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DOES FINTECH DREAM OF ELECTRIC LEAPS? Brightness and brilliance within FOOD FOR THOUGHT The true meaning of “legacy” INFOGRAPHICS: OPEN BANKING Opportunity knocks FINTECH FUTURES IN THIS ISSUE
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NEWS Sign up to the FinTech Futures 04 The latest fintech news from around the globe: free daily newsletter – the good, the bad and the ugly.
your go-to resource on all things tech. 16 Infographics: open banking Progress, opportunities, challenges, lessons learnt and more.
24 Focus: challenger banks Sizing up the real threat.
26 Case study: Alfa Bank Belarus How mobile turned the bank into a trusted partner and friend.
30 Comment: open banking A future where everyone can win.
32 Food for thought: what is legacy? Mindset, architecture, data and Dave.
36 Analysis: invisible payments Finding success in a convenience-driven market.
38 Fintech funding round-up Lucky recipients of funds in the tech world.
40 Speaking from experience Five considerations for a successful rebrand.
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Contact Jon Robson Tel: +44 203 377 3327 | Email: [email protected] December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 01 The FinTech Futures/Banking Technology team would like to thank our readers and supporters for being part of our journey in 2018 and making this year a great one for fintech! May the year ahead be successful, positive, peaceful and kind. See you in 2019 for more news Managing Director & Editor-in-Chief and developments from across the globe – the year promises to be very interesting! Tanya Andreasyan +44 207 551 9010 [email protected] Tanya Andreasyan, Deputy Editor Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Antony Peyton Editor-in-Chief +44 207 551 9010 Wishing you a relaxing festive break, [email protected] Reporter Henry Vilar +44 207 017 5709 team [email protected] Design & Production Manager David Wurie, Kosh Naran Business Development [email protected] Manager Head of Sales Editor’s note Jon Robson +44 203 377 3327 Jon Robson, [email protected] Head of Sales Business Development Manager David Wurie Welcome to the magazine’s last edition of Meanwhile, another core banking tech +44 207 017 5593 2018 and the first one of 2019! On behalf firm, Netherlands-based Ohpen, hasn’t [email protected] of our team, I’d like to wish our readers had much luck in the UK this year, losing a Marketing Manager and supporters a wonderful year ahead, tech deal with Invesco and making 19 staff Irena Andrisevic bringing new discoveries, interesting redundant. Ohpen said it was hoping to +44 207 017 5379 projects, rewarding ventures and joyful “revolutionise” the UK’s asset management [email protected] events. market, but despite its best efforts and Subscriptions and Renewals A quick look back at the outgoing year’s some “little nudges” by the UK’s Financial Tel: +44 207 017 5533 major happenings reveals plenty of highs Conduct Authority (FCA), nothing has Email: [email protected] and lows. really changed. As a result, the fintech Subscription for one year: UK’s TSB Bank and its Spanish parent stopped part of its services in the UK ■ £495 Sabadell will remember 2018 for a long (see p13). ■ €625 ■ $795 time as the year its core banking tech But there is a bigger revolution on Henry Vilar, migration plan went horribly wrong. its way – open banking. With the PSD2 Reporter Subscription for two years: Meanwhile in the US, core banking and open banking regulation coming ■ £800 ■ €880 software vendor Temenos will celebrate into effect at the start of 2018, the world ■ $1,000 2018 as the year it broke into the domestic of European banking will never be the market with two challenger bank deals – same. It will take time and effort, but as Antony Peyton, Varo Money and Grasshopper Bank. Finovate’s Greg Palmer states on the pages Deputy Editor Also in the US, the Securities and of this magazine (see p30), “open banking Exchange Commission (SEC) will mark is the future”. I doubt anyone would argue its year as clamping down on initial with that. coin offerings (ICOs). The likes of Airfox, There are so many more stories, so Paragon and Centra Tech experienced do keep an eye on our website for all the © Banking Technology 2018/2019 All rights reserved; Banking Technology material SEC’s deserved wrath (see p9). The news and exclusive stories – the good, Banking TechnologyIrena Andrisevic, team may not be reproduced in any form without Centra case involved celebrities Floyd the bad and the ugly – from the financial Marketing Manager the written permission of the publisher. Mayweather Jr. and music producer services tech world. Banking Technology is published ten times a year Khaled Khaled, known as DJ Khaled, paid Happy 2019! bt by the firm to promote it. Both were hit Address with hefty fines and a ban to promote any Maple House 149 Tottenham Court Road securities for a number of years. London W1T 7AD Talking about court cases, a UK Kosh Naran, UK start-up banking software tech firm, Design & Production Manager Printer Thought Machine, settled its dispute with Hobbs the Printers Ltd consultancy firm Capco over the IP of its Hampshire, UK flagship offering, Vault. It also received an Tanya Andreasyan ISSN 0266-0865 investment from Lloyds Banking Group Editor-in-Chief Happy www.bankingtech.com and signed a deal with Atom Bank (see p5). Banking Technology Holidays! December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 03 NEWS NEWS
BCS calls on AIB opens up to APIs Atom Bank in tech refresh with Bankgirot awards Calypso for asset Ireland’s AIB has spread its arms open immediate domestic payment from a Thought Machine wide with the launch of its API developer customer’s account and comprises three $77m IT contract management tech portal. elements. These are setup of the payment UK-based challenger Atom Bank has Atom’s current technology set-up to Evry More and more banks are getting into instruction; submission; and ability to agreed a multi-year deal with start-up tech consists mainly of older generation BCS Global Markets, the global markets and the API scene, and AIB’s portal will offer retrieve a status of the payment. firm Thought Machine to put its personal systems, such as FIS’s Profile for core, Swedish clearing house Bankgirot is investment banking division of Russia’s BCS the usual things you’d expect. On its portal, the bank offers a sandbox and business banking products onto Phoebus for mortgages and FIS/Sungard’s outsourcing its IT operations to Nordic Financial Group, has implemented Calypso The bank says it wants to “drive to let developers test their app before Thought Machine’s Vault platform. Ambit for treasury and risk management. tech vendor Evry in a seven-year deal Technology’s solution for end-to-end asset innovation and create opportunities by building in production. Edward Twiddy, Atom’s chief innovation Paul Taylor, CEO of Thought Machine, worth SEK 700 million ($77.1 million). management. collaborating with us using our APIs”. Its rival, Ulster Bank, unveiled its own officer, says the deal will combine “the says the two firms have been working Evry says the agreement “will enable “The emerging markets, including Russia At present there are two options – API portal last year. customer focus and experience of Atom together for a couple of years now, but Bankgirot to adopt a more dynamic and the CIS, are strategic for Calypso, and accounts and payments. In the UK, where AIB Group (UK) is with the engineering skills and ambition of have just gone public on this. delivery organisation and will modernise we will continue to invest in these regions to The accounts endpoints will enable trading as First Trust Bank in Northern Thought Machine”. Set up in 2014 and based in Durham, its technical infrastructure”. provide solutions that bring global-standard users to access information, balances Ireland, it has already been involved in the He elaborates: “The coherence and UK, Atom is now in the “unicorns” The vendor will take responsibility market practices with local conventions,” says and transactional history on customer open banking craze. It is part of the CMA9 elegance of Thought Machine’s Vault club with an over $1 billion valuation for Bankgirot’s platform operations and Didier Bouillard, CEO of Calypso. accounts. – the nine largest banks and building platform offers Atom a radically innovative (according to CB Insights). It employs 310 will enable the delivery of “simple and The two companies first started working For payments, the endpoints societies in the UK. and agile alternative to traditional banking people. Among its investors is Spanish efficient payments”. together in 2013, Banking Technology will enable users to initiate a single Antony Peyton technologies. banking heavyweight BBVA. Atom offers It adds that it “beat strong understands, on a project at BCS Broker in Vault’s unique features such as its smart savings and lending products (including international competition” to win this Russia. contract system for products, and workflow mortgages) to individuals and businesses. contract. The contract can be renewed for BCS Global Markets selected the Calypso BBVA and Santander join launch of engine for bank processes, enables Atom Meanwhile, Thought Machine has up to four years (two years at a time) and platform for its ability to process, end-to-end, to develop a bank which transmits its settled its differences with Capco and got a also involves 30+ employees of Bankgirot across multiple asset classes in lieu of old EU blockchain platform vision and values through the business and £11 million investment from Lloyds. being offered new positions at Evry. legacy systems, the vendor says. into the hands of our customers.” Tanya Andreasyan Per Hove, Evry’s new CEO (he was The financial institution says this project BBVA and Santander are two of the banks business, comments: “Blockchain and other promoted from EVP and head of Evry Norway has increased automation and “operational involved in the European Commission’s new technologies – artificial intelligence earlier this month), says his company is consolidation” for BCS Global Markets, while (EC) planned launch of the International (AI), for example – have to be understood German start-up Modifi powers up for pleased Bankgirot “has shown trust” in Evry. “laying the foundation for the existing and Association for Trusted Blockchain as simple pieces that make digital “With Evry, we get a strong partner with future IT landscape”. Applications (IATBA) next year. ecosystems reliable”. digital trade finance deep technical and commercial insight that “The decision to upgrade our back-office The latest development comes from He adds that blockchain is not only will help us provide quality and efficiency,” system was driven by our rapidly-growing a recent EU Blockchain Roundtable in a technology, but it “engenders” new Berlin-based Modifi has emerged into the explains Bankgirot CEO Jeanette Jäger. business, which required implementing Brussels with the Commissioner for Digital business models creating a “tokenised world of fintech with the launch of its digital Bankgirot has been operating for complex products for our clients, and updating Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel and economy” and “paving the way to a trade finance platform. nearly 60 years, and processes about six our business and compliance requirements the Director-General for Communications decentralised economy in the future”. The team behind payments provider BillPay million transactions worth SEK 68 billion to increase our range of product offerings Networks, Content and Technology, This follows on from April 2018, when has created a digital platform – called Buyer ($7.5 billion) daily. It is also behind several and control functions respectively, which Roberto Viola. the EC started working on rolling out the Finance – through which SMEs can receive fintech and paytech projects in Sweden, necessitated greater automation and The roundtable’s objective is/was to European Blockchain Partnership (EBP), which trade finance. Sweden-based payments including Autogiro, e-invoices, and real- coordination of back office tasks,” comments gather support among EU industry leaders has now been signed by 27 countries. provider Klarna acquired BillPay last year. time payments that enable Swish. Alexander Smelskiy, head of strategic IT and policy makers for an EU strategy to That partnership is a vehicle for Modifi CEO and co-founder Nelson Norway-based Evry claims 10,000+ platform development, BCS Global Markets. “boost innovation and exploitation of cooperation; to exchange experience and Holzner says: “With our new platform, we can customers across the private and public Modifi founders (left to right): Nelson Holzner (CEO), BCS Global Markets is looking beyond blockchain technology”. expertise in technical and regulatory fields; facilitate the trade of goods for thousands Sven Brauer (COO) and Jan Wehrs (CTO) sectors. “Every day more than five million simply emerging markets. Only recently, the Out of that roundtable, the EU and and prepare for the launch of EU-wide of underserved companies, benefitting local people in the Nordic region use solutions investment bank obtained a UK transaction BBVA revealed that the IATBA will be on blockchain applications across the “Digital economies. We want to make a positive delivered by Evry,” the company says. banking licence to offer an integrated its way. The EU says the association could Single Market”. impact, particularly in less-developed markets It has teamed with Germany’s solarisBank It reported turnover of NOK 12.6 investment banking and payment services be legally set by Q1 2019. The other banks BBVA’s involvement in blockchain is where businesses suffer most from the as its licensed banking partner. The API billion ($1.5 billion) in 2017 and has 8,500 solution. haven’t been revealed (nice work EU) – and well known. Recent examples include inadequacies of the current trade finance integration of solarisBank’s services enables employees across nine countries. BCS Global Markets says it processes two Banking Technology will try to find them. delivering the first syndicated loan on system.” Modifi to offer a digital end-to-end process Among its recent projects is million transactions a day across back office BBVA says the purpose of this publicly- the technology; and joining the Spanish The firm reckons 60% of rejected trades from identification (know your customer – implementing digital workplace services functionality, including trade settlement, sponsored initiative is to “garner support National Securities Market Commission collapse due to the lack of financing, with KYC) to payout. Pricing starts at 0.99% per 30 for Norway’s Sparebank 1 Alliance trade confirmations, and client, regulatory, from private blockchain and DLT experts (CNMV), BME and others for a pilot test for “serious consequences” for businesses, days and with repayment terms of up to 120 and enabling Google Pay for Norway’s internal and management reporting, which to contribute to outline the EU’s strategy improved issuing of warrants. particularly in emerging markets. days. challenger bank Monobank. It has also were fully customised to suit current business regarding these technologies”. Santander is of course part of the Modifi allows SMEs to apply for import Holzner is not alone in this new adventure. recently renewed its agreement with DNB process requirements using Calypso. Carlos Kuchkovsky, BBVA’s head of trading platform we.trade. financing in less than ten minutes online. Sven Brauer is COO and Jan Wehrs is CTO. for card fraud prevention solutions. Henry Vilar research and development new digital Antony Peyton Responses generally come within 48 hours. Antony Peyton Tanya Andreasyan
04 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 05 NEWS NEWS
Russian banks CYBG to lend £400m via Salary Finance AWS goes all the way with Ellie Mae to unleash first UK bank CYBG has agreed a new funding a growing body of evidence showing Ellie Mae is moving its infrastructure to and operations at Ellie Mae, says: “AWS services for compute, storage, databases, joint venture with Salary Finance to offer the impact financial stress can have on Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) cloud to gives us an unmatched set of cloud networking, analytics, machine learning contactless ATMs £400 million of personal loans. employee productivity, retention and rebuild its core applications and create services and a highly reliable infrastructure and artificial intelligence (AI), internet CYBG will fund Salary Finance’s salary- mental health”. new digital products for homebuyers. to work with.” of things (IoT), mobile, security, hybrid, Russia is about to have its first contactless deducted loans product line. The bank has Salary Finance has an existing banking The firm will use the “breadth and The company uses AWS Lambda to run virtual and augmented reality (VR and ATMs offering currency transactions via agreed to lend that large sum, “subject to relationship with CYBG as an SME depth” of AWS services, including code without provisioning or managing AR), media, and application development, smartphones. certain conditions”. customer with a revolving credit facility compute, storage, database, serverless, servers, Elastic Container Service for deployment, and management within 19 This wave of innovation will include David Duffy, chief executive of CYBG, funding line. and containers, for the loan process for its Containers to develop micro services, and regions around the world. cash withdrawals and other operations says: “Fintech is revolutionising how the CYBG says it has “significantly” invested customers and partners. Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon These include the US, Australia, Brazil, using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and financial sector works – 42% of us in in its digital platform, iB, as part of a £350 Ellie Mae built a company-wide data SQS) to decouple and scale microservices, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Android Pay. To perform the necessary the UK now use the services of at least million investment programme for open lake on AWS using Amazon Simple Storage distributed systems, and serverless Ireland, Japan, Korea, Singapore, and operation, users need to attach a one fintech firm. We have been hugely API capabilities. Service (Amazon S3) for digital lending. applications on AWS. the UK. smartphone to the terminal equipped impressed by the Salary Finance team and According to Salary Finance, it reaches Satheesh Ravala, SVP, cloud engineering AWS states that it offers over 125 Antony Peyton with an NFC reader. the clear social purpose that underpins over a million employees across various This autumn, Sberbank and Russian everything they do.” sectors. Customers include BT, E.ON, Virgin Standard Bank launched the technology Asesh Sarkar, chief executive of Active, Capgemini, Carlsberg, Dixons UK challenger CivilisedBank tries again for banking licence in test mode. Salary Finance, adds: “Our flagship salary Carphone, L&G and NHS Trusts, councils It is anticipated that they will soon be deducted loans product is a core part of and schools. UK challenger CivilisedBank is back “rather than try to rush through our current management and AML, and Aqilla for joined by VTB, Credit Bank of Moscow our broader financial wellbeing platform In other recent related news, CYBG, on the radar and has resubmitted its IT development phase”. accounting. (CBOM), Otkritie and other Russian and the funding joint venture with CYBG the new owner of Virgin Money, has banking licence application to the Bank of In the latest development, it’s trying It is focused on the UK SME market and banks, which are considering introducing will enable us to continue to scale the confirmed it cancelled a long-term deal England. again and has also received further funding funded by retail savings. It will offer savings contactless ATMs in 2019. product over the coming years.” with former Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins’ The bank released its banking licence from Warwick Capital Partners, as well and loans, transaction banking, overdrafts, “Nowadays, a card is not just a piece Salary Finance’s platform connects to digital banking start-up. (obtained in May 2017) earlier this year to as from an unnamed blue-chip, FTSE100 current accounts with deposits and foreign of plastic, but a means of payment, which the payroll of participating employers to In addition, Debbie Crosbie, a long- give more time to develop its technology pension fund. exchange. can take the form of a ring, phone or key offer salary-deducted savings, loans and pay standing CYBG’s group chief operating platform, before subsequently reapplying The bank says it used this extra time to CivilisedBank will not have any fob”, says Alexei Okhorzin, director of the advances, as well as financial education. officer and executive director, will become for a new licence. develop its technology platform further branches, but offers a “Local Banker” retail product department at Credit Bank The duo come out with quite a the new CEO for TSB (see p43). The latter It was keen to stress that everyone and, by resubmitting its banking licence network to help build one-to-one of Moscow. common view in fintech… namely needs to turn its fortunes around and had was super cool with this. The Prudential application, is now preparing for launch in relationships with SMEs, “without the high He adds: “The introduction of “employee financial wellbeing is fast to bring in fresh blood. Regulatory Authority (PRA) and the H1 2019. client volume per banker or the traditional contactless banking instruments is becoming a priority for employers, with Antony Peyton Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) For its technology, the bank originally costs associated with the existing high a promising way of development in were aware and the decision was “fully opted for a packaged solution from local street banks”. terms of the payment service format, supported” by CivilisedBank’s main consultancy firm, Tusmor. It consists A number of recent senior hires at the which meets CBOM corporate goals to Betalo unleashes Swedish shareholder, Warwick Capital Partners. of Profile Software’s FMS.next for core bank have come from Harrods Bank (now provide customers with high-tech and Chris Jolly, non-executive chairman, banking operations, Dovetail (now part of Tandem). comfortable solutions for everyday life neobank PFC CivilisedBank said it made this choice Fiserv) for payments, Sphonic for risk Antony Peyton and business.” According to Okhorzin, over 80% Stockholm-based payments firm Betalo In terms of upcoming features, of the bank’s customers use various has launched its neobank Personal these include budgeting and expense contactless payment services. Finance Co (PFC). tracking, bill splitting, automatic currency Credit Suisse lends $350m to Australian challenger bank Judo The Russian banks point out that in Eli Daniel Keren, CEO at PFC, says it is converter, and joint accounts. Melbourne-based challenger bank Judo collaborating with them over the long term strategy is to back entrepreneurs to help Europe this service did not take hold from Sweden’s first neobank: “We have been These are early days as it is has just Capital is edging towards a bank licence to finance their growth with a full suite of them grow.” the very outset, “despite the fact that the building for months, tweaking some gone live. While it’s based in the Swedish with a $350 million debt facility agreement solutions. The news follows on from September first ATM allowing to perform contactless things, and now we are ready to share it. capital, PFC says its team represents with firm Credit Suisse. “We have significantly grown our when Judo selected Temenos’ T24 core operations appeared in Spain back in Join our journey and check out our app.” more than 11 different national origins According to David Hornery, co-founder securitisation business focused on system, channels, analytics and financial April 2011, the active introduction of the PFC offers a free contactless Mastercard including Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Italy, and co-CEO of Judo, the demand for the entrepreneurial clients over the last few crime mitigation; and from August when it technology peaked in 2017 after it was card and an app. The bank says it doesn’t Ireland, Croatia, China, Poland, Romania, bank’s “relationship focused SME lending has years, and we are looking at financing all got $140 million in funding. adopted by Barclays, with the geographic add any fees or extra charges when the Ukraine, and the US. surged” since the launch earlier this year. stages of a company’s lifecycle, from early Back in March, Judo said it started the coverage still expanding”. card is used abroad. On the PFC website, it explains that it The head of debt capital markets and stage to maturity and across the capital process of obtaining a banking licence The banks say Latvia and Estonia in It offers the options to activate, freeze was founded in 2012 as Betalo, building asset finance for Credit Suisse Australia, spectrum,” he says. from the Australian Prudential Regulation the Baltic region were the last to launch the card, change PIN, order a new card financial products and services with Will Farrant, says Credit Suisse has a strong “Judo has a high-quality management Authority (APRA) – the culmination of a contactless ATMs in the EU. and chat with support – in the app. As technology. Now Betalo has become PFC. record of backing highly credentialed team and a scalable business model. It “strategic build-up of the company” over We’ll see if Russia can do better. you’d expect, users can personalise their New bank, new name it seems. entrepreneurs and clients from the is very well positioned as a disrupter for the past three years. Antony Peyton financial feeds on the app to set goals. Antony Peyton early stages of their existence and then traditional SME business lending and our Antony Peyton
06 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 07 NEWS
THEM US US regulator plays hardball over ICO securities Like some stocky wiseguy in New users in emerging markets to earn tokens Enforcement Division. “These cases tell those Jersey, the US Securities and Exchange and exchange them for data by interacting who are considering taking similar actions Commission (SEC) just ain’t got time for with advertisements. that we continue to be on the lookout for any nonsense about initial coin offering As Banking Technology reported in violations of the federal securities laws with (ICO) securities. February, Airfox unveiled its free Android app respect to digital assets.” The SEC has settled charges against in Brazil as it targets the nation’s unbanked The cases follow the commission’s two companies that sold digital tokens market. first non-fraud ICO registration case, in ICOs. These are the commission’s first Paragon, an online entity, raised Munchee. The SEC did not impose a cases imposing civil penalties solely for ICO approximately $12 million worth of penalty or include undertakings from securities offering registration violations. digital assets to develop and implement Munchee, which stopped its offering Both companies have agreed to return its business plan to add blockchain before delivering any tokens and promptly funds to harmed investors, register the technology to the cannabis industry and returned proceeds to investors. tokens as securities, file periodic reports work toward legalisation of cannabis. The orders impose $250,000 penalties with the commission, and pay penalties. Not something we cover but it sounds against each company and include According to the SEC’s orders, both interesting. undertakings to compensate harmed CarrierEQ (Airfox) and Paragon Coin Neither Airfox nor Paragon registered investors who purchased tokens in the conducted ICOs in 2017 after the SEC their ICOs pursuant to the federal securities illegal offerings. The companies also will warned that ICOs can be securities laws, nor did they qualify for an exemption register their tokens as securities pursuant offerings in its DAO Report of Investigation. to the registration requirements. to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Airfox, a Boston-based start-up, raised “We have made it clear that companies file periodic reports with the commission approximately $15 million worth of digital that issue securities through ICOs are required for at least one year. Airfox and Paragon assets to finance its development of a to comply with existing statutes and rules consented to the orders without admitting token-denominated “ecosystem” starting governing the registration of securities,” says or denying the findings. with a mobile application that would allow Stephanie Avakian, co-director of the SEC’s Antony Peyton Huawei battles for European banks’ trust Chinese IT and telecoms giant, Huawei, is Prior to this, the Pentagon banned seeking to build the trust of European banks phones made by the firm from sale in shops as it attempts to replicate its Asian success. on US military bases, saying they posed a It has Santander as its flagship European security threat. customer and a handful of other banks on The Australian government has also the continent but most business is currently expressed concerns and is considering relatively low-end technology rather than blocking Huawei from providing equipment strategic. Recent concerns of US, UK and for the country’s planned 5G network. Australian government agencies about the Huawei is “fully open to showing our company are not aiding the process. infrastructure and our code”, says Caballero. They struggle with Fintech complexity. We see straight to your goal. Huawei’s Enrique Marron Caballero, It also invests a lot in cybersecurity, he adds. We leverage proprietary knowledge and technology to solve complex regulatory challenges, create new products finance solution director, Western Europe Nevertheless, he admits that the traditional and build businesses. Our unique “one fi rm” approach brings to bear best-in-class talent from our 32 offi ces (ex-Santander), admits that bank executives conservatism of banks means the situation worldwide—creating teams that blend global reach and local knowledge. Looking for a fi rm that can help keep “won’t be fired if a traditional US provider represents a challenge. fails [on a project]”. Huawei has typically Santander has a large infrastructure your business moving in the right direction? Visit BCLPlaw.com to learn more. started with “foundation platforms” such as In terms of governmental concerns, in the team and carries out proof of concept (PoC) storage and wifi for banks, demonstrating its UK a report earlier this year warned the UK studies with lots of vendors, says Caballero. capabilities here and seeking to build on this. telecoms network could face security risks Typically, for every project, it tests the At Santander, the supplier has provided from equipment supplied by Huawei, with competences of three providers. To date, he solutions for branch networks, cloud only “limited assurances” that equipment says, Huawei has not failed any of the PoCs. computing and storage for big data. Other provided by the company would not Its network now underpins 20,000 branches clients cited by Caballero include BBVA and compromise national security. The concerns and it has diverse projects in Spain, the UK, Caja Rural in Spain, Intesa Sanpaolo and mostly centred on Huawei’s engineering Brazil (supporting 50,000 desktops) and Monte dei Paschi di Siena in Italy, Crédit processes and a perceived lack of adequate Mexico. Agricole and Commerzbank. oversight of suppliers of third-party products. Martin Whybrow
LAWYERS OFFICES YEARS BCLPLAW COM December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 09 NEWS NEWS
Discovery debuts digital bank UK’s Brexit deal gets some fintech love IndusInd Bank South African financial services company In the latest development, Discovery’s Another “key feature” is dynamic interest buttons up with Discovery is exploring new realms with the chief executive Adrian Gore says: “The rates, “an industry first”. This design links The UK’s draft Brexit deal may have scenario once it is endorsed under the unveiling of its digital banking offering. banking system in South Africa is world interest rates directly to clients’ financial ushered in a wave of chaos and democratic process in the UK and in the EU. interactive card It calls it the “world’s first behavioural class and our competitors are brilliant. We behaviour; enabling them to earn more Conservative party resignations, but “The transition period will help resolve bank” and the digital entity will be did, however, see a gap in-between the interest on savings and to pay less interest some in the fintech industry have given it most – but not all – of the immediate risks available from March 2019 for smartphone traditional offerings and fintech offerings – on credit as they improve their financial conditional love. of Brexit in the short run; further public users. It is based on the “behavioural” a third entry point that is essentially a new behaviour with Vitality Money. On 15 November, Prime Minister action will be needed to address other model Discovery uses to reward its life category of banking and a first of its kind Back in 2016, Discovery went to market Theresa May agreed a draft deal with specific risks to complement the financial and health insurance customers for their globally: a behavioural bank.” for its new bank’s technology, as reported Brussels. The deal has been approved by sector’s own preparation.” lifestyle choices. If you’ve recovered from the shock of exclusively by Banking Technology. It was the cabinet. Mijs adds: “For the long term, the As reported in ye olde October 2016, someone praising their rivals, Gore adds: understood that SAP, Infosys and Oracle It’s a 585-page document so no space agreement opens the door to further Discovery received the green light from the “In the same way that we aimed to address FSS bid for the project. The selection results to cite it all. Some of it includes how much discussions on the future relationship regulators to set up a bank – the anticipation the negative impact of human behaviour are yet to be unveiled. We have contacted money will be paid to the EU, a 21-month between the UK and the EU. Mumbai-based IndusInd Bank is in a was that a banking licence would be granted on health risk and the sub-optimal design the bank for details. transition period, and commitments on The Personal Investment Management pushy frame of mind as it has launched an within a year (yeah, most things are late of insurance systems through our shared- In terms of competitors, last month, the rights of EU citizens in the UK and vice & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA) interactive credit card in India with buttons in life). It allocated ZAR 2.1 billion ($153 value insurance model; Discovery Bank Bank Zero, a new challenger mutual bank versa. also “welcomes the certainty that these for payments. million) to the project, Banking Technology aims to do the same in the context of in South Africa, launched its first trial runs. It is not a trade deal – that still needs to proposals can provide on the transitional Calling it a “first” in the country, the understood at the time. financial risk and banking systems.” The bank had been registered as a mutual be worked out in the transition period. arrangements and on allowing for a Nexxt Credit Card has payment options As part of that ambition, it acquired The bank will offer a “behaviour-change bank effective 17 August 2018. It received a It’s a fluid situation at the time of one-step Brexit, both of which PIMFA at a point of sale (POS) terminal – credit, the majority stake in its credit card unit programme”, Vitality Money, which will guide provisional licence back in January of this year writing, but some Conservative MPs have has consistently argued for since the converting transactions into electronic – Discovery Card – from FirstRand Bank. and incentivise consumers to achieve better by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). been resigning as they feel the deal goes referendum”. money institutions (EMIs) with four tenure Discovery Card has 250,000+ customers. financial health and resilience. Antony Peyton back on what was discussed and gives the PIMFA CEO Liz Field adds: “The options (six, 12, 18 and 24 months) or using EU too much power. possibilities for lengthening transition accumulated reward points, by pushing a The UK’s biggest banks have also been are also welcome in this context, and button on the card. Capital One makes smart purchase with Wikibuy summoned for a call with City regulators overall the prospect offered of a sensibly Anil Ramachandran, EVP and head, over market turbulence. But that’s not a managed withdrawal from the EU with a marketing and retail unsecured assets US-based Capital One has acquired shopping US Card at Capital One Financial. “With JP Morgan Chase and Capital One about a major surprise. one-step change for our firms at the end at IndusInd Bank, says: “Responsive comparison engine Wikibuy as it continues to Wikibuy, we’ve acquired an innovative checking account-like product. Amidst all this hate and chaos (or of transition will minimise disruption to innovation has been our mantra to build up its digital offerings. start-up that helps customers save time, Wikibuy has over a million members, that however you see it), some in fintech are business.” design financial products that enhance Launched in 2016, Wikibuy is a free, money, and enables them to shop with see cross-site price comparison in real time, more sanguine. Ultimately, opinions will vary depending customer empowerment and boost digital tool designed to help save money. No confidence.” and are also provided active coupon codes at Wim Mijs, CEO of the European on each firm or organisation. But fintech convenience for them.” financial details about the deal have been This latest purchase follows on from checkout, as well as price drop alerts. Banking Federation (EBF), says: “The Brexit really wants stability and based on my The card has been created in partnership disclosed. earlier this year when Capital One acquired Austin (Texas) will continue to be home withdrawal agreement between the UK experiences is generally full of people with with Dynamics, which is headquartered “We believe that the consumers want San Francisco-based digital identity start- for Wikibuy, where it will continue to provide and the EU is a late but necessary step an open-minded view of the world. in Pittsburgh. Back in January, Dynamics intelligent, real-time banking tools that up Confyrm as it sought to capture the members with the same great, clear, and that would avoid a hard Brexit cliff-edge Antony Peyton teamed up with Sprint, a subsidiary of proactively anticipate and deliver on what market for consumer identity services. simple service they receive today. SoftBank, to launch the Wallet Card, a consumers need,” says Joe Poellnitz, SVP of In addition, Amazon was talking to Henry Vilar battery-powered, connected card. DNB Bank finds data skills in Collibra With the bank’s latest card, a customer does not need to fill out any paperwork, DNB Bank, Norway’s largest financial new challenges to manage and ensure or call their bank, or log in to any banking Ukraine’s Monobank to launch Koto app in UK services group, has partnered with compliant use of large volumes of channel to convert their POS transactions enterprise data governance and data data. The Collibra platform is bringing into EMIs, or to redeem their rewards points. The brains behind Ukraine’s Monobank are founders Dima Dubilet, Misha Rogalskiy together with another Ukrainian bank – cataloguing software firm Collibra. context to DNB’s complex data Last month, the bank launched the preparing to launch their Koto app and and Oleg Gorokhovskyi. Universal Bank – states that it signed up The Norwegian brand hopes that this landscape and fuelling the shift to a data IndusInd Bank Duo Card, a debit and credit card in the UK next year. All three of them worked at 100,000 new users in its first three months enables the group’s global data strategy, driven organisation,” says Aidan Millar, card in one – the first one in India. On the Koto website it is offering PrivatBank and used their experiences to of operation. allowing it to better understand how executive vice-president group digital The card has two EMV chips and a lending services, a card, the option to send launch Monobank in July last year. Monobank should not be confused with data is being utilised in business insights and chief data officer (CDO) magnetic stripe for each, one on each side. money for free, and use the card abroad The latter is Ukraine’s “first” virtual the Norwegian challenger of the same processes to deliver value to customers, at DNB. The bank says the card uses the anagram with no FX fees. bank, allowing customers to conduct name. optimise business operations and DNB says it is focusing on deploying technique to enhance and highlight the At the moment there are not a lot of transactions from their smartphones. It (That was founded in 2015 and is monitor the bank’s compliance with a wider data strategy, with the aim singularity of the duo card. details as it is offering early access via email provides services such as paying utilities based in Bergen. It offers loans, payment industry data regulations. to deliver tailored digital customer The bank started operations in 1994. It sign up. and recharging phone balances. insurance products, and savings accounts.) “Digital adoption is driving an experiences in a compliant way. has 1,466 branches and 2,372 ATMs . Koto is the creation of Monobank’s co- Monobank, which was launched Antony Peyton explosive growth of data, creating Henry Vilar Antony Peyton
10 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 11 NEWS
smartstreamrdu.com
Wealthtech woes mean jobs go at Ohpen UK office Dutch banking software vendor Ohpen were due by 30 September 2018. to put its “focus back on” Software-as-a- has made 19 staff redundant at its UK Banking Technology contacted the Service (SaaS) and back office operations at Systematic Internaliser Registry. office due to the lack of action in the asset company in the Netherlands for details and large banks. management space. Angelique Schouten, global board member This means the UK contact centre and its Sources told Banking Technology that at Ohpen, responded promptly. You have to asset management operations have been there were “some issues with the contract” give the firm credit for responding quickly. shut down. As mentioned above, 19 staff Centralized. and the loss of a deal with investment Most fintechs just offer a “no comment” or try have lost their jobs. Schouten says there are manager Invesco. In addition, “some staff to play childish delaying tactics. “five or six people left in the UK office serving had literally started for a few weeks and She wouldn’t discuss the Invesco deal, multiple regions”. then lost their jobs”. which is quite common in the fintech world In terms of the website, the Dutch one As reported last year, Ohpen gained as people have to honour confidentiality is fine and it is “working on a new website” approval from the UK’s Financial Conduct agreements. We also contacted Invesco by for the UK. The Systematic Internaliser Registry (SI) provides the necessary data to Authority (FCA) to carry out its regulated email and phone. It offered a no comment. In regards to the Companies House determine which counterparty should report, by allowing SIs to register activities under its new British company, In Schouten’s view, the “hope” was that matter, the accounts were “late” but have just the details of the financial instruments and asset classes for which they are Ohpen Operations UK. the UK’s asset management market would be been submitted. In the latest development, Ohpen’s UK “revolutionised” – opening the way for new Ohpen’s Dutch operations appear to providing services, in a single centralized listing. website no longer works and calls to its office firms to prosper. be unaffected by these UK job losses. As The SI Registry is a collaboration between the SmartStream RDU and a went unanswered. But apart from some “little nudges” by reported in an exclusive in July, LeasePlan group of Approved Publication Arrangements (APAs). The initiative is open On the UK’s Companies House website, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Bank, the online savings bank based in the Ohpen Operations UK is listed as active but nothing has really changed. Netherlands, chose it to upgrade its whole to all APAs and SIs and offers a comprehensive and granular set of data from “accounts overdue”. It states that next accounts As a result of this situation, Ohpen has core cloud banking engine. a growing population of SIs - providing much needed clarity to the market. have been made up to 31 December 2017, but stopped part of its services in the UK. It wants Antony Peyton Contact us today to find out more: [email protected] Moneyfarm moves on Germany with Vaamo acquisition
London-based asset manager Moneyfarm committee of Moneyfarm. a total investment of £400 million, as has acquired robo-advisor Vaamo as it Dr. Bloch will be responsible for the reported in May 2018. hunts out action on the German market. Germany business and Moneyfarm’s It’s made some good progress as back Financial details were not disclosed but Europe-wide B2B business. in May it got £40 million in a Series B Moneyfarm now has its third core market, Dr. Vins will be responsible for product funding round – meaning it has secured alongside the UK (since 2015) and Italy (since management and development at close to £60 million in capital so far. 2012). Moneyfarm groups in the future. There Vaamo’s customers include German Giovanni Daprà, CEO of Moneyfarm, were no details about any job cuts due to challenger bank N26 and 1822direkt. says: “We see Germany as an attractive the acquisition. The acquisition is subject to the growth market.” Moneyfarm was founded in 2011 and approval of the Federal Financial Vaamo founder Dr. Thomas Bloch had around 30,000 private clients (double Supervisory Authority. and Dr. Oliver Vins join the executive year-on-year) at the end of 2017, with Antony Peyton
FCA moves to cloud with Sopra Steria The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is commence in early 2019 and will be provided The FCA says that since going live, it has moving to the cloud and will be using Sopra from Sopra Steria’s UK and India locations, already handled over six billion transactions, Steria for its application maintenance services with capabilities like big data, UX and averaging over 31 million transactions daily. across all its major systems. middleware. The MDP was developed to enable the Sopra Steria will support the FCA in its This follows the company’s development FCA to capture, validate, store and track transition from traditional-hosted services and launch of the Market Data Processor financial transactions, collecting reporting into cloud-hosted services. (MDP) in January 2018. activity required by new MiFID II regulation. The three-year contract extends the work The MDP, built to service requirements The FCA says the MDP marked the first the company’s support teams have been of the new MiFID II regulation, is one of the time a regulator has used a cloud-based app providing to the FCA for over ten years. “most industry-critical regulatory cloud to manage widespread regulatory filings. The maintenance services are planned to platforms ever built in the UK”. Henry Vilar
December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 13 NEWS NEWS
Australian neobank Xinja goes live with SAP Cloud for Banking ECB’s pan-European instant payments service goes live After a “rapid” three-month implementation, it launched its card and app. S/4HANA Finance; SAP Banking (Loans The battle for paytech dominance a client of the Spanish bank, Caixabank, Swift has also joined in the promotion Australian neobank Xinja is now live on the “We were very considered in our choice and Deposits), SAP Payments Engine, continues as the European Central Bank used TIPS to make an instant payment to a and reveals the implementation of its SAP Cloud for Banking solution. of core banking partner, and we selected running on SAP Cloud and managed by (ECB) has launched its pan-European client of the French bank, Natixis. messaging service for TIPS. As reported in August, the bank chose SAP because it had both the experience SAP Cloud Application Services. service for settling electronic payments Together with Abanca Corporación SwiftNet Instant solution is designed SAP Cloud for Banking to underpin its and imagination to work alongside us The bank explains that the solution instantly. Bancaria, BBVA, Banco de Crédito Social as a “key building block for access to application for a restricted banking and kick-start the consumer banking brings an API-driven architecture and Target instant payment settlement (TIPS) Cooperativo, Berlin Hyp, Caja Laboral the future Eurosystem Single Market licence from the Australian Prudential revolution in Australia – something it has means it’s prepared for the forthcoming uses central bank money to settle payments Popular Cooperativa de Crédito and Infrastructure Gateway (ESMIG)”. Regulation Authority (APRA) later this now proved,” says Xinja CEO, Eric Wilson. open banking regulation. individually in “less than ten seconds”. Teambank, they are the first banks to join It reckons the next major milestone for year. It also follows on from March, when Xinja says the solution comprises SAP Antony Peyton The go-live can be seen as Europe’s TIPS. ESMIG will be the technical consolidation chance to fight back against the US ECB is in a sales pitch mood as it says of Target2 and Target2-Securities in 2021. titans of Amazon, Facebook, Google and banks across Europe can now follow the Swift explains that it is a partner to Poland’s at the Heart of fintech sandbox action PayPal – and not forgetting of course lead of France, Germany and Spain, which the Eurosystem, the sole provider of China’s Alibaba and Tencent. That’s quite a have already connected to TIPS, by linking connectivity for Target2, “key provider” of The Polish Financial Supervision Authority has and creating appropriate conditions for The regulatory sandbox is the first powerful assembly. to the platform and developing solutions connectivity to Target2-Securities (T2S) appointed the Heart, the corporate centre for fintechs to participate in the programme. project of this type in Poland. Similar Anyway, in terms of Europe the first that support the take-up of instant and now also a provider for TIPS. digital ventures, as one of the operators of the It will also provide help scaling the initiatives were created in Singapore, the transaction took place immediately, when payments. Antony Peyton regulatory sandbox for companies developing business on other European markets, UK, Switzerland or Australia. new technologies from the financial sector. in terms of access to customers and Apart from the Heart Sandbox, there will The Heart Sandbox will support financing, and appropriate licences. be other regulatory sandboxes operated Lendico Switzerland deploys Mambu’s core banking system selected companies aiming to start The test infrastructure will be provided by PKO Bank Polski, Huge Thing, Alior Bank, operations in the Polish financial market. by Mastercard. Other members of the BusinessCaddy, Pekao, Citi Handlowy Bank Lendico Switzerland, a Swiss marketplace decisioning and disbursement is going “The API-driven solution puts us in The Heart will be responsible for consortium are law firm Bird & Bird and the and BGŻ BNP Paribas Bank. lender and subsidiary of PostFinance unmet,” observes Myriam Reinle, CEO of full control of our technology, enabling managing the solution testing process consulting company EY. Henry Vilar (Swiss Post’s financial services arm), has Lendico. us to change, develop and introduce implemented Mambu’s core processing “We wanted to both address the new products quickly, with the luxury of system, delivered on a hosted basis. market demands and grow our business knowing we can scale operations without KBC Ireland app to go multibanking Lendico was launched in 2016, and geographically through a fully-automated, significant investment in time or resources,” provides financing to small businesses and lean and flexible business model. We chose she continues. “This frees us up to focus Thanks to open banking and PSD2 KBC Bank The app offers instant credit card, digital (before tax and impairment). investment opportunities to private and a cloud-native approach to achieve this our attention on designing, building and Ireland will enable customers to add accounts personal loans and a “new first” to market a Verbraeken says the results “confirm that institutional investors. It describes itself goal instead of building a new technology evolving elements of our technical stack that from other banks to its app from next month. lost/stolen instant digital card replacement our approach to disrupt the banking sector as a digital alternative to traditional SME stack or replicating what existed in other truly differentiate us from our competitors.” In its financial results for Q3 2018 the service. is working with almost 20,000 new customer financing. operations,” Reinle explains. This is Mambu’s first implementation bank says since the app was launched in late Overall, the number of mobile wallet accounts opened in the past three months, “In Switzerland, the demand from She says Mambu provides “business in Switzerland, Banking Technology August it has seen digital activity increase transactions increased by 183% when bringing the total number of new accounts SMEs for loan products, end-to-end digital agility” and “seamless integration” with the understands. by 47% compared to Q3 2017. However, the compared to the same period last year. added in 2018 to over 60,000”. customer experiences as well as rapid lender’s existing systems. Tanya Andreasyan bank is looking for more action. The value of those transactions also grew It now has over 278,000 customers. Wim Verbraeken, chief executive, KBC Bank exponentially, up 287% quarter on quarter. In terms of other stats, new mortgage Ireland, says: “When we launch, customers There was more good news when the lending in Q3 was over €240 million bringing will be able to check the balance of current bank reported net profit of €33.6 million lending to €662 million in the first nine Yandex.Money moves mobile wallet accounts they hold with other financial for Q3 2018 (after tax and impairment). months of 2018. institutions and we will add more functionality.” Operating profit stood at €23.4 million Antony Peyton forward with Moven
Moven Enterprise has partnered with personalised financial management tools. Moven Enterprise takes a Software- Unisys elevates Monmouthshire Building Society’s services mobile wallet company Yandex.Money to “Yandex.Money is no longer just an as-a-Service (SaaS) approach by allowing power smart banking technology for the electronic wallet, as we offer options familiar banks and financial services companies UK-based Monmouthshire Building to delivering these services for MBS. to offer new and innovative financial Russia-based company. to banking clients such as money transfers, to white-label its financial management Society (MBS) has selected Unisys’ banking “This exciting proposition will enable products and services to its customers in Yandex.Money will leverage Moven card issuance, cashback, payment for various technology. The vendor offers tools to platform Elevate to help the society deliver the society to grow its membership, the future”. Enterprise’s open APIs to embed new goods and services,” Ivan Glazachev, Yandex. help banks engage with their existing new digital current account services to its whilst providing both existing and “The challenge for many banks and features and functionality into its mobile Money CEO, explains. “We also offer users the customers, acquire new customers, and customers. future members with a multi-channel building societies today is how to stay app, pushing new product offers that opportunity to choose the app design theme, drive revenue through their mobile Unisys’ Elevate was chosen as MBS offering,” comments Will Carroll, CEO, relevant and give people more choice extend beyond the company’s flagship make investments, and now effectively channel. says it will help it deliver services across Monmouthshire Building Society. to bank in a manner that fits with their mobile wallet. The partnership will give control their funds.” A joint venture between Yandex and channels. Payment Cloud Technologies Elevate platform will give MBS digital lifestyle,” says Eric Crabtree, VP and global Yandex.Money’s mobile wallet offering The new features will also encourage Sberbank, Yandex.Money is the largest (PCT), part of the Omnio Group, supports wallet capabilities, as well as an open API head of financial services, Unisys. a boost by giving its 46 million mobile users to adopt existing mobile wallet online payment service in Russia. current account capabilities and is integral architecture, which brings the “potential Henry Vilar wallet customers access to real-time offerings. Julie Muhn, Finovate
14 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 15 Opportunity knocks WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY The future of Open Banking Are you making good progress with the delivery of changes relating to Open Banking for the benefit of your business?
The biggest shake-up of the financial services sector in recent history – Open Banking – is putting consumers in control of their data and resetting the way consumers and businesses engage with their finances. All Yes 58% No 25% Don’t know 17% We are now nearly a year into the industry being “opened up” and we are starting to see the examples of innovation, with more and more businesses embracing the changes or realising the full potential of Open Banking. Banks Yes 47% No 33% Don’t know 20% Law firm TLT and FinTech Futures conducted research to create a comprehensive study on the subject, finding out how banks, fintechs and other financial services providers are reacting to this significant change. Non- What are the advantages and disadvantages of Open Banking, how far are the respondents into the banks Yes 62% No 22% Don’t know 16% Open Banking journey and what are the lessons learnt along the way, including issues of trust, security and communication, opportunities, barriers to entry and the rapid growth of new markets. All is revealed in the infographics below. Do you feel Open Banking is a positive initiative? THE RESPONDENTS No Don’t know Yes 71% Too soon to say 20% Type of organisation Annual turnover 2% 7%
Building society Private bank Investment bank Challenger bank >£10bn 11% Payment service Issues faced with Open Banking <£10m 39% Bank (other) provider
Retail Customer £1-9bn 10% bank Service provider concerns e.g. lack (other) of knowledge, Lack of Determining IT issues, resistance to new guidance £500-999m 5% Other strategy & including technologies, Lack of Limited from the Technology £250-499m 11% understanding systems concerns about knowledge capacity to CMA, FCA service provider the requirements integration sharing data & skills invest &/or EBA Other (fintech/regtech/ paytech)*
£50-249m 10% £10-49m 14% * including account information services & payment initiation services
Meeting Role within business Open Meeting Banking &/ Business stakeholder/head of Business Innovation & Risk & We have not regulatory or PSD2 business department 15% development/sales 14% transformation 12% compliance 6% faced any compliance deadlines issues Finding the right Lack of Security issues, requirements Open Banking collaboration including (including partners, including in the industry customer CMA, PSD2 banks, payment authentication & GDPR service providers requirements & requirements) Board member & Technology & Legal 1% Front-line & technology secure open APIs top level management 25% operations 15% staff & support 3% providers
16 17 Who are you collaborating with to Biggest potential threats in the What issues has your organisation faced with Open Banking? develop Open Banking products Open Banking marketplace: & services? Large tech companies Service Other Other* Bank or building society (e.g. Google, Amazon, providers (other) Facebook, Apple) Highlights
Non-banks Banks Technology service providers* Customer concerns 33% Determining strategy and 51% (fintech/regtech/ understanding requirements paytech) Large retailers Determining strategy and 33% understanding requirements Finding the right Open 37% IndustryIndustry bodybody oror regulatorregulator Banking partners Finding the right Open 33% Banking partners IT issues 35% Payment service Established providers banks Lack of collaboration in 31% Lack of collaboration in 28% Challenger banks & the industry the industry Other regulated financial firm e.g. Payment service provider building societies wealth management company IT issues 25% Limited capacity to invest 26%
*Including fintech firms, consultancies, retailers, start-ups * Including account information services & payment initiation services Approach to investing in How are Open Banking products & Open Banking: services being developed? The market will become more consolidated with larger banks buying fintechs & smaller banks to keep up with the level of innovation & speed of product development required.
Comprehensive 25% Developed in Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree Limited strategy Developed in-house strategy 38% partnership with 22% 45% 16% 16% 1% external consultants & technology Outsourced PSD2 & Open Banking are some of the most radical changes in the recent history for financial services. providers, development to e.g. joint ventures, external consultants Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree collaboration & technology 35% 42% 20% 3% 0% agreements providers Customer trust & understanding of Open Banking was low when Open Banking was first launched in January 2018. We are not currently Obtaining technology investing in any Open via services Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree Banking products & agreements/white 47% 30% 19% 2% 2% services labelling of pre- existing developed Reactive to market No strategy 13% Customer trust & understanding of Open Banking has improved since January 2018. Obtaining technology services (with no/ developments 24% by corporate limited customisation) Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree acquisition Other 9% 21% 38% 25% 7%
Customer engagement in Open Banking is increasing. Who is responsible for digital innovation relating to Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree Open Banking within your organisation? 14% 23% 40% 19% 4% Senior IT Other* It’s a management standalone function My organisation has found it difficult to adapt to the new regulations imposed by PSD2 & Open Banking.
Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree 8% 21% 36% 21% 14%
The financial services industry has found it difficult to adapt to the new regulations imposed by PSD2 & Open Banking. We have a New products team Marketing standalone Strongly agree Agree Neither Disagree Strongly disagree “digital” team *Open Banking team, innovation team, business development 16% 38% 34% 10% 2% team, internal solutions team, stakeholders & product owners
18 19 Changes being considered to improve the How damaging do you think high profile data breaches (such as the Open Banking experience for customers: recent Facebook & Cambridge Analytica scandal) have been to customer trust in Open Banking?
44% Launching new products & services
1 (not at all) 2 3 4 5 (very) 42% Better customer communication about what Open Banking is
5% 20% 26% 30% 19% 42% Changes to customer-facing websites & digital banking channels
40% Better customer communication about data security
23% Advertising campaign about our Open Banking offering Approach to cybersecurity & fraud:
15% Not currently considering making any changes
Limited strategy – part of existing 6% 6% No strategy Other* structures & processes 20%
*E.g. internal education & communication
Once fully implemented, the main advantages of Open Banking will be:
Other Greater customer protection, Greater innovation Comprehensive strategy – dedicated teams & investment Reactive to issues – e.g. via enhanced security in the financial in place to tackle these issues 63% “as necessary” investment requirements services industry 11%
Competition will drive down prices for customers Better choice of banking products & services for customers Breakdown of barriers to entry (e.g. for challengers banks, fintechs & new entrants) The biggest risks in relation to sharing customer data under Open Banking:
Easier for organisations to collaborate Greater customer control of across the Open Banking ecosystem banking data & services (e.g. banks & fintechs) Potential data loss via third Increased risks & liabilities, including liabilities for Other* party providers incorrect payments under PSD2 & GDPR fines
How effective has Open Banking been so far in achieving the aims of encouraging competition & innovation?
Damage to customer trust & confidence Increased fraud risk due to larger Increased pressure on core 1 (not at all effective) 2 3 4 5 (very effective) where data is lost or misused “attack surface” for hackers to exploit systems as Open Banking usage increases
13% 37% 29% 14% 7% *E.g. loss of customers, competition (third party ability to provide new products/services already offered by incumbents)
20 21 EXPERT COMMENT
By Tim Waller, partner at UK law firm TLT
Open Banking and PSD2 were launched at the start of 2018 like and what these changes mean for new and existing players. to increase competition in the banking industry and encourage To get a better understanding of where the market is heading, greater innovation for customers. This would be achieved by in August, we spoke to senior decision makers at a wide making it easier for licensed firms to access customer banking range of financial services companies including banks, building data, to offer customers new kinds of products and services like societies, fintechs and payment service firms to find out how information aggregation services and savings advice. the industry is reacting; the biggest challenges, threats and Digital disruption is not new to the banking industry, but this opportunities; and how companies are capitalising on this in was different. Open Banking has the potential to completely terms of partnerships and investment strategies. transform how the market looks, from the brands we engage with We also discussed the results with industry regulators, to the services they provide and how we can access them. trade bodies and senior representatives from the banking and However, because there was no “grand design” for this new fintech communities at our digital banking event in London in market, it has been difficult to know exactly what this might look November.
THE FIVE KEY TAKEAWAYS 1. Act quickly While a lot of the focus to date has been around compliance with the technical regulatory requirements, 84% of respondents said they are investing in Open Banking products and services, suggesting there is a lot happening behind the scenes. Over and above compliance, coming up with an Open Banking strategy will not be straightforward – determining strategy and understanding requirements was the biggest issue faced with Open Banking (33%). However, the sooner you define your opportunity and move on it, the further ahead this will put you in the race to strike up the right partnerships, innovate beyond your current offering and adapt towards operating in FinTech Futures BrightTALK channel a more open and agile marketplace. now live and ready to view 2. Be proactive about partnerships Few businesses can say they possess all the elements to succeed on their own, so collaboration will be crucial to delivering the What’s happening? FinTech Futures has joined forces with BrightTALK, a opportunities promised by Open Banking. While the majority of development is taking place in-house or with limited external knowledge destination where over seven million business development, the research reveals some interesting new partnerships. Finding the right partners and negotiating the terms of agreement could be challenging, but this will be a key feature of Open Banking. professionals come every day to consume content to self- educate and get better at what they do. 3. Communicate with customers The partnership allows us to create and share webinars, videos The research reveals that customer awareness is low but improving, and our event featured many examples of customers engaging with so me of the innovations already on the market. With the right idea and the right design, communicated in the and host online events with the combined extensive FF and right way (under the right brand), the results could be extraordinary. BrightTALK communities worldwide. However, data sharing carries a security risk that needs to be managed and market players should pay heed to the impact that high profile data breaches can have on customer trust. Want to see what Visit bankingtech.com/brighttalk to see our webinars and we’ve been up to? videos, and to join the digital events. 4. Innovate, innovate, innovate Open Banking is competitive and disruptive – innovation will be key to staying in the game. The FinTech Futures channel on BrightTALK is a fantastic opportunity for companies to showcase their brand, products and 5. Engage with regulators and government services, expertise and thought leadership to a broad audience Every participant in Open Banking can work with regulators and the government to improve Open Banking. Greater comprising finance and IT professionals from across the globe. consensus on technical standards and the roadmap for the future will accelerate the progress made. Interested in webinar, Contact Jon Robson video and sponsorship Email: [email protected] For more insights and to keep track of how the Open Banking market is evolving, Tel: +44 203 377 3327 from new insights to expert advice about the challenges and opportunities, opportunities? download a free copy of the report and visit the TLT Open Banking hub at tltsolicitors.com/open-banking
22 FOCUS: CHALLENGER BANKS
“NEITHER REDBOX NOR NETFLIX “GOOD ARTISTS COPY, ARE EVEN ON THE RADAR SCREEN GREAT ARTISTS STEAL” Sizing up the real threat IN TERMS OF COMPETITION.” Incumbents need to adopt challengers’ Jim Keyes, Blockbuster CEO playbook and focus on their existing small business customers. Preventing further There’s a knee-jerk desire for incumbents leakage is the best defence for most of challenger banks to discount new entrants, and this is incumbents, who struggle with customer especially true in the UK banking industry, origination and top-line revenue growth. where banks have operated in an oligopoly In order to do this, ultimately, banks for three centuries. But no industry is safe must move into new kinds of services. By Corey Gross, co-founder and CEO, Sensibill from disruption. Like the tech players moving into banking, Consider Uber’s impact on the taxi banks need to offer a range of banking industry. Airbnb on the hotel industry. and non-banking services to keep pace Of the 75 or so challenger banks muscling But this is a lazy dismissal. Challenger Amazon on brick and mortar retail (and with challengers. For freelancers and small their way into the UK banking sector, more banks’ current profitability is almost a dozen more industries). These are all business owners specifically, this means than half of them are vying to capture the entirely unrelated from the threat they reminders that huge industries and players offering digital products and services that loyalty of small business owners; simply pose to incumbents. should never presume longevity. More help with broader business needs as they because big banks have failed to do so. At Money 20/20, CB Insights CEO, than that, they’re reminders that disruption relate to accounting, invoicing, taxes, and What’s more, new markets – like Anand Sanwal, pointed out that, happens irrespective of “turning a profit”. To payroll, to name a few. By morphing into gig workers, freelancers, independent “the banking model is built on cross this day, many of these tech giants put their platforms for entrepreneurial activity, contractors, early-stage tech subsidisation. New entrants can attack revenue right back into their operations banks can open up billions in new revenue. entrepreneurs, and so on – have exploded, profitable slices without offering all instead of touting fat bottom lines. Finally, banks should view their digital emphasising small-scale business needs, possible services.” As Jeff Bezos put it, Similarly, the point isn’t whether presence as an opportunity to become and exposing the gaps in small business “Your margin is my opportunity.” challenger banks are turning a profit – the central to the daily lives of their customers banking services. These self-employed Incumbents shouldn’t trivialise the point is that they’re slashing traditional – moving beyond a transactional professionals account for 40-60% of the impact new competitors are having on the banking profits. Challengers may not relationship, and towards a partnership. European working population, and are ecosystem. Nor should they downplay the make a dent in the high street banks’ Done right, these actions create a expected to outpace traditional salaried importance of the small business market market share of current accounts (yet), but multiplier effect, increasing the number of work in the next decade. in their long-term strategy. What we’ve they’re fragmenting the bank-customer meaningful bank-customer interactions Challengers have focused on building seen in other industries, is that once new relationship irrevocably. and, correspondingly, locking in loyalty. bt a platform that underpins this movement entrants have captured the “low-hanging towards independent work, giving fruit”, they will creep up-market and chip freelancers and small business owners away at other, more profitable segments, the tools they need to manage and as well. grow their business. They’re offering “That follows a very typical attacker Corey Gross, Sensibill value-added products and services to strategy,” said Peter Sidebottom, lead help customers with a broader range of in North America banking and capital jobs-to-be-done, such as invoicing, receipt markets strategy for Accenture in an and expense management, payroll, and interview with Source Media. more. In doing this, they’ve positioned The most recent Accenture banking “Banks should view themselves as partners, not mere utility report, “Star Shifting: Rapid Revolution providers. Revolut, N26, Tandem, Monzo, Required”, revealed that new competitors their digital presence Coconut, Tide – these are all examples of have already grabbed 14% of the UK’s challengers that are making inroads in the banking revenue, and challenger banks as an opportunity to banking industry by targeting the lowest- will continue growing as an additional become central to hanging fruit. £775 million will be provided under the Alternative Remedies Package to promote the daily lives of their THE CANARY IN THE COAL MINE competition in the small and medium- Still, most incumbents don’t feel sized enterprises (SMEs) market. As of 2018, customers.” threatened by these firms, citing an 63% of current financial services players Corey Gross, Sensibill absence of deposits, weak business didn’t exist a decade ago. These figures are models, and an inability to turn a profit. hard to ignore.
24 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 25 CASE STUDY: MOBILE BANKING CASE STUDY: MOBILE BANKING
Good moods and modes IT’S THE PROCESS, NOT THE PRODUCT Building a mobile bank from scratch meant that a lot of processes had to be created. We decided not to change the existing processes, but to build them from the ground up, thinking not about the bank as it was, but about the bank as we wanted to see it. What actually ended up happening is that the entire retail banking part has begun to change to become mobile-first. First of all, everything we create for our mobile banking is immediately made available for new customers without them having to go to our office. This was one of the first processes we built – to create an efficient mechanism for the app user to become our customer. The whole process Minsk, Belarus takes minutes and the only in-person interaction the user has to experience is showing an ID to our courier, which has its Rafal Juszczak, CEO of Alfa Bank Belarus, shares the In 2015, we had less than 100,000 retail roots in the local regulations. clients; in 2018, it was set to reach the “We decided not to change the existing Another thing is customisation. Most story of how the bank tripled the number of retail 350,000 mark. of the banking apps I’ve seen allow very banking customers by embracing mobile. As for mobile banking, the number processes, but to build them from the ground little in that respect; usually a dark theme of customers here has grown fivefold to is the extent of it. We decided to allow 200,000 over the past two years. What’s up, thinking not about the bank as it was, but the customer to change the interface and The banking system in general, and “To me, mobile is not even more important, though, is that about the bank as we wanted to see it.” configure the app’s home screen to show retail, consumer-facing banking in mobile accounts for 60% of the money the operations and features they need particular, are going through an extremely just a product but a on deposit accounts and 15% of loans Rafal Juszczak, Alfa Bank Belarus most. We’re basically offering the best-in- disruptive phase at the moment. With we sell every month. Unlike many other class processes to the customer, allowing challenger banks and alternative financial mode of working.” banks, our digital business, if looked at as them to make some product decisions operators taking care of most of the Rafal Juszczak, Alfa Bank Belarus an autonomous business unit, has been themselves. Our work here is to make sure traditional products, from consumer turning a profit since 2017. that the app works 100% of the time. loans to mortgages to money transfers, it It’s safe to say that we’re growing across Building the mobile banking solution Rafal Juszczak, seems like the legacy banks are lagging the board, and I’m sure that the focus on under a new brand was one of the first Alfa Bank Belarus THE CULTURAL CHANGE behind in most cases, not seeing that the mobile has contributed a great deal to decisions I had to make. There was One of the most important parts of momentum they’ve gained in previous these results. already an app developed by our bank building up the processes for inSync was decades – or even centuries – won’t carry Here’s how launching a mobile back then, which had little popularity. the culture. There’s a theory I like that them along forever. banking solution helped us to find the Building something under the same sooner or later all banks will be pretty The problem lies not in a lack of Ukraine, Romania, and, since three years right processes and culture for the whole name would inevitably have resulted much the same in terms of fees and the innovative products, or in higher fees – ago, Belarus. The challenge I got presented organisation. in dragging its legacy further – so the scope of services they offer. When, or rather, I believe it’s the internal processes around the 20th professional anniversary was decision was made to start from scratch. if, that happens, how are we going to and the corporate culture within the older daunting: to rebuild a bank from scratch and THE NEW BRAND To me, mobile is not just a product differentiate? My answer is the culture, banks that is making them increasingly make it work. From the very beginning, I looked at the but a mode of working. Mobile banking which manifests, among other things, in obsolete. Three years later, I can say I’ve generally market and the main trends in the industry doesn’t mean a smartphone app; it both internal and external communication. Three years ago I celebrated the 20th year succeeded: we’ve tripled the number of to figure out what we could do differently. means being close to the customer I’ve given a lot of thought to the way my since I started working in the banking sphere. retail banking clients, as well as the net Social banking, conversational banking, when and where they need us and employees communicate with each other I’ve worked as the CEO of Poland’s largest revenues. Since 2015, we’ve set financial lifestyle banking – those are some of the talking in their language, literally and and the customer. Does it reflect the added bank and one of the major banks in Ukraine, records every year. In 2015-2017 our total buzzwords of today’s industry, but few figuratively. That’s the way of thinking value we’d like to bring for the client? Does among other places. My experience is spread net income had been three times larger people actually understand what they’re that brought us to our mobile bank’s it reflect our brand? For me, the easiest way across Eastern Europe between Poland, than in the seven previous years combined. supposed to mean. name, inSync. to assess the communication culture is to >>
26 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 27 CASE STUDY: MOBILE BANKING
INNOVATIVE FINTECH. REAL-WORLD APPLICATIONS.
1400+ attendees. 65+ firms demoing. 120+ expert speakers. Insights and connections you only find at Finovate. inSync
ask whether it actually makes sense. I look at our marketing collateral, the mobile app’s UI, the website, and try “The main goal that we have achieved by to understand the message from the creating the mobile bank within a bigger bank customer’s standpoint. It may sound silly, but even a simple is that the customers feel inSync to be an test like this can reveal a ton of issues. The one occurring most often in legacy extension of themselves.” banks is that they tend to switch to that Rafal Juszczak, Alfa Bank Belarus Main Conference: February 12-14, 2019 awful officialese that the mortgage Additional Summit Day: February 15, 2019 contracts are usually written in. It could Tobacco Dock, London, UK be an unavoidable evil in the official documentation, but certainly not in the parts of the bank that are facing towards animated GIFs, but also publish things a third of the total of 75,000 support finance.knect365.com/finovateeurope new and existing clients. like local event recommendations, movie requests come through the chat, which reviews, technology-related advice, puts us in the top ten global accounts on CONTENT IS KING and so on. This content comes from Zendesk. People trust us and stay in touch. The way we communicate with customers our content team, as well as the people The main goal that we have achieved by now has come a long way since we started working in the support chat. creating the mobile bank within a bigger building the “bank in a bank” three years Our support chat is another key part bank is that the customers feel inSync to ago. Part of this is inSync Now, which of the content and communications be an extension of themselves. We’ve been SAVE 20% WHEN YOU REGISTER WITH VIP CODE FKV2349FFA1 we launched recently as a news feed of strategy we focus on. We’re available thinking about this for years now, but sorts for our mobile app users. The main 24/7, and it often happens that the admittedly only recently learned about the difference from similar features provided scope of questions our support team concept of psychological ownership, which by other banks is that we never copy our answers go beyond the bank and its fits perfectly with our overall strategy. By press releases there, nor do we post bank- services. We’ve given life advice, made changing the culture and building the right related news and messages. It’s all about gift suggestions, and much more. As a processes, it has turned out to be possible the clients and their needs. result of this focus, we register about to create a bank that’s perceived as a In the short stories we post on inSync 30,000 contacts from customers per trusted partner and friend, rather than a Now, we explain new features of the month, with the industry average being boring and hostile institution that controls banking app with screenshots and 600 (according to ZenDesk data). About the customer’s money. bt
December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 29 FOCUS: OPEN BANKING FOCUS: OPEN BANKING
was already in place at that point for the While they have so far shied away A recent American Banker article by It’s safe to bet on open banking massive shift that would slowly make its from formal regulations, the Hong Will Hernandez comes from a US-centric way into the fintech spotlight. Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and viewpoint, but highlights fundamental It is precisely because this groundswell has the Monetary Authority of Singapore principles that apply in financial centers been so long in coming that I am confident (MAS) have both been very vocal about around the world. The article pulls from By Greg Palmer, VP, Finovate that the momentum will continue. Back in encouraging open banking because they an MIT report outlining the “first-mover early 2016, when banks across Europe were see the potential benefits it carries to their advantage for banks that jump ahead The world is moving towards open February 12-15, where we’re dedicating that “empowers consumers to take control groaning in anticipation of PSD2’s imminent local economies. The US is particularly with open bank initiatives”, and goes on banking. This may seem counterintuitive, an entire summit day to the topic). It’s of their finances” by “securely unifying all arrival, I was reveling in the disruption. I am, interesting: at this moment, it is one of to quote Frank Tong, head of innovation given a recent study by Splendid a concept that’s not new to the London personal financial account information” admittedly, more free to rejoice than most the least likely to enact any sort of open and strategic investments at HSBC: “Not Unlimited, which suggested that just 22% stage: at the very first FinovateEurope (words which were lifted from the in fintech because I don’t personally have banking regulation or governmental reacting rapidly enough to open banking of those in the UK had even heard of “open way back in 2011, we were already seeing company profile page we printed on their to deal with any of the pain associated with shift, and yet it is still rated in the top could result in another party, either a banking” as a concept, almost a year after the groundwork being laid, with demos behalf oh so long ago). I don’t believe that new processes, rules, best-practices, etc, but five countries pioneering open banking competitor bank or fintech, innovating PSD2’s new regulations have taken effect. by companies like Yodlee (now a part of the phrase “open banking” would appear I know I wasn’t alone in my excitement. For (according to a recent report by Capgemini more quickly and eroding trust or The study further reports that just 9% of Envestnet). They presented API technology for several more years, but the foundation many of us, this kind of change had already and BNP Paribas). Here the impetus to relationships.” adults in the UK have touched a piece of been too slow in coming, and while you adopt comes not from any governmental The competitive environment that technology that has been enabled by open could argue that it would have been better entity, but rather from banks themselves, open banking fosters is reinforced by banking. I am perfectly willing to take both “Here I am, fully confident to be publicly for the industry if the change had been more pushing to offer more and better services Mark Atherton, group VP for the financial of those numbers at face value, and yet, stating (in writing no less!) that open banking organic, there’s nothing like a firm deadline to their customers as a competitive edge. services business unit at Oracle: “You here I am, fully confident to be publicly with some potential – but very real – negative You can see this play out in a 2017 don’t want to be that bank that says, stating (in writing no less!) that open is the future. The good news is that it’s a consequences to spur innovation. Wells Fargo announcing a data exchange hey, if you want to use one of those banking is the future. The good news is Innovation, of course, is exactly what agreement with Intuit. At the time of the products, you can’t do it through us. that it’s a future where everyone can win. future where everyone can win.” happened. Fintechs wholeheartedly announcement, Brett Pitts, the bank’s head That gives consumers reasons to change I’ve been giving a lot of thought to Greg Palmer, Finovate embraced the challenges laid down by of digital for virtual channels said: “This banks.” Change banks to what? The open banking as we approach our annual PSD2, and began working on platforms agreement creates a much better experience implied answer is to an early-adopting London conference (FinovateEurope, that could not only eliminate the pain for our shared customers, gives them competitor. points associated with staying compliant, greater control over their financial data, and It’s not difficult to see why banks but also turn the challenges into an enhances the efficiency of the data-sharing could feel hesitant to engage. Change is opportunity. Many companies developed process.” He then added: “The customer scary, and uncertainty means risk. Even bank-centric solutions specifically with has more choice and control with this new when governments mandate change, PSD2 in mind, but a significant number model.” It’s difficult to take a press release not everyone dives in with the same of innovators (particularly those who had from Wells Fargo’s own website completely at level of vigour. But open banking can already been working in the space) have face value, but notice how the talking points be a very positive thing for the banks had a different focus: customers. And focus on customer choice and individual that adopt early, and there is long- it’s clear to just about everybody that control of data – both central tenets to the standing momentum behind it. It’s good customers benefit from open banking, open banking ethos (and indeed, similar for consumers, good for innovators, through increased transparency, personal language to what Yodlee was publicising six and appealing to regulators. That’s a data control, and access to new products. years earlier). combination that can’t be resisted. bt
“While you could argue that it would have been better for the industry if the change had been more organic, there’s nothing like a firm deadline with some potential – but very real – negative consequences to spur innovation.” Greg Palmer, Finovate
30 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 31 FOOD FOR THOUGHT FOOD FOR THOUGHT
What we mean when we talk about legacy: mindset, architecture, data and Dave
By Leda Glyptis
“Legacy” tends to be a positive word in and adjusted. So have their systems. We talk of spaghetti diagrams and most environments. It denotes successful So when we say “legacy IT” we mean then look at the Architects with a raised and mostly uninterrupted history. It systems that span the entire life history of eyebrow as if untangling all this was just a connects present endeavours to past and the organisation. matter of patience. future. It is considered an asset. Something We mean that the App Store you are It is not. to be proud of. building will have to exist alongside There is no untangling this. Then you start working in a bank and systems older than you. (“I put this system So when we talk about future-proofing you find out that, within our walls, “legacy” in place before you were born, young an organisation’s infrastructure (ambitious) is the curse of the pharaohs. The thing lady” is an actual thing I was told in a real or deriving some insight from the data we we accuse for most things going sour. meeting by a real person who has since hold (seemingly less ambitious) we are The elusive culprit that gets blamed for retired but his system hasn’t.) talking about a massive undertaking that slow response times, lack of agility, clunky may or may not be lunacy. infrastructure and global warming. Legacy And “legacy” is not the only word that is at the heart of why we can’t and won’t. takes on a different meaning here. We lament it, we talk about it, we blame “Data” is a dangerous slippery thing as it. But we rarely define it because we have “We waste time in ‘wait well, because of “legacy”. no intention of tackling it. Not really. and see’ innovations You see, under “legacy”, data sits, quietly business requirements document or had and protected the bank from future requirements, or product brochures and So we waste time in “wait and see” minding its own business, wherever you because it’s just faster that way. Whatever Daves. term sheets with special discounts used innovations and risk mitigation exercises and risk mitigation put it. But when you put it there you didn’t the reason, a lot of our data and processing We never met Dave, but he changed our across an entire client segment when they while the world races on, leaving many of know the world would change and now lives on spreadsheets. lives. Just as he’s been changing yours. were only meant as a givy-get to land an us behind. exercises while the you want to pull it out and you can barely We have terms for this. Dave had done a good thing. He solved important account. The problem those We waste time because, really, our world races on.” remember where it is. So it’s a mission to There are task forces trying to limit a problem. Daves leave you with, is you will carry on organisations can probably afford last find it, and when you do, and say “right, user defined technologies (UDT) and help Dave had done a terrible thing. He using their legacy long after it’s stopped minute talent substitutions to their staff Leda Glyptis are you ready for an outing?”, your data is standardise. UDT is an undeservedly fancy solved a problem in a way that was so local working and you won’t even know it. and high-cost-of-ownership late-to-the- all distressed and has nothing to wear so name for a spreadsheet that takes half an and specific that, when he left, the bank The problem with Dave is he puts things party infrastructure investments; and the extraction becomes a military operation. hour to load because “this guy Dave” has was left at a loss. in place “for now” and then moves on and individuals making the decisions have You blame legacy and imagine leaky created some incredible macros that are That’s the problem with Daves. they become “forever”. That’s what legacy probably calibrated their pension plans; systems dating back to the war. just easier to use than the multi-million They move on, up or out. truly looks like, and it’s hard to get away but for most of the workforce this waiting Yet the truth is much less dramatic. dollar system complicating your spaghetti And the real legacy you are left with from. is a terrible idea that they cannot afford to We also mean systems that do similar diagram. are hacks and workarounds that you don’t pick up the tab for. things in similar ways can’t be swapped THE BIGGER PROBLEM IS NOT understand. CHIN UP. IT AIN’T ALL BAD So for their sakes, here’s the truth about out without immense effort. We mean THE TECH WE HAVE, IT’S THE THE PROBLEM WITH DAVE And you are lucky if Dave’s legacy is Legacy is also another word for “I’ve been what we mean when we talk about legacy. globalisation issues and the difficulty of TECH WE DON’T HAVE This guy Dave is a real person. And his limited to a spreadsheet that is expensive around a long time”. It is shorthand for finding people proficient in Montran. We Our IT “lights on” bills across banking are mammoth spreadsheet gave me and my to replace but specific enough that balance sheet, reserves and past success; PEOPLE AND THINGS mean things that work well but don’t scale. eye-wateringly high. And yet somehow team our first break, over a decade ago, you actually know when it has stopped it means you have clients, a track record, a Most banks are old. And so are their Things that are effective but maybe not we seem to be doing most things on when this guy Dave left the bank and working. talent pool and time to get it wrong before systems. efficient. spreadsheets. Either because the system nobody could work out how to update Because most Daves work in risk or you get it right. Most banks have evolved and grown Things that are familiar and reliable but doing the exact thing we want doesn’t his macros. So we got the gig to reverse- product. And their legacy are policies Legacy says: I’ve done this well before, at different speeds across markets and as idiosyncratic as the people who built exist, or because we still suffer palpitations engineer the spreadsheet into a solution nobody questions, designed on the don’t underestimate me. geographies, they have acquired, pivoted them. since the last time we had to write a that gave people the functionality Dave back of now long-defunct regulatory Also legacy is super quick to acquire. >>
32 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 33 Position yourself as a FOOD FOR THOUGHT thought leader through webinars
A friend working for a very successful Webinars are an excellent way of raising your company’s profile, delivering start-up in the maker universe was thought leadership and generating high quality sales leads. complaining about their legacy “The guy who found a way and created a infrastructure issues before their fifth With FinTech Futures, your company will receive the complete webinar birthday. They built a scrappy firm, hungry precedent is exactly the sort of guy you need package, including full project management, a moderator and to scale and ended up with a solid business around now, to take you into the future. Today’s rapidly globalising. Legacy is the shorthand a full-scale multi-channel marketing campaign to drive registrations. for: I did it well and now I get to do it again workaround is tomorrow’s legacy. but bigger and I need to change some stuff. As problems go, it’s a good one to And give him a team to turn his workaround have. That is, if you can contain Dave. into something robust. And give him an THE LEGACY OF DAVE Dirt is “matter in the wrong place”. It’s not architect to minimise the worst of the spaghetti. my line but I love it because it’s true. And allow for a bit of mess, life is messy.” Tomato sauce on your spaghetti is yum. Tomato sauce on your shirt is a stain. Leda Glyptis Although the same applies to legacy (the things that once accelerated your business now potentially hold you back), that is not the analogy I am going for. Because systems will come and go and on opportunity. It is not a stand-alone a precedent is exactly the sort of guy you the next set of solutions we put in place universe of axiomatic value. Unable to truly need around now, to take you into the will age and need to be rethought and follow in Dave’s footsteps and have a go at future. Today’s workaround is tomorrow’s replaced, no matter how good they are. a new solution ourselves. legacy. No, the problem is not IT. And we lament the spaghetti Get Dave back. The problem is Dave. architecture and the UDT, the random And give him a team to turn his And not because he moved, but policies and the seemingly randomly workaround into something robust. And because you didn’t. convoluted pricing structures. We lament give him an architect to minimise the worst Dave is the workaround master. the legacy we are left with by successful of the spaghetti. And allow for a bit of He is the guy who managed to get business growth that was right for the time mess, life is messy. something done. and place and opportunity. And when in a few years’ time you are He convinced the corporate decision Because the time and place and berating Dave because your digital legacy makers that an exceptional circumstance opportunity changed and the legacy is not is not right for the quantum era, you will existed, he managed to be granted an fit for purpose so that is a burden and a know you did right by your workforce, exemption and reprieve. He is the guy curse and boo to legacy and boo to Dave. and your clients and your shareholders. who did something different in a world And the clock keeps ticking. And time And you may start celebrating your legacy of shuffling feet. And it is so unthinkable passes. of successful transitions, allowing you to that this can actually be done, that we And Dave moves on because that is the retain business relevance and financial follow Dave’s path long after he achieved sort of person he is. viability despite the changes in the world The key benefits of FinTech Futures webinars include: whatever he was trying to do, unable to I say bring Dave back. around you. fathom another way. Unable to remember Keep the Daves in. And when that happens, and it will, you ■ Increased brand awareness that every solution is tied to a problem The guy who found a way and created may owe Dave an apology. bt ■ Direct lead generation ■ Reaching key decision-makers across the fintech sector ■ Direct engagement with the webinar audience via live Q&A Leda Glyptis is FinTech Futures’ resident thought provocateur – she leads, writes on, lives ■ Extended value with an on-demand recording, hosted on the FinTech Futures website and breathes transformation and digital disruption as chief of staff at 11:FS and CEO of and accessible via registration for further lead capture 11:FS Foundry. She is a recovering banker, lapsed academic and long-term resident of the banking ecosystem. All opinions are her own. You can’t have them – but you are welcome to debate and www.bankingtech.com comment! Follow Leda on Twitter @LedaGlyptis and visit our website for more of her articles.
Contact Jon Robson Tel: +44 203 377 3327 | Email: [email protected] December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 35 ANALYSIS: PAYTECH ANALYSIS: PAYTECH
“Across all sectors, businesses need to keep today’s convenience- hungry consumer lifestyle at the heart of their product design.” Nick Kerigan, Barclaycard
Dine & Dash Clever Cup
Invisible payments: finding success in a convenience-driven market experience that places convenience at the Following this, we created our heart of the customer journey. In practice, restaurant solution: Dine & Dash, a first this means simplifying the purchase in the UK. “Dine & Dash” enables diners journey for consumers and removing to walk out of a restaurant after eating, Nick Kerigan, managing director of future payments at Barclaycard, traditional barriers and pain points, such bypassing the traditional bill-paying as queues, through innovations such as process. The mobile app uses invisible explores what gives innovations staying power in the payment industry. “invisible payments”. payments technology to process the payment for the meal using the diner’s INVISIBLE PAYMENTS stored card details, removing the need to Invisible payments take physical payment ask, wait and pay for the bill. The market for “new” products and services keep abreast of the latest consumer platform that allows users to connect apps, methods such as cash, debit and credit Working with Costa Coffee, we have Nick Kerigan, Barclaycard is saturated. Whether it’s a new app, propositions, and in some cases, anticipate services and devices to each other, to help cards, and wearables completely out of the also recently unveiled the UK’s first gadget, or a smart device for our homes, what the consumer will demand next. people to manage their lives. equation. Instead, payments are triggered reusable coffee cup with integrated consumers are flooded with a wealth of To succeed, it is crucial for your product For example, users can link their phone’s automatically, without the customer contactless payment technology. Powered products fighting for the spotlight. This to be able to demonstrate tangible GPS system to an online spread-sheet in having to do anything. For example, by Barclaycard’s bPay technology, Costa constant stream of “innovation”, and the benefits for the customer – based on what order to automatically keep track of how when you take an Uber, you store your Coffee’s “Clever Cup” allows users to make surplus of choice on offer, can make it they really want and need. long they spend at a specific location, such payment details safely inside the app, and purchases with the cup, top up their difficult for brands to cut through. as work or the gym. The result is less time the payment for your journey is taken balance and track payments online or via a On top of that, today’s consumers MEET THE INCREASINGLY spent on mundane chores and more time “invisibly” once you reach your destination, dedicated app. are “exporting” their expectations. For BUSY CONSUMER spent on what each consumer considers so you can just get out of the car and get Across all sectors, businesses need example, if someone is able to use an app Modern consumers are busy, so it is important. on with your day. to keep today’s convenience-hungry to have granular control over their energy perhaps unsurprising that they prioritise Successful innovators provide services Barclaycard trialled this technology in the consumer lifestyle at the heart of their account, they will reasonably expect the efficiency and convenience. People that will reduce effort and save time. That food and drink sector last year. Hundreds of product design, and that certainly extends same level of service and functionality who are on-the-go seek innovations is the type of solution that the modern Barclays colleagues tested our “Grab and Go” to financial services. The innovations that from their banking or retail app. The mass that provide effective solutions to time- consumer demands – across every sector. solution in canteens across five sites in the UK become part of our daily lives will be those adoption of sophisticated new technology consuming tasks. This could partly explain Taking all that into account, there and US. The technology reduced the average that solve traditional user pain points and means consumers are demanding more, the rise of life-simplifying tools such as is huge potential for retailers to save time it took to make a purchase from five show a real understanding of what actually and it’s the challenge of innovators to “If This, Then That”, also known as IFTTT: a consumers time by providing a payments minutes to just 27 seconds. matters to the consumer. bt
36 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 37 FINTECH FUNDING ROUND-UP FINTECH FUNDING ROUND-UP
Revolut, a multi-functional cross-border card and app, is planning a $500 million Series D investment round, potentially enlisting tech giants like SoftBank to its roster of investors. Fintech funding round-up The round is set to take place early next year. San Francisco-based paytech Plastiq has The fintech has aggressive plans for expansions, eyeing the US, Australia and Japan. raised $27 million in additional financing This comes after the firm’s last funding in spring 2018, which had the impressive from Atlas Venture, Khosla Ventures and Top figure of $250 million, valuing the company at over $1.7 billion. It was all go on the cash flow front as investments were spread far and wide. Tier Capital Partners. Revolut has grown fivefold in the past year, but reported annual losses. Founded in 2012, the firm offers a way Earlier this year, SoftBank announced plans to to pay bills and business expenses by invest around $200 million into fintech, from its $100 credit card. It will use the funds to roll out billion Vision Fund. Recently, it invested $300 million Starling Bank, a UK-based mobile- Another UK challenger bank, Tandem, is reeling in more cash via a $15 million new services and target the small business in a US-based robotic process automation (RPA) firm, only bank, has secured £10 million investment from Hong Kong-based Convoy Global. market. Automation Anywhere. of new capital from Bahamas-based Along with the injection, they have formed a partnership. According to Convoy, The company says it works with “all major $16.5 hedge fund manager this is the first-ever partnership between a Hong Kong financial services company credit card providers”, including American million Harald McPike. and a UK “virtual” bank provider. Express, Discover, Mastercard, Visa, and JCB. The funding is Convoy’s strategy is to focus on the “transformational opportunities of fintech It says its payments platform has Finleap, a Germany-based in preparation for a and businesses”, and the partnership with Tandem builds on its existing investments served more than one million clients, fintech company builder, Mobile paytech Mobeewave has closed £80 million round to in Nutmeg in the UK and CurrencyFair in Ireland. processing billions in payments for has raised €41.5 million in its a $16.5 million Series B funding round keep up, or perhaps For both it’s a handy deal as Convoy plans to use Tandem’s tech to offer digital expenses, business supplier payments, investment round, led by Ping led by NewAlpha, Mastercard and surpass, other mobile financial services to Hong Kong consumers and, in time, to launch a virtual bank, contractors, taxes and rent. An’s Global Voyager Fund. Forestay Capital. challengers like Finleap launched four In addition, the round includes Monzo, which is on a years ago and has created an the main founding shareholders of quest to reach a £1.5 “ecosystem” of technology the company and was secured with billion valuation. companies, digital offerings and the support of Oakland Partners. The McPike is a long-standing Starling Singapore-based digital payment partners. investment will be used to deploy its investor, having participated heavily provider Instarem has secured a Ping An joins the likes of patented solution in new markets and in previous rounds. It is understood Hong first close of more than $20 million in Hannover Re, Signal Iduna, NIBC, develop new product offerings. Kong that Starling has appointed JP funding. MS & AD Ventures and SBI, who “Our work with Mobeewave has Morgan Chase as an advisor in The round was led by new investors have all invested in Finleap helped extend the power of the the round. MDI Ventures (the VC arm of Indonesia’s The capital will be used smartphone by providing merchants This new funding gives Starling Telkom) and Beacon Venture Capital (the for the development of new of all sizes – from international chains a total of £68 million raised, having VC arm of Thailand’s Kasikornbank), and technologies and companies to individual shop owners and street raised a further £10 million from supported by existing investors Vertex as well as further geographic vendors – a fast, secure and easy way to existing investors earlier this year. Ventures, GSR Ventures Rocket Internet expansion. Finleap also intends accept payments,” says Blake Rosenthal, The bank has also partnered with and SBI-FMO Fund. to invest further in its tech EVP for acceptance at Mastercard. the Post Office to allow its current Instarem says this is part of a Series offerings, Finreach and Infinitec. The Montreal-based start-up offers and business account customers to C round of $45 million, which takes its Donald Lacey, MD and COO contactless payment acceptance on deposit and withdraw cash through overall funding to over $63 million. It is of Ping An Global Voyager, will smart devices, without the need for the Post Office’s branches. Perhaps expected to close by January 2019, in become chairman of Finleap‘s external hardware. It says its “bring-your- not so mobile-only after all. advance of its expected IPO in 2021. advisory board. own-device technology” provides an The money will be used, in part, alternative to traditional point-of-sale to enter new markets in Japan and offerings. Indonesia, where the paytech firm hopes Earlier this year, Mobeewave signed to receive licences by the year-end. In the UK, Payments-as-a-Service provider Form3 has secured a $13 million a partnership agreement with Samsung Not to be outdone by its rivals, challenger bank Monzo is also hunting for funding – This round will also enable the Series B investment from venture capital firm Draper Esprit, along with existing Electronics making the Canadian firm’s it is now crowdfunding up to £20 million. company to launch a new consumer and shareholders Barclays, Angel CoFund and several individuals. platform available for commercial use on The bank praises its community to the skies and says it has “played a crucial part enterprise product in 2019 for which it Form3, established in 2016 and led by CEO Michael Mueller (ex-Barclays), more than 250 million Samsung devices in making Monzo what it is today”. It says in its last two rounds of crowdfunding, has “aggressive plans”. says its cloud-based platform “significantly reduces” the time it takes to deploy around the world. 7,395 people invested their money in Monzo. Instarem has licences in Singapore, new propositions and reduces operating costs. The Mobeewave platform is currently This time it’s a “much bigger round” and eligible customers will be able to invest Australia, Hong Kong, US, Canada, Form3’s existing customers include Ebury, N26, Tandem Bank, LHV Bank and deployed in Australia, Canada and Poland up to £2,000 through the app. Malaysia, India and Europe. It says it myPOS. through respective partnerships with Just a month ago, Monzo closed a new funding round raising £85 million. This powers local payments to more than 55 It is the latest cloud technology provider to join the Draper Esprit portfolio, Commonwealth Bank, National Bank, and is part of its quest to reach a $1.5 billion valuation. It has also unveiled plans for a countries and 3.21 billion people across building on the company’s investments in TransferWise, Revolut, Crowdcube Polskie ePlatnosci (PeP), together with business current account. the globe. and Seedrs. Mastercard. bt
38 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 39 COMMENT COMMENT
Linda Sooprayen, WorldRemit
For example, as part of our rebrand 4. YOU HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER we wanted to engage our customers by A rebrand should never be dictated by the speaking to their diversity and vibrancy. brand team. Every company has functional At the same time, due to the nature of experts in their own specific areas, from our business – we are a financial services the customer service team to the product company handling our customers’ hard- team to the user experience team, all of Five considerations for earned money – we needed to also convey whom have regular touch points with trust and security. We knew that we had to customers and a first hand experience of get the two to work in harmony together, communicating the brand. a successful rebrand and that became a guiding principle for us. During the design process, it’s very much about reaching consensus among these 3. TEST EVERYTHING WITH THE experts and incorporating their unique PEOPLE THAT MATTER perspectives. Without these different views, By Linda Sooprayen, senior brand marketing manager, WorldRemit (AND IF IT FEELS RIGHT, THAT’S the end product may not have the same A GOOD PLACE TO START!) “versatility” talked about earlier and feel We live in a world that thrives on speed, For the consumer who simply sees the users and ensuring that they can relate to Ultimately, the only people that matter in awkward on certain platforms or formats. built on the mantra of “the faster, the ultimate decision unveiled, much of the you in a positive way. Considerations might determining the success of a rebrand are better”. As consumers and competitors meaning, creativity and struggle is lost. include how particular colours are associated the end-users, and it’s essential that they 5. THE “AH HA!” MOMENT change quickly, so must a brand evolve Rebranding is a self-discovery and reflection with certain cultures, or shapes that convey a have a voice throughout the process. For So how do you know when you’ve got it right? to stay ahead of the curve and appeal to process, and as much about the journey as the certain business quality. our particular project, we went through For our rebrand, we tested 8,000 people total its audience. At times the evolution can destination. Having recently gone through It’s also important to consider the numerous rounds of consumer testing, all to (a mix of existing and potential customers). We be slow, with incremental adjustments the exercise and seeing many start-ups like medium as well. For example, we are an ensure that that our design would tested around the world, across leading to a subtle shift. Other times it’s a ours mature and reach a turning point in their online brand with a strong offline footprint, appeal to new customers, while genders and age groups. The more drastic refresh – a rebrand. growth, I thought it important to share what and the temptation here is to prioritise one remaining relevant and recognisable moment we realised we “had I recently led a rebrand at WorldRemit, the execution of a rebrand involves – distilled over the other. However, this is simply not to our current customers. it” was when we identified a a digital money transfer service. Our users into five major components. how an audience interacts with your brand, We began with trying to design that was significantly and span the globe and work across virtually and you have to think about where the understand what our customers consistently preferred over our every industry, and communicating to such 1. DESIGN TO TRANSCEND user is at every point of the journey. associated with certain existing brand. a dynamic, diverse customer base requires ALL BOUNDARIES iconography and imagery, and A company only chooses constant re-examination of our brand in Today, brands are rarely confined to a single 2. MARRY THE BRAND how that aligned with the identity to rebrand when they feel that order to make sure that we’re speaking geography, audience, or even language, AND MESSAGING we were trying to achieve. In the the existing design can no the same languages as our customers. Our which means there’s a premium on universal A brand can be complex and multi-layered later phases, it became more about longer support the goals and last rebrand was in 2014, and while there concepts capable of transcending artificial and convey many meanings at once, but iterations, and finding the best growth of the company into was once a time when four years hardly and social boundaries. in a rebrand, you’ll need to identify a clear combination of what our customers told us the future. This meant that the new identity meant a thing in the lifespan of a brand, There’s always going to be a temptation focal message that remains front and worked. simply achieving parity with the existing one we were approaching a pivotal time in our to design for the audience you already know, center throughout the process – a North Through the intensive testing, we had was not enough – you need proof that it is in company’s growth, a rebrand seemed not but the gold standard in a rebrand is to Star that resists the influence of personal confidence in what we ended up with. In a fact better and preferred by customers. That’s only logical, but necessary. design for all of your existing and potential preference and other bias. sense, our customers had “given” it to us. when you know. bt
40 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 41
Movers and shakers EVENTS CALENDAR Place your brand in front of the Jamie Gordon is leaving Nationwide and cash management at Barclays. She February high-profile international audience Building Society, where he has worked will be responsible for product specialist 12-13: FinovateEurope, for 30 and a half years – the last six as origination, implementation and London head of transformation. management. finance.knect365.com/finovateeurope “I’ve loved my time there (mostly) but Braithwaite moves from BNY Mellon, with the time is right to work elsewhere and where she held a number of senior roles, 19-20: Africa BFSI Innovation Summit, see the world through a different lens,” he most recently as global head of product Nairobi says on LinkedIn. management for treasury services. www.africabfsi.com
Debbie Crosbie has been appointed as Philippe Carrel has been appointed as 28-1 March: Global Business Banking CEO of TSB Bank in the UK. She joins chief commercial officer of FinMechanics, Summit – UK Edition from CYBG, following a 20 year-stint a Singapore-based treasury and capital www.rfigroup.com there, most recently as group COO and management (TCM) and risk management executive director. software firm. He will be spearheading March TSB made the headlines earlier FinMechanics’ expansion to Europe. 11-13: RiskMinds Insurance, this year for its botched migration Carrel previously worked for Thomson Amsterdam SUPPLEMENT of IT systems from the Lloyds Reuters for nearly a decade and for finance.knect365.com/riskminds-insurance outsourced environment to its own Calypso Technology for four years. He also in-house development. This resulted in had a brief six-month stint at Calastone. 11-13: MoneyLIVE Spring, reputational damage, financial losses and Madrid the resignation of CEO Paul Pester. Hossein Azari left Goldman Sachs to set new.marketforce.eu.com/money-live TSB’s chairman Richard Meddings up a new venture, cmorq, which provides As a part of the FinovateEurope conference, FinTech Futures is producing an comments: “In an impressive field of an on-chain analytics tool to explore, 19: Finnovex Middle East, exclusive supplement focusing on key trends and issues affecting the industry. candidates, Debbie stood out. With analyse and build with data from the Dubai over two decades of experience, superb blockchain. Azari is the firm’s co-founder www.finnovex.com retail and SME banking expertise, and president. The supplement will be produced in print and distributed at the event; and a genuinely open and engaging Previously, he was co-founder and 26-27: FinTECH4Life, it will also be published online and promoted across the style of leadership, we have found an chief data scientist of personal finance London outstanding new CEO.” management (PFM) app Clarity Money, www.fintech4life.com FinTech Futures and Finovate digital channels. which was acquired by Goldman Sachs in Germany-based Deposit Solutions is spring 2018. The bank merged it with its 27: TechNOVA: AI in Financial Services, expanding its operations into the US and own newly launched digital lending and London Get involved and showcase your news, expertise, products and has appointed Philipp von Girsewald savings platform, Marcus. Following this, new.marketforce.eu.com/technova services through a range of opportunities: as CEO USA. Von Girsewald moves from Azari was briefly chief data scientist at Deutsche Bank, where he held several Marcus. 27-28: Fraud and Financial Crime USA, senior positions, including global head of New York n Thought leadership regulatory strategy. European SME lender iwoca has www.cefpro.com n Interviews and Q&A named Seema Desai as COO. Desai Natasha Kyprianides has joined joined iwoca in early 2017 as “head of n News and announcements Barclays in the UK as digital mortgages people”, developing the firm’s talent n Case studies director. Previously, she was with Hellenic and organisational capabilities. Prior to Banking Technology is a prominent media Bank for nearly four years, most recently that, she was head of product at Zopa, a partner of many financial services and n Advertising as head of omnichannel and customer UK-based peer-to-peer lender. She also banking technology industry events n And more! experience. worked at Halifax and Bank of Scotland worldwide. If you are interested in a She is also an advisory board member (HBOS) in the past. media partnership with us and marketing of the European Women Payments “A passionate advocate of equal opportunities, please contact: Network (EWPN). opportunities, she will also continue to Meanwhile, Karen Braithwaite has lead iwoca’s efforts to achieve greater Irena Andrisevic, Marketing Manager Contact Jon Robson stepped into a newly created role as diversity and inclusion across the fintech Tel: +44 (0) 207 017 5379 Tel: +44 203 377 3327 | Email: [email protected] corporate banking head of payments industry,” the company states. bt Email: [email protected]
www.bankingtech.com December 2018/January 2019 | www.bankingtech.com | 43 @FinTech_Futures In a special feature, Antony Peyton, SmartStream-STP Out of office FinTech Futures’ deputy editor – aka “Mystic Git” to his colleagues – shares the month ahead with these Your fintech horoscope fintech horoscopes. Combining the elements
Aries (21 March – 19 April) Virgo (23 August – Sagittarius (22 November – You will seek a new round of 22 September) 21 December) for highly responsive funding for your start-up. The We go about our day-to-day lives You bravely go to Hollywood to head of the VC firm is a really interesting guy in this plane, yet often our thoughts are miles pitch your new movie idea about the life as he wears a dark suit with red socks. With away. Or if you’re a journalist – your thoughts of a fintech CEO. It’s so dull the producers solutions someone that wacky and charismatic you are on last night’s drinking session. And where give you some money and beg you not to know you’re onto a winner. exactly are our emotions when we’re so busily make it - but instead go for a long holiday occupied on other things? I won’t even go and try something else. You try to drown as far as mentioning our spirits... who knows your sorrows. The sorrows survive and seek what they’re up to! No wonder we sometimes counselling. 1 2 3 Taurus (20 April – 20 May) feel confused about our purpose here. This In an unusual move you look is the kind of rubbish real horoscopes spout. for silver screen inspiration None of us are free from addictions. Even the Capricorn (22 December – for your company and decide to watch all Dalai Lama, who I’m reliably informed can’t 19 January) of Paul Verhoeven’s movies in one sitting. stop playing “Angry Birds”. Be strong Virgo. You will meet a tall, dark and Co Ac P Police will find your lifeless body with a You’re beautiful. And irretrievably moronic if handsome stranger who promptly pitches note that reads: “What was I thinking?” you believe I mean that. a fintech story using jargon. You will jump Corporate Actions Processing into a piranha-infested lake to escape. You communicate to the fish using the art of 4 5 6 7 8 Libra (23 September – mime. The piranhas join you in trying to get Gemini (21 May – 20 June) 22 October) away as they sympathise with your suffering. You will write a new musical As Libra you are a well-balanced on the next wave of fintech individual. On the one hand you loathe trends. It’s called “Bollards in B Minor” and conferences, on the other you despise is a hit sensation on Broadway. Not the humanity. With Giedi Prime in the ascendant, Aquarius (20 January – Re E Ca Lq C famous one in New York but the crappy and Uranus twice the size, you decide to 18 February) Reconciliations Exception Cash Liquidity Collateral one in South London. launch a payments start-up. You sense Picture yourself looking back at a confrontation and conflict and decide to wear busy road you’ve just crossed over. 9 10 11 knuckledusters to the next staff meeting. Few If you live in London, try to imagine Cancer (21 June – 22 July) doubt your ambitions. Unfortunately, it’s to it without all the litter. Difficult as that place is Yearning for inner peace you will drink as much as possible at the free bars on just a gigantic trash can. But wherever you are become a monk and search for the conference circuit. Life would be so much be thankful of taking that challenge – which solitude on the highest peak of a large and simpler if everybody else dropped dead in typically vague horoscope terms could isolated mountain range. One day a man very soon. That probably won’t happen… mean anything in life really. A job interview, F Ex M will approach and ask for help. You will except to you. a mortgage, or writing a news story with a Fees Expense Management almost decide to assist him until he starts massive hangover. speaking jargon at you. You will leave him Scorpio (23 October – 21 on the mountain top to die. November) Do you consider yourself to be too gentle and malleable? Or, Pisces (19 February – 20 March) too sensitive and selfless? I hope not! Because Bored of life you aspire to be a Leo (23 July – 22 August) these are qualities that no-one can have too criminal mastermind and embark At SmartStream we believe that starting with a solid foundation Psychics believe that we live in a much of. That’s right. This is the part where on a devious phishing campaign. of elements is vital when creating new operating models. As a result, multidimensional world. In some I just flatter your tiny mind into submission. Your life is turned into a book and then a it’s never been easier for firms to access highly responsive, tailored ways, we know that they’re right! In other It’s worth taking a second look at a situation movie directed by Martin Scorsese. Even he is solutions which can be deployed at speed and with immediate impact. ways, we know they’re wrong and need to be you’re judging from a distance. Try to get a stunned at your incessant levels of swearing. bt We have helped over 1,500 customers to implement the necessary punched into another dimension. There are more personal view before making a decision. controls to manage complex processing and regulatory requirements many dimensions – according to them – so This could be anything – buying a camera for Want more horoscopes and predictions? across their operations. that means a lot of punching. Excuse me – I Christ’s sake. How do horoscopes get away Well, here’s one. There won’t be any more as need to go and punch someone. with this nonsense? they are complete gobbledygook. So, whether you are looking to replace legacy systems, build an internal processing utility, utilise the cloud or outsource your entire operation, partnering with SmartStream is the perfect chemistry. 44 | www.bankingtech.com | December 2018/January 2019 The definitive source of news & analysis of the global fintech sector
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