IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

David Lamers, Chief Product Owner, Datakeeper The potential market for privacy friendly data sharing and digital identity wallets is huge. Too many people are still not aware of the need to protect their personal identity. Using a digital identity wallet app can help with identification, data sharing and electronic signing but allows the consumer to retain control of their data. Robin Amlôt of IBS...

Gareth Priest, Chief Platform Officer, Bottomline   Real-time payments are set to soar as the world begins to slowly emerge from the Covid-19 lockdown. With that, fraud and financial crime has increased too, significantly affecting the industry. IBS Intelligence’s Reporter Gaia Lamperti discuss how financial institutions can tackle this challenge, as well as the importance of new payment security...

Steffen Vollert, CTO & Co-founder, Volt The potential for Variable Recurring Payments (VRP) to transform the payments landscape has grown since the UK Competition and Markets Authority issued a mandate of VRP for Sweeping in July. In November, the very first Open Banking VRP Hackathon focused on just how VRP will shape the payments ecosystem, looking to define the role that banks and PISPs wil...

Sanat Rao, Chief Business Officer & Global Head, Infosys Finacle New business model archetypes are being developed in the banking sector as digital business ecosystems reshape banking. In a report on Business Model Innovation , Infosys Finacle identified a total of 8 new business models including Banking-as-a-Service, Marketplace Banking, Banking Utilities, Digital Financial Advisor, and more....

Jouk Pleiter, CEO, Backbase Backbase’s Engagement Platform will serve as the engagement layer of Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services for banks which adopt Microsoft’s industry cloud solution. What’s the significance of this collaboration and, more broadly, what are the current trends in banking technology? Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses the issues and how customer requirements are fo...

David O’Neill, CEO, APImetrics Better standards for API measurement, particularly in the area of open banking are necessary. In fact, there are no real standards on what should be measured, how it should be measured and how to read those measurements! Without such standards, we will continue to see disagreement between providers and no way for regulators, especially in financial services, to talk...

Mandar Agashe, Founder, Sarvatra Technologies Sarvatra Technologies is an India-based end-to-end solutions provider focused on enabling ‘Next-Generation Banking’ technology. The firm enables modern switching and payment services for over 600+ banks across India. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses the importance of digital payments technology in the Indian economy with Mandar Agashe, Founder...

Max Alvisini, SVP Europe CIS & Africa, Western Union Global cross-border payments are expected to reach $156 trillion in 2022. Banks and financial institutions must leverage technology to remain competitive and compliant as new players enter the market. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Max Alvisini, SVP Europe CIS & Africa at Western Union about the current state of the cross-bord...

Jessie Danyi, Head of People, Pleo   Lack of transparency in company spending can lead to employees’ financial stress and frustration due to paying out of their pockets. Danish FinTech unicorn Pleo aims to ensure transparency, automation and autonomy through the giving of both company cards and spending independence at all levels. IBSi’s Reporter Gaia Lamperti discussed Pleo’s mission to combat em...

Pranav Sood, VP Small Business, GoCardless   New research from GoCardless, a global FinTech in account-to-account payments, has revealed that the stigma attached to talking about money has left British small businesses vastly under- and unpaid. According to the findings, 29% of SME leaders feel uncomfortable asking customers for payment and nearly three-quarters are willing to forgo up to 10% of t...

Corey Gross, CEO, Sensibill The Barcode Report aims to deliver insights on everyday consumer spending, breaking down spend data into actionable insights and trends thanks to a database of receipts and transactions from 220,000 merchants worldwide, including 96% of the top 100 in the US. Understanding how and on what consumers and businesses are spending their money are key factors in being able to...

Ran Goldi, CEO, First - Digital Assets Group First DAG is developing the first global digital payment platform for PSPs and Acquirers, providing developers with the tools they need to make it safe and simple for merchants to accept digital payments, such as Diem. In fact the company is the principal payment rail for the soon-to-be-launched Diem Association-backed stablecoin. Since establishment, F...

Kiran Kumar, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Profinch Solutions Too much data across banking systems is still being left unused. This leaves institutions reliant on slow manual processes to produce required reports while, at the same time, missing out on potential profitable business and product developments that can improve and expand customer experience. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence disc...

Torben Sauer, CEO, Conpend Consulting firm CGI and AI for trade finance solutions provider Conpend collaborated on a pilot programme of intelligent process automation for trade finance documents with 2 Canadian banks, Bank of Montreal and National Bank of Canada. The aim was to assist the banks with the automation of document flows to improve their trade finance operations, compliance and relation...

Aaron Tilton, CEO, SmartFi US firm SmartFi offers crypto collateralised loans to business, a product that has proved popular in the crypto mining community around the world. The firm claims to be a unique monetary system that combines monetary policy with the freedoms of cryptocurrency to create a self-sustaining open-lending platform. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Aaron Tilton, CEO of...

Phil Flood, Global Business Development Director, Regulatory & STP Services, Gresham Technologies In a global landscape characterised by regulatory complexity and scrutiny, poor data management practices, manual processes and a lack of quality control all mean that data integrity is often compromised. Add in regulatory divergence between the UK and the EU and the issue of data quality is a big...

Rohit Arora, CEO and Co-Founder, Biz2X A key component of Biz2X's ability to improve process efficiency for loan applications is its use of artificial intelligence to digitise and analyse customer information. Its proprietary AI/ML model powers small business lending at brands like HSBC and Popular Bank, among others. IBSi’s Reporter Gaia Lamperti asked Rohit Arora, Biz2X’s CEO and Co-Founder...

Han Kao, Founder & CEO, Sanctor Capital   In an interview with Gaia Lamperti of IBSi, Han Kao, CEO and Founder of Sanctor Capital, explored trends and risks related to the NFT space, as well as its potential to drive cryptocurrencies’ mass adoption.  With an increased amount of capital and users piling into the space, NFTs are becoming an exciting trend to watch, as it generates more and more...

James Hickman, COO, Ecospend ‘Pay by bank’ is one of the key services being offered by TPPs in open banking. One such company, UK-based Ecospend, recently announced its latest partnership, with London Mutual Credit Union. However, Ecospend ought perhaps to be best known for being selected by the UK tax authority, HMRC, as the exclusive provider of API technology to the UK government for payment in...

Shiran Moodley, Co-Head of Sustainable Finance, Absa How should Africa’s financial system encourage investment into the continent to help drive inclusive growth? Where does the responsibility for enabling a sustainable future lie and how can financial institutions and banks help ensure that no-one gets left behind? Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Shiran Moodley, Co-Head of Sustainable Fi...

Justin Fraser, VP Commercial & Business Development, Paysafe   I nsurance had lagged the banking sector in embracing digital transformation. However, the sector has now woken up to the challenges of the pandemic, changing consumer attitudes, and InsurTech challengers. In a white paper entitled Putting the insurance industry back in safe hands: the role of payments in digital transformation , P...

Michel Roig, VP, Head of Business Line Payments & Access, Fingerprints Research by Fingerprints in collaboration with Kantar shows an increasing appetite for biometric payment cards among French consumers thanks to the balance of security and convenience they offer for in-store payments. The analysis shows 59% of consumers would say ‘yes’ to a biometric payment card, up 8% on a year earlier. R...

Avinash Godkhindi, MD & CEO, Zaggle With recently launching ZikZuk and foraying into the Neo Banking space in India, FinTech Zaggle is looking to disrupt the Indian FinTech industry. The company learnt about the challenges faced by Founders to access credit, to meet their business expenses and also manage their working capital. Leandra Monteiro of IBSi discusses the same with Avinash Godkhindi...

Bruno Cambounet, Head of Research, Sopra Banking Software Open finance is the next evolution of open banking. However, consumers and banks are only beginning to get to grips with open banking itself. Does the industry need to educate consumers more or is the label ‘open’ not important to banking customers? Bruno Cambounet, Head of Research at Sopra Banking Software tells Robin Amlôt that he reckon...

Georg Westin, CEO, Maxify Maxify is a Swedish venture capital firm specialising in early-stage investments and innovative product development. CEO Georg Westin himself has a clutch of successful past exits. Now, through Maxify he is seeking to champion new kinds of business and fresh economic models. By supporting innovative technologists with a mix of pre-seed or seed funding and mentoring, he is...