financial services – Oliver Pickup

Go Flux Yourself: Navigating the Future of Work (No. 1)

TL;DR: This month’s Go Flux Yourself includes thinking like badgers, rogue chatbots, American presidents snogging, productivity problems, return-to-office mandates, and AI leaders admitting they don’t know “what happens next” – but not in that order …

Image created on Midjourney with the prompt “a Henri Bonnard-style painting set in the New Forest in England with badgers, remote workers, Joe Biden and Donald Trump kissing, and lonely males looking at their smartphones”

About this newsletter

A warm welcome to the first edition of a rude-sounding-yet-useful newsletter for business leaders striving to make sense of today and be better prepared for tomorrow.

Below is a summary of what I hope to offer with Go Flux Yourself (with luck, a memorably naughty pun on “flux”, meaning continuous change, in case it requires an explanation).

“Master change and disruption with Oliver Pickup’s monthly future-of-work newsletter: insights and stories on transformation, curated by an award-winning, future-of-work specialist.”

I’m a London-based technology and business communicator – I write, speak, strategise, moderate, listen, and learn – and you can find more about me and my work at www.oliverpickup.com.

At the end of every month, I serve up insights, statistics, quotations and observations from the fascinating and ever-changing future-of-work space in which I operate.

Every month, the Go Flux Yourself newsletter will have three sections:

The future – forward-looking, regarding challenges and opportunities.
The present – relevant news, eye-catching examples. glimpses of upcoming challenges and opportunities.
The past – lessons from yesterday that might help leaders tomorrow.

The most important thing is to get fluxed, and change. “He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils, for time is the greatest innovator,” wrote Francis Bacon almost 400 years ago (in 1625).

The future

“No one knows what happens next.” Especially badgers.

The above, rather alarmingly, is the sign/motto above Sam Altman’s desk (without the bit about badgers – more on them later), as revealed in a panel session, Technology in a Turbulent World, at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in snowy Davos.

It reeks of faux justification and diminished responsibility for possible humanity-damaging mistakes made by the co-founder and CEO of Microsoft-backed OpenAI, arguably the world’s most important company in 2024.

Fellow panellist Marc Benioff, chair and CEO of Salesforce, stated: “We don’t want to see an AI Hiroshima.” Indeed, “no one knows what happens next” echoes Facebook’s original – and poorly aged – mantra of “move fast and break things” that was adopted by Silicon Valley and the wider technology community. But at what cost? Can the capitalists curb their rapaciousness? Well, what’s to stop them, really? They can stomp on the paper tigers that currently stand against them. (I’m going to be writing and speaking about this more in February.)

The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, clarified his feelings at WEF and argued that every breakthrough in generative AI increases the threat of unintended consequences. “Powerful tech companies are already pursuing profits with a reckless disregard for human rights, personal privacy, and social impact,” said the Portuguese. But he strikes the same tone when talking about climate change, and his comments, again, are falling on seemingly deaf ears. Or at least greed for green – the paper kind – outweighs concerns for humanity.

A few days earlier, on January 9, Scott Galloway, professor at New York University Stern School of Business, and Inflection AI’s co-founder Mustafa Suleyman (former co-founder of DeepMind), asked: “Can AI be contained?”

Galloway pointed out that given there are over 70 elections around the globe in 2024 – the most in history – there is likely to be a “lollapalooza of misinformation”. And that was before the deepfake of Joe Biden snogging Donald Trump, which was on the front page of the Financial Times Weekend’s magazine on January 27 (see below).

The provocative American entrepreneur and educator also pointed out that AI will likely increase loneliness, with “searches for AI girlfriends off the charts”. How depressing. But the recent example of a Belgian man – married with two children – killing himself as his beloved chatbot convinced him to end his life for the sake of the planet is evidence enough.

In a similar vein, delivery firm DPD disabled part of its AI-powered online chatbot after it went rogue a couple of weeks ago. A customer struggling to track down his parcel decided to entertain himself with the chatbot facility. It told the user a joke, when prompted, served up profane replies, and created a haiku calling itself a “useless chatbot that can’t help you”. What would Alan Turing think?

Anyway, Galloway also noted how the brightest young minds are not attracted to government roles, and it’s a massive challenge (not least when top talent can earn much, much more at tech firms). (As an aside, I interviewed Prof G a couple of years ago for a piece on higher education, and he called me “full of sh1t”. Charming.)

Meanwhile, Suleyman discussed job destruction due to AI advancement. He predicted that in 30 years, we will be approaching “zero cost for basic goods”, and society will have moved beyond the need for universal basic income and towards “universal basic provision”.

How this Star Trek economy is funded is open to debate, and no one has a convincing solution, yet. (Although Jeremy Hunt, who was on the panel in Davos with Altman, Benioff, et al, might not be consulted. The chancellor revealed that his first question to ChatGPT was “is Jeremy Hunt a good chancellor?” The egoist queried the reply – “Jeremy Hunt is not chancellor” – without, even now, realising that ChatGPT’s training data stopped before his appointment.)

Further, the absence of trust in government – as per the latest Edelman Trust Barometer (which has the general population in the UK (39) and the US (46) well below half, and both down on the 2023 figures) – and increasing power of the tech giants could mean that the latter will act more like nation-states. And with that social contract effectively ripped up, and safety not assured, chaos could reign. Suleyman talked about the “plummeting cost of power”, and posited conflict can be expected if actual nation-states can no longer look after their citizens, digitally or physically. The theme of prioritising trust is a big one for me in 2024, and in January a lot of my writing and speaking has been founded upon this topic.

If “no one knows what happens next”, leaders must educate themselves to broaden their scope of understanding and be proactive to get fluxed. The words of 18th-century English historian Edward Gibbons come to mind: “The wind and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigator.”

Certainly, I’ve been busy educating myself, and have completed courses in generative AI, public speaking and podcasting, to help me achieve my 2024 goal of being more human in an increasingly digital age. This time next month, I’ll be able to share news about a (sobriety) podcast and also a thought-leadership business I’m launching in February.

The present

A couple of weeks ago, judge Robert Richter dealt a blow to those in the financial services industry – and possibly beyond – hoping to work fully remotely. He ruled against a senior manager at the Financial Conduct Authority who wanted to work from home full-time, finding the office was a better environment for “rapid discussion” and “non-verbal communication”.

The landmark case will have been closely watched by other employers considering return-to-office mandates. The judge found that the financial watchdog was within its rights to deny Elizabeth Wilson’s request, stating there were “weaknesses with remote working”. Poor Elizabeth; like badgers, all she wants is to be at home without disruption.

Judge Richter wrote in judgement: “It is the experience of many who work using technology that it is not well suited to the fast-paced interplay of exchanges which occur in, for example, planning meetings or training events when rapid discussion can occur on topics.

He also pointed to “a limitation to the ability to observe and respond to non-verbal communication which may arise outside of the context of formal events but which nonetheless forms an important part of working with other individuals”.

It will be interesting to see how this ruling impacts the financial services industry especially. It feels like a big blow to those operating in this area, and solidifies the notion that firms are rigidly not keeping up with the times. Will this trigger an exodus of top talent?

Leaders believe that productivity lies at the heart of the workplace debate – but should it? The old maxim that “a happy worker makes a productive worker” springs to mind. One comes before the other. With this in mind, I enjoyed participating in a roundtable hosted by Slack and Be the Business, atop the Gherkin in the city of London, that discussed how better communication delivers the most significant wins regarding productivity for small- to medium-sized businesses in the UK.

The session coincided with new research examining how SMBs can overcome stagnation in 2024. Of the many interesting findings, these were the most compelling for me: Poor management was the top internal barrier to growth, highlighted by over four in ten (45%). This was followed by: Poor communication and lack of collaboration (38%); Lack of motivation (36%); and Employee burnout (33%).

Clearly, whether working in the office or not, communication and collaboration go hand in hand, and these have to improve – for everyone’s sake, with the UK languishing at the bottom of the G7 productivity rankings.

As the roundtable chair, CEO of Be the Business Anthony Impey, noted, a 1% increase in the UK’s productivity will boost the economy by £95 billion over five years.

The past

Here come the badgers, finally.

This month, I enjoyed a weekend spa retreat in the New Forest, close to Lymington, where – ironically – the aforementioned Gibbons served as a member of parliament in the 1780s. I stayed five miles due north in Brockenhurst and enjoyed strolling in the countryside, marvelling at deer and wild horses. I was fascinated to learn the (alleged) etymology of Brockenhurst stems from the Celtic for “badger’s home” with the black-and-white nocturnal creatures having been common residents for centuries.

I was informed that the badgers have, over the years, built an underground tunnel that stretches from Brockenhurst to Lymington. Human attempts to block the way, and collapse the tunnel, have come to nought. The badgers are resilient and inventive, they will always dig around obstacles, and make new tunnels. It struck me that we should all be more like badgers.

Statistics of the month

Only 8% of European businesses have adopted AI, whereas the number is over 50% in the United States, according to Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director General of DIGITALEUROPE.
Cisco’s 2024 Data Privacy Benchmark Study shows more than one-quarter of organisations have banned the use of generative AI, highlighting the growing privacy concerns and the trust challenges facing organisations over their use of AI.
O.C. Tanner’s 2024 Global Culture Report revealed that less than half of UK leaders (47%) consider their employees when deciding to enact business-wide changes. And just 44% seek employee opinions as changes are rolled out.

Stay fluxed – and get in touch! Let’s get fluxed together …

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And if you are interested in my writing, speaking and strategising services, you can find me on LinkedIn or email me using oliver@pickup.media.

Don’t leave me hanging: Consumer Duty shows importance of customer support

Introduced at the end of July, the Financial Conduct Authority’s new rules are designed to support customers better – and being contactable is critical. Organisations outside the financial services industry should improve their lines of communications

The Financial Conduct Authority’s Consumer Duty, which came into force on July 31, aims to sharpen customer experience practices for financial services operators. However, those in other industries would be wise to take action, as the direction of travel is clear.

The Consumer Duty stipulates that customers should “receive communications they can understand, products and services that meet their needs and offer fair value, and that they get the customer support they need, when they need it”.

The FCA is rather vague about its recommendations, but regarding customer support and being contactable, financial services operators, and many others outside of the industry for which this is designed, have much room for improvement.

Alarmingly, some companies still use the pandemic as an excuse for poor customer service. Given the coronavirus crisis began over three years go, people see right through this reasoning. And yet, many businesses are failing to pick up on this – or, indeed, pick up the phone at all.

Cross-industry findings from Microsoft, published in early July, revealed that Brits are being left on hold for up to one hour and 25 minutes waiting to speak to a customer service representative. The research found that the energy sector performed worst, with caller wait times averaging almost 36 minutes – 133 times slower than the industry standard of 20 seconds.

“Calling your energy provider and waiting over one hour and 25 minutes is equivalent to reading 255 emails, watering 85 plants or listening to Bohemian Rhapsody 14 times”, said Rob Smithson, Business Applications Lead at Microsoft UK.

Even the best-performing sector, telecommunications – ironically – had a wait time of 122 seconds, six times slower than the industry standard. In addition, almost half (47%) of the businesses researched offered an alternative means of communication or call-back service.

Costly mistake

More worryingly, the latest version of the UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI) showed UK consumers have never been more frustrated. Customer satisfaction fell at its fastest rate on record in July, slumping year-on-year from 78.4 to 76.6 in July – the lowest level since January 2015 – costing the economy an estimated £9.8 billion a year in lost time and productivity, calculated Joanna Causon, Chief Executive of the UKCSI.

“In some respects the current environment shares a number of characteristics similar to those experienced in the 1970s – a difficult economic situation with high interest rates, high inflation, and a wide range of labour disputes across a range of industry sectors,” said Causon.

Smithson urged organisations to improve their lines of communication. “The findings underscore the challenges facing consumers and companies alike in the current economic climate, and the need for innovative solutions to ensure a better customer experience,” he added. “Firms must endeavour to value their customers’ time by using tools that simplify operations.”

But how do people want to contact companies in 2023 in the UK? Proprietary Moneypenny research shows that email is the number-one preferred method, with 34%. The old-fashioned but still-relevant telephone call is next on the list, with over a quarter of responses (26%). That’s followed by WhatsApp (11%), live chat (9%), social media (8%), and, bottom of the list, is the website form with a mere 3%.

Notably, there are sizeable generational differences between the channels. For instance, younger age groups would opt for WhatsApp and social media, while older cohorts prefer phone chat and email. Indeed, 20% of Gen Zers and 15% of millennials prefer WhatsApp, and only 3% of baby boomers feel the same draw.

What, though, makes people want to pick up the phone and dial a company? Moneypenny found that in the UK, almost half (42%) call because of urgency – they want a solution quickly. And next on the list, with 34%, is because it’s a complicated issue. Clearly, customers want to find an answer quickly rather than wasting time with the to and fro of a digital exchange – whether with a human or a bot.

And the quality of the communication matters, too. In fact, it’s business-critical, according to Moneypenny research. After a “bad call experience”, some 38% of respondents in the UK said they would take their business elsewhere. Additionally, almost a quarter (24%) would write a negative review.

Win-win scenario

Customer feedback is always vital, and financial services operators must listen and learn even more with the FCA’s incoming rules. “While Consumer Duty offers an opportunity to develop better client communication, it also offers a basis for aggrieved customers to complain,” said Chris Croft, Consultant at Bellevue Law, a London-headquartered law firm. “It will be too late to review compliance when the claims come in and the true impact of what firms do today may not be seen for years.”

And non-financial services firms must heed the momentum, argued Tom Darnell COO and Co-founder at IRIS Audio Technologies. “The new Consumer Duty has set an upgraded standard for best practice that should be applied across all industries, regardless of regulation,” he said. “Particularly in sales-orientated environments, this new regulation represents a culture shift, where the needs of customers are put ahead of other metrics such as profits or upsell targets.”

Ironically, new technologies enable customer service operators to be more human in an increasingly digital world. There is a desire for that human touch, despite – or perhaps because of – recent advancements in artificial intelligence.

“When people think of AI in customer service, they think of chatbots and automatic speech recognition, which at best filter straightforward issues that are simple to resolve, and at worst provide a barrier between the customer and a real person,” said Titcomb. “In mission-critical instances, for example, if your boiler is broken or you have an issue with your mortgage payment, most people understandably prefer to speak to an agent.”

This insight chimes with Martin Hartley, Group Chief Commercial Officer of emagine Consulting. “While AI-powered technologies, such as chatbots and virtual assistants, have become a prevalent part of customer service and communication, many people still want to speak to another human being when things go wrong, especially for complex or emotionally sensitive issues,” he said. “In certain situations, the empathy, understanding, and problem-solving abilities of a person cannot be replaced.”

Ultimately, intentional and considered engagement with customers is a win-win – it helps understand pain points, improves a personalised experience, and boosts loyalty as those on the other end of the communication will feel heard. Only time will tell if non-financial services businesses listen to the warning offered by Consumer Duty.

This article first appeared on Moneypenny’s blog in July 2023

Time for culture of overwork in financial services to change

When Spain’s Labor Ministry revealed in January that government officials had hit the Big Four accounting firms’ Madrid offices in the Cuatro Torres business district with surprise inspections at the end of last year, as part of an investigation into alleged abusive work practices, it generated global headlines.

The Spanish arms of the world’s four largest professional services networks – Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC – generate combined annual revenues above €700 million ($770 million), according to the Financial Times. The firms provide audit, assurance, taxation, management consulting, actuarial, corporate finance, and legal services and employ more than 20,000 people in Spain.

Given their revered position in the market, the Big Four tend to attract the brightest graduates, who often switch to other sectors after gaining their accountancy qualifications. To earn those credentials and climb the ranks there is a tacit understanding that employees will put in the hours, despite earning meager early career wages compared to contemporaries in other areas of the financial services industry.

Could it be that after decades of flogging junior staff, in particular, the Big Four will have to transform their work policies – in Spain and elsewhere? And what will that mean for the rest of the financial services industry?

The full version of this article was first published on Digiday’s future-of-work platform, WorkLife, in February 2023 – to read the complete piece, please click HERE.

How technology can help financial services organisations reach younger generations

Smartphone apps, gamification and proactive support are some of the ways operators can engage the digital natives of today and tomorrow

Baby boomers might have a majority of global wealth today, but tomorrow it will be different. Indeed, by 2030, Europe’s younger generations – millennials and gen z – are due to inherit around £2.3 trillion from their parents, according to recent estimates. How can financial service operators cash in on this great wealth transfer?

In 2022, client-facing teams operating in the financial service industry can – and must – leverage technology to build meaningful relationships with younger generations who are digital natives.

Indeed, over a third (34%) of 18- to 34-year-olds would choose a different financial services provider if they were expected to visit a branch in person, according to VMware’s recent Digital Frontiers 4.0 report, which surveyed over 2,000 UK consumers.

Similarly, Marqeta’s 2022 Consumer Money Movement report reveals generational differences. Over half (54%) of gen z – born between 1997 and 2012 – can’t recall their PINs, and more than three-quarters (77%) feel confident enough with contactless payments to leave their wallets at home and just go out with their phones.

Consider a Chase study from 2021 indicated that 99% of gen z and 98% of Millennials use mobile banking apps, compared to 86.5% of gen x and 69.5% of Boomers.

“Younger markets live on their smartphones,” says Ben Johnson, CEO of digital transformation consultants BML Digital. “Everything needs to be available via the app, and the mobile experience has to match the ease of something like Snapchat or Pinterest.”

Prakash Pattni, managing director of financial services digital transformation in EMEA for IBM, agrees. “Ultimately, younger consumers want to access their accounts, lock missing cards, make virtual payments and transfer money to others swiftly and securely,” he says. “Financial institutions must develop easy-to-use applications with superior uptime that can easily integrate with other apps.”

Gamification and proactive support

How can financial services operators generate trust with younger generations? “Technology is the answer,” posits Somya Patnaik, a market product manager specialising in real-time payments at ACI Worldwide. “They must bring more innovative features that will engage young people and improve their consumer experience.”

Gamification in financial services is winning a lot of trust among young consumers, suggests Patnaik. So, for instance, insurance companies might build an app that tracks fitness activities against pre-agreed goals, which, if hit, unlock rewards like cheaper insurance or gym memberships. This insight chimes with George Ioannou, managing partner at design experience company Foolproof. Learning patterns around digital activities differ according to age. Where the older generations turn to Facebook for information, younger generations are growing up using gaming platforms such as Fortnite and Discord servers.

“This may speak to using gamified models of education within financial applications to facilitate learning, perhaps even in a sandbox, and therefore a safe environment,” says Ioannou.

Ioannou argues that technology enables financial services organisations to become more proactive in supporting customers, and younger generations want more advice about money matters now than ever. “Operators need to step up and actively educate their users,” he adds.

Research from Personetics, a global fintech, published at the end of June shows in the past three months only 22% of UK customers feel their primary bank has communicated with them about dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. Further, over half (53%) would consider moving banks if a rival offered better money management support and personalised advice.

Reliable source of truth

Financial education is now starting young. NatWest is currently offering a children’s pocket-money application for free to customers. “Last year, we acquired Rooster Money, a children’s prepaid debit card and app,” explains Fay Wood, head of acquisition and digital security authentication. “We wanted to do more in the space for children.”

She also stresses the importance of working with expert partners to provide access to apps at speed. “Five or ten years ago, we would have built something like Rooster Money in-house.”

Alongside proactive apps, social media is an invaluable tool for sales and marketing teams in the financial service industry looking to use tech to appeal to younger customers. Here, states Amanda Le Brocq, head of strategy at Marcus by Goldman Sachs, is where organisations can add value.

“Young people are increasingly getting financial information from social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram,” she says. “But with so much content available, people can easily get the wrong information. Today, it is essential that financial services companies provide a compelling digital offering, so young people can consume content online and know it is coming from a reliable source.”

Operators wanting to engage younger customers must look further and deeper, says Meghana Nile, insurance CTO at Fujitsu. “Social media and peers influence a lot of the purchasing decisions, meaning financial services companies that have a reputation for having ethical and sustainable practices will attract buyers from gen z, who in 2030 will be the dominant purchasing demographic.”

This article was first published in Raconteur’s The new financial services client experience insights report, sponsored by Seismic, in August 2022

Five ways financial services operators can build trust in the digital age

With cybercrime on the rise, customers expecting a better online banking experience, and more players in the market, organisations should push for positive reviews, cut back on nuisance communication, and be transparent

American business magnate Warren Buffett’s warning that “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it” is a precious lesson worth heeding by financial services operators seeking to generate trust in the digital age.

After working hard to claw back favour following the global economic crash in 2008, the industry generally impressed during the pandemic. But with cybercrime on the rise, customers expecting a better online banking experience, and more players in the market, building trust is increasingly challenging.

A report published in April by global cybersecurity company Imperva, based on responses from almost 7,000 consumers across Australia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States, found that 63% of people don’t trust financial services organisations to keep their data safe. Clearly, there is much work to do.

Here are five ways financial services operators can build trust in the digital age.

1. Actively push for positive reviews

When was the last time you didn’t buy something because a bad review put you off? It’s the same for financial services operators. Hence why those in the sector must do more than monitor online reviews, suggests Jeremy Helm, a financial analyst at Modern World Business Solutions. “You need to be actively pushing to gain positive reviews,” he says. “You can set up an automated email via Trustpilot that goes out a week after a purchase is complete.”

And if the reviews are not favourable, learn from them. “Don’t ignore them,” continues Helm. “Others will be reading the negative reviews before making a purchase, so make sure to answer the complaint promptly and politely. But also, if you’re not to blame, there is nothing wrong with highlighting where the issue lay respectfully and factually.”

2. Cut back on nuisance communication

A recent freedom of information request, made by customer communication firm Quadient, showed an increase in spam communications from financial services operators over the past year, which is eroding consumer trust, according to the company’s principal of banking and financial services, Andrew Stevens.

“Operators urgently need to cut back on nuisance communication – irrelevant or non-useful contact, which only damages trust and drives customers away,” he says. The FOI request showed 8,796 banking-related spam calls and texts were reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office in 2021 – 38% higher than the 2020 figure. Additionally, insurance-related nuisance calls and texts rose by 40%, with 3,989 complaints.

“Our research shows 43% of consumers are willing to blacklist businesses for sending spam,” continues Stevens. “Instead of bombarding customers with irrelevant offers and deals, they should remember that every piece of communication is an opportunity to win customers’ trust. For instance, by providing useful information to help them save money amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.”

3. Learn from tech titans and be clear about values

“Interestingly, the five most trusted brands across any industry globally are all large-scale tech firms,” says Nick Chadbourne, CEO of LMS, which supplies conveyancing services. “They provide a seamless cross-platform experience that is personalised to individual users. Google is probably the best example.”

He spots a paradox, though. “These companies are probably utilising our data for commercial gain more than any other business. Yet, there is a perceived trust from consumers. This is partly because of how these businesses fit with their values. But also because they deliver great customer experience and hyper-personalisation. Financial services firms could benefit and build trust by taking a similar approach.”

Sébastien Marotte, president of EMEA at content management company Box, agrees. However, he calls for greater clarity about data use. “The best way for financial service organisations to build and maintain trust is through open and transparent compliance reporting.”

4. Don’t forget the importance of human touch

Financial services organisations collect more information on their customers than any other industry, according to Adam Mayer, a director at data and analytics firm, Qlik. “Trust is imperative to this industry – and needs to be built from the ground up,” he says. “Don’t forget the importance of a human touch when building trust in digital technologies.”

While AI and predictive analytics can generate powerful recommendations, employees will provide oversight into actual decision-making, Mayer adds. “And, more importantly, they will explain those decisions to the customer. Blending human and machine insights improves the accountability actions being made, which helps smoothen some of the hurdles around trust and regulation.”

Additionally, ensuring employees have the requisite data literacy to understand, question and apply the predictive forecasts to their decision-making process is critical.

5. Show your AI workings

As more financial services are investing in AI solutions, it’s vital to show how decisions have been made. “Explainable AI addresses one of the key issues for banks using AI applications, as they typically operate as ‘black boxes’ offering little if any discernible insight into how they reach their decisions across lending and fraud detection and to improve customer service,” says Hani Hagras, chief science officer at banking software company Temenos.

He provides an example. “With buy now pay later (BNPL), Temenos Explainable AI provides additional transparency, enabling the customer to understand why a particular flavour of BNPL was recommended to them and make an informed choice. This increases trust in the BNPL service and puts the customer in control.”

This article was first published in Raconteur’s The new financial services client experience insights report, sponsored by Seismic, in August 2022