IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

Hani Hagras, Chief Science Officer, Temenos   Identifying the dangers and challenges inherent in the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, Hani Hagras, Chief Science Officer at Temenos believes the answer lies in explainability and the adoption of explainable ai. He speaks with Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence on day 2 of the Temenos Community Forum in Vienna. 

Maurya Murphy, Senior Product Director, Temenos   Adoption of technology solutions in corporate banking has lagged retail banking. Why? What needs to be done to speed this process and what advantages would ensue for banks taking the plunge. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence caught  up with Maurya Murphy, Senior Product Director of Temenos at TCF2023 in Vienna to find out…

Philip Flood, Global Business Development Director - Regulatory & STP Services, Gresham Technologies In March 2023 the migration to SWIFT’s new ISO20022 (MX) messaging standard for cross-border payments and reporting began, with a coexistence period with predecessor MT messages until November 2025. A number of domestic payments systems have also moved to ISO20022, including real-time gross set...

Ben Snowman, VP Partnerships & Advisory, Mambu ; Sahil Thapa, Chief Technology Officer, Recognise Bank Challenger banks and specialist banks in the UK took a 55% share of the SME lending market in 2022, up from 51% in 2021 and the second year in a row that they exceeded lending from the UK’s 5 biggest banks. In total, the smaller banks lent £35.5 billion ($44.4 billion) to SMEs last year. Amon...

Vikas Garg, co-founder, and CEO, Paytail   Today's merchants are empowered by the availability of quick and hassle-free loans in the digital world, which not only allows them to develop their businesses but also eliminates the need to rely on tedious bank loan approval processes. By lending to individuals to purchase products, Paytail is helping small merchants sell more. Puja Sharma of IBS I...

Aman Behzad, Founder & Managing Partner, Royal Park Partners  According to FinTech investment advisory firm Royal Park Partners, the total capital deployed in private FinTech fundraising in Q1 2023 increased to $14 billion, with most investments made at the late-stage level. So, who’s still being funded and who’s facing a ticking clock? What are the factors affecting FinTech dealmaking now and...

Guy Warren, CEO, ITRS The financial services sector is witnessing a ‘great wealth transfer’ as funds and assets move down the generations to millennials and Gen Z, bringing heightened expectations.  The two groups have higher expectations for customer service and are tech-savvy. Banks and financial institutions need to have ‘bullet-proof’ operating systems in place, according to Guy Warren, CEO of...

Matteo Manzi, Lead Quant Researcher, CrunchDAO According to one recent survey, 9 out of 10 hedge fund traders are likely to use AI this year in order to improve trading returns. But AI is not a panacea. Without viable data AI-based trading strategies ‘are bound to fail’ claims quantitative finance research team CrunchDAO. Matteo Manzi, Lead Quant Researcher at CrunchDAO speaks to Robin Amlôt of IB...

Nick Root, Chief Executive Officer, Intergiro Intergiro offers access to multi-currency accounts, card issuing and card acquiring solutions on one tech stack and across Europe. With a cloud-based solution that includes embedded finance, embedded payments, and BaaS, Intergiro has also embraced the digital world further by operating through a combination of hubs and remote-working (even before the p...

Lena Hackelöer, Founder & CEO, Brite Payments PSD3 is an upcoming framework regulating electronic payments and the banking ecosystem within the European single market area (EEA). A challenge for European FinTechs? Well, they still have to be around to worry about it! The first hurdle is funding in a radically changed financial environment – there are likely to be casualties. Then there is the...

Carol Hamilton, CCO, Provenir AI Financial fraud and risk vectors are constantly evolving. Accessing real-time data and applying it to the latest defensive measures in a fully automated fashion makes AI fit for the fight. Current solutions can automate this process, but deployment is not without its problems. What’s needed is a new approach to improve the speed and accuracy of fraud decisions with...

Lisa Novier, Head of Governance, Risk & Compliance, Envestnet US banks are working on open banking but we’re still waiting to hear from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the government agency responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. The CFPB has put out proposals to finalise open banking rulemaking in the US but an actual framework has yet to be settled upon....

Jeroen Plag, Head of Group Strategy & Innovation, ING How should banks position themselves not only to leverage the benefits of digitalisation but also to protect against previous unlooked-for increases in risk and resiliency issues. The challenge is to improve customer experience, revenue generation and efficiency while maintaining confidence in the bank’s cybersecurity profile and 24/7 avail...

Anant Patel, President, International Markets, ConnexPay Innovations in the C2B payments space are starting to be embraced in B2B payments. With the global B2B payments market estimated to double this decade, reaching well over $2 trillion by 2030, there is a significant market opportunity for those who can remove friction and improve the efficiency of business payments, with companies able to set...

Abhishant Pant, Founder, The Fintech Meetup The FinTech Yatra is a roadshow traversing the length and breadth of India to catalyse the country's FinTech ecosystem by identifying, incubating, and investing in early-stage FinTech startups. It enables connection between innovation providers (startups) and innovation seekers (the financial institutions). Fintech Yatra 2023 has so far interacted w...

Terrie Smith, Co-Founder and Global Ambassador, Digiseq Developments in wearable technology have the potential to change the way millions of us interact with businesses and banks around the world. Almost any form factor, such as a ring, key fob, or even an item of clothing, may have a chip inserted and be turned into a contactless payment or digital ID token. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks...

Ritesh Varma, Thought Leader, Business Automation, Newgen Software There is little point in automating processes in just one part of the institution. Yet this is what many banks and financial services groups have done… and it just does not make sense because it won’t improve your efficiency and your bottom line, and it won’t improve the customer experience. What is needed is automation at scale on...

Jim Rosenthal, Co-Founder & CEO, BlueVoyant How do you quantify the biggest cybersecurity threats facing your business, and how should you be responding to ensure business resiliency in the face of geopolitical risk and the dangers of a potential recession? Who should be taking the lead in your business to tackle this issue, how involved should senior management and the board be, and how far d...

Stephen Wright, Head of Regulation & Standards, Bank of APIs , NatWest Open banking now has 7 million customers in the UK who, for the most part don’t know they are using open banking capabilities. But most of what they are doing does not earn the banks any money! So the question becomes what can bankers do to monetise open banking, and build on what has been developed into a sustainable busin...

Tony Craddock, Director General, The Payments Association With more than 1,800 attendees and an 80% increase in the number of exhibitors, PAY360 2023 was The Payments Association’s largest event yet. The event shapes payment strategy and policy, bringing together policy makers, innovators, and users. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Tony Craddock, Director General of The Payments Associat...

Muraleedhar Pai, Executive Director, Maveric Systems  Banks are undergoing digital transformation as a result of digitisation. It has become the sine qua non of almost every action, from basic corporate procedures to client engagement and trading. Although corporate banking has begun to digitise, it is still in its infancy. Due to the unfettered flow of data among banks, their clients, and third p...

Omar Jordan, Founder & CEO, Coviance The US home equity lending process has barely changed in the last 50 years. Aiming to disrupt this, Coviance, established in 2015, operates a cloud-based platform that speeds up and simplifies the lending process with, among other developments, an automated valuation model that delivers results in a matter of seconds rather than relying on a system of appra...

Slaven Bilac, CEO, Agent IQ Banks face a variety of pain points but one that is common to all is hiring. With millennials and GenZs becoming the majority of the workforce, preferences professed by these demographics are becoming a more prominent factor in the challenges posed by the issue of employee satisfaction. Banks seeking to develop digital solutions need to consider the impact technology is...

Michael Amar, Co-Founder & Chairman, Paris Blockchain Week   Paris Blockchain Week is dedicated to professionals in the blockchain and Web3 space. The 4th edition takes place as a live event 20-24 March 2023, at the Carrousel du Louvre. This year the event already has 400+ speakers booked and 300+ sponsors. So what may we expect from Paris Blockchain week? Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speak...

Mandi McReynolds, Global Head of ESG, Workiva   Environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors in making investment decisions are key to supporting the transition to a greener and more sustainable future. What was once financially immaterial to business and finance is becoming material today and into the future – this process, in a term introduced a couple of years ago at the World Economic Fo...