New challenger Ziglu has just become a fully authorised Electronic Money Institution under the aegis of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority and has launched peer-to-peer payments for all currencies on its app… but not just fiat currencies, crypto as well and, what’s more, is offering up to £50,000 insurance for crypto holdings. Founder and CEO Mark Hipperson has form – he was previously a co-founder and CTO of challenger Starling Bank. He spoke with Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence.
Sep 21, 2020•11 min•Ep. 103
As the global pandemic is pushing people towards new payments solutions and the US catching on to contactless, San Francisco-based Purewrist is responding by launching a wearable payments bracelet. Suresh Palliparambil, the CEO of Purewrist speaks to Sunniva Kolostyak about the Purewrist GO, issuing co-branded cards, and social responsibility.
Sep 18, 2020•16 min•Ep. 102
It was recently announced that next year a ban on discretionary commission models in auto financing will take effect in the UK. No longer will vehicle retailers and finance providers receive commission linked to the interest rate a customer may pay – a clear incentive to act against customer interests. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence discussed what the change in regulations means for the UK motor financing industry with Daniel Layne, CEO of FinTech Quotevine, which specialises in finance softwar...
Sep 17, 2020•9 min•Ep. 101
Global markets have been forced to address the threat from the coronavirus crisis, however, not all have approached it in the same way. Mario Shiliashki, CEO of Payments at PayU, speaks to Sunniva Kolostyak about how FinTechs, alongside governments, are driving economic growth and supporting local communities.
Sep 15, 2020•16 min•Ep. 100
Bob Legters is responsible for investment in data and artificial intelligence at Florida-based FIS, one of the world’s largest financial technology firms. Taking account of the ‘democratisation’ of financial planning thanks to developments in AI, he told Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence that people not using AI-enabled money management tools are seriously missing out.
Sep 14, 2020•12 min•Ep. 99
Justin is one of the most ebullient characters of the investing scene in the UK. His new venture is Regionally, a platform that aims to bring together regional business with regional investors, allowing vetted companies access to private capital in the range of £0.5m to £10m. This members’ only online investment service could help play a key role in helping regional UK SMEs to scale up.
Sep 09, 2020•13 min•Ep. 98
National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has chosen to digitally transform its transaction banking business with the Infosys Finacle Cash Management Suite. Zied Jalali of National Bank of Bahrain and Venkat Gosavi of Infosys Finacle spoke with Robin Amlot about the bank’s transformation journey and the decisions behind the choices made.
Sep 07, 2020•13 min•Ep. 97
A recent report about the financial impact of COVID-19 in the US showed 83% of lower to middle income households say that they want to turn to their banks for financial support. SpringFour’s technology provides real-time access to local financial resources that banks’ customer service agents share with their customers. Since the pandemic began, SpringFour has delivered more than 1.6 million referrals to vetted financial resources for food assistance, foreclosure assistance, healthcare savings, e...
Sep 03, 2020•9 min•Ep. 96
Global Ventures is a Dubai-based, growth-stage venture capital firm. Within its investment portfolio, Global Ventures is looking for Middle East-based FinTechs capable of scaling up both inside and, more importantly, outside the region – one recent example being Cairo-based payments FinTech Paymob. Basil Moftah discussed the VC firm’s aims and ambitions with Robin Amlot.
Sep 01, 2020•13 min•Ep. 95
Originally established in Chicago, Heidrick & Struggles is a global executive search firm. Clare Buxton is a Partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ London office and a member of the global Financial Services Practice. She leads the Consumer Financial Services team in the UK and is part of the global FinTech Practice. Robin Amlot spoke to Clare Buxton about the leadership issues facing neobanks.
Aug 28, 2020•12 min•Ep. 94
Bankmed completed its core transformation programme end July/beginning of August. Fouad Baalbaki, CIO of Bankmed, and V Ramkumar, Senior Partner of Cedar Management Consulting International take Robin Amlot through the process of a remote installation amid the Covid-19 pandemic…
Aug 26, 2020•11 min•Ep. 93
Investigating the economics of the neobanks and the potential threat to their business models from ‘big tech’; FinTech guru Lex Sokolin discusses where the neobanks go from here with Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence. Can cross-selling create a sustainable business model?
Aug 24, 2020•19 min•Ep. 92
FeedStock is a platform offering solutions for both buy-side and sell-side players in the financial markets. Co-CEO Lucas Wurfbain spoke with Robin Amlot about how AI-driven data analytics can help protect revenue and support productivity through the proper evaluation of human-to-human relationships both within the organisation and with external stakeholders and clients.
Aug 21, 2020•10 min•Ep. 91
Already 55% of all money services businesses’ (MSBs) transactions are FinTech-based with 73% of new entities relying on an internet-based model rather than an agent-based model. Christian Spaltenstein, Managing Director, Americas, for AFEX discusses with Robin Amlot how MSBs can and should differentiate themselves and how APIs will change the cash management ecosystem.
Aug 18, 2020•7 min•Ep. 90
Technisys offers Cyberbank – an API-centric, microservices-based digital banking platform. This cloud-native offering is performing strongly in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Technisys expanding staff numbers, winning fresh deals and, as co-founder German Pugliese-Bassi explained to Robin Amlot, sticking to its pre-pandemic business targets.
Aug 18, 2020•7 min•Ep. 89
Italian FinTech Supply@ME offers a platform focused on inventory monetisation, which , the company says, enables a range of manufacturing and trading businesses to improve their working capital position via a “true sale” of the inventory to special purpose vehicles incorporated by Supply@ME that also provides a new asset class to investors.
Aug 17, 2020•8 min•Ep. 88
The global payment-as-a-service market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.9% to 2027. That presents opportunities. Volante Technologies recently raised $35m in a funding round led by Wavecrest with strategic participation from VISA Ventures, Poste Italiani, Citi Ventures, and BNY Mellon. Volante’ CEO spoke about the funding and the company’s future plans with Robin Amlot.
Aug 17, 2020•10 min•Ep. 87
The Investing and Saving Alliance (TISA) is a cross-industry financial services body in the UK. Its latest initiative is TISAtech – a new digital marketplace that brings together financial institutions and FinTechs for greater collaboration and innovation. Keith Phillips, CEO of TISAtech outlines the aims and ambitions of TISAtech to Robin Amlot.
Aug 15, 2020•13 min•Ep. 86
In the face of the pandemic, digital customer services are coming into their own with consumers moving their banking activities to digital channels and institutions prioritising digital transformation. Dan Michaeli, CEO of Glia, explains to Robin Amlot why and how traditional contact centres are being replaced by what he calls engagement centres…
Aug 13, 2020•10 min•Ep. 85
A new report entitled ‘Payments in a Post-Covid-19 World’ has been published by P20, the voice of the global payments industry. It explores the challenges faced by the international payments sector during the pandemic and offers suggested actions that payments companies can take to ensure effective, innovative and responsible operation. P20’s CEO Duncan Sandys discussed the report with Robin Amlot…...
Aug 11, 2020•10 min•Ep. 84
In the wake of the Wirecard debacle, the UK body, the Emerging Payments Association has published a review paper entitled ‘Avoiding a payments lockdown’ , presenting it to the UK ’ s Financial Conduct Authority and HM Treasury. The paper seeks to identify vulnerabilities in the current payments business model, how UK institutions were impacted and what regulators need to do next. Tony Craddock discusses the paper’s findings with Robin Amlot…...
Aug 06, 2020•11 min•Ep. 83
When it comes to Open Banking, are consumers really seeing any benefits? Brian Hanrahan, Chief Commercial Officer at Sentenial, joins the IBS Views podcast to discuss Nuapay, the Open Banking payments provider and Sentenial subsidiary, its recent partnerships, and how the public has taken advantage of Account-2-Account payments solutions during Covid-19.
Aug 04, 2020•14 min•Ep. 82
The banker is dead! Long live the banker! Chirag Patel believes the ‘traditional’ banker is no longer viable in an era where banking innovation can transform economies. He believes that the new banker must be a product-led technology enthusiast… and he’s walking the walk, having moved from ecommerce behemoth Amazon to Santander, one of the oldest financial institutions in the world.
Jul 31, 2020•12 min•Ep. 81
Thomas Schumann Water Risk Indices are the first-ever index family specifically designed to minimise water risk in equities. This first iteration of the index was initially a collaboration with three FinTechs: Equarius Risk Analytics, Fuzzy Logix, and C8 Technologies. Subsequent to the preliminary index development, institutional index experts Anatase were brought in to re-engineer the index methodology and the final TSC Water Risk Indices were launched on 4 January, 2021. Robin Amlot discussed ...
Jul 30, 2020•13 min•Ep. 80
Banks will need to be as agile as FinTechs in the future. Retail banking is likely to be virtual post-Covid-19 but, warns Matt Locsin of Publicis Sapient, banks face a particular challenge in the threat of disintermediation by tech companies that could see revenue from fees shrinking and traditional bases of differentiation, other than price, disappearing.
Jul 24, 2020•17 min
The key to success in private banking is client engagement. In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic that has put pressure on institutions to use digital channels in a more effective manner to maintain the personal customer experience. The onus is on private bankers to adapt accordingly.
Jul 24, 2020•11 min•Ep. 78
One of the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has been to increase the risk of money laundering through cross-border correspondent banking. Banks are reliant on counterparties to determine account owners and monitor transactions for risk – with variable results! Mark Gazit, CEO of Israeli cybersecurity firm ThetaRay warns that existing AML systems may not be up to the task of identifying new types of money laundering activity.
Jul 23, 2020•14 min•Ep. 77
Have we learnt anything from previous crises? With focus on resiliency and business continuity at an all-time high, Brian Collings, CEO of Torstone Technology, discusses what it’s like to provide post-trade solutions in a Covid-19 environment, and which lessons the financial sector has picked up from the global financial crisis in 2008.
Jul 23, 2020•12 min•Ep. 76
VMware has released research showing an increase in both cyberattack volume and breaches during the past 12 months in the UK. The research was supplemented with a survey on the impact of Covid-19 on the attack landscape. According to the supplemental survey, 92% of UK cybersecurity professionals said attack volumes have increased as more employees work from home and 93% said their organisations have experienced cyberattacks linked to Covid-19 malware.
Jul 20, 2020•10 min•Ep. 75
In recent months there has been a shift in investors’ attitude towards cryptoassets with major hedge funds and banks moving into Bitcoin. Central bankers are also investigating digital currencies. Copper Technologies CEO Dmitry Tokarev discusses how crypto can and is moving into mainstream financial services.
Jul 15, 2020•15 min•Ep. 74
