IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

Eyal Moldovan, General Manager, Payoneer  E-commerce activity grew 11% in the US in the first four months of 2020, equivalent to a decade of growth. Eyal Moldovan of online payments specialist Payoneer told Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence, this growth story is here to stay – US-based Wayfair saw ecommerce activity up 153% in Q2 and up 155% in Q3. For Moldovan, innovation is key – both in the way e...

Richard Meeus, Director of Security Technology and Strategy, Akamai Homeworking for many was one of the themes of 2020 but alongside this came a soaring number of cyberattacks. At the same time, investment increased in many projects to support the need for remote connectivity for employees while developing new cloud and multi cloud strategies. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence spoke with Richard Mee...

Pan Yiannakou, Founder and CEO, Swarm Swarm intelligence is a phenomenon observed in the natural world where the collective behaviour of a colony of simple ‘agents’ generates far more advanced actions than the cumulative performance of the individuals. Pan Yiannakou, CEO of Swarm explained to Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence how Swarm, the ‘AI trading’ trading company is leveraging swarm intelligen...

Arun Jain, Chairman & Managing Director, Intellect Design Arena Intellect Design Arena has reimagined and says it offers the world’s first future-ready multiproduct FinTech platform, built on the principles of Design Thinking. Chairman and MD Arun Jain has been telling Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence how the company’s API-led solutions enable the creation of unique, custom-made frameworks for...

Terry Duffy, SVP & GM Digital First Software and Services, NCR This year, banks and financial institutions had to determine how to operate remotely, make branches safe, and shift to a hyper focus on digital. What will 2021 bring – what are the priorities and the planning needed? Terry Duffy of NCR discussed the outlook for next year with Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence. 

Laurent Descout, Co-founder & CEO, Neo Pain points in corporate banking continue to impact on SMEs – pain points that Covid-19 has only served to magnify. FinTech solutions may hold the answer and more with new technologies becoming available to leverage data and analytics to improve decision-making and reduce costs. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence spoke with Laurent Descout of Neo, which clai...

Josep Alvarez, Partner, Head of UK Banking Practice and EMEA Blockchain/DLT strategy, NTT Data UK  A report by GSMA and NTT Data on the use of QR codes as a method of payment suggests that mobile POS payments will account for $4 trillion, nearly half of all digital payments by 2024. Josep Alvarez of NTT Data explains to Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence that the use of QR codes, currently dominated...

John Cragg, CEO, MYHSM MYHSM is the global provider of Payment Hardware Security Modules (HSM) as a Service. John Cragg of MYHSM tells Robin Amlot why FinTechs with bright ideas need to make sure their payment solutions meet Payment Card Industry (PCI) security requirements and how Payment HSM-as-a-service can help speed the process.

Artem Shaginyan, Founder & CEO, Lunu Lunu has developed a processing service, mobile terminal, online widget and crypto wallet to offer customers the facility of spending cryptocurrencies immediately as local currency the point of sale in retail transactions without expensive exchange commissions. Artem Shaginyan, CEO of Lunu, told Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence about the coming evolution of...

 Jeffrey Berman, General Partner, Camber Creek Real estate technology, also known as PropTech is a hot topic right now in real estate investing as Jeffrey Berman, New York-based General Partner of venture capital firm Camber Creek, explains to Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence. In many ways PropTech and FinTech are seeking to offer solutions to the same kind of problems.

Adam Toms, CEO, OpenFin Europe OpenFin aims to provide a unifying foundation for next-gen financial industry applications. Since launch in 2010, the OpenFin OS has deployed more than 1,200 desktop applications across 225,000 desktops in more than 1,500 buy-side and sell-side firms in 60+ countries. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence spoke with Adam Toms, CEO of OpenFin Europe.  

James Booth, VP Head of Partnerships for EMEA, at PPRO Consumer purchasing habits have certainly been altered by the coronavirus. James Booth, VP Head of Partnerships for EMEA, at cross-border payments specialist PPRO discusses these changes, alongside their effect on merchants, cross-border trading and the adoption of local payment methods.

Simon Bateman, CIO, Allica Bank Specialising in supporting UK SMEs, it took Allica Bank just 12 months to build the institution from scratch. Six months later, the pandemic hit. But Allica was lucky to the extent that it does not have a legacy backbook of loans to service. It has also been built with an API-led approach that, as CIO Simon Bateman of Allica Bank told Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence...

 Gary Bond, Chief Executive Officer, TURN TURN (TISA Universal Reporting Network) is an industry-backed blockchain solution for the collection and dissemination of fund related data. As Gary Bond of TURN explains to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence, the overall aim is to increase market compliance, reduce regulatory and operational costs, and provide a better service to investors. TURN claims it wi...

Gudmundur Kristjansson, Founder & CEO, Lucinity Lucinity is an AML software company, founded in 2018, with offices in New York and Reykjavik. CEO Gudmundur Kristjansson (GK) is a former Director of Compliance Surveillance Technology with Citigroup. Lucinity has developed a new human-AI platform that aims to improve the way the suspicious activity is tracked and, as GK told Robin Amlôt of IBS I...

Richard Byworth, Chief Executive Officer, Diginex Diginex listed on NASDAQ in October 2020, becoming the first cryptocurrency exchange to be listed in the US. The firm’s cryptocurrency exchange EQUOS currently provides for spot trading but there are plans to introduce digital futures and options. Richard Byworth of Diginex discussed the significance of its NASDAQ listing with Robin Amlôt of IBS In...

Murray Gardiner, Managing Director, Bluecode Africa  As the continent of Africa faces its first recession in 25 years, Murray Gardiner of Johannesburg-based FinTech Bluecode Africa tells Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence why digital payments are more than just keys to open the doorways of financial inclusion. He highlights the need for banks and FinTechs to engage with the informal business sector....

Nir Levy, VP Product & Omer Aljanati, Senior Product Manager, Credorax In 2019, the European Banking Authority announced a delay to the enforcement of Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). With the new deadline fast approaching, is the European payment ecosystem ready to fully support and comply to 3DS 2.0? Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence spoke with Nir Levy and Omer Aljanati of smart payments...

Carey O’Connor Kolaja, Chief Executive Officer, AU10TIX   AU10TIX specializes in automated identity intelligence and cyber fraud prevention. CEO Carey O’Connor Kolaja was previously Global Chief Product Officer with Citi FinTech and VP, Global Consumer Products at PayPal. She explained to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence how the digital identity landscape is changing and warns about the emerging vu...

 John Garvey, Global Financial Services Leader, PwC US   Five years of evolution in financial services have been compressed into a matter of months and it is not over yet! More digitisation is one the way, zero interest rates will redefine financial products, capital constraints on regulated banks will see a rise in non-bank lenders and ESG will become mainstream. John Garvey of PwC takes Robin Am...

Rich Cooper, Principal – Financial Services, Fusion Risk Management There has been a fundamental shift in how the modern bank is approaching operational resilience to ensure the continuity of key services driven in part by regulatory focus, customer centricity, the digitisation of financial services and the growth in reputational risk. Rich Cooper of Fusion Risk Management explains the challenges...

Alastair McGill, GM Data Control, Broadridge Financial Solutions ; Thorsten Voelkel, CEO, PPI AG   Europe’s banks are facing challenges in payments, driven by changes such as the implementation of PSD2, SEPA ISO migration, TARGET2 and SWIFT ISO20022 migration, while also responding to national payments infrastructure changes and the emergence of new protocols, such as EBICS. There is also increasi...

Barbara Maheshwari, Chief Executive Officer, Remote Bob Barbara Maheshwari has the ambition to become the leading platform in Europe for managing remote staff, aiming to enable companies to find and hire the right talents while securing fulfilling career opportunities for candidates. Early stage FinTech startup need to focus on their ideas and their solutions – as Remote Bob’s Barbara Maheshwari e...

Jill Homan, President DeepTarget   Social media is the golden standard of engagement and has been since the launch of the first social networking website more than a decade ago. Social media exists to grow connections and relationships. Learn how banks can use social principles to exceed customer expectations, identify engagement challenges and retool communication strategies to meet customer enga...

V. Ramkumar, Senior Partner, Cedar Management Consulting International discusses three or four focus areas that banks need to focus on for their transformation during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.