Since the profile of every individual is saved on the ledger, blockchain offers all participants streamlined KYC.
• Since blockchain provides real-time information, participants can perform instant AMl.
• Since blockchain allows real-time transactions, all cross-border transfers can be realized instantly.

 

Group 81

 

References

WIFT (2016) Discover SWIFT – Financial Messaging Services [online] Accessed at: https://www.swift.com/about-us/discover-swift/messaging-standards [Accessed 12 Oct. 2016]

World Economic Forum (2016) The Future of Financial Infrastructure [online] Accessed at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_future_of_financial_infrastructure.pdf

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Most millennials have grown up with animated movies such as the Lion King, Tarzan, and the Little Mermaid. In the past these movies and television shows, mostly targeted towards younger generations, were created by hand-drawing each individual frame. However with technological improvements an alternative has provided itself in the form of computer-generated imagery (CGI).

Back in 1937 Disney released Snow white and the seven dwarfs, which was their first feature-length animated film. Since then Disney has released many other immensely successful movies such as Beauty and the beast, Peter Pan, Pinocchio all using the same method of animation. This 2D animating was realized by hand-drawing each frame on an animation cell, which was then compiled into a film. Not only was this time consuming and costly, having to sometimes make revisions required having to completely redraw the parts in question, making iteration incredibly difficult. Precisely that last reason is why currently also Disney has shifted from hand-drawn 2D films, to computer animated 3D ones.

Computer animated movies however, are not new. According to AT&T, the first computer animated video ever created is of a wire-frame square circling the planet and dates back to 1963. It still took a long time until the first feature-length film was made solely using computer animations. This happened in 1995 when Pixar, at that time a newcomer in the industry, created Toy Story. Toy Story was a massive success and proved that not only can computer animated movies be successful, they even have certain advantages over hand-drawn films.

The biggest of those advantages might possibly be iteration. Comparing the traditional and the new methods, CGI is not necessarily more time-efficient or less costly. Every frame still needs to be individually created by the animators, just like with the traditional method. However, with CGI it is much easier to go back and revise some parts. For instance altering the lightning, retiming, or shifting the camera position. All these thing can be relatively easily achieved with computer animation, but with hand-drawing you would have to completely redraw the entire part. Easier iteration in the end leads to higher quality films and that is of course what producers are after.

As we all know, by now Disney has created multiple computer animated films, and with the huge success Disney has had with these films, the question remains if they will ever return to hand-drawing. Disney has given an account saying that there are no plans currently to release a new 2D film. The king of animated films has set its focus on 3D films, with many new and returning titles coming up, such as a third installment of Cars and a sequel to the Incredibles. Therefore it is quite clear that computer animation has caused a big shift in the animation industry and it remains a mystery if we will see hand-drawn films any time soon or if they are a thing of the past all together.

 

References:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/60at60/2015/8/1995-first-feature-length-computer-animated-movie-392883

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/worlds-first-computer-generated-animation-traced-1963_n_1687475.html

https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Disney-stopped-doing-hand-drawn-animated-film

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/mar/07/disney-hand-drawn-animation

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It is becoming increasingly difficult for gaming companies to survive in the present day industry. With the supply side of the gaming industry growing massively, game companies must offer players an immersive experience which offers a pull strong enough to draw them to their games, and away from competition. Because of that, companies are using new technologies to bring about industry disruption, in order to set themselves apart from competitors.

There are four key changes going on the gaming industry which are causing major disruption:

 

1. More diverse customers

With the introduction of smartphones, game developers have gained a new and substantial platform for games. Smartphones games tend to ask for a smaller investment of the player comparing to traditional games, which has caused a new demographic to try out gaming. Currently 27% of mobile gamers are in between the ages of 35 to 50, and 10% is even 50 years or older. (Vungle, 2015) This diversification of game consumers offers new possibilities for game companies. This means a crucial step for game developers currently is to find the right platform for the right game in order to have success.

 

2. The defenition of games is changing

New technologies and platforms are changing what is possible for game developers. Smartphones provide low entry barriers for consumers and thus attracts are large consumer base. This has caused mobile game developers such as King and Supercell to equal, or in some cases even high, profit that game giant Nintendo. (Newzoo, 2014) Whereas big-budget game companies are developing new games with new technologies, such as virtual reality and cross-platform applications, allowing a more immersive game experience for consumers.

 

3. Digital delivery

An important change in the gaming industry has been the ongoing shift from physical distribution of games to digital delivery. Being able to distribute content via internet reduces distribution costs significantly. Moreover, it allows game companies to continually update their games, improving the content they can offer and implement changes consumers would like to see. Lastly, it allows for downloadable content, which means companies can offer consumers the possibility to add and purchase elements to their games to make the gaming experience more personal and tailored to what the consumer wants.

 

4. Innovative business models

New technologies are leading companies to innovative business models. Whereas traditionally companies would gain revenue by simply selling the game, other ways of earning revenue have been emerging throughout the years. Examples are subscription based gaming or free-to-play games where consumers can purchase extra elements to the game via an in-game store.

 

In conclusion, technological developments are giving game companies more options, yet also make it more crucial for those companies to make the right decisions. Failing to match the right target audience, with the right game, the right platform, and failing to choose the right business model will lead companies to quickly be outperformed by competitors. The margin for error in the gaming industry has thus never been so small.

 

References:

Accenture, 2016, https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-pulse-gaming-disruption

Vungle, 2015 https://vungle.com/blog/2015/06/03/how-mobile-is-disrupting-the-games-industry-in-a-good-way/

New zoo, 2014 https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/games-industry-disrupted-10-key-moments-towards-2017/