Securities Times reporter Li Yingchao
Metaverse expands the imagination of financial institutions in product innovation.
At present, the service homogeneity of financial institutions is obvious, so many institutions strive to stand out in the differentiated competition. Whether it is a virtual financial service scenario or a new type of asset transaction, there is no small possibility.
Whether it is a large state-owned bank and a joint-stock bank, or a small and medium-sized bank such as a city commercial bank and a rural commercial bank, digital transformation and financial technology empowerment have become a strategic point to improve service quality and efficiency, and the exploration of the Metaverse has also provided them with a new soil for practice , digital banks, digital collections, digital employees, etc. have been launched one after another.
However, some people in the industry told reporters that while actively accepting emerging things, they should also be alert to the new risks and challenges they bring. "From the domestic situation, digital collections have become an important channel for financial institutions to undertake Metaverse digital assets. Under the permission of supervision, the landing and operation mode of other digital assets has yet to be developed.”
The so-called digital collection refers to the use of blockchain technology to generate unique digital certificates corresponding to specific works and artworks.
On the basis of protecting its digital copyright, the realization of authentic and credible digital distribution, collection and use can be compared to an NFT (non-fungible token) with Chinese characteristics and in line with my country's supervision.
state-owned bank
Foray into digital collections
A few days ago, PSBC Shandong Branch reached a strategic cooperation with Shandong's first state-owned digital collection trading service platform "Seal Digital Collection", becoming the first bank in Shandong to enter the field of Metaverse digital collections.
It is understood that it will log on the "Seal Data Collection" platform as an independent parent brand IP-based digital collection, and use technologies such as blockchain and big data to successively release the first batch of 5 limited digital collections.
In addition, the release of the digital virtual human AI brand recommendation officer of PSBC Shandong Branch is also on the agenda.
On the "Seal Data Collection" platform, you will also see the digital financial museum and special area opened by the bank, and launch joint plans with multiple brands to realize online transactions of digital collections.
Since May, other banks have also made related moves.
On May 13, a campaign was introduced on the official WeChat account of Bank of Xi'an, announcing the issuance of customized digital collections on the occasion of the bank's 25th anniversary, with a total of 25,000 copies issued free of charge.
The digital collections of Bank of Xi'an are subject to copyright deposit in Datang Chain, and the relevant deposit content has been synchronized with the credibility nodes on Datang Chain, and is only used for non-commercial purposes such as access, learning, research, appreciation, display and sharing.
In fact, this is not the first time the Bank of Xi'an has issued a digital collection.
During the first month of the lunar calendar this year, Bank of Xi'an launched a digital collection of "Nafu Tiger" avatars and a series of metaverse "Tide Play", which attracted the attention of many customers.
Earlier, Bank of Beijing also launched the digital collection "Jingxi Xiaojing" based on the image of "Jing" near the Spring Festival of the Year of the Tiger; China Ping An created 8 digital art collections based on two South China tiger cubs. Each piece is limited to 2,022 copies; the Shaanxi Branch of the Agricultural Bank of China has launched the "Anti-epidemic Xiaodou" urban hero series of digital collections, of which the first collection was sold out in a short period of time after the public welfare launch on January 13 this year.
"By issuing their own digital collections, banks can increase the activity of users, bring traffic and even business income while increasing their influence and brand effect." A bank practitioner told Securities Times, a brokerage China reporter that the bank uses digital When the collection provides relevant services to customers, it can also realize financial services such as authentication, credit granting, mortgage, and conversion to customers, enriching the types of products and services.
Financial products touch the metaverse
On November 18 last year, Baixin Bank released the digital collection commemorating the fourth anniversary of "4 in love", and simultaneously launched the second-dimensional image of the AI virtual brand officer, becoming the first digital collection launched in the Chinese banking industry.
Each digital collection represents a single digital replica of a specific work, artwork and commodity or its limited release, recording an immutable on-chain right.
Therefore, digital collections are fundamentally different from equivalent tokens such as virtual currency. They are supported by the actual value of specific works, artworks and commodities, and do not have any monetary attributes such as payment functions.
In the unexplored area of the Metaverse, banks, as important participating institutions, not only develop digital collections, but also make more attempts in meeting new technologies.
In December 2021, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Hebei Xiongan Branch, as one of the first financial institutions, settled in the Metaverse product "Xiyang" developed by Baidu; Baixin Bank subsequently announced the first virtual digital employee AIYA, as the bank's "AI virtual brand" official".
In early January this year, Bank of Jiangsu announced that based on the research and judgment on the development of Internet finance and the underlying logic of digital finance, it will actively deploy the financial "metaverse" based on its own advantages.
China Mobile Communications Federation Metaverse Industry Committee also announced the first batch of member acceptance list in the same month, and China Zheshang Bank was among them.
In addition, many banks such as Zhongyuan Bank, WeBank, and Jiangnan Rural Commercial Bank have disclosed their own actions to explore the Metaverse. Among them, digital employees and digital collections have become the main track.
"The implementation of technology and business models still requires multi-faceted research and judgment." A person from a city commercial bank told Securities Times Securities China reporter that although the current banking industry, including small and medium-sized banks, has shown a positive attitude towards the exploration of the Metaverse , but in fact, the internal operation still needs to be more prudently researched and judged, and be alert to "one-sided heat".
Some analysts pointed out that under the concept of metaverse, data can be confirmed with technologies such as blockchain, thereby promoting circulation and trading, and enriching the form of assets, and financial institutions are the main participants in undertaking the transformation of such assets. By.