Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

12 August 2025

Estimated Read time

8Mins

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FinTech Strategy meets Eastern Horizon Founder & CEO Christine Le to discuss client expectations and the changing landscape of wealth management

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At Financial Transformation Summit, Christine Le, a Chartered Financial Planner and Founder & CEO of Eastern Horizon Wealth Management, spoke on an investment panel – “Generational Wealth Transfer: Meeting the Expectation of Younger Clients”. Appearing with industry colleagued representing Citi Global Wealth, HFMC Wealth and Lightbox Wealth, Le considered: What trends and technologies are shaping NextGen investment decisions, and how can WMs stay ahead? Can digital wealth platforms meet the demand for hyper-personalised, user-friendly experiences? How does social responsibility & ESG investing influence younger investors, and how can advisors align with these priorities? How can wealth managers build and maintain trust with NextGen investors?

Following the panel, we spoke with Christine to find out more…

Hi Christine, tell us about your role at Eastern Horizon?

“I’m a Chartered Financial Planner and the Founder & CEO of Eastern Horizon Wealth Management. We are a financial advisory firm and also a partner practice of St. James’s Place. They are among the biggest wealth management firms in the UK based on assets under management. We get a lot of support from St. James’s Place in terms of technology compliance and investment solutions. At my practice, we focus on a diverse range of clients including ethnic minorities, especially British Asians in the UK. I’m also the president of the Vietnam Investment and Finance Association in the United Kingdom (VIFA). We aim to provide useful financial information for Vietnamese people in the UK and become a bridge between Vietnam and the UK.”

You were part of a panel at this Summit focused on Generational Wealth Transfer. Can you give us an overview of your thoughts?

‘’Having worked in the financial services industry for over 15 years, I’ve observed a persistent gap in how the industry serves diverse client segments – particularly ethnic minority communities in the UK. This gap is especially pronounced when it comes to financial education and long-term planning, including wealth transfer across generations. When I speak to members of my own Vietnamese community, I often find that there’s a limited understanding of how to navigate financial systems effectively – from managing investments and pensions to planning for intergenerational wealth. It’s not due to a lack of interest or ambition, but rather a lack of access to culturally relevant and accessible financial advice.

“This is where I believe I can make a meaningful difference. I not only bring professional expertise and technical knowledge to the table, but also a deep understanding of the cultural values, family dynamics, and communication styles that shape financial decision-making in the community. That cultural insight is key to building trust, something that is essential when discussing personal finances and planning for the future. My goal is to help bridge that gap – to empower families with the knowledge and tools they need to make informed financial decisions, preserve their wealth, and pass it on confidently to the next generation.’’

Why is this an exciting time for the business?

“At the moment the world is so integrated, and many people can benefit. A lot of people want to go to the UK, invest into the UK. I think with that in mind this is an exciting time to run my business and to be able to bridge that gap, providing sufficient knowledge for people as a trusted source when they come to the UK and need to understand the financial regulations. We can give people solid support to understand the financial processes of settling and building wealth in the UK.”

“Right now, everyone is talking about AI, and for good reason. In my business, we rely heavily on digital tools to streamline administrative tasks. It’s truly a game-changer. Compared to starting a business 15 years ago, when I would have needed a full-time assistant just to take meeting notes and summarise action points, many of those processes can now be automated, saving both time and cost. Another advantage is in how we communicate. Many of my clients are British Vietnamese. While they understand and speak English, they often feel more comfortable communicating in Vietnamese. We use AI-powered translation tools to make this process faster and more seamless. These technologies are allowing us to broaden the range of services we offer and tailor our support to each client’s needs.”

What pain points are your clients experiencing that you need to address?  How are you meeting the challenge?

“It’s about meeting the client’s highest priority. When people come to me, they maybe want to support their children to get onto the property ladder or plan for their retirement. They might be looking to buy a new car or move home. So, as a regulated financial advisor, I can sit with a client and talk them through key priorities and tailor the solutions best for them and help them overcome the pain points of decision-making.

“Additionally, the UK’s financial regulations are complex and changing all the time. It’s very difficult for people to follow. It’s my job as a financial advisor to follow up those changes and stay up to date with the regulations to assess how it can impact our clients and then give them the best recommendations. Allied to this, many of our clients will need support with cross-border services as they move freely between different countries they need somebody they can trust, an expert that knows what they’re doing and who can provide the right financial services for them.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“Success for Eastern Horizon is to know that our clients feel they have somebody to rely on. For example, I have an old friend who came to me as a client. She was based in Vietnam but wanted to relocate to the UK. She had assets across Europe and in Vietnam and needed to understand the big picture of financial planning in the UK. We examined her assets across different countries to bring them into the UK and find the best solution for her to utilise tax efficient savings, pensions and investments to support her family and her business in the long term.”

What’s next for Eastern Horizon when it comes to wealth management? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“Over the next few months, we are keen to collaborate with different associations and communities across the UK – whether that’s related to Vietnam or British Asian communities and offer useful information and workshops and webinars tailored to different audiences. Also, with my work for the Vietnam Investment and Finance Association I want to organise workshops for those keen to invest in the UK but don’t know where to start. They often don’t have anyone to support them so I would like to focus on building a network to offer that bridge to investment in the UK.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between traditional institutions and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“I spent five years working at the intersection of FinTech and WealthTech – where wealth management meets technology. During that time, I witnessed firsthand how the financial services landscape is evolving. Large incumbent banks bring undeniable strengths: scale, regulatory rigour, and long-standing client trust. However, they often struggle with agility. Their legacy infrastructures, many of which still aren’t cloud-based, make digital transformation slow and complex. On the other hand, FinTechs are born digital. They’re nimble, innovative, and quick to adapt to changing customer needs. But without the reputation and stability that traditional institutions have built over decades, they can face challenges in gaining consumer trust or navigating regulatory environments alone. What became clear to me is that banks and FinTechs cannot operate in silos.

“Collaboration is not just beneficial, it’s essential. When they work together, they combine the best of both worlds: the reliability and compliance of traditional finance with the innovation and customer-centric design of new technology. With my own practice, we apply this mindset. We actively look for ways to streamline administrative processes using digital tools – reducing costs, improving efficiency, and freeing up more time to focus on what matters most: building strong, human relationships with our clients. The goal is to use technology not to replace that human connection, but to enhance it. By doing so, we can deliver modern, efficient, and deeply personalised financial services that clients trust.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for Eastern Horizon?

“I’ve attended several events this year, and this has truly been one of the most enjoyable and well-organised in the UK. What stood out was the impressive mix of voices – from established financial institutions to bold, forward-thinking startups. Engaging with such a diverse group of speakers has been both insightful and thought-provoking. I’ve come away with fresh perspectives, challenged some of my own assumptions, and found new ideas to explore as we continue building meaningful partnerships for Eastern Horizon Wealth Management.”

Find out more at easternhorizonwealth.co.uk

About Christine Le and Eastern Horizon Wealth Management

As an Appointed Representative of St. James’s Place, Practice Lead, and business owner, Christine leverages over 15 years of experience in financial services and wealth tech to serve our clients, acquired through extensive work in multinational financial services firms in the UK. This rich background has equipped Christine with the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively oversee the business, ensuring that every facet is managed with the highest level of professionalism.

Christine founded and built this Practice to help clients prosper, build financial security, and attain peace of mind while overcoming financial obstacles. 

Her primary focus is on nurturing enduring relationships with her clients, offering them trusted guidance as their financial requirements evolve over time. Throughout her advisory process, clarity remains paramount. By closely collaborating with her clients, Christine strives to identify the most efficient and tax-effective strategies to help them achieve their objectives. Specialising in tailored solutions, Christine is dedicated to understanding her clients’ financial goals and crafting strategies that align with their vision for the future.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
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Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

11 August 2025

Estimated Read time

8Mins

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FinTech Strategy meets with Citigroup’s Head of ESG Credit Management, Mauricio Masondo, to discover the future for ESG and sustainable finance

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At Financial Transformation Summit, Mauricio Masondo, Head of ESG Credit Management at Citigroup, featured on a sustainability panel – ‘The Future of ESG and Sustainable Finance: Balancing Profit and Purpose’. Alongside peers fromGenerali AM, Gallagher Re and Arma Karma, Masondo considered: What key metrics should FIs use to track ESG progress, and how can they ensure authenticity in their sustainability efforts? Developing a holistic ESG strategy amid evolving regulations – key challenges and solutions. How can FIs leverage technology to meet sustainability goals and drive long-term profitability? How can FIs move beyond offering ESG products to embedding sustainability into their core business models?

Following the panel, we spoke with Mauricio to find out more…

Hi Mauricio, tell us about your role at Citigroup?

“In my 32 years with Citi my career has primarily focused on wholesale credit, and in recent years I built out our portfolio management function. For the past year specifically, I’ve been leading the integration of ESG and climate considerations into our credit processes. As Head of ESG Credit Management, my role is to embed ESG requirements into our credit processes in a way that’s consistently and efficiently applied through technology, policies, training, and governance frameworks. Our strategic approach was not to create an ESG silo that replicates existing processes, but rather to integrate ESG considerations seamlessly into our current workflows. This means any credit analyst can now underwrite ESG credits, sustainable loans, or green loans, rather than requiring dedicated specialists. We’ve equipped our entire team with the knowledge and tools they need to handle these transactions effectively.”

You were part of a panel at this Summit focused on the future for ESG and sustainable finance. Can you give us an overview of your thoughts?

“Data standardisation is absolutely critical, especially as we advance into the AI era. I often reference Moody’s as an excellent example of strategic foresight. Moody’s operates two key businesses – credit ratings and data analytics – and early in their AI journey, they made the strategic decision to structure and normalise all their credit research data. This proved to be transformational because it enabled them to deploy AI solutions much more rapidly with clean, structured datasets. We’re working to apply this same principle at Citi. We’re developing processes to structure climate-related data in a way that will be usable across multiple applications. For example, we’re working on integrating emissions data and climate risk assessments into our credit risk rating models. We’re also exploring how this structured approach could support underwriting processes and securitisations, where comprehensive data packages could facilitate risk transfer transactions with institutional investors. The goal is to build normalised, structured data as the foundation for various applications, from portfolio management to AI-driven solutions. While we’re still in the early stages of many of these initiatives, the potential is significant.”

Why is this an exciting time for the business?

“We’re witnessing the convergence of several transformative trends. However, one of our biggest challenges is policy divergence across jurisdictions. Countries are taking vastly different approaches to ESG requirements, and for a global bank like Citi, this creates significant complexity in standardising processes across multiple regulatory environments. While challenging, this divergence also creates opportunities to develop scalable, cost-effective solutions that can adapt to various regulatory frameworks. Second, AI is revolutionising how we approach ESG challenges. It’s helping us structure data more effectively, enhance reporting capabilities, contextualise information, and identify trends that would have been impossible to detect manually.

“Previously, comprehensive ESG analysis required significant time, resources, and personnel. AI has made these processes more accessible and cost-effective. Most importantly, there’s been a fundamental shift in how the industry, and governments, view ESG. It’s evolved beyond compliance and emissions reporting to become a significant business opportunity. We need to capitalise on this transition – moving from reactive reporting to proactive opportunity capture. The capital is there, and if traditional banks don’t seize these opportunities, asset managers, private credit firms, and private equity will. We’re partnering strategically with reinsurance companies and asset managers to develop innovative solutions that unlock transition capital and help companies fund decarbonisation projects.”

“Trade flows are experiencing significant disruption due to current tariff policies. This creates both challenges and opportunities for our clients. Companies are reassessing their supply chain vulnerabilities and seeking greater resilience in their operations. I anticipate we’ll see a regionalisation of trade flows rather than a complete deglobalisation. European companies will likely increase intra-regional trade while reducing intercontinental transactions. We’re seeing similar patterns emerging in Asia and the Middle East. This shift requires banks to be more agile in how we structure trade finance and working capital solutions to meet these evolving needs.”

What pain points are you experiencing that you need to address?  How are you meeting the challenge?

“Working capital finance requires increasingly creative solutions that leverage advanced technology. Banks are recognising that FinTechs often have greater agility in developing and implementing these technologies. There’s significant efficiency in having one FinTech serve multiple banks rather than each institution developing independent solutions. This collaborative approach allows us to move faster while reducing development costs and time-to-market.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“I designed and led the implementation of an early warning monitoring system for Citi’s credit portfolio. The project began with a fundamental concept: create a data lake, develop meaningful metrics, and engage data scientists to interpret the insights. We collaborated with trade officers and partnered with external specialists to enhance our capabilities.Initially, there was scepticism about the system’s value, particularly because we built it as an independent function within our portfolio management organisation, separate from traditional banking and risk management structures. However, this positioning allowed us to collect unique client data and develop insights that weren’t available elsewhere in the organisation. A critical component of our success was establishing a dedicated credit expert team that oversees the entire process.

“This team leads the engagement and communication of alerts, ensuring that insights are properly interpreted and actionable recommendations reach the right stakeholders. The evolution was remarkable. We progressed from generating a few alerts daily to dozens per day, and eventually to hundreds of alerts weekly. More importantly, we developed sophisticated processes for interpreting and acting on these alerts, with our expert team serving as the bridge between data insights and business action. Bankers and risk managers began to recognise the value, and today, three years later, the system is integral to how we conduct annual reviews and client presentations. It’s incredibly rewarding to provide our bankers with comprehensive data and insights that strengthen their client relationships.”

What’s next for Citigroup when it comes to ESG? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“While it may sound clichéd, AI truly is transformative for our industry. The breadth of use cases and the rapid pace of learning make it essential to our strategic direction. We’ve established a strategic partnership with Google and are investing significantly in AI use case development and implementation across our operations. From an operational perspective, AI will undoubtedly increase our efficiency as an industry. More importantly, it’s enabling us to evolve our business models and create client solutions that weren’t previously feasible. This opens entirely new avenues for innovative product development. Additionally, since CEO Jane Fraser joined, we’ve embarked on a comprehensive transformation program that’s delivering strong results in terms of financial performance and returns. We’ve restructured and simplified our operations, which positions us more competitively as we refresh our leadership teams and attract new talent. The trajectory is very promising.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“The current tariff environment is creating opportunities for FinTechs that facilitate connections between banks, investors, and corporations. It’s also presenting consolidation opportunities for private equity firms within the rapidly expanding FinTech ecosystem.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for Citigroup?

“The panel brought together diverse perspectives from FinTech, asset management, insurance, and banking – all addressing common challenges that span our sectors. This cross-industry dialogue creates tremendous opportunities for collaboration and mutual understanding. The key now is translating these conversations into action. We need to maintain these connections, expand the dialogue, and avoid making decisions in isolation. FinTechs possess the agility to implement changes in their operating models far more quickly than large incumbents like us. However, our procurement systems and processes aren’t always conducive to collaborating with smaller, innovative companies. Events like this highlight the need to streamline how institutions like Citi can collaborate with and learn from FinTechs. We must accelerate our ability to adapt to a rapidly changing world.”

Learn more at citigroup.com/global/our-impact

About Citgroup

A human bank…

We’re helping build more sustainable, economically vibrant communities around the world.

At Citi, helping our clients navigate the challenges and embrace the opportunities of our rapidly changing world is fundamental to our mission of enabling growth and economic progress.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
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Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

8 August 2025

Estimated Read time

7Mins

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FinTech Strategy spoke with Veritran’s CMO, Jorge Sanchez Barcelo, at Money20/20 Europe to find out more about the tech firm’s partnership with Manchester City reimagining CX to create a frictionless digital experience for fans

Money20/20 Europe Exclusive

In an era where technology defines the customer journey, Jorge Sanchez Barcelo, Chief Marketing Officer at Veritran, is leading a bold charge into a new frontier: one where financial technology fuses with fandom, and CX becomes both frictionless and deeply personal.

Jorge’s professional journey has always followed the arc of digital transformation. From his earlier roles at AT&T and Banorte to now helming marketing at Veritran, a global technology company, his mission is clear: make life easier, better, and more secure for end users – whether they’re banking customers or football fans.

“Our technology without a purpose is nothing. It’s just code,” Jorge says. “We build for people. And that purpose has taken us far beyond banking.”

From Buenos Aires to Global Ambitions

Founded in Buenos Aires almost 20 years ago, Veritran started building mobile applications before the iPhone even existed – when, as Jorge jokes, “phones were just for calls, texts, and the occasional game of Snake”.

“Our guys were visionaries,” he continues. “They were talking about applications when we didn’t even have smartphones. Back then, you had to build a separate app for every phone model because we didn’t have iOS or Android,” he recalls.

Despite those early technical hurdles, the company maintained a singular focus: democratising access to financial services. “Once a person starts managing their own finances, they gain control,” reasons Jorge. “And control is the first step toward growth.”

That mission has proven timeless, and borderless. Today, Veritran has a solid footprint across Latin America and has expanded into the US and Europe.

Why Experience Matters More Than Ever

Jorge is acutely aware that in financial services, trust is everything. A slick PowerPoint is not enough to win over banks.

“When I meet with a financial institution, they don’t want theory. They want proof. They want to see our tech working in the real world. But many banks are reluctant to share their strategies, even with non-competitors.”

This desire to demonstrate capability led Veritran to seek a bold new marketing approach – one that would provide a visible, secure, and non-competitive environment to showcase its tech.

Enter Manchester City: A Blueprint for CX Innovation

The solution arrived via the pitch, not the boardroom. Veritran entered into a partnership with Manchester City, one of the best football teams in the world.

“Manchester City is digitally five to seven years ahead of most clubs,” says Jorge.

Veritran’s technology now supports key digital operations at Manchester City, helping the Club streamline processes such as user registration, membership management, and ticketing. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to innovation and operational excellence.

What began as a strategic partnership has evolved into a strong example of how financial technology can reinforce digital infrastructure in the sports sector. As more organisations seek reliable and scalable solutions, the model developed with Manchester City demonstrates the value of secure, efficient platforms designed to support long-term digital growth.

Breaking the Sponsorship Mold

Unlike traditional sports sponsorships, which often come with hefty price tags and limited strategic collaboration, Veritran’s deal with City was rooted in partnership.

“Our partnership is beneficial for both companies, we share value,” explains Jorge.  “With the brand reach of Manchester City’s clubs we have been able to promote our company worldwide.”

This model has opened the door to future collaborations, not only with sports clubs, but also with entertainment companies in the US who are eyeing similar digital transformations.

Applying FinTech Learnings in New Territories

As Veritran enters new markets, they carry the lessons of regulated finance into less restricted sectors.

“In banking, every innovation has to pass through layers of regulation,” notes Jorge. “But in entertainment or sports, you can think outside the box and start with the experience, not the compliance checklist.”

That freedom has allowed Veritran to experiment with new ideas, such as smile-based stadium access or face-based payments.

“We call it ‘mouthful access’ – just smile, and you’re in. You can’t do that in banking… yet.”

Blending Brand and Utility: A New Era for Embedded Finance

What sets Veritran apart isn’t just its technology stack – it’s the way it applies that stack to create emotional resonance and operational value in new settings. For Jorge and his team, the convergence of financial services and lifestyle touchpoints is the most exciting, and underexplored, frontier.

“When we embed finance into a stadium or a music festival, we’re not just processing payments,” he explains. “We’re creating seamless, branded experiences that extend customer relationships beyond the bank branch or app.”

This philosophy echoes a wider FinTech trend: the shift from siloed services to contextual, embedded finance – delivered where customers already are, not where institutions want them to be.

As financial brands seek new ways to engage digitally-native consumers, Jorge believes partnerships with lifestyle, sports, and entertainment brands offer huge untapped potential.

Jorge notes that younger generations expect everything to be digital, instant, and intuitive. They don’t separate banking from shopping or attending an event, it’s all part of one journey. “If we can integrate services invisibly into those moments, that’s where the magic happens.”

He’s quick to add that the financial industry still has work to do in aligning with this shift – both culturally and technologically.

“It’s not just about APIs or infrastructure. It’s about mindset. The organisations that embrace this new way of thinking – who see CX as a shared responsibility across ecosystems – will lead the next decade.”

With Veritran’s cross-industry collaborations accelerating, Jorge is confident they’re not just shaping financial journeys – they’re reshaping everyday experiences.

Embedding Finance in the Fan Journey

Jorge sees a massive opportunity to embed financial services into sports and entertainment ecosystems, particularly in underbanked regions like Latin America.

“In the UK, stadiums are already cashless. In Latin America, we still have guys walking around selling Coca-Cola for cash from their pockets. We want to change that.”

By introducing digital wallets, biometric payments, and embedded insurance services (e.g., ticket protection at the point of sale), Veritran enables clubs to become financial service providers.

“Imagine buying a match ticket and adding travel insurance in one click. That’s the level of seamless we’re aiming for.”

Pain Points Driving Demand

So what are clients asking for?

Jorge says it comes down to three priorities:

  1. Integrated Payments Ecosystems
    Clients want unified platforms that support seamless payments across channels and partners
  2. Digital Onboarding & Identity
    Reducing friction while enhancing security is top of mind – especially in customer acquisition
  3. End-to-End Security Suites
    With AI-driven fraud and evolving regulations, security isn’t optional; it’s a strategic asset

Veritran’s flexibility as a tech partner, not just a vendor, allows it to co-create with clients. This often means integrating with their existing partners, such as banks, card networks, or insurers.

What’s Next for Veritran?

According to Jorge, the company is at a pivotal moment. Its technology is gaining traction in new verticals with strong investment appetite – such as entertainment and live events.

“These sectors have the budget and the ambition. No one’s serving them with the kind of Fintech-grade CX we provide.”

The company is also exploring opportunities in public transportation and other infrastructure-heavy sectors where transactions are frequent and still inefficient.

“Everywhere there’s a transaction, there’s an opportunity to simplify.”

FinTech is set to play an expanding role in everyday life whereJorge believes the very definition of FinTech is evolving.

“It’s not just about banks anymore. If you buy a coffee, book a train, or enter a concert – those are all transactions. And if we can simplify them, that’s FinTech too.”

That’s why Veritran sees future growth in collaborative ecosystems where banks, brands, and non-traditional players converge to serve the customer journey holistically.

Why Money20/20?

Jorge credits the annual Money20/20 Europe conference with helping shape Veritran’s partnerships – including the initial connection with Manchester City.

“It’s one of our top five global trade shows. We don’t just send a team – we send our top execs, including our CEO. It’s where deals happen.”

Building with Purpose for the Future

In an industry flooded with features and hype Veritran differentiates by staying grounded in user value.

“Tech for tech’s sake is meaningless. But tech that improves how someone lives, spends, or connects – that’s everything,” says Jorge.

From its Argentine roots to a global stage, Veritran’s journey underscores one enduring truth: In customer experience, the future belongs to those who build it with purpose.

Veritran: A CX FinTech Trailblazer

  • Embedded Finance
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Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

7 August 2025

Estimated Read time

7Mins

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FinTech Strategy meets with Seema Desai, COO at iwoca, to hear how customer experience is being redefined in a digital lending era

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At the Financial Transformation Summit, Seema Desai, COO at iwoca, spoke on a panel (alongside representatives from Zopa Bank and Citibank) about the shifting needs for customer experience in digital lending. How can lenders create hyper-personalised loan products to meet diverse customer needs? What are the best practices for maintaining a human touch in automated lending processes? How can lenders build and maintain customer loyalty in a competitive market? What role does omnichannel strategy play in delivering a seamless lending experience?

Following the panel, we spoke with Seema to find out more…

Hi Seema, tell us about your role at iwoca?

“I am the Chief Operating Officer at iwoca. We provide fast and flexible finance to small businesses across the UK and Germany. In my role as COO, I’m responsible for all of our UK operations teams. So, all of our agents that engage with customers throughout the customer journey. And I make sure that we’re offering a really high quality service that is also highly efficient.”

You were part of a panel at this Summit focused on redefining CX in the era of digital lending. Can you give us an overview of your thoughts?

“So, maintaining that personal touch is really important because that personal touch helps us to build trust with our customers. We all know that when dealing with money, that trust element is super important. There’s lots of things that iwoca does to maintain that. For example, every customer has a dedicated account manager. They can get through to them via a direct number. We also respond to emails fast, every email on the same day. And then we commit to answering at least 80% of calls in less than 60 seconds. We’ve got 10,000 new applications every month and about 30,000 customers making repayments currently. We’re doing all of this with an account management team of just 30 people. So, to maintain that level of personal touch whilst also being able to deal with that volume of customers, we absolutely have to leverage digital technology to be able to do that really efficiently. And there’s many ways that we do that…

“First of all, we make sure that our account pages and our signup flow is as clear and seamless as possible so that customers can self-serve if they want to. But we also make sure that with our operations activities, we’ve broken down every step of every operational process into a task that is visible on our in-house built CRM system. And then what we can do is run tests on every single step of those to see where having human interaction really adds the most value. So, we are constantly upgrading where we apply human interaction in a really forensic way to make sure that it’s optimised as much as possible.”

Why is this an exciting time for the business?

“It’s really exciting right now. We’ve been having some record months recently and broken some big milestones. We are now approving around 10,000 new business loans every month, which is huge. Our loan book across the UK is almost £1 billion. And then a bit closer to home, we’ve also just moved offices. We’ve got more space and we’re still able to attract exceptional talent into iwoca and it’s great to have a new home in central London to do that.”

“Embedded finance is a big trend right now. It’s important for us to make sure that customers can access lending when and where they need it. We’re integrating lots of partners through our open API – around a third of our applications come through partner channels. So, that’s a very important trend and growing for us in the future. We’re also seeing a lot of hyper-personalisation. We know that customers want to be able to tailor loan products exactly to their needs, and we want our products to be able to provide that flexibility to them. We’re looking at increasing loan amounts, changing durations and offering different types of repayment schedules with interest only options. And that’s hugely exciting. And one of the big trends that I’ve heard about here at FTS, and which we are working on at iwoca, is how we leverage AI and what we might be able to do with AI to make us even more efficient, but still maintain an excellent customer service.”

What pain points are your customers experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“So, it’s important to remember that iwoca exists in order to solve pain points for customers because customers were just relying on traditional lenders. Those traditional lenders, the big banks, have much longer application processes, typically taking weeks and sometimes just aren’t able to lend to those customers at all because it’s not within their risk appetite. Whereas at iwoca you can get a loan within minutes. We can also lend to customers that banks couldn’t lend to because we’re able to use data and data science to be able to understand the risk level and different customers much better.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“We are operational in the UK and Germany, and a success story for us is the fact that we are now working with a loan book of almost a £1 billion and we are profitable. And we have been for quite a while now, since early 2023. So, it’s a real success story for us that we’re able to use that profitability to fund our core business growth but also use it to invest in solving other pain points for customers beyond lending.”

What’s next for iwoca? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“Yeah, there’s a lot of things that we’re working on right now. I’m excited about some of the AI tools that we are trialling to make our service even more efficient. There’s a number of exciting applications out there, so there’s a lot of people at iwoca exploring and exploiting different AI technologies. It’s going to be very exciting to see how that rolls out across our business in the rest of this year. And then also looking at new ventures that are beyond lending, which we may be launching later this year or early next.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“Collaboration is hugely important to us and our business model. Traditional banks are able to access capital more cheaply than we can, but they’re able to provide us with access to their balance sheet so that they provide financing to us so that we can then lend to our customers. So, with their financing, we are able to use our data and our technology to reach customers that they wouldn’t be able to reach directly. At the moment, something like 80% of our funding comes from banks such as Barclays and Citi. So, they’re hugely important to us and we are continuously reviewing with them the performance of our own book and finding ways that we’d be able to lend to more of our customers.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for iwoca?

“This is my first time at this event, and I’ve been really impressed. It’s been really well organised and the panels have been insightful with some great speakers. I’ve learned quite a lot. I’ve met some really interesting people and I’m really impressed by the diversity of people that are coming here. So, I was just on a panel with somebody from Zopa, which is where I used to work. I also met somebody in the audience who came from Lloyd’s, which is where I worked about 15 years ago. So, it’s great to see that this ecosystem being brought together at FTS.”

Learn more at iwoca.co.uk

About iwoca

Fast, flexible finance empowers small businesses to manage their cash flow better and seize opportunities – making their business and the economy stronger as a whole. At iwoca, we do just that. We help businesses get the funds they need, when they need it, often within minutes. We’ve already made several billion pounds in funding available to over 100,000 businesses since we launched in 2012 and positioned ourselves as a leading Fintech in Europe. Our mission is to finance one million businesses. We’ll get there by continuing to make our finance ever more relevant and accessible to more businesses by combining cutting-edge technology, data science and a 5-star customer service.

  • Events
  • Neobanking
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

6 August 2025

Estimated Read time

6Mins

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FinTech Strategy speaks with Jonas von Oldenskiöld, Head of Partnerships at Qover, about the future for the insurance industry

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At Financial Transformation Summit, Jonas von Oldenskiöld, Head of Partnerships at Qover, spoke on a panel (alongside peers from Davies Group, Accenture, Superscript and YuLife) entitled ‘Bridging the Gap: How InsurTech is Reinventing Traditional Insurance Processes’.

Following the panel, we spoke to Jonas to find out more…

Hi Jonas, tell us about your role at Qover?

“I’m the Head of Partnerships at Qover. We are focused on embedded insurance. We try to enable that for a lot of different players in the markets. Everything from motor insurance, SMEs, going the whole way down to simple things like classes[1]  such as travel, trying to be the enabler between the typical risk carrier and the distribution platform.”

You spoke on a panel at the Summit about InsurTech innovation. Give us an overview of your thoughts…

“It was a very interesting group of people on the panel coming from different angles across the industry. And the key things for me were around where InsurTech needs to go now and how it enables insurance companies at this point in time. The common understanding was that we, the InsurTechs, come from being disruptors to being more of a force into them where we can plug in and help them to change a little bit the behaviours that are currently going on. Being that catalyst in the organisation and helping them to drive innovation. Because I think a lot of large organisations have realized that innovation cannot be driven by a single hidden team somewhere, it needs to be driven from a business perspective.”

Why is this an exciting time for Qover?

“I think there are many reasons. Of course, you cannot be at an event like this without speaking about AI and the opportunity that gives to us. Also, we’re seeing a generational shift. The industry needs to get ready to service a completely different type of customers going forward and that will drive a lot of exchanges we’ll see in the next couple years.”

“I think a key one is to be able to navigate the future role of AI regulation. That will be very interesting to see what opportunities are there and what opportunities would be possible to use. More importantly, I think it is taking data from something, using data from something that is good to have, to really put it in the forefront of the operation to start planning your business process from a data perspective. This is the data that we need to have in order to deliver a good product rather than having data as the outcome of the whole process. You have set up and try to do something from that perspective. So, we need to turn the table on that.”

What other pain points your customers are experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“They particularly need help with the UX and how to deliver the product. I think the underlying product itself doesn’t change so much, but it’s a lot about the delivery, making sure that it actually does get delivered at the point in time that we like to call events driven. So, for us it is distributing insurance when you have a life event, if that is having a child, buying a car, buying a house or whatever it might be, data can help us to drive that. So, for us it’s very much around the delivery rather than the product underneath.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“We’re very proud that we now have several new motor programmes in place where we have been working with large motor organisations that have realized that they’re not only selling a car, they’re selling a means of transportation and convenience, which also then includes insurance across that whole journey. We recently announced partnerships with both Volvo and BMW. And we have more in the pipeline. So, I think that has been a great success where large established industries have realised they need to go further in order to have that UX design.”

What’s next for Qover? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“In 2025, our focus is on expanding into more new verticals. We are involved in driving that engagement to see where we can expand. We started traditionally with a lot of the travel organisation and bike providers. We’re now working with neobanks[2] , traditional banks and the motor industry. I also see more opportunities in areas like utilities, in SME supporting functions, everything from accountancy to data provision and being a software provider. These expansions will be the goal over the next 24 months.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between industries and InsurTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

Partnerships is one of the key things changing the insurance industry. We still have some very large players around. They’re fulfilling their function, and they do it very well. But in order for them to adapt into the new situation, partnerships are important. You always need to be able to work at scale, which is important for them. Of course, with a partnership you lose a little bit of control compared to acquiring something or developing it yourself. But on the other hand you win on the speed to market and potentially also on the cost side. So, for me, the winners will be the ones that can handle partnerships in the right way. And at the end of the day, a partnership is a relationship. You can have as many contracts as you want, but it comes down to people.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for Qover?

“We get a lot of good feedback and the great thing with events like this is that you have the chance to do networking both informal and formal. You’re having a formal agenda but also have a chance to rotate around. I always make sure to join the sessions and round tables. It has been interesting to speak to peers across the industry. It’s a good way of getting away from the desk and finding some new inspiration.”

Learn more at qover.com

About Qover

Embedded insurance orchestrators… We’re creating a global safety net with insurance,

empowering people to live life to the fullest.

Qover was founded in 2016 by Quentin Colmant and Jean-Charles Velge. From the very beginning, our co-founders had a clear vision of the future of insurance: a simple, transparent and accessible service across borders.

Through embedded insurance, we can create a global safety net that protects everyone, everywhere. To that end, our embedded insurance orchestration platform enables any company to harness the power of technology to embed insurance as a native component of or add-on to their core product or service.

In doing so, embedded insurance becomes a powerful tool for businesses to enrich their value proposition, enable their success and care for their community.

  • Events
  • InsurTech
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

5 August 2025

Estimated Read time

6Mins

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FinTech Strategy meets Vikki Allgood, Director of Technology Strategy at Fidelity, to discuss the fundamental importance of culture in driving a successful business transformation

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At Financial Transformation Summit, Vikki Allgood, Director of Technology Strategy at Fidelity International, gave a keynote speech entitled ‘Psychological Safety – The Hidden Key to Transforming Your Business’. Following her appearance, we spoke to Vikki to learn more…

Hi Vikki, tell us about your role at Fidelity?

“I am Director of Technology Strategy for Fidelity. We’re looking at how we can ensure we can adapt our response to our business’ needs through our technology to meet whatever demand is coming over the horizons tomorrow. And in the years to come.”

You spoke at this Summit about psychological safety driving business transformation. Tell us more…

“At Fidelity, our strategy for our technology has culture as our foundational pillar. Talking with our leaders over the last 18 months, we looked to understand how we can create a brilliant culture, recognising that psychological safety is a fundamental element in that.

“Transformations often stumble because the business plan forgets its most volatile, and most valuable component, the people asked to deliver it. Without psychological safety, even well‑funded and organised programmes stall. Teams focus more on protecting themselves instead of challenging ideas. That’s when the risks remain hidden until it’s costly, and the collective new ideas to solve the biggest challenges are never formed. That’s why we ask leaders to invest time and energy in building a culture where it’s safe to question, experiment, challenge the status quo and admit what’s not working. In that environment the behaviours every transformation depends on (curiosity, creativity, problem‑solving, healthy challenge) all naturally emerge.

Psychological safety isn’t some new trendy HR slogan, it’s a timeless basic human need wired into our biology through millennia of evolution. When people sense social threat, the amygdala floods the body with cortisol and the prefrontal cortex (the part of our brain we rely on for reasoning, innovation, etc.) literally dims. Remove the threat, and the brain’s chemistry flips, dopamine and oxytocin rise, and teams move from cautious compliance to bold collaboration. Leaders must ask themselves if their teams can lean in and challenge effectively or if they are staying quiet to protect themselves. The hidden key is simple, but non‑negotiable, leaders must consciously, relentlessly and courageously build psychological safety through everything they do and say. If they do that, then your technology and transformation plans will have the human engine they need to succeed.”

Why is this an exciting time for Fidelity?

“I think that within the industry, all the opportunities that are coming along, and our ability to adapt to our customers’ needs, is what makes it exciting. We are all on an exponential curve of change. Technical possibilities, customer expectations, regulatory demand, industry landscapes, are all going to keep moving, with new challenges and opportunities presenting themselves. We are ensuring that we can meet those needs of our customers both today and tomorrow. Finding new ways to do that is pretty exciting.”

“So, from a technology perspective, I would say that we are making sure that all our foundational elements are there so that we can respond and adapt. One of Fidelity’s differentiators is that we have historic long running relationships with our customers. We are reintegrating our data strategy to allow us to better leverage this, in addition to market data, allowing us to provide personalised solutions to our customers.

“AI is absolutely generating a buzz for us right now as well, and not just Generative AI. We’re seeing a push towards Agentic AI and how we can look to provide faster, quicker, more cost-effective services for our business partners who can then provide better outcomes for our customers. This in combination with our long-standing history gives us a unique opportunity.”

What pain points are your customers experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“We need to understand the new generations entering the wealth space and what their expectations are and how they engage with us. We’re looking to ensure we can keep pace with their demands. For example, we’ve just launched Pay by Bank allowing our customers to pay money into their accounts in a faster more secure way. This feature leverages the Open Banking Technology that is now available to financial institutions.”

Tell us about a recent success story for Fidelity…

“Across the technology landscape, we have been amplifying our existing cloud strategy by removing complexity in our hybrid setup, reducing the number of dependencies back to on-premises. This is a well-known challenge for financial institutions who have regulatory reasons to have highly confidential systems in house. This will allow us to respond at pace to what customers need. Looking a couple of years down the line nobody can be sure what the next big opportunities are going to be, so ensuring we’re building that foundation to respond to what comes over the horizon is fundamental.”

What’s next for Fidelity? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“Security is incredibly important to us. With that in mind, we are exploring Quantum to understand both the opportunities and risks that it could present in the future and how we can stay at the forefront of it. Ensuring a secure and reliable service for our customers is an absolute non-negotiable part of our strategy.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“I think the reality is that we need the collective mindsets to come together to create the best outcomes. We’re never going to have all the answers all by ourselves. So, starting to engage and work with people and collaborate means that we get to have a better, wider perspective. Coming to events like this, we get to learn, understand what other industries are doing, what other areas are looking at, and it helps to widen our perspectives and have more opportunities to find those out of the box ideas that are going to then help our customers.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for Fidelity?

“I was particularly keen to attend this conference because I think transformation and how we can do this successfully is so important at the moment. The reality is, sadly, and I covered this in my talk, a staggeringly large number of transformations miss the mark or fall short. And so, learning and embracing how you can ensure that you go after it and you get the value that you’re aiming for, that is for me what’s important. As I said, getting that learning, talking to each other, understanding what’s worked, what hasn’t worked and sharing tips and techniques is actually incredibly powerful and something you can then take back and use at your organisation.”

Learn more at fidelity.co.uk

About Fidelity

It has been more than 50 years since we were founded. We’ve seen many market cycles – bull and bear, boom and bust. We have stayed the course through different investment environments regardless of market performance.

The needs of our customers have always steered our decisions, which is why we’ve stuck to our core activity of investing. We believe this is what allows us to excel – and, even more importantly, to repay the trust placed in us by our customers.

Whether you’re investing for the first time, or have a wealth of experience, it’s essential to be informed and to be comfortable with your decisions. Through Trustpilot, you can read up-to-the-minute, real-world reviews and see for yourself how Fidelity aims to put the customer first and make investing a bit easier.

Our do-it-yourself online services give you 24/7 access to our investment guidance, handy tools, and range of accounts from your computer, tablet or phone. Transfer your existing investments to us, or open a new account online and begin investing in just a few steps.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Events
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 August 2025

Estimated Read time

8Mins

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FinTech Strategy met with Standard Chartered’s Head of Digital Assets – Financing & Securities Services, Waqar Chaudry, at Money20/20 Europe to discuss how the bank is connecting traditional with digital, collaborating with FinTechs directly and via SC Ventures, and taking a measured approach to entering the crypto market

Money20/20 Europe Exclusive

There is a buzz in the air at Money20/20 Europe. Waqar Chaudry, Head of Digital Assets – Financing & Securities Services at Standard Chartered, has just spoken on Mastercard’s Horizon Stage about the great digital assets opportunity. We meet up with him at his bank’s stand in the heart of the action at the Amsterdam RAI Arena.

Waqar works in custody to secure digital assets at Standard Chartered. It also has a fund accounting business and offers transfer agent services. “The financing in the Financing & Securities Services elements are in our FX Prime offering,” he explains. “At the moment my sole focus is on crypto custody, tokenisation and building an ecosystem around those products.”

The Rise of Digital Assets

It’s an exciting time for Standard Chartered with crypto custody and the rise of stablecoins and tokenisation… Whether the asset is Bitcoin, a tokenised money market, or anything tokenisable, there have been a lot of conversations with the bank’s partners in terms of the technology quest.

“Most of the conversations historically have been led by the fact that technology does give you the capability to do 24/7 trading and settlement. Risk management from the technology side is much better. The blockchain dream is sold to everyone, which remains true,” notes Waqar. “The issue has been that on the business side, tackling the areas that actually can work with this technology. You have your near instant settlement availability on blockchains. On the other side you have a T+1 or T+3 cash settlement time – that doesn’t gel very well.

“Entrenched in the day-to-day business of these really large institutions is to be able to inject a new piece of technology. And then suddenly say, hey, all these things are solved. For all the inefficiencies in the system it doesn’t work that quickly. We’re actually taking one step at a time. That’s why it’s exciting that we can see in five or ten years from now what the world will look like. Basically, in our vernacular that means we have near instant settlements and near instant international transfer of value. So, that’s the kind of stuff that we are really interested in for the future.”

Meeting the Blockchain Challenge

Waqar explains that when something like a blockchain comes into a traditional bank, and especially blockchains like the ones that support an asset like Bitcoin, you don’t know who the counterparties are (which are clear on the SWIFT network).

“You have to build capability from a technology side, operations side, risk management side,” he continues. “You need to develop the governance of all those functions to be able to get the value of the asset in the ecosystem. And then be able to add value to that to transact on it. We don’t yet have those ingredients, so it becomes very challenging for us to accept the assets. A lot of the work that the bank has done over the past five years has been around embedding those elements into our day-to-day operations. It’s about understanding the risk profile of the coins and understanding the risk profile of the blockchains.”

Waqar’s team works on how to protect the ecosystem from risks from both an AML and KYC point of view. “We’re also making sure that by doing that we don’t create such a burden to the client that the service becomes useless,” he adds. “We’re trying to balance that out and that’s where the challenges lie at the moment. The next stage is to also be able to integrate all of our traditional cash and assets rails into this. And that’s where the next level of risks will come in… Where people are not used to seeing things on the blockchain… They are used to seeing things on the SWIFT network or a CSD. But when the blockchains come in, profiles will change and that’s where we have to meet the challenges.”

Traditional Meets Digital

For an asset manager with a variety of equities and bonds, but keen to start in crypto and other digital assets, the rails are very different… “The liquidity venues and the way you settle the instrument are very different. And they don’t naturally talk to each other,” confirms Waqar. “It’s a big challenge. But to be able to go with the provider that has all the capabilities, which includes the cash side, the asset side, the crypto side and the blockchain side, is something people are looking for now. Without having the end-to-end picture, it would be very difficult for our clients to have an equitable strategy for their clients. We need to be able to service them appropriately based on the rails they operate in.”

For Standard Chartered’s clients it’s increasingly important for payments to facilitate activity on-chain regardless of the use case of digital assets. “There is a key challenge with payments at the moment. If you do transfer value across geographies or between B2B and B2C, what do you do with that value afterwards?” asks Waqar.

“Are you going to keep it on the books for your treasury or account purposes or are you going to find a way to liquidate the position to pay your employees or pay your service provider? Without the capability to store the asset appropriately and then convert it into a usable form, you can’t do much with it. The only thing you can do is actually transfer value. So, for us what’s important in payments is that we get the transfer value happening immediately. Or as quickly as possible. And then also connect our payment infrastructure and the banking behind. We aim to support the transfer of value from a digital asset into an actual cash asset.”

Building on Success

Standard Chartered’s work with OKX in Dubai has spurred demand the bank didn’t expect. “The key ingredient is that a really large crypto exchange has come together with a really large bank,” reasons Waqar. “When you combine the product features of a large bank like ours with the liquidity of OKX it creates a unique proposition in the market. The traditional players have started to show interest in that because now they can buy diverse assets, pledge them as collateral and start trading while the assets remain safe in a genuine large institutional bank. And at the same time, they also have access to a highly regarded institutional exchange. That story is for us quite important and we’re fostering these relationships more and more…”

It’s been a real success story for Standard Chartered on the money market fund side which is also connected to what the bank is doing on the collateral side. “Money market funds are used to gain value and have an asset that does generate yield on the one side, but also the capability to use the asset as collateral is important,” adds Waqar.

“The money market fund that we launched for China Asset Management in Hong Kong, albeit it’s a retail use case for a start, but then the ambitions are big. The next thing is how do we start using that same asset for pledging for trading purposes and then how do we inject that into a portfolio basket of assets that people buy? At Standard Chartered, we aim to create a supermarket of tokens in a centralised ecosystem. So, our collateral story and the tokenised money market funds is connected, and we want to continue building around it. We’re thinking about other assets now too… We’re looking at equities, bonds and enabling more cryptocurrencies in the same ecosystem as well. It’s just the start of all the things we need to build in the future.”

Why Money20/20?

“This is my first time coming to Money20/20 Europe. Digital asset companies are here alongside financial services and related FinTechs. It’s great that they’re able to talk to each other and it’s quite evident there are lots of great meetings happening. There are many companies here we are either supporting or we’re working with. We’ve also had meetings with UK government representatives geared to attracting talent into the country. They’re trying to make sure that their FinTech ecosystem grows quite significantly for us in the UK and for other footprint markets in Asia; Middle East and Africa are also quite important in how we do that and continue to grow.”

The Evolution of Collaboration between Banks and FinTechs

Standard Chartered is also working in harmony with its ventures partner SC Ventures. The bank is working closely with Libeara for tokenisation and with Zodia Custody as Saas. “Our core institutional bank and our Ventures business are quite tightly coupled from that point of view,” says Waqar. “And it’s quite obvious that the reason for that is how we’ve made significant investments into them. We’ve given part of our DNA into this ecosystem and now, at the bank, they’re building the ecosystem around these capabilities, so we’re keen to bring them in and use their solutions for our services as well.”

Standard Chartered may be a traditional bank but it is a seasoned collaborator with innovative FinTechs. “They need traditional services too,” reasons Waqar. “Once they get to a critical mass, a FinTech may not have the bandwidth to manage certain client sizes. By partnering with some of the FinTechs, we’re seeing that once a certain size of a client comes in, they prefer to work with a large institution like ours. So, that partnership is proactively managed as well from our side. From our ventures side, bringing their innovative approach to product development and technology into the bank, building the ecosystem around risk management and governance from the bank side and then connecting into the FinTechs outside of that ecosystem is something I think is quite an interesting proposition for us. We’re going to keep building on top of that.”

Standard Chartered – Financing & Securities Services

Promoting your future in global securities

We’re ready to help you flourish in emerging and frontier securities services markets

In today’s fast-moving markets, especially  across Asia, Africa and Middle East, success isn’t just about the solutions you choose – it’s about the partnerships you build.

Standard Chartered has been committed to these regions for decades. We understand both the promise and challenges. That’s why we go beyond delivering end-to-end custody, fund, and fiduciary  solutions – we actively help shape the markets themselves.

By working with local governments and industry associations, we bring you early insights and access to new opportunities. Partnering with leading asset managers, fintechs, and infrastructure providers, we connect you to the best of the industry, via a single partner. Because in a world of complexity, collaboration is your greatest advantage.

Learn more at sc.com/en/corporate-investment-banking/financial-markets/financing-and-securities-services/

  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Events
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

1 August 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

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FinTech Strategy meets Ishtiaq M Ahmed, Senior Product Manager – Emerging Tech, Innovation & Ventures at HSBC, to learn more about the future of payments – real-time, cross-border and beyond

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

At the Financial Transformation Summit 2025, Ishtiaq M Ahmed, HSBC’s Senior Product Manager, for Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures, joined a panel with J.P. Morgan, Revolut, Lloyds and EY to explore how real-time payments, embedded finance and global collaboration are shaping the future of financial services. How are real-time payments reshaping banking infrastructure? What are the regulatory challenges for cross-border payments? How can banks compete with FinTechs in the rapidly evolving payments space? How are digital wallets and mobile payment platforms changing consumer spending behaviours?

We spoke with Ishtiaq after the session to explore what drives HSBC’s approach to innovation, how customer expectations are evolving, and why trust remains at the core of transformation.

Hi Ishtiaq, tell us about your role at HSBC?

“I work on Global Product within HSBC’s Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures team. Our focus is to deliver next-generation propositions, particularly across payments, embedded finance and frontier technologies. We work on horizon 2 and 3 initiatives, with a view to turning emerging ideas into viable, scalable solutions. The goal isn’t just to experiment. It’s to test, validate and shape innovations that will help us serve customers better and redefine how financial services operate in the years ahead.”

It’s a transformational time for payments with the rise of open banking and a national vision for the UK. Give us your overview…

“Payments is possibly the most loved area by both FinTechs and banks. A lot of what is happening in payments, it’s where a lot of meaningful innovation is already landing. It’s no longer theory or ideation, its practical and accelerating. The UK’s National Payments Vision is ambitious, and rightly so. But ambition needs alignment. We need stronger collaboration between Banks, FinTechs, Regulators and infrastructure service providers. This journey will take time and coordination. It’s more a marathon than a sprint, and we’re only just getting started.”

Why is this an exciting time for HSBC?

“Simply because the way technology has penetrated our lives and the influence of technology on how banking is evolving are very closely knitted. Technology is no longer on the edges of banking; it’s embedded in every customer interaction.”

“The shift towards alternative payment methods is one I feel strongly about. For decades, the path was linear: cash to cheque to card. Now, we’re entering a new chapter. Pay by Bank, or direct account-to-account payment, is gaining traction. Some regions have already scaled it. In the UK, it’s about to accelerate. This trend will unlock lower costs, faster movement of money and better control for users. It’s not just about technology. It’s about user experience and future-ready infrastructure.”

What other pain points are your customers experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“I think for customers it’s very simple. As a customer myself, I look for speed, ease, and simplicity in everything that I do. That’s universal. But what makes it complex today is the influence of AI, automation and data. People want innovation, but not at the expense of trust. So, while we innovate, we keep trust as the anchor. The real test is whether customers can do more, faster and easier, while still feeling their money is protected and their experience is safe. That’s the balance we aim to strike.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“We’re particularly proud of the work we’re doing on embedded payments. The goal is to make payments feel invisible – integrated into the environment the customer is already in. Whether that’s a retail website, a social app or a business platform, customers shouldn’t have to toggle across apps to complete a payment. We have already launched products in this space, and we’re continuing to build. It’s about making banking ambient – present where the customer is, not where the bank wants them to be.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“FinTechs bring urgency and imagination. Banks bring trust, infrastructure and scale. The opportunity is not in competing, but in co-creating. We have seen some encouraging partnerships, and we’re still working at the surface level. There’s a much deeper layer of value if we can move beyond tactical deals into genuine joint innovation.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for HSBC?

“Events like this are important because they bring together different voices with a shared interest in shaping the future. What stood out to me is how open the audience and panellists are to challenging ideas and exploring new perspectives. These are places where real conversations happen; where you meet regulators, banks, FinTechs and enablers all under one roof. It’s these intersections that move the industry forward.”

Learn more at ventures.hsbc.com

About HSBC Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures

HSBC Emerging Technology, Innovation & Ventures team is a global group of technologists, data scientists and venture specialist dedicated to shaping the banks future capabilities. Our goal is to deliver world class digital-first banking across HSBC’s global footprint.

Our mission is to drive meaningful innovation across the organisation by identifying and unlocking opportunities that enhance customer experience, improve operational efficiency and embrace disruptive technologies.

Our approach is rooted in experimentation, rapid prototyping, continuous iteration. By working closely with both internal and internal partners and external collaborators, we test and refine new ideas, prioritising solution that are scalable, impactful and aligned with the needs of our customers.

We actively partner with leading technology firms, FintTechs, academic institutions and policy makers to stay at the forefront of digital innovation and accelerate time to market.

By combining the scale, trust and resilience of HSBC with agility and mindset of a tech start-up, we aim to nurture transformative ideas, drive strategic innovation and shape the future of banking.

  • Digital Payments
  • Events
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

31 July 2025

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Read in brochure format

FinTech Strategy speaks with Matt Bazley, Account Executive at Hyland, to explore how the content intelligence and process automation specialists are helping to drive operational efficiencies for their financial services clients

Financial Transformation Summit 2025 EXCLUSIVE

Hyland empowers organisations with unified content, process and applications intelligence solutions, unlocking the profound insights that fuel innovation. The Hyland team was at Financial Transformation Summit to reveal the ways organisations can transform their processes with the Hyland Content Innovation Cloud™. By combining AI-powered automation with built-in integrations to productivity tools and business applications, Hyland streamlines workflows across multiple channels, accelerating response times, boosting productivity and improving customer satisfaction.

At the event, Neil Rayment, Sales Solution Engineer, demonstrated the intuitive end-user experience and showed how easy it is to configure, tailor and deploy solutions that can empower key stakeholders across any business. We spoke to Hyland’s Matt Bazley, Account Executive for Financial Services, to find out more…

Hi Matt, tell us about your role at Hyland?

“I’m the Account Executive responsible for banking across the UK and Ireland. I’ve been with the company for just over 18 months. Across my career, I’ve been helping financial services institutions for over 15 years with digital transformations and various programmes.”

What are the key digital transformation solutions Hyland offers Financial Services organisations? How are they making a difference? What are some of the use cases you’re exploring?

“Hyland is at the cutting edge of the content space. We have what we call our Content Innovation Cloud, which is delivering content intelligence, process intelligence and application intelligence. What that means in reality is that we’re helping organisations get access to their content that they don’t currently have access to because it’s spread over many siloed systems and sat in an unstructured format. So, with our content and intelligence, we’re able to get access to that unstructured data, which is around about 80% of an organisation’s data in the financial services sector. And we’re able to then provide knowledge and insight on that content, which helps organisations to make better strategic decisions. Allied to that, with this process intelligence, we’re able to help automate processes across the business. Whether it be orchestrating use cases and workflows or integrating with other systems to deliver application intelligence, we’re able to manage that whole end-to-end life cycle of information across an organisation.”

Why is this an exciting time for the business?

“We’re excited because our strategy is really leading the way. We’re leveraging large language models (LLMs) and AI to be able to deliver these real-life use cases that solve actual challenges. A lot of the time AI projects fail because businesses are trying to implement AI that isn’t actually a solution solving a problem. Whereas the AI we’re using is to actually solve a real-life challenge that businesses face because they want to be hyper-personalised for customers and more customer-centric. And you can’t really do that if you’re only leveraging 20% of the data you hold about your customers. And that’s why getting access and insight around this unstructured data is really vital for financial services organisations right now. We are able to help them leverage that unstructured data and meet them where their data is at. So, it’s not a case of having to migrate all of that data into different platforms or into our platform. We confederate across your information wherever it’s held as a financial services organisation; and that’s really a game-changing position for us and for the industry.”

“AI is the big one. Although it is a bit of a buzzword that everyone’s mentioning nowadays, we’re actually delivering AI solutions to solve problems that businesses face. And that’s one of the real trends in the industries. Most AI projects fail, and companies want AI projects that succeed and deliver real value. The other thing we’re seeing is the rise of hyper-personalisation as part of being really customer-focused and customer-centric. Again, by helping businesses leverage that 80% of information around their customers that they don’t currently have access to, and provide insights on that information, we’re helping those organisations to become really specific and personalised in their dealings with their customers.

“The final piece is around data and governance. So, security around our data as customers, because we’re all consumers at heart and want to know that our information is secure. Using best-in-class processes around security and governance is what we’re really focused on. And that’s a real trend in the market as well. We’re making sure that while we’re leveraging that information about customers, we’re keeping it safe and only using it for what it’s intended for and making sure the processes and governance around that information are really robust.”

What other pain points are clients in the FS space experiencing that you need to address? What are they asking you for help with? How are you meeting the challenge?

“The one big one is the siloed information across multiple systems as part of digital transformation strategies. Over the years, I’ve seen many businesses implement point solutions. They might be best-in-class point solutions… But that means you end up with information and data and processes across 10, 15 or 20 systems. How do you then unify that data and leverage it to make the user journeys more effective? And also the customer journeys better, whatever channel those customers are using?

“What we see is that while trying to be omnichannel for their customers, organisations end up with multiple solutions. One for their mobile app, a solution for their website, a solution for in-branch banking… So, you end up with omnichannel processes that are actually siloed processes. What we are trying to help businesses do is to unify those processes. We can break down those silos and make it a really seamless, integrated journey internally and externally for colleagues and customers.”

Tell us about a recent success story …

“A great example is our work with ABN AMRO – a bank that is one of our longstanding and valued customers. They were looking for a solution because of this very challenge. The bank had multiple siloed systems holding a lot of information and a very complex architecture. They went to market and Hyland was able to prove our solution was able to manage the sheer volume and complexity of the information and content that they had. And most importantly we were able to help them integrate with their line-of-business systems very easily to create that seamless internal/external journey for both users and customers.”

What’s next for Hyland? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“It’s all about continuing to grow for us. With the Content Innovation Cloud, the reception we’ve received from the market, from our customers, has been absolutely tremendous. Businesses are so excited to see the ability and capability of what we’re able to do. And what we’re able to deliver for them in terms of real value through the Content Innovation Cloud. We’ve got customers onboarded already. It’s now about expanding that list of customers who are going to see real value from leveraging the cloud, our AI solutions and driving efficiencies with our content process and application intelligence across their businesses.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and FinTechs is set to continue? What are you excited about?

“Across the market over the last 15-20 years the banks are starting to see FinTechs more as allies than competitors. And they’re leveraging these technologies rather than trying to challenge them. I think that’s going to continue because FinTechs are far more agile. And as customer expectations continue to evolve and become more demanding, banks need to evolve and deal with these demands more effectively and more fluidly. And that’s why leveraging FinTechs is going to be a key differentiator over the next 10 years. That trend is going to continue where banks and FinTechs work together and collaborate rather than challenge each other.”

Why Financial Transformation Summit? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to embrace innovation? What’s the response been like for Hyland?

“It’s my fourth year coming here with a couple of different companies and I always find this event really valuable. Not only to obviously promote our products and our brand… But to speak to key decision-makers and peers across financial services. We aim to learn from them about whether the challenges we perceive as a vendor are seen by them as a customer. We will continue to learn and evolve our business around key market challenges. Hyland can then focus our solutions around the real-world problems our peers are seeing across financial services. Coming to this event is a great way to meet as many people as possible. And just really enjoy having those meaningful conversations with leaders in the financial services sector.”

Learn more at hyland.com

About Hyland

Hyland puts your content to work, making it smarter and more accessible in the moment of need.

Hyland’s content, process and application intelligence solutions empower customers to deliver exceptional experiences to those they serve. The solutions capture, process and manage high volumes of diverse content, helping you improve, accelerate and automate operational decisions and workflows.

3 Core enterprise content management solutions

20+ Distinct product offerings

1,000s of ways to transform the way you work

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Events
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 October 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

FinTech Strategy spoke with Ryan O’Holleran, Head of Sales, Enterprise, EMEA at Airwallex, to learn about the global payments and financial infrastructure provider

Airwallex, a financial infrastructure provider, offers a range of services. Including multicurrency accounts, payment acceptance card issuing, foreign exchange (FX) payouts, treasury and expense management. In addition to supporting small and medium-sized businesses, the company also provides APIs and a software layer for direct access to enterprise businesses. As well as an enterprise platform product called Scale. Airwallex has found success working across various industries. It works with the likes of Bird (formerly MessageBird) to handle global accounts and backend treasury, and partners with Qantas to offer financial tools for their business partners.

The company also enables faster and more efficient payments through its patchwork network of financial partnerships and licenses. Airwallex has experienced significant growth even during economic downturns. As of August this year, Airwallex globally processed transactions worth more than $100 billion annually and saw a 73 percent year-on-year increase. It is now focused on embedded finance solutions and global expansion.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with Airwallex’s Head of Sales, Enterprise, EMEA, Ryan O’Holleran, to find out more…

Tell us about the genesis of Airwallex?

“Our co-founder, Jack Zhang, started a coffee company in Melbourne, Australia, which is still around today, with a few friends from university. And while they were building out this coffee shop, they were buying beans from abroad, along with supplies and packaging. They found how hard it was to actually pay for services, send funds abroad and deal with multiple currencies. So, they saw an opportunity to help streamline the financial infrastructure for small businesses. That’s when Jack and his co-founders put Airwallex together and built out an initial SME’s use case to allow multicurrency accounts and FX payouts. Since then, the business has really expanded…

Today, Airwallex provides a set of APIs – we’re really providing financial infrastructure to move money globally. On those APIs, we also have a layer of software that we can offer direct access to enterprise businesses. The third part of this, which is kind of the new product over the last three years, is our enterprise platform product called Scale. Scale allows you to embed those financial services into a product as well as a platform or marketplace. So, you kind of think about it as a direct treasury product, APIs and a platform product.”

Tell us about your role at Airwallex?

“I’m originally from San Francisco, grew up in the Bay area, started in tech, did a couple of startups, and I actually got into payments via Stripe. I joined Stripe back when there were about 200 employees in San Francisco. Spent some time in Chicago and then moved to the UK initially with Stripe. I was there for about five and a half years, as we went from 200 staff to 6,000. At that point, I wanted to get back to something a little bit different. To help more cross-functioning with product and help scale businesses. The opportunity with Airwallex came along where I saw the company addressing many things my customers at Stripe were asking for.

So, the FX piece, mass payouts, treasury, all complimented what Stripe is doing with acquiring. Since I joined the team three years ago, we’ve been scaling across EMEA. We now have offices in London, Amsterdam, Vilnius and just last year launched our office in Tel Aviv to cover Israel. And we have teams in the Americas and APAC where Airwallex was founded.”

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are companies asking you to solve? In doing so, what are the challenges for Airwallex?

“We work in different areas. This is where I think we have differentiated the business and also where I see the industry moving. If you look back over the last five, 10 years, there was this approach where you had Stripe and all the major players coming in and saying, we can do things and we can do it really well and you only need to use us, you don’t need to use a patchwork of providers. I think that is starting to shift. You see this with orchestration layers like Primer or Gravy, allowing people to be agnostic on PSPs. And then you’re seeing people think about redundancy. So, the heads of payments we’re talking to this week are looking at two or three providers because they need redundancy or want to use the best provider in each region. They don’t want to be siloed.

Airwallex can be used in a segmented approach. So, if you just need us for payouts, you can do that. If you just need us for FX, you can do that. If you just need us for acquiring, you can do that. Or we could do that globally and you can adjust as you see fit. So, the flexibility of Airwallex I think is one of our superpowers.”

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships Airwallex has been involved in…

“The interesting thing about Airwallex is that since we’re providing financial infrastructure, there’s a huge variety of customers we work with. One of the local ones is Bird (a cloud communications platform that connects enterprises to their global customers). Using our software product they are creating global accounts, handling backend treasury, payroll, suppliers and more. We’ve also worked with Qantas to build out an SMB solution embedding all of the Airwallex financial services and they call it Qantas Business Money.          

Elsewhere, Brex in the US were looking for a provider to help with their payout rails. One of the things Airwallex has done is rebuilt the Swift network via local rails. So, we have a patchwork network of financial partnerships and licences where if you are located, let’s say in the US, but you want to pay somebody out in the UK, you get access to faster payment rails having never set foot in the UK or separate rails via Europe having never set foot in the EU. So, you get this mass payoff solution of local rails, which is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than using something like Swift.”

“I think where we’re seeing a lot of opportunities, in EMEA specifically, in B2B, vertical, SaaS, travel and marketplaces, is this embedded finance solution. It was kind of a buzzword a few years ago and now we’re actually starting to see it develop. I view it as actually embedding all of these financial services – whether it be a wallet, issued cards, or local multi-currency accounts – and being able to monetize that. So, we’re seeing this with a lot of our customers actually wanting to white label our products, embed that and bring payments on platform.”

And what’s next for Airwallex? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“The growth of Airwallex, specifically on a global scale, over the last few years is one thing I’m very proud of because it’s happened during one of the worst economic downturns we’ve experienced. FinTech was almost retracting in terms of budgets and investments. You’re starting to see the tide turn, but we were able to grow over 100 percent year on year, through some of the toughest times for business. And now we’re really starting to see that pick up because the businesses, who actually decided this is going to be a building year for us now, they’re going live, they’re accelerating, they’re growing.

And so we’re seeing the ROI of that investment. It’s a testament to the global financial infrastructure we’ve built. Meanwhile, Airwallex became cash flow positive in 2023. It now processes more than $100 billion in annualised transaction volume. The company now employs over 1,500 people worldwide working across 23 international offices.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Airwallex?

“The great thing about Money20/20, here in Europe, and in Asia and the US, is the good division between buyers and sellers. So, you have all these service providers like Airwallex, Amex, etc… And then you have the Heads of Payments from companies like Booking.com, Vinted and SumUp who are coming here with their teams to meet with providers. If you think about that from a sales perspective, those meetings are very hard to get outside of this environment. But over a week you get 15 different meetings each day that would normally take months to arrange. So, the ROI from this week is really powerful just from being able to have these conversations. Three years ago, we first came to suss out the event and as we’ve grown the response has grown. People are being proactive and keen to engage with us which is exciting to see.”

  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

19 September 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

FinTech Strategy spoke with Zak Lambert, Product Lead for Plaid in Europe, to find out more about the world-leading data network and payments platform

Plaid offers the world’s largest open finance platform. Plaid specialises in bank connectivity and provides a single API for customers to integrate with banks around the world. They have had innovative success stories working with companies like Western Union and MoneyBox. Plaid see opportunities around current trends such as account-to-account payments, variable recurring payments, and cash flow underwriting for businesses and consumers.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with Plaid’s Product Lead for Europe, Zak Lambert, to learn more…

Tell us about Plaid…

“I work in product management for Plaid in Europe. We’re the world’s largest open finance platform operating across 20 markets in Europe and North America. Back in 2019 when we first launched in Europe our bread and butter was bank connectivity. Integrating with over 10,000 banks through a single API. We still provide that connectivity in one API for our customers. Millions of users go through that journey every day for a number of different use cases.

Building on the core bank connectivity capabilities, we’ve spent the last few years building localised value added services. We launched underwriting services to help companies such as YouLend provide more credit with less risk. We optimised our Pay by Bank offering so companies like Western Union can provide instant transfers with higher thresholds, and companies like PokerStars can provide seamless and instant payouts.

Tell us about your role at Plaid?

“I was part of the team that started Plaid in New York and opened the office there. I did a variety of things from helping customers integrate, building new products, working with sales teams, and anything else that would help us grow, About a year after that, I moved over to London to be the first person on the ground there. Fast forward five years and I’m delighted to be the head of product in Europe. I’ve been with the company for about five and a half years. Overall, it’s just been an exciting journey from a hundred people to more than a thousand now.”

Talk about some of the successful integrations Plaid is involved in…

“We recently announced that we’re working with Western Union across Europe to fund transfers, whether that’s someone depositing in the UK and Germany, Italy or Spain. Plaid is powering account to account payments for Western Union across their various use cases. Particularly when you look at the growing trend around account-to-account payments and pay by bank, we’re thrilled to be working with brands of that caliber. Since launch we’ve seen hockey stick growth for their customer adoption of pay by bank. This shows trust and reliability of the open banking ecosystem which we’re excited to be a part of. We are also delighted to be supporting MoneyBox, one of the largest fintechs in the UK. They handle millions of transactions to fund and create ISAs. Moneybox have launched VRP (Variable Recurring Payments) through Plaid in order to optimise their customer flows and have more reliability in customer recurring payments. With our new flow, users can go through the journey once, set up their consent, and then money can move in the background. It’s like a card on file with a bank account. We see this as a significant trend in the coming years in the UK specifically, and then across Europe as that product set develops.”

The UK has always been an early adopter of open banking but we’re now seeing a surge in demand from mainland Europe. We are currently live in 18 markets in Europe and continue to focus on our reliability and depth in each market to ensure we can meet that demand.

This year, we’ve learned more about how our customers want to use VRP (Variable Recurring Payments). In June, we launched Moneybox’s VRP proposition to enable them to relaunch their Payday Boost offering which was previously restricted by direct debit limitations. Every week we’re having more and more conversations on VRP use cases. 

We’re also excited about how open banking and fintech more broadly can help make financial access more inclusive. For example, open banking can help the underserved get more access to credit by using real-time data to inform underwriting decisions. At Plaid, we’ve built specific products to do this such as the Financial Insights Report that companies such as Capital on Tap are already using to inform their decisioning programmes.

And what’s next for Plaid? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“There are three areas I would highlight… First, pay by bank globally for Plaid. You look at Western Union, they’re probably not the first company to adopt something, but the second they adopt something it probably is about to hit mainstream. That’s significant volume. They’re one of the world’s oldest companies. They’ve been fantastic to work with. So, as that trust and familiarity start coming into play, people that aren’t Western Union come and say, okay, we’ve seen this experience. It was really good. We want it now. We’re working with our teams across the globe to bring that to life for North America and Europe in the simplest way possible. It’s really exciting.

“Second, we have the significant opportunity to bring lending into the 21st century. Particularly because of the third thing, which is the Plaid network. We’ve touched hundreds of millions of consumers. We’ve spent a long time building products to make payments easy and to make underwriting easy. And now we’re in the third phase… We have all of these users, this large network, so how can we make this even simpler for people? And just giving smoother experiences when the user is actually in the workflow. So, boosting conversion, delivering network style experiences in the same way that other network businesses do.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Plaid?

“This is my sixth straight Money20/20 and it gets busier every year! It’s great to learn more about the ecosystem at large. You can see developing trends each year, and it’s always a little bit different. You build relationships at Money20/20 that stay with you for the rest of your life. And it’s a perfect opportunity to meet people in the flesh that you might normally only see on screen. You can get a pretty direct read on what they’re working on and it’s exciting to be here making new connections.”

  • Digital Payments
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

19 August 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

FinTech Strategy met with Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO at BKN301, to discuss digital payment services connecting North Africa, the…

FinTech Strategy met with Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO at BKN301, to discuss digital payment services connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.              

BKN301 Group is a London based fintech provider that offers Banking-as-a-Service, connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The company aims to address the financial inclusion gap in these regions. It provides digital payment and banking platforms to unbanked populations. BKN301 has successfully partnered with fintechs in Egypt and Qatar, serving millions of customers and providing access to financial services. They are also focused on expanding their market in Europe. The company aims to become a leader in the industry and bridge the gap between Europe and the Middle East.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with BKN301 Founder & CEO Stiven Muccioli to find out more…      

Tell us about the genesis of BKN301…

“I launched the company in 2021 with the vision to create the biggest tech provider for a digital banking service connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. We are looking at the demographic sheet of the world… In Europe, we are overserved by the banking system and it’s quite tough to create new projects in the FinTech space. It’s hard to scale past Europe, into the Middle East and North Africa. Ours is an operation in its early stages. There is a huge penetration with mobile devices in the Middle East and North Africa, but at the same time there are a huge amount of people unbanked.

So, we have created the platform to allow digital banks to start fast and with low cost. Basically, we are the ‘backbone’ for the new digital banking era in the Middle East and North Africa. We also work with many companies across Europe. However, we are very focused on the connection between the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Also, we are focused on the remittances business and cross-border payments because many working abroad in Europe don’t have access to the banking system in Europe. And there are many digital banks in Europe trying to fulfil this gap for new customers.”

Tell us about your career journey…

“I began 15 years ago in the startup business and founded two other companies. The first one, Tippest, was a copycat of Groupon in Italy. This was founded with a group of friends in 2011 and we were able to scale successfully, leading to its sale in 2015. Following that, I moved to the US where I spent some time as an angel investor. In 2016 I came back to Italy to start a new company. It was a corporate venture operation inside of the Iccrea Bank, one of the biggest banking groups in Italy. We created a company named Ventis. It delivered the first super application that merged e-commerce and the digital bank.

We created a platform capable of delivering an e-commerce service, and at the same time digital banking services, payment cards, accounts and more. We managed this part of the business for the Group and reached good numbers. In 2020, we sold the company and today it is the third biggest payment player in Italy.”

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships BKN301 has been involved in…

“We have seen great successes with key partners such as Damen. Damen is a e-payment company in Egypt serving 18 million customers. Thanks to our technology, they are able today to provide a digital payment application to millions of Egyptians. They are now connected and have access to a range of financial services to save money and receive remittances from Europe and across the Gulf. A very successful story in terms financial inclusion.

It’s the same in Qatar where we serve a partner that provides service to labourers and construction workers – there are around 700,000 such workers in Qatar. A good example of financial inclusion because we provide the platform for a low-cost digital banking platform connecting unbanked people to Europe.”

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are companies asking you to solve?

“At BKN301, we’re focused on our technology and building an ecosystem based on APIs so we’re able to provide those APIs to digital banks – with us, they save time and money. So, the integration cost is far less than a traditional integration cost. They’re able to work multi-market because we are in different markets and they won’t have any legacy agreement with big corporates. We provide APIs so they can develop and use them for core banking and processing.”

“Every year there is a new wave of news, but we don’t know how long each trend will it last… A couple of years back blockchain was at the core and everyone want to add a feature, sometimes without any reason. Now it’s the same with AI. To build a concrete platform on AI or on blockchain, you need many years, and a lot of investment, to be focused. I don’t believe companies that come out after six months saying they are now AI based. It’s impossible to build a real platform based on AI that quickly. We need to define the real companies. So, which one has the mature technology. It’s a good wave and I think there is a huge need. For example, anti-money laundering controls driven by AI could be a game changer.”

And what’s next for BKN301? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“This year we want to get more established in the market in Europe, so we will be focused on expansion. The goal for us is to become the door, the access bridge, between Europe and the Middle East. We aim to become a backbone for the new financial ecosystem across the region.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do?

“Every year there is a new wave of news… A couple of years ago blockchain was at the core and everyone wanted to add some feature on blockchain, sometimes without any reason. And now it’s the same with AI. To build a concrete platform on AI, or on blockchain, you need to be focused for years and have a lot of investment – it can’t be done in six months. So, as with blockchain, we need to define the companies making real progress with established technology based on AI, the same as we did with blockchain. It’s a good wave that can meet a huge need, for example with anti-money laundering controls, and Money20/20 is a great place to learn more about where the industry is at today.”                                                                           

  • Digital Payments
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

25 July 2024

Estimated Read time

6Mins

FinTech Strategy met with Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Partnerships at Paymentology, to discover more about the global issue processor.

Banks, digital banks and fintechs, around the world, trust Paymentology to issue and process all forms of cards and transactions, at scale. Paymentology offers a cloud-based platform, rich data, a global footprint and proven track record powering industry leaders and game-changers.

A global issuer processor with on the ground teams in 50+ countries across 14 time zones, Paymentology’s founders saw that the payments industry was stagnant and limited, in both capability and ambition.

In March 2021, Tutuka and Paymentology merged, resulting in a ‘payments and card processing powerhouse’. The merger combined the ultra-advanced, multi-cloud platform of Paymentology with the global reach and experience of Tutuka to revolutionise cloud-based processing globally. 

Tutuka was traditionally a financial services company, that provided payment processing technologies, software and services, and application programming interfaces (APIs) for e-commerce and digital transacting across countries in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, while Paymentology processed for legacy banks in Europe and the UK. The merger enabled banks and fintechs to integrate into a single API, go live and issue cards almost anywhere in the world.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with Global Head of Partnerships, Merusha Naidu, to find out more…

Tell us about the genesis of Paymentology?

“Paymentology is a global neo processor. We work with banks and fintechs to help them issue their own cards, whether prepaid, debit or credit, virtual or physical. The beauty of the platform is that it’s fully cloud native. So, we’re scalable. We’re focused on speed to market so when you are working with a fintech, or a digital bank, it’s all about two things. How do you innovate? And then how do you go live quickly? Those are two areas of the business that we really focus on. Not only is our tech state of the art, with everything built in the cloud, all of our infrastructure is also in the cloud, including things like our connection to schemes.

We were the very first issuer processor to connect to Visa Cloud Connect, via cloud endpoints in Europe. Being first in embracing modern practices, we ensure our processes are next-generation, thanks to our fully cloud-native and digital infrastructure.

What makes us different? We operate across UK, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia Pacific; we are truly global, operating across all five regions. One of the things that makes that possible is our tech. A customer can integrate with us once and then launch across five regions if they wanted to, or multi-market rollouts. We offer a huge ability to scale using integration. Our customers are able to replicate that digital first experience across every single jurisdiction. So, whether it’s Kenya and Dubai and then Saudi Arabia and Portugal, they can have the same experience across the world.”

Tell us about your role at Paymentology?

“I’ve been with Paymentology for 14 years. Prior to taking up my current role as Global Head of Partnerships, I was the Regional Head of Asia Pacific. So, when you look at partnerships, I was asked a question recently at a talk: ‘What would my message be to issuers across the industry?’ My message is that you can’t do it alone. If you want to create truly scalable, innovative solutions, you’ve got to work with partners and collaborate with the best in class. We know we are best in class when it comes to issuer processing, but we also create ecosystem partners that close the gap when it comes to creating really valuable payment ecosystems.

Whether it’s top core banking providers, leading cloud services, or premier card manufacturers, these are the partners we collaborate with. This allows us to confidently assure our customers that we work with the best, to deliver the best, across the entire value chain.”

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships Paymentology has been involved in…

“We were the first company to deliver flip card technology for our client Mox. Paymentology embedded its global processing capability into the platform, to enable Mox to launch its ground-breaking feature to ‘flip’ between debit and credit spending on the all-in-one Mox card. This allows you to have one physical card, one virtual card number, but in the background, we link it to two different accounts.

It gives the customer real flexibility around how they can spend, because if it’s everyday purchases, they can use their debit account or their prepaid account. If they have larger purchases, they can switch in the app and use their credit facility. So, it really gives customers flexibility and choice – two things at the heart of what we do.

“Cross-border payments for us is key. Meanwhile, everyone talks about being digital first. For us, tokenisation has helped and we have a superior partner, MeaWallet, to help us deliver this. Elsewhere, crypto has been seen as a sore point but it’s coming back and people again want that flexibility. So, having a way for customers to spend their crypto, converting crypto to free apps and making sure that data is at the heart of all that. It’s about learning about our customers, understanding what our customers want and using our data to make informed decisions, or giving our customers data so that they can make the decisions.”

And what’s next for Paymentology? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“We’re excited about being able to deliver flexibility, control, agility. Because the Paymentology platform is so agile, in the future you will be able to plug in even more different components into the offering. So, a customer can add in rewards and loyalty points. For example, airlines have a platinum MasterCard product, so it opens them up to all of the MasterCard loyalty rewards, airport lounges, all of those benefits. It’s all about being innovative and keeping up with that innovation and growing with customers.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Paymentology?

“Paymentology is headquartered in the UK so it’s important for us to make sure we’re representing business across Europe. This is the centre of the world for banking innovation. People look to this event to really learn about what’s happening in the industry globally and discover what trends are going to come up. What should we be doing? How can we innovate together and learn from each other? That’s one of the things I really love about Money20/20; the talks in all of the panels are so interesting and I always leave knowing more. Being in the payments industry, and especially being an issuer processor, it’s important for us to learn from the industry and understand where we need to move so that we can stay at the forefront of developments.”

  • Digital Payments
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

17 July 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

FinTech Strategy spoke with Craig Ramsay, MD for Business Development at Episode Six, to learn about its approach to partnering to create payment products customers will love

Episode Six (E6) have a deep understanding of the industry pain points and a vision of the enormous opportunity in the paytech arena. The three co-founders of E6 came together in 2015 to build and launch TRITIUM® – a platform that helps banks and fintechs leave legacy behind and build payments products their customers love.

From there, they attracted several visionary allies within key payments industry players to support E6, as they built a global team to bring their vision to market. They currently have employees in 35+ countries and support clients across five continents.

During Money20/20 Europe we spoke with Chris Ramsay, MD for Business Development at Episode Six, to learn more…

Tell us about the genesis of Episode Six?

“We are a mature business not a startup. We’ve been going nine years. Furthermore, we’re series C and have raised over £97 million across three rounds. The last round was in March 2023. We’re actually a secure reliable FinTech. We work with the likes of HSBC and can meet that reliability change for banks who might be wondering whether a solution provider will still be around in two years. E6 has 180 employees globally. We operate in Asia, the US and we’re growing fast in Europe.

Additionally, we see huge growth in this space and we’re really excited – it’s one of the reasons I joined from HSBC nine months ago. At E6, we love to solve customer problems, and a customer problem has payment as a component. We want to make that customer journey a better experience in a safe and secure way. Banks want to do that. Companies want to do that. People just need the technology to be able to do it well. And we think we’re able to support that now and in the future.”

Tell us about your role at Episode Six?

“I joined from HSBC where I was the innovation head on the corporate side for the bank speaking to a lot of the verticals. And every time I spoke to hospitality, healthcare, or telcos, they were asking about how can you actually do intake as a bank… And the bank’s response is that they would love to do that, but they’re not fintechs. I got a bit frustrated by trying to always push for change. Yet there is a different way. And that way is for banks to actually think about E6 as a partner. We provide technology. We’re a technology company. We have a ledger that allows you to actually take lots of different products to sit alongside your core business, and then we can do the issuing and processing.

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are they asking you to solve? In doing so, what are the challenges for Episode Six?

“We are now deploying into the Middle East and recently launched within Saudi Arabia. Our technology can pretty much be used in every country. And what’s interesting, I’m a banker and I know that everybody likes to make things complicated. The payments process does not have to be complicated. You can simplify it. People who are buying into our services start from addressing their customer problems. They’re keen to solve them and don’t want, or need, to understand all the ins and outs of payments. They just want to be able to get things done. And that’s where again, we try and focus a lot of our effort. So, it’s the people aspect of our company we’re proud of because we are bringing cross industry knowledge combined with technology to actually have a bit of fun.

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships Episode Six has been involved in…

Japan Airlines

“Japan Airlines is one of the companies that we power. You download the Japanese Airlines app when you’re booking your flights. And if you’re a regular customer you get points like you do with BA. And they also have a multicurrency wallet within their app that’s linked to a card. That card is powered by a bank and has 15 currencies on it, along with the loyalty points. So, the card can be used outside of Japan as a normal debit card and handles the currency conversion. We have Revolut in Europe and they have an inbuilt multicurrency app in Japan airlines and link to loyalty points.

So, for the Japanese Airlines customer, they don’t have to worry about being embarrassed about not having the right currency abroad and plan how they will actually be able to spend their money. Our platform also enables FX rates to be changed. For example, Platinum Japanese Airlines customers get better FX rates. All of this creates a great customer experience, but it’s the flexible technology that’s making things happen.”

A-Tono

“We have also just launched with A-Tono in Italy. Italians love real Cash, but even so digital payments grew 12% last year compared to 2022, totalling €444bn, up from €397bn. It represents a huge opportunity for payment solutions providers and retailers.  A-Tono wants to deliver prepaid card offerings across many verticals: transit, gift cards, post offices and more. They needed the right technology to be able to make these offerings. You take a card and load money onto it – we power that for A-Tono. We’ve actually migrated all of their existing customers onto our platform. They want to stand out as the innovator in digital payments in Italy where Italians don’t have many choices.

By integrating E6’s powerful enterprise-grade payment processing and ledger technology, A-Tono can now offer its clients, which span a number of sectors in Italy, access to the latest global payment capabilities. Switching to E6 has broadened the services A-Tono is able to offer clients when it comes to payments processing and solutions, giving them more flexibility, choice and revenue streams.

Together, E6 and A-Tono will offer clients easy access to the most innovative payment solutions, integrated seamlessly into their existing infrastructure to provide secure, scalable and best in class customer-centric experiences. 

Whatever the size of the company, whatever the region, we want to be involved in solving customer problems.”

“Everybody says cheques are going to go, they’ve been saying that for years but it’s actually happening. Not in the US, but digital payments are on the rise and it’s not just card payments. You’ve got wallet payments and the likes of PayPal, people don’t want physical cash. I don’t think the large retail brands have found a real solution. When you see what’s on offer at events like Money20/20 there are lots of people who can actually solve problems and it’s the collaboration I get excited about. What I’ve seen change over the last three or four years is that the Visas, the Mastercards and the big banks are looking to find small organisations like us to figure out how to solve their problems.”

And what’s next for Episode Six? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“The great thing is that we can go fast. We’re able to take a customer opportunity today and be delivering it and in market by the end of the year. That growth is consolidating our position that we are a technology company that can be trusted. We’re here to stay, but it’s the people that are employed by E6 that are really going to be the difference about why we are chosen versus some of our competitors. It’s not just about technology, it’s about trust and it’s about partnership because everybody wants their money to be transferred safely. And we can be trusted because we’re already trusted by the big banks.

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Episode Six?

“Networking is really important for us as a small company. I wander around the stands here and there are lots of people who can actually solve problems and it’s the collaboration I get quite excited about. What I’ve seen change over the last three or four years is that the big banks are looking to find small organisations like us to figure out how to solve their payments problems. And that’s different to when I was working for a bank only a few years ago. You just have to be here at Money20/20… What I’m seeing, since we returned after Covid, is how many people from different parts of the world are coming here to actually talk to each other in person. If you’re not here at Money20/20, then it’s actually hard to be relevant in this industry.”

  • Digital Payments
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 July 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

FinTech Strategy hears from Till Wirth, EVP of Product at Wise Platform, to find out more about its mission to make international payments fast, low-cost, convenient and transparent

At Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, Till Wirth, EVP of Product at Wise Platform, took part in an impactful session titled “From Personal Payments to Enterprise: The Changing World of Cross-Border.” Wirth’s panel talk focused on the transformative trends in cross-border payments and their implications for both personal and enterprise financial transactions.

“Wise is a global technology company building the best way to move money around the world. Wise Platform is Wise – but for banks, large businesses and other major enterprises.

We allow our partners to embed the best way to send, receive and manage money internationally into their existing infrastructure, creating value for their business and customers.

Over the past decade, Wise (formerly known as Transferwise) has built a global payments infrastructure that has revolutionised how money moves around the world. Now, thanks to Wise Platform, other companies can gain access to our industry-leading, reliable service seamlessly.

We save partners time and money by allowing them to deploy new products and services to customers seamlessly, helping them to speed up innovation and serve, retain, and grow their customer base.”

FinTech Strategy spoke with Wirth to learn more…

Tell us about the genesis of Wise… Why is this an exciting time for the company?

“For us at Wise, it’s all about continuing towards our mission of making international payments fast, low-cost, convenient and transparent for our customers and partners.

It’s an exciting time for us as we’ve moved over £118bn on behalf of our 12.8 million active customers in the last financial year and helped them save more £1.8bn in fees. Over 62% of Wise’s transfers are completed instantly (in 20 seconds or less). Wise Platform, our global payments infrastructure for banks and enterprises is growing quickly, too, which allows us to bring the benefits of Wise to more people around the world.”

Tell us about your role…

“I lead the Wise Platform Product team building the global payments infrastructure for banks, financial institutions and enterprises around the world. For example, my team built the product behind the collaboration we announced with Swift last year.”

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are they asking you to solve?

“Consumers now expect their cross-border payments to be instant, convenient and transparent. And they are moving to providers they can trust to provide these services. As a result, we’re seeing banks focusing on retaining and winning back their customers through improving their cross-border payments experience. This is exactly what Wise Platform is helping them to do.

We work with more than 85 partners globally, including Bank Mandiri, Indonesia’s largest bank by assets, Shinhan Bank, one of South Korea’s oldest and largest national banks, and GMO in Japan to provide them with the capabilities, technology and network to enable fast, secure and cost-effective international payments for their customers. Quickly, directly from their own apps, without any major technical overhaul.”

Tell us about a recent success story…

“In June this year, Wise Platform hit a major milestone when our integration with Nubank, the world’s largest digital banking platform with over 100 million customers, went live.

Thanks to our partnership, Nubank’s premium Ultraviolet customers can now access multi-currency accounts and debit cards powered by Wise directly from their Nubank app. Customers benefit from a convenient user experience that we’ve tested and iterated over the years for our own customers to seamlessly manage their finances internationally.”

Why do you think the evolution of collaboration between banks and fintechs is set to continue?

“One of the reasons is that while banks have scale, they can gain agility in non core focus areas by working with fintechs and deliver significant customer benefits quickly.

Most banks have been built to focus on domestic banking, meaning their global cross-border payments are often not a priority. However, fintechs are better able to specialise and focus on one specific customer pain point. This means they can innovate much more quickly.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? What’s the response been like for Wise?

“It’s a great event that brings the industry together and enables us to discuss the progress we’re collectively making. This year in particular, it was great to be on a panel to discuss how the cross-border payments landscape is evolving and the latest trends we’re seeing. We look forward to the upcoming event in the US later this year.”

  • Digital Payments
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

10 July 2024

Estimated Read time

8Mins

FinTech Strategy met with Gurdeep Singh Kohli, one of SC Ventures’ founding partners, to find out more about its focus on investment, innovation, and venture building

SC Ventures is a business unit of Standard Chartered Bank that focuses on investment, innovation, and venture building. Unlike other corporate venture capital unts (CVC), SC Ventures not only invests in fintechs but also builds its own independent ventures. The unit has three main objectives… To rewire the DNA of banking, to invest in fintechs that have a strategic fit with the bank, and to drive a culture of innovation across the bank’s employees.

SC Ventures has launched several successful ventures in areas such as Digital Assets, Online Economy & Lifestyle, Sustainability & Inclusion and SMEs & World Trade. The unit embraces challenges in terms of governance, talent, and scaling the ventures. In terms of future trends, SC Ventures is interested in exploring the application of AI and the potential of the metaverse in commerce and education.

During Money 20/20 Europe we met with Gurdeep Singh Kohli, one of SC Ventures’ founding members, to find out more…

Tell us about the genesis of SC Ventures?

“SC Ventures is the investment, innovation and venture building arm of Standard Chartered Bank. Our purpose, the vision statement, is to rewire the DNA in banking. A need that we are increasingly hearing from our clients. Importantly, SC Ventures is not like any other CVC unit you may come across in the corporates, or even banks. Most of them just have a CVC unit, which is an investment unit into fintechs. But what we have is also a venture building arm; it’s what differentiates SC ventures from many other CVCs.

Venture building is where we build our own businesses and these are set up as independent ventures. Going forward, many of them will actually have their own stand here at Money 20/20 as independent ventures. We are also a bit different from an investment perspective. Sc Ventures only invests in fintechs… We work with so many CVCs set up with a pure financial objective. However, SC Ventures only invests in a fintech that has proven itself with the bank or with one of our other ventures.

So, there needs to be a strategic fit first before we make an investment. Another of our objectives is to drive the culture of innovation across the 85,000 people we have at the bank. And as a part of that, we run an intrapreneurship programme where the bank can throw challenges for employees in the bank to participate and come up with ideas. We take them through training and then we put those ideas into production. We have been delivering against these three objectives – venture building, Fintech investment and intrapreneurship – since the inception of SC Ventures six years ago.”

Talk about your role at SC Ventures?

“I’m one of the founding members of SC Ventures with CEO Alex Manson right from day zero. Alex and I drafted the blueprint for SC Ventures which got endorsed in 2017. We set up in 2018 and I have played multiple roles over these last six years. Today, I’m an Operating Member and lead for Europe and the Americas. During the last six years I’ve set up the venture building practice where we started incubating a few ventures. The few have become quite a few! I’ve also played a part in developing our strategy and I’m now responsible for the intrapreneurship program. I also serve on the board of the ventures we launch and as an Operating Member, overseeing the performance of these ventures.”

What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are they asking you to solve? In doing so, what are the challenges for SC Ventures?

“Our portfolio is spread across four high conviction themes: Digital Assets, Online Economy & Lifestyle, Sustainability & Inclusion and SMEs & World Trade. Venture building in itself is a challenge. It requires a venture building mindset to achieve progress in stages.

We created an alternate governance model to allow the decision making for venture building to be faster and more nimble. Meanwhile, we maintain institutional grade security from a risk, compliance and security mindset and are actually among the best in the market. This is something smaller fintech companies do not have. Another challenge we face is talent. It is very important to have these ventures led by people who also understand banking, not just tech. A combination of people from within and outside the bank is required to be successful. Obviously, the ability to scale is another key challenge as we look at the sales cycle for developing many of these capabilities.”

Tell us about some of SC’s successful ventures…

“Online Economy & Lifestyle has seen some of our biggest success stories with the digital bank Mox, which operates in Hong Kong. We have also built a Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) business called Audax which is live and now opening up to new clients. And we are looking at some of the onboarding solutions in the UAE with a venture called Appro.

Within SMEs & World Trade, we took a different approach. We did not lead with financing, we led with commerce. Because the problem statement from the client was ‘help us grow and then you can give us financing’. Traditionally, the banks have led with financing, but the SMEs have told us they can manage financing and want us to help them grow so that financing follows. We’ve responded by building a B2B commerce platform for SMEs called Solv. It’s been very successful from a scale perspective in India; and we are entering other markets. We also have ventures like Olea and TASConnect, for supply chain management, and Olea which helps distribute trade assets to institutional investors. So, that’s the bridge which Olea is creating.

For Sustainability & Inclusion, SC Ventures is partnering with ENGIE Factory on a startup to bolster funding for conservation projects. The venture will leverage emerging technology to identify, evaluate and drive capital into critical conservation efforts worldwide.

Across Digital Assets, our biggest ventures are Zodia Custody and Zodia Markets, creating institutional grade capability for custodying cryptocurrencies and digital assets and for institutional trading.”

“The financial world moves on and the recent focus on crypto and payments has shifted to how AI can impact the future for financial services.

There is an element of what can we do in the field of metaverse. And there is an element of the application of metaverse for commerce and the application of it for learning. Another key theme is not AI in terms of tech but AI in terms of application which we are interested in. What we are doing now is creating a centre of excellence in SC Ventures for the bank. It will find out the use cases of AI within banking. We are already seeing examples of applying use cases of AI in compliance. So, we are working on a capability which can make the compliance or regulatory change management much easier by applying AI.

In my opinion, AI is at the stage where blockchain was a few years ago… You kept on hearing the word blockchain. But my simple brain said, ‘Blockchain is the tech, but tell me the application.’ I think AI is at that stage where people are leading with AI, but then AI will be replaced by the word, which is the application of it. And that is very natural for the evolution to happen. But I think everybody’s going to benefit.”

And what’s next for SC Ventures? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“We have also created an Innovation Bridge (currently known as the FinTech Bridge) which connects fintechs to the banks. I’m leading on this unique proposition which doesn’t exist anywhere else right now in the market. Initially this bridge was only for Standard Chartered, which is the bank calling out to the fintechs to find solutions to their problems. Now, we are opening up this bridge for other banks to pose challenges. So far, we have 4,000 fintechs registered on the bridge.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to SC Ventures?

“It’s the first time I’ve attended Money 20/20, we’ve had some fascinating impromptu conversations that will lead to great opportunities. All the big names are here and it’s clearly a popular event from a thematic perspective – payments is a big theme this year. I have a very high regard for the quality of what’s on offer and the way the event has been organised. It’s a great customer experience, the way it’s all been structured, at scale, is actually one of the best I’ve ever seen.

The response has been fantastic… We’re now beginning to combine Standard Chartered’s access to the clients and also SC Ventures. We are working as one unit to transform the bank and the banking industry at the same time. It’s a unique combination that is getting people engaged and starting great conversations for future collaborations.”

  • Digital Payments
  • Together in Events

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

9 July 2024

Estimated Read time

3Mins

FinTech Strategy and Interface joined Publicis Sapient at Money20/20 in Amsterdam for the launch of its third annual Global Banking Benchmark Survey and spoke with Head of Financial Services Dave Murphy about its findings

The third annual Global Banking Benchmark Study from Publicis Sapient draws on insights from 1000+ senior executives in financial services across global markets. The study focuses on the goals, obstacles, and drivers of digital transformation in banking.

Global Banking Benchmark Study

The study was launched during Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam last month. Eoghan Sheehy, Associate MD, and Grace Ge, Senior Principal, highlighted the banking industry is focused on improving existing processes rather than introducing new ones. Data Analytics and AI are identified as key priorities for digital transformation. Additionally, there is a focus on internal use cases and efficiency.

Eoghan and Grace also discussed the challenges faced by the banking industry. These include regulation, competition from companies like Amazon, and the need to attract talent. They emphasised the importance for financial institutions of modernising core infrastructure. Also, building cloud infrastructure to support ongoing digital transformation. Moreover, the study notes the prevalence of the development of custom-made tools and internal use cases for AI implementation. Furthermore, Eoghan and Grace provided examples of repeatable use cases and discussed the success factors for Data Analytics and AI.

Four key takeaways from Publicis Sapient

Four key tracks came out of the study…

  • Modernising the core will always be important. But modernising the core for its own sake and also building the cloud infrastructure that supports it or allows for it to be modern. A decent chunk of the survey responders are still very focused on this. Executives are stating they want to make sure their people can make the best use of the beautiful core they’ve now built.
  • GenAI is an area of thoughtful experimentation for the Neobanks. We’re talking about scaled microservices here. Instances where, across Neobanks, you’ll have the same machine learning model and the same GenAI text generator facilitating retail and SMEs. That’s pretty sophisticated and something everyone has to contend with.
  • Data Analytics transformation is a key priority using GenAI to do so along with bringing new talent into the game.
  • Payments has been a big theme at Money20/20… We’re seeing lots of activity around ancillary individual product areas.

“The study focuses on how to think about solving problems end-to-end. Banks are dealing with legacy issues and taking a customer first view into solving the challenges. The practical application of AI across the banks is a significant theme as they look to automate decision-making and deliver better credit risk models. AI is finally delivering a set of use cases that truly can impact the way banks operate and build their own technology.” Dave Murphy, Head of Financial Services, EMEA & APAC

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