IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

Mick Fennell, Business Line Director, Payments, Temenos   Payments by volume have soared, both in domestic markets and cross-border markets but, at the same time, banks margins have come under increasing pressure. Banks simply aren’t making the money out of the payments business that they used to make out of it. How do we create a system of payments that is fair, equitable, secure, and that makes...

Thomas Cuvelier, Partner, RTP Global Venture capital firm RTP Global says it invests in ‘ambitious founders reshaping the world through technology’. The focus in FinTech funding now is very firmly on AI and likely to remain there for some time. The impact of developments in artificial intelligence are only just beginning to be felt. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Thomas Cuvelier, Partne...

Thomas Longhurst, Head of Strategic Partnerships, YouLend Embedded finance is boosting business growth for SMEs as industry dynamics are being changed by the power of partnerships. Thomas Longhurst, Head of Strategic Partnerships at global embedded financing platform YouLend speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence, beginning with his thoughts on the recent Money 20/20 conference in Amsterdam. 

Mattie Yeta, Chief Sustainability Officer, CGI Banks are under increasing pressure to understand how nature-related risks like biodiversity loss, flood risk and soil degradation may impact asset values and long-term resilience. However, many lenders lack the tools and context to interpret this data. Mattie Yeta, Chief Sustainability Officer for CGI in the UK and Australia speaks to Robin Amlôt of...

Mia Drennan, Founder & CEO, GLAS Mia Drennan pioneered independent loan administration and trustee services – an area traditionally dominated by banks. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Mia Drennan, Founder and CEO of GLAS, about how she disrupted financial services and thrived in the male dominated financial services – building a global finance business that turns over around £100 mil...

Ram Ramdas, Founder & Chief Evangelist, Wonderlend Hubs WonderLend Hubs offers scalable, customisable solutions that adapt to the dynamic needs of modern lenders. It is a no-code, micro-modular solution delivered as a PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) model. Modular architecture or microservices allows the company to offer ‘Micro plans’, i.e. API bundles which are fully business user-configurable....

Ruchi Tripathi, Vice President - Product Management for AMLOCK, Azentio Financial crime compliance is evolving—and even minor lapses like missed STRs can spark major regulatory fallout. Legacy tech adds to the challenge, creating blind spots in AML frameworks. Ruchi Tripathi, VP – Product Management at Azentio’s AMLOCK, speaks with Puja Sharma on applying the ‘Broken Window Theory’, tackling tech...

Elliott Limb, CEO, Cubed Over the past decade, we have seen many FinTechs rise and fall – entering the market to great fanfare only to exit extremely quietly. Why do so many FinTechs fail and what needs to happen in order to reduce the chronic failure rates among FinTech startups. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence speaks to Cubed CEO Elliott Limb who says a mindset change is needed. 

Steve Brodie, Chief Revenue Officer, Goldilock Physical network isolation is becoming essential in today’s cybersecurity threat landscape. Software-only solutions are no longer enough. The case for hardware-based protection has been thrown into sharp relief in recent months with high profile cases of cyber attacks that have revealed victim organisations to be, in the words of Steve Brodie of Goldi...

Louise Stewart, CEO, ProjectPay Payments are a crucial issue in construction where some 98% of firms in the industry are SMEs. The UK construction sector is struggling with outdated financial models and banking structures but to address these challenges needs more than just the introduction of digital payments. A recent report by platform ProjectPay highlights the sector’s cashflow issues. Louise...

Michele Tucci, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Credolab Credolab is a data analytics platform based on smartphone and web behavioural metadata available to any company with a mobile app and a website. The use of this alternative data acts to bolster risk assessment and credit decisioning in a privacy-safe, predictive way that improves outcomes based on traditional scoring models alone. Ro...

Ritesh Varma, VP Business Solutions Consulting, Newgen Software   Investigating the opportunities and challenges involved in the implementation of artificial intelligence in the insurance sector – from ensuring fairness and compliance in underwriting via data-driven decision-making to the role AI plays in combatting fraud. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses risk assessment and claims manage...

Chandini Jain, Founder & CEO, Auquan   Auquan offers AI agents for institutional finance and provides a glimpse into the future of  work in investment banking. Agentic AI is already rewriting the role of humans in financial research and analysis – no long, for example,  will junior investment bankers face ‘death by powerpoint’. AI is reshaping workflows, organisations and careers. However, the...

Jorge Lluch, Co-Founder & COO, Abacum Abacum is a financial planning and analysis platform which recently raised $60 million in a Series B funding round. Businesses are under increasing pressure to forecast accurately, and AI-driven planning tools are themselves seen as a critical component to assist CFOs in forecasting revenue, planning headcount and building in the ability to cope with unfor...

Liat Shetret, Vice President, Global Policy & Regulation, Elliptic Debanking is not a new issue but despite efforts by jurisdictions like the USA and Australia introducing legislation to remove barriers for crypto firms, debanking remains a significant obstacle globally. The bottom line? Banks are hesitant to engage with crypto due to perceived risk – but could they be mistaken? Liat Shetret,...

Daniel Sanchez Grant, SVP International Corp Sales & UK Country Director, AlphaSense   There is a global AI talent gap. Rising demand for skilled staff in the area of artificial intelligence has seen AI expertise become the most in-demand skill set in technology with firms struggling to fill roles. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses the problem together with the uses of data-driven deci...

Rachel Levi, Head of AI, Swift The financial services sector has been using the predictive capabilities of traditional AI for years in use cases such as liquidity management and cash forecasting. However, the introduction of generative AI has created a vast range of opportunities for firms to improve customer support, drive smarter decision-making, and speed up content creation. Rachel Levi, Head...

Shalini Sankarshana, MD, Planview India’s banking sector is sprinting through a marathon of digital disruption—and the smartest players are using regulation not as a roadblock, but as guardrails for innovation. In this episode, Shalini Sankarshana, Managing Director at Planview®—an expert in Strategic Portfolio Management and Digital Product Development—tells Gloria Methri of IBS Intelligence why...

Aidana Zhakupbekova, Chief Financial Officer, Rydoo Topics in the spotlight include the workplace and compliance benefits of AI, and the integration of AI in existing financial systems. You’ll also hear comment on the role of smart audit AI in combatting expense fraud. Aidana Zhakupbekova, Chief Financial Officer of expense management platform Rydoo, speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence.

Russell Andrews, Head of Wealth & Asset Management Vertical EMEA, FIS   The focus on AI implementation in asset management has so far been largely on improving efficiency in routine, low value tasks. Building data lakes and warehouses is the foundational work necessary to enable AI-driven decision-making at scale. True value will emerge when AI is fully integrated into portfolio management and...

Sarika Agarwal, Chief Business Officer,  Findi India’s FinTech journey is at an inflection point—where building digital rails is no longer enough. True financial inclusion demands solutions rooted in a local context, blending the physical with the digital to meet users where they are. Sarika Agarwal, Chief Business Officer at FindiPay, speaks with Puja Sharma on embracing cash as a bridge, not a b...

Yoann Vandendriessche, Group Chief Product Officer, Intix & NetGuardians The payments sector is facing its biggest transformation in a decade. Traditional models are no longer sustainable, and firms need to rethink their strategies, harness real-time transaction data and look to more adaptive infrastructures. Indeed, real-time payments will become the norm, likely to reach 27% of all global pa...

Ben Goldin, Founder & CEO, Plumery The ‘big bang’ core replacement model is no longer a viable option for many banks. Instead, a step-by-step approach that overlays new modules over an existing core banking system may offer a way for financial institutions to bring their services up to date. Ben Goldin, Founder and CEO of Plumery speaks to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence about the path to prog...

Kaushal Verma, Head of Global Banking CoE, Newgen Software Technology has revolutionised lending and the loan origination process. Increasing speed of approval is a huge advantage. SMEs may now access the funds they need almost instantly. Modern digital lending platforms are more flexible, lending practices are more transparent – as examples of this, Kaushal Verma, Head of Global Banking CoE for N...

Patrick Lemay, Head of Corporate Development, PayRetailers Biometric authentication solutions are about more than just security. While multi-modal authentication is reducing fraud, it also holds the potential to create a more seamless and personalised payment experience. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses the opportunities with Patrick Lemay, Head of Corporate Development at PayRetailers.