IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

Gopal Sharma, Chief Product and Technology Officer, Clari5 Increasing adoption of digital payments solutions by banks and financial institutions has, inevitably led to rising levels of attempted fraudulent behaviour. We review the precautions necessary – both on the part of the banks and by customers as the threat surface expands. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Gopal Sharma, Chief Produ...

Jason Thompson, CEO, Partior Harnessing the blockchain and smart contracts technology, Partior has created an open platform that enables banks around the world to provide real-time cross-border multi-currency payments, trade finance, foreign exchange and DVP securities settlements. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Partior’s Chief Executive Officer Jason Thompson.

Nick Drewett, Chief Commercial Officer, Engine by Starling Starling Bank leads the digital pack among the UK’s challenger banks. Now it is marketing its homegrown tech solution, giving banks, building societies, FinTechs and corporates the ability to build banking products on the SaaS platform. The bank has more than 3.6 million customers and is now taking the Engine technology global, aiming to p...

Gulanor Atobek, Chief Executive Officer, Alif Bank Alif, an Islamic FinTech and neobank based in Central Asia, recorded over 121% year-on-year growth in 2022. Owned by UK-based investment vehicle Jefferson Capital Holdings, Alif operates a fully licensed bank in Tajikistan. Gulanor Atobek was appointed CEO of the bank in November 2022. She speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence and about the ba...

Baiju Panicker, Global CTO & Practice Head – Banking, Insurance & Financial Services with Bheem Adavikolanu, Chief Transformation Officer, Altimetrik In today’s ‘tech-celerated’ world keeping pace with changing trends and technologies is essential. Banks and FinTechs need modular solutions that are flexible, scalable and that offer continuity. But the first step in digital transformation i...

Brian Hanrahan, CEO, Nuapay Nuapay is a pioneer of open banking. It’s payments platform offers customers across Europe a comprehensive, integrated solution that covers account-2-account based payment needs and supports credit transfers and direct debit transactions in both euros and sterling including real time mechanisms SEPA Instant and Faster Payments. Brian Hanrahan, CEO, Nuapay speaks to Robi...

Alex Mifsud, CEO & Founder, Weavr Weavr’s Embedded Finance Cloud offers banks and e-money institutions the means to create financial products that are embeddable by design, with risk and compliance intrinsic components. This allows financial institutions to unlock significant new revenue streams from embedded finance faster and in a safe manner. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Alex M...

Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly, SVP Head of EMEA Corporates & International Banking, FIS FIS has signed a definitive agreement to sell a majority stake in its Worldpay Merchant Solutions business. Their marriage back in 2019 was never a comfortable fit. But what happens now for FIS? Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly, SVP Head of EMEA Corporates & International Banking at FIS talks to Robin Amlôt of IBS I...

Stella Clarke, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, Fenergo Announced at Money 20/20, Fenergo has launched KYC & Transaction Compliance, a new offering for FinTechs that combines its KYC and transaction monitoring solutions and enables continuous monitoring of customer profiles in a single, integrated Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. Stella Clarke, Chief Strategy & Marketing Offic...

Bram Vreugdenhil, Co-Founder and Managing Director of PaymentGenes ; Neill Butcher, Founder & Growth Consultant, Chief Commercial Officer at The Conexus Group PaymentGenes and The Conexus Group are merging their recruitment businesses. PaymentGenes Recruitment and Headcount will combine under the PaymentGenes Recruitment brand. Fintech may be all about technology, but it is still a people busi...

Nika Naghavi, Group Head of Growth, MFS Africa Mobile money is popular in Africa – the number of mobile money accounts rose to 1.6 billion in 2022. but the missing piece of the puzzle used to be the lack of interoperability – payments could be made within national borders but not on a crossborder basis. MFS Africa is the continent’s largest digital payments network. The firm is working to make pay...

Jurgen Vandenbroucke, Managing Director, everyoneINVESTED   Digitisation is not a goal in itself, but a means to reach potential investors. Digitising the sales process won’t magically bring more customers into a bank’s investment solutions – investment is an emotional process, and you need to engage properly with consumers in order to help turn their savings into investments. In other words, ackn...

Tasha Chouhan, UK & Ireland Banking Director, Tink The answer may surprise you! Tink, now owned by Visa, claims to be Europe’s most robust open banking platform but the fact is, the key story in open banking is about the services on offer and the customer experience, not about the brand offering. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Tasha Chouhan, UK & Ireland Banking Director of Tink...

 Kirsteen Harrison, Environmental Adviser, Zumo Zumo believes the digital asset sector has an opportunity to lead in the transition to renewable electricity. FinTechs, banks and payment providers looking to engage with the digital asset space now have an opportunity to do so that still fits in with their net zero commitments. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Zumo’s Environmental Adviser K...

Merve Ferrero, Chief Strategy Officer, Zopa Zopa has come a long way in the 17 years it has been in business. It has a very clear aspiration to be Britain’s best bank, and it also has a hungry look in its eye, having already digested Buy Now Pay Later firm DivideBuy in February. Merve Ferrero, Zopa’s Chief Strategy Officer oversees some of Zopa’s most important products and services such as deposi...

Charles McManus, Group CEO and Executive Director, Clear. Bank ClearBank is one of only 5% of new banks around the world that have reached profitability – in 2020 it nearly tripled income to £58 million. The bank was founded with the aim of making payments faster, safer, more reliable and accessible to all. ClearBank offers its client institutions secure accounts, clear payments in real time and a...

Monika Liikamaa & Denise Johansson, Co-Founders & Co-CEOs, Enfuce Meeting the rush by non-financial companies and public sector bodies to find FinTechs who can deliver the seamless multichannel payment services their end users are demanding, card issuing and card processing company Enfuce is making a name for itself. The company has already signed multiple high-profile and strategic partne...

Miroslava Betinova, Head of FinTech, Griffin Griffin is the UK’s first full-stack API-first, BaaS platform, offering Banking as a Service, compliance procedures to allow companies to meet regulatory obligations, and direct banking solutions for FinTechs – including access to operational accounts, overdrafts, and structured lending products. Miroslava Betinova, Head of FinTech at Griffin, speaks to...

Yanki Onen, Chief Executive Officer, wamo wamo, founded in 2021, claims to be committed to putting the human touch back into SME banking. CEO and founder Yanki Onen established the business as a reaction to his own frustration at the hurdles SMEs have to jump over to get banking services and credit. He speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence at Money 2020 about giving customers what they want. 

Ani Sane, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Terrapay TerraPay closed a $100m Series B funding round in April and secured a strategic investment from Visa in May. The firm is expanding, notably in LatAm and MENA, and is promoting the adoption of alternate payment methods for mobile wallets. Ani Sane, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Terrapay speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence...

Erki Kilu, Chief Executive Officer, LHV Bank Heard at Money 2020… LHV Bank is now able to take deposits in the UK as a result of receiving its banking licence from the UK regulators. That is allowing the bank to develop its SME lending business alongside existing banking services. Erki Kilu, Chief Executive Officer of LHV Bank in the UK speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence at the Money 2020 c...

Raf de Kimpe, Chief Executive Officer, FinTech Week London Events season continues in the FinTech world with the annual FinTech Week London… Raf de Kimpe, Chief Executive of FinTech Week London spoke to IBS Intelligence on day 1, turning the spotlight onto what’s hot and in focus in FinTech for the London event… 

Pallavi Thakur, Director for CBDC & Interoperability, Swift Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are gaining momentum. But as central banks around the world explore the use of this digital money, what does it mean for payments, especially cross border payments? Enabling interoperability alongside emerging innovations is a key focus for Swift, and a key challenge for banks and financial serv...

Norman Wooding, Founder, and CEO, SCRYPT SCRYPT is a Swiss-licensed provider of crypto trading facilities to institutions. The firm claims to be supporting the transition to a new global financial system. It offers a complete suite of services to institutions, including execution, custody, staking, market making, and investment. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to SCRYPT CEO Norman Wooding a...

Tal Clark, CEO of Instant Financial The cost-of-living crisis crosses borders; last year more than double the number of Americans said they were short of money before payday – 51% against 24% in 2018. In 2022, 79% of Americans said they would be more interested in applying for a job that offers payments to them the same day they work – 30% more than in 2018. Earned wage access could be the solutio...