Fintech Finance Podcasts: The FF Salon

Fintech Finance Podcasts: The FF Salon Pilot with Chris Skinner

Chris Skinner is always right, sometimes to his detriment. Whether it be banking as a service, top bankers, or crypto, the Chairman of Nordic Finance Innovation, and Non-Executive Director of 11:FS have his finger on the pulse of finance, even when others don’t want to listen. 
 
Visiting the FF Salon for trim, Skinner tells us about his storied career in the industry and his infamous reputation for being ‘difficult,’ 
 
“One senior banker called me a troublemaker, others have called me an iconoclast,” Chris proclaims. “How I describe what I do is that I sit within the industry looking out, rather than someone who is on the outside looking in.”
 
The difference lies in reasoning. Being on the inside, Skinner knows that the banks are messed up, and he also knows why it's difficult to change. His main issue comes from the apprehension of institutions to adopt new technologies. 
 
“The traditional banks have a leadership that doesn’t have any technologists in the team. 30 years ago, I was in a company called Wang Computers, and the key Vice President made a presentation that within a few years the leadership team of a bank will have technologists. And yet 30 years later we’re sitting here saying how many technologists are in the executive leadership team of banks? Some.”
 
With this slowness to change, it’s hard not to wonder whether adoption is more of an aversion than an effort for incumbents. 
 
Chris Skinner’s defence against this is to be as loud as possible. From reeling Twitter threads to encyclopaedic books, Skinner can be found on every possible platform informing people on what finance is, and what needs to change.

Fintech Finance Podcasts: The FF Salon Pilot with Leda Glyptis

Change comes part and parcel with the fintech industry, once one brand new shiny thing hits its peak, another one comes rushing past it. Such is the chatter being had at this hairdresser’s, with special guest Leda Glyptis, fintech trailblazer and CCO of 10x Banking. 
In this segment, we discuss the fast pace of fintech and technology adoption and how they affect all players in the payments space, from the big city bankers to the underserved end users. Between hair curls and water spritzes, we understood that real innovation and success come to those who want to change things, and are not intimidated by the constant flux. 
“We are in a time and place where so much change is happening, and you get to be a part of it if you turn up and commit to the work that it involves. It’s a new set of players, a new set of ideas, and it’s changing a lot. It’s frustrating and as hell as you know,” said Glyptis.
The customer is always the key beneficiary of new technology, hence why more and more fintechs are developing their offerings and digital capabilities to better meet their needs. Hence, if financial services providers are not doing enough to facilitate movements like financial mobility, they might as well be doing nothing at all. 
“I’ve been working with a client now, it’s not public but I’ve been dying to announce it, but they’re using that lower ‘cost to serve’ to lower the cost of lending, giving people who don't have access to money, access to money. What that can do for social mobility, for health, for quality of life…” 
Bankers and financial institutions need to look at the technology and products neobanks and startups are bringing to the table and not only follow in their adoption but include themselves in the process of that innovation. 
“We are raising the bar of what a consumer can expect from banks,” Glyptis adds. Despite the pace of change, we do not have all the time in the world. The real change needs to come from the top. 
 

Fintech Finance Podcasts: The FF Salon Pilot with James Bryce-Lind

In such a rapidly evolving subscription-centric economy, it’s not always obvious where your money is going. With the introduction of open banking and payment services more attuned to customer behaviours, people need not be so outraged when they open up their monthly bank statement. 
 
In this segment of the FF Salon, we speak to James Bryce-Lind, the UK Banking Sales Lead at Minna technologies, about open-banking, subscriptions, and why “it’s all about the customer.” 
 
“[With] a company like Minna, can take those actionable insights and pit literal actions on them, so our spot in the ecosystem, is on top of those PFMS (Public Financial Management System) saying, that’s great, here is the information, and here’s what you’re going to do with them, change those payment details, pause that subscription, cancel it if need be.” 
 
James’s kick comes from the personalised advice that PFMS and open banking services can provide for consumers, struggling to keep their finances in check. Sometimes a blunt roast from your banking provider is all it takes for you to keep your money in your pocket. 
 
As Lloyd’s were one of their first customers, Minna is now turning its gaze upon the fintechs and the neobanks in the game. 
 
“Now  we’re focused on the fintech segment, because they’re faster adopters and they have cool pieces of technology and the use cases are great. So where we would fit in with a Curve, or a Starling, or a Monzo, or a Revolut, is exactly in that ecosystem where you’ve got the categorisation, and you’re just adding an action button on top of it.”

FF Virtual Arena: How Open Banking and BaaS are Enabling Fintech Innovation 3/3

Join us for the third part of our Virtual Arena: ‘How Open Banking and Baas is enabling Fintech Innovation’ – powered by Vodeno. We’ve got a stellar line up of guests in:
Jonathan Fallon at TricountKim Van Esbroeck at Aion BankHenri Dewaerheijd at Mastercard
So make sure you don’t miss today’s Virtual Arena as we find out how these organisations are partnering together to typify the open banking movement and BaaS ecosystem.

FF Virtual Arena: Building for the Future

Catch N26’s Alex Weber on our latest Virtual Arena where we find out how N26 became the #1 success story in Europe. Get the lowdown on how they expanded, built for the future and the lessons they learnt from an exciting couple of years.

FF Virtual Arena: Fintech Islands – Prepare for FOMO!

Pack your bags and slap on the SPF, because fintech is heading to Barbados! This October, investors, startups and industry headliners will be gathering in the Caribbean for Fintech Islands 2022, to connect and discuss the most important global trends happening in fintech. 
The region often gets lumped in with North America and the West, but this region offers a unique point of view from a population still in its developmental and nubile phase in its payments journey, whether it be crypto or cross-border payments. 
In this Virtual Arena, FF News are in conversation with Peter Stoute-King, the Practice Lead of Fintech for Techstars and Co-Founder of Fintech Islands, and Gabriel Abed, the Ambassador of Barbados to the United Arab Emirates. 
With big partners Mastercard, Visa, Republic Bank, and Unipet, the event seeks to bring fintech investors and creators together to discuss how technology in finance can truly be customer-centric. With a large amount of the Caribbean population being unbanked or limited in their access to financial services, it is imperative for the industry to develop products and solutions that include that demographic in their customer outreach. 
“In these challenges come potentially large victories [for fintech], in being able to bank those persons [unbanked] and being able to provide those financial technology products,” said Abed. “It’s important to be able to provide those financial products, whether it be in investing, or whether they be in payment channels. The reality is, a nation like Barbados has been thinking in this way and has been moving in this direction, given our challenges.” 
The fintech sector is paving the way for more inclusive and ethical financial products. With a global audience in mind, being exposed to customers from underserved regions in the world would do more to help financial institutions understand what services are vital and what connects different demographics. The event agenda includes talks on crypto and its use cases, the inclusivity afforded through embedded finance, and climate change.  
Caribbean-focused companies are the real stars of this event: WiPay, Wimco, Sagicor Bank, and eZeePayments.com will all join together to discuss solutions specific to the region.
“The way that we have designed it thus far has been new and different for the region. We’ve been very intentional in terms of what it is we are trying to build,” explained Stoute-King. “At its core, the event is about economic development and ecosystem development, but it’s really about folks doing business as well. So we’re trying to get a good balance between founders, investors, corporate executives, some policymakers and regulators.”
Effectively, Fintech Islands 2022 will be a convention where industry leaders will come together to solve a common goal: how can they make our services more accessible? With an exciting lineup of speakers and partners, it will be fascinating to see what ideas come out of the gathering and if it will set a new precedent for global fintech. 
Join our host Ali Paterson in conversation in today’s VA, who will also be flying over to Barbados in October for the event!

FF Virtual Arena: Payments Infrastructure – Foundations for Faster Payments

The UK is at a formative point in payments innovation. With the introduction of ISO 20022 and the New Payments Architecture (NPA) programme, payment providers, infrastructure builders, and key financial power players are formulating what the next 30 years of Payments Infrastructure will look like.
In this Virtual Arena, we spoke to industry leaders about the possibilities brought about through NPA, namely the interoperability of future transactions and creating a more robust user experience. We also interrogated the very real challenges found in the foreseen payment systems and whether the pace the UK is travelling leaves enough room for fraud prevention.
This VA welcomes Nationwide’s Head of Payment Service Management Mark Nalder, Pay.UK’s Program Director Shane Warman, and ACI Worldwide’s Principal Consultant of Real-Time Payments Andrew Moseley.
Above anything, the panel upheld user experience and consumers as the main beneficiary of NPA. Payments are quickly becoming an everyday activity for people, some carrying out multiple transactions a day. Having the option to direct those payments in real-time aligns with the behaviours and pace consumers now have.
“The opportunity for consumers is huge… Through enrichment of data and the opportunity it brings, and the additional security around fraud. [Consumers] Having that confidence that they can pay someone immediately, and with the extra data that we have available, we’ll be able to do those additional fraud checks too” explained Nalder.
NPA envisions a new infrastructure in the UK where real-time transactions are the norm, and all financial institutions work from the same point of contact: ISO 20022. The transition from SWIFT to this new messaging service promises a UX where services can build comprehensive consumer profiles, understand how people spend their money and deliver better advice on how to spend it wisely.
To make this convergence work, payment providers and infrastructure builders must be in conversation with each other.
“There is a concern that we are all swimming in the same pool for resources. To keep the pace of change and make sure the pace is successful, we as a core infrastructure provider need to be cognizant of all that change. So, we’re trying to align the work that we’re doing with the work that’s happening at Bank of England and SWIFT because most of our end-users do not care about rails, in fact, they are rail agnostic,” said Warman.
What users do care about is safety, and the ability to make payments knowing that their transactions are secured. Real time does not necessarily mean instant, and for transactions bigger than your quick run to the shops, time and caution are essential.
“I am absolutely for moving toward innovation and fast payments being immediate, but you need to take a step back and say “for a small percentage of transactions, we’re going to take some time with this.” If I’m making payments online, or sending Shane a fiver, that’s a low risk, right? But, if I’m paying someone I’ve never paid before £20,000, as a consumer, I don’t mind if that takes a few hours. With innovation, not everything needs to be straight away, there is no harm in taking a risk approach in certain types of payments,” said Moseley.
NPA is a direct reaction to the rapidly-moving payment behaviour consumers have developed over the last decade, with the introduction of digital wallets and contactless transfers. The scaffolding for this scheme relies fundamentally on the financial leaders in the industry and their adoption of ISO 20022.
With the new messaging service, financial services providers will be able to meet the payment needs of customers and businesses, as the interoperability of transactions allows them to converse openly on one platform – better facilitating the delivery of faster payments. With the strong payments infrastructure we have in the UK, the adoption of NPA could be rigorous. Fine-tuning this scheme, and orienting transactions around risk, NPA could open up the floodgates for bigger payment innovations and become a direct competitor against cards.

FF Virtual Arena: Temenos – Under Pressure! How can banks survive and thrive?

Tune in to today’s Virtual Arena with Temenos & Credem as we discuss the current pressures faced by the banking sector. As economic pressures continue to mount globally, we discuss how Banks can survive and thrive in the current economic environment. Tune in to hear from some of the industry insiders currently managing these issues!
Our guests today are:
Adelina Rusu | Temenos
Fabio Caliceti | Credem
Lorenzo Villa | Credem
Read more of the latest stories in Fintech & Finance here

FF Virtual Arena: Finance For The Future: When Banks Become Brands

The way we do banking in the world has changed indefinitely. Through the introduction of digital tools like APIs, the migration to open banking, and the dramatic shift in customer preferences, banking has taken a leaf out of the retail book and is developing products that put consumers first. 
In a recent Virtual Arena, FF News invited Ruediger Vogt, the Head of Payment 4.0 at Giesecke+Devrient, and Ramsey El-Dabbagh, who works in Corporate Development for Algbra, to discuss the growing ecosystem being developed around personalised banking. We are now confronted with a customer base that is more active and switched on to what financial institutions do and what they can offer to them as individuals. 
“In certain key communities, when we talk about the values component and the ethics component, people are actively searching for more ethical things, that are more inclusive, and correlate with their faith, or correlates with sustainability. Our market research found that 60% of customers were willing to move to a more ethical financial institutions provider, given that they know how the market operates,” said El Dabbagh. 
To meet these demands of sustainability and ethics, banks and FIs have the agency of new tech to build products which reach a wide net of people, especially when it comes to those underserved or flat out ignored by the market. Vogt, who has been a part of Giesecke+Devrient’s payments evolution for over a decade, explained how ESG goals must be achieved by banks and fintechs by going beyond the aims set by regulators. 
“[To enforce sustainability] we’ve pledged to replace all virgin plastics in our payment card products by 2030 at the latest, with recycled, industrial if possible, or biodegradable materials, which we announced last week […] we’re looking at ways we can accelerate this, and it all very much depends on the cooperation with our customers,” said Vogt, on the personal investment Giesecke+Devrient are taking in making their product more sustainable for customers. 
Both companies represent the past, present, and future of banking and how fintech has made strides in challenging the culture of the old guard – Algbra, an ethical banking fintech, was launched in 2020, and Giesecke+Devrient has been in business since 1865. Fintechs have the luxury of launching products with new technology already at hand, the real change comes from established institutions who are experimenting with new options, on the back of old technology and cautious stakeholders. 
“You can scale up to the tens of millions in niche marketing companies like the U.S. or India, and we’re seeing this in our customer base. It can be a better model to be a leader in the niche with devoted followership than trying to be all things to all people, and as a result, becoming unattractive and irrelevant to many clients,” explained Vogt. What is necessary for financial institutions to innovate and cater to under-banked or non-banked people is clear to their individual needs, as no one customer is the same. 
With this point of view, big banks and fintechs have realised that people want more from their financial services providers. In a world of instant gratification and digital multiplicity, consumers have more options and forethought to shop around – it is thus the goal of the banks to bolster up their products and give them what they want.
Read more of the latest news in Fintech & Finance here

FF Virtual Arena: How Open Banking and BaaS are Enabling Fintech Innovation 2/3

Join the second part of our Virtual Arena series on ‘How open banking and BaaS is enabling fintech innovation’ powered by our partners Vodeno. We’ve got a stellar line up of guests in:
Johnathon Fallon at TricountKim Van Esbroek at Aion BankHenri Dewaerheijd at Mastercard
So make sure you don’t miss the today’s Virtual Arena as we will find out how these organisations are partnering together to typify the open banking movement and BaaS ecosystem.