IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

Michel Golffed is the VP of Growth at dLocal . dLocal is Uruguay’s first Unicorn and a specialist in cross-border payments. Michel Golffed of dLocal talks to Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence about the growth opportunities in emerging markets, even where the majority of the population may be unbanked or, at the least, does not have access to credit cards. He began by discussing how Covid-19 is affec...

Michael Carter, Executive Vice President, Strategic Resource Management Vendor invoice auditing is often put on the backburner by financial institutions. However, as Michael Carter of Memphis, Tennessee-based SRM explains to Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence, automating the invoice audit process enables banks to improve efficiencies, increase productivity and protect the bottom line from erosion.

Matthew Williamson, Global VP of Financial Services, Mobiquity Covid-19 has accelerated the creation of a cashless society. Matthew Williamson, now with digital consultancy Mobiquity, was previously Global Head of Payments and Cash at Finastra and EMEA Head of Commercial Prepaid Card Technology at Citibank. Here he discusses the need to retain the ‘human factor’ in digital banking with Robin Amlot...

Luke Wilson, VP Intelligence, 4iQ Cyberattacks and data breaches cost consumers, companies, and countries billions of dollars annually.  October marks National Cybersecurity Awareness Month in the US. Luke Wilson, formerly with the FBI, is VP of Intelligence with cybersecurity firm 4iQ. He explains to Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence how financial institutions can stop cyber-enabled crime by incorp...

Financial inclusion and wellbeing becomes even more important in a crisis, and the global pandemic is no different. Sunniva Kolostyak speaks to Kam Chana, Product Innovation Director at Temenos , in connection to the SIBOS 2020 conference about humanising banking and the clear impact financial wellbeing and inclusion has on health, as well as the role technology has in creating a more ethical and...

Yasin Qureshi, Founder & Head of Strategy, Aqua Rising Aqua Digital Rising has begun its pre-funding round ahead of its official launch in January 2021. The firm is a new alternative-asset and analytics investment platform which links big data analytics with AI to construct indices based on humans – using mathematics, AI, machine learning and big data analytics to create alt-assets allowing in...

Tony Pepper, Chief Executive Officer, Egress Results of the latest Egress Outbound Data Breach Survey 2020 suggest that 93% of organisations surveyed had suffered email data breaches with an average frequency of 180 incidents per year – in other words someone in your company could be putting sensitive data at risk every other day! What can be done to address this? Tony Pepper of Egress spoke with...

Ben Agnew, Chief Executive Officer, Emerging Payments Association Ben Agnew was appointed CEO for the Emerging Payments Association with effect from 1 September 2020. He has more than 15 years of experience in the events, digital and marketing services space. Credited for his work in restructuring commercial operations at Informa, his most recent role was Managing Director at the independent media...

Robert Hannigan, Chairman, BlueVoyant International BlueVoyant has published Global Insights: Supply Chain Cyber Risk, a study of more than 1500 CIOs, CISOs and Chief Procurement Officers. The results are not entirely comfortable, a combination of large vendor ecosystems and low visibility are increasing third-party cyber risk exponentially. Robert Hannigan, Chairman of BlueVoyant International an...

Now that the markets have settled into some semblance of ‘normal’, Joshua Walsky, the CTO of Broadway Technology – which powers FICC trading at a number of banks – argues that the events of March-June will provide valuable clues into what could be an unpredictable period for bank trading desks. Speaking to Sunniva Kolostyak, Walsky explores issues around outsourcing, remote trading and connectivit...

Yaron Hazan, VP, Regulatory Affairs, ThetaRay The media reaction to the recent leak of the so-called FinCen Files predictably painted banks in a negative light. However, the bottom line is that almost no bank in the world has the visibility needed to monitor cross-border correspondent banking transactions through the entire transaction chain. Yaron Hazan of ThetaRay in conversation with Robin Amlo...

Arun K Arunachalam, Vice President, TCS Financial Solutions, and Head of Product Management, TCS BaNCS & Anand Athani, Head, Technology Strategy and Consulting, TCS Financial Solutions. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence talks to Arun K Arunachalam, Vice President, TCS Financial Solutions, and Head of Product Management, TCS BaNCS & Anand Athani, Head, Technology Strategy and Consulting, TCS...

Robin Amlot, Managing Editor at IBS Intelligence talks to Jim Heinzman, EVP Financial Services Solutions, ThetaRay about the growing banking fraud in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion revolves around how banks can protect themselves against the fraudulent transactions and money laundering in the era of COVID-19.   Listen to the complete episode to find out more.

Remote working has put increased pressure on financial traders’ desktops. How can chatbots effectively integrate client data? How can IT services ensure all the various applications on traders’ desktops communicate with each other seamlessly… and how does the implementation of the ‘composable enterprise’ help? James Wooster of Glue42 explains. James Wooster, COO, Glue42

Singapore-based CredoLab secured $7m in a Series A funding round in August 2020. Now the company is expanding into the US and other global markets. Michele Tucci of CredoLab discusses how the company evaluates smartphone and web metadata to create bank-grade digital scorecards. The use of such ‘alternative data’ addresses the problems faced by ‘thin file’ and underbanked customers in access to cre...

New challenger Ziglu has just become a fully authorised Electronic Money Institution under the aegis of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and has launched peer-to-peer payments for all currencies on its app… but not just fiat currencies, crypto as well and, what’s more, is offering up to £50,000 insurance for crypto holdings. Founder and CEO Mark Hipperson has form – he was previously a co-foun...

As the global pandemic is pushing people towards new payments solutions and the US catching on to contactless, San Francisco-based Purewrist is responding by launching a wearable payments bracelet. Suresh Palliparambil, the CEO of Purewrist speaks to Sunniva Kolostyak about the Purewrist GO, issuing co-branded cards, and social responsibility.

It was recently announced that next year a ban on discretionary commission models in auto financing will take effect in the UK. No longer will vehicle retailers and finance providers receive commission linked to the interest rate a customer may pay – a clear incentive to act against customer interests. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence discussed what the change in regulations means for the UK motor...

Global markets have been forced to address the threat from the coronavirus crisis, however, not all have approached it in the same way. Mario Shiliashki, CEO of Payments at PayU, speaks to Sunniva Kolostyak about how FinTechs, alongside governments, are driving economic growth and supporting local communities.

Bob Legters is responsible for investment in data and artificial intelligence at Florida-based FIS, one of the world’s largest financial technology firms. Taking account of the ‘democratisation’ of financial planning thanks to developments in AI, he told Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence that people not using AI-enabled money management tools are seriously missing out.

Justin is one of the most ebullient characters of the investing scene in the UK. His new venture is Regionally, a platform that aims to bring together regional business with regional investors, allowing vetted companies access to private capital in the range of £0.5m to £10m. This members’ only online investment service could help play a key role in helping regional UK SMEs to scale up.

National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has chosen to digitally transform its transaction banking business with the Infosys Finacle Cash Management Suite. Zied Jalali of National Bank of Bahrain and Venkat Gosavi of Infosys Finacle spoke with Robin Amlot about the bank’s transformation journey and the decisions behind the choices made.

A recent report about the financial impact of COVID-19 in the US showed 83% of lower to middle income households say that they want to turn to their banks for financial support. SpringFour’s technology provides real-time access to local financial resources that banks’ customer service agents share with their customers. Since the pandemic began, SpringFour has delivered more than 1.6 million referr...

Global Ventures is a Dubai-based, growth-stage venture capital firm. Within its investment portfolio, Global Ventures is looking for Middle East-based FinTechs capable of scaling up both inside and, more importantly, outside the region – one recent example being Cairo-based payments FinTech Paymob. Basil Moftah discussed the VC firm’s aims and ambitions with Robin Amlot.

Originally established in Chicago, Heidrick & Struggles is a global executive search firm. Clare Buxton is a Partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ London office and a member of the global Financial Services Practice. She leads the Consumer Financial Services team in the UK and is part of the global FinTech Practice. Robin Amlot spoke to Clare Buxton about the leadership issues facing neobanks.