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FEMININE FINANCE

Women are becoming a force to be reckoned with in the fintech space

This month we celebrate International Women’s Day and all that entails. In the fintech space, that means applauding all the brilliant and innovative women who have climbed the ranks in the financial industry and become leaders of their fields. From startups to giant corporations, and to groundbreaking digital banks, there’s no denying that women are bringing a unique perspective to the financial space, and with it, heaps of innovation.

This month, we’ve also explored BNPL and the institutional adoption of crypto - an unfolding drama coming to an ewallet near you. And of course, we have some amazing interviews and deep dives into the leading sectors to keep you abreast of all trends and events.

Happy March - we hope you enjoy the issue!

JOANNA ENGLAND joanna.england@bizclikmedia.com

diversity in the candidate pool has been proven to result in increased diversity in companies, which is what we’re slowly seeing happen”

UP FRONT

COMPANY REPORTS

30 MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK

The path to liquidity: Exploring strategies for private companies

52 BELL Evolving towards the finance of the future through data and analytics

82 Q4 Connecting investors and companies through technology

104 FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL

Segmentation has never been this rewarding

Stop ransomware in its tracks.

Boost security performance with Akamai Guardicore Segmentation.

Learn more

Akamai prioritises the future demands of cyber customers

Steve Winterfeld of Akamai discusses the company’s university-based founding and how it merged into a leading multibillion-dollar cybersecurity firm

Akamai was founded following a competition at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), entered by its co-Founder and CEO Frank Thomson Leighton—Dr Tom Leighton. Since that time, the organisation has expanded massively, and in the words of Steve Winterfeld , Advisory CISO at Akamai, the company “continues to solve hard problems.”

The cybersecurity company plays a critical role for corporations as it focuses on the future, to determine whether threat motivation will change and how to best combat ransomware attacks, state-sponsored DDoS attacks, and ransomware that could turn into wiperware.

“Those are real concerns, and we’re keeping an eye out for those. And so we have probably 15 security capabilities backed up by services, responding to customers’ needs and rapidly growing on the edge compute and cloud side.”

“We started out with a web application, or as it is more commonly called now, web application and API protection, and expanded into protecting the infrastructure against DDoS to include the DNS infrastructure and recently added internal infrastructure protection and visibility through micro-segmentation,” explains Winterfeld.

Responding to the cybersecurity needs of the customer

As an established cybersecurity organisation, Akamai can now focus on what customers need.

Winterfeld explains that, in response to its clients’ feedback, the company has been acquiring the necessary assets and tools to fulfil those needs with the recent purchase of Guardicore. Guardicore’s leading microsegmentation products will be added to Akamai’s comprehensive portfolio of Zero Trust solutions to protect enterprises from damage caused by breaches like ransomware, while safeguarding the critical assets at the core of the network.

“We bought Linode, which is a cloud provider. And so now we have an integrated platform to build and perform on as well as secure.”

A prime example of Akamai’s ability to meet customer demands, particularly in high-risk environments, is its partnership with First Bank, which is “very concerned about its real-time visibility into its network. We’re partnering with them on a software-based microsegmentation, where they’re able to see those data flows and create segments.”

BIG PICTURE

Image credit: © WEF/Faruk Pinjo

World Economic Forum

Annual Meeting 2023

Davos, Switzerland

Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), speaks at the beginning of its annual meeting in Davos in January. Amid ongoing political and economic uncertainty, there was a lot to discuss in Switzerland. Ukraine urged Western leaders to provide more military equipment in the fight against Russia; UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that the world was “flirting with climate disaster”; and the whole event took place against the backdrop of a Europe-wide corruption scandal that has so far implicated a number of MEPs.

THE BRIEF

“We’ll see mainstream crypto investors voting with their wallets and favouring platforms (and jurisdictions) that are embracing, rather than trying to escape, regulation”

READ MORE

“For younger people seeking meaning in their careers, it’s particularly important to highlight the significant initiatives of female leaders in the tech sector”

Krista Griggs

Head of Financial Services & Insurance Fujitsu

READ MORE

BY THE NUMBERS

Will the FTX fallout affect long-term confidence in crypto?

71% N0 29%

YES

EU consortium delivers controversial digital ID wallets

The EU has announced a multicountry consortium to lead the delivery of a cross-border payments pilot programme –including the launch of a controversial digital ID wallet.

READ MORE

Micheal Ramsbacker CPO Trulioo

Improving diversity by focusing on staff retention

Improving staff retention is an important first step in tackling the tech sector’s diversity problem, according to the authors of a new research report, published by Wiley.

Nearly two-thirds (64%) of businesses admit to struggling to retain employees from underrepresented backgrounds, according to the research. This is in spite of a majority (65%) of respondents believing that they work hard to foster an inclusive corporate culture.

More than a quarter (27%) of tech workers aged between 18 and 24 say they have left a role because they didn’t feel a sense of belonging, while over a fifth (22%) say they had previously experienced biased treatment from managers. The research indicates that failing to create a truly inclusive and welcoming environment contributes directly to poor retention rates on tech teams.

 BUTTER

The Silicon Valley fintech, which helps online subscription businesses to reduce “accidental churn” within payment processing, has raised US$22mn in Series A funding led by Norwest Venture Partners.

 40SEAS

The Israeli fintech platform for cross-border trade financing has emerged from stealth, raising US$11mn in seed funding from Team8 and securing a US$100mn credit facility from ZIM Integrated Shipping Services.

 PADDLE

The UK payments fintech announced it would be cutting around 8% of its workforce as tech industry layoffs continue into 2023. Founder and CEO Christian Owens said it was a response to rising inflation.



CLEARCO

The troubled lending firm, which has undergone a significant downsizing in the past year, has announced the departure of CEO Michele Romanow – the second chief executive to leave the company in the past 12 months.

W A Y U P S

MAR23

W A Y D O W N S

THE SEMANTIC THE FUTURE 2006 2014 2015

As the internet prepares to make way for the development of Web 3.0, we take a look at the innovation timeline

THE SEMANTIC THE FUTURE OF 2006 2014 2015

The beginning of it all

The term Web3 points to the third generation version of the internet. Web1 was the dial-in of the 90s. Web2 refers to the technologically revamped version of Web1, after it was replatformed on Javascript, HTML5 and CSS3. In 2006, Tim Berners-Lee, the British scientist who developed the original internet, first proposed the concept of Web3 when he spoke about the Semantic web as a component of Web 3.0 – the third generation internet.

The advancement of blockchain technology

But Web3 didn’t really materialise until 2014. The term was phrased by the cryptocurrency Polkadot founder and Ethereum co-founder, Gavin Wood,, who is also the founder of blockchain infrastructure company Parity Technologies. He put his vision of the internet’s future forward as blockchain began to develop and its potential to provide a wholly decentralised online ecosystem was realised.

Facebook dabbles in Meta

Facebook’s role in metaverse history began in 2014, when the company bought the virtual reality hardware/platform Oculus. Prior to this, the very first virtual spaces existed within the gaming sphere as early as 2006, with games like Second Life, followed by Minecraft and the still very popular Roblox. Facebook’s Meta is, however, a very different beast from its gaming predecessors.

SEMANTIC WEB AND OF WEB 3.0

SEMANTIC WEB AND FUTURE OF WEB 3.0 2020 2023 2030

2020 2023 2030

New normal and the metaverse

Once COVID-19 hit and governments around the world forced their citizens into lockdowns, life online suddenly became the experience of the majority. The pandemic saw reliance on online transactions and shopping soar. Furthermore, leading banks, fintechs, entertainment companies, retailers and tech giants all staked a claim in Meta. This has since prompted other companies to launch their own online metaverse equivalents, all built on Web3 technologies.

Peer-to-peer interaction

Today, Web3 technology enables the creation of decentralised networks and platforms that allow peerto-peer transactions as well as interactions without the need for intermediaries. This can lead to a more equitable distribution of power and resources.

Web3 business innovations are considered the solutions to several key challenges that users face with Web2, such as data breaches, compromised online security and privacy.

Augmented reality to become…reality?

Could we be heading to a future that sees the majority of our interpersonal human interactions take place online? Some experts absolutely think it's possible.

According to Melanie Subin, a Director at The Future Today Institute in New York City, by 2030, “a large proportion of people will be in the metaverse in some way”. She says some will simply use it “only to fulfil work or educational obligations”, while others “will live the majority of their waking hours 'jacked in'.”

GUILLAUME POUSAZ

As the high-flying CEO and Founder of Checkout.com, Dubai-based Guillaume Pousaz is the Swiss billionaire with an estimated net worth of US$20bn

As the high-flying CEO and founder of Checkout.com, Dubai-based Guillaume Pousaz is the Swiss billionaire with an estimated net worth of US$20bn

Born in 1981 in Geneva, Switzerland, Guillaume Pousaz studied mathematical engineering at the Ecole Fédérale Polytechnique De Lausanne, before enrolling on a bachelor's degree in economics at HEC Lausanne, with a view to entering the world of investment banking.

As a youngster and student, he was always interested in the creative side of life, and was fascinated by street art – a passion that has resulted in his Checkout.com offices being decked in unique design works that mix logic with art.

However, in 2005, his decision to enter banking was halted when his father was diagnosed with cancer. He left his university course and, according to reports, moved to California to become a surfer ‘for a while’.

Entry into finance

Although the surfing life appealed to his bohemian outlook, Pousaz soon began to think about a career in finance once again.

While in California in 2006, he began working for the finance company IPC, which seemed a good compromise as it had offices close to the beach.

The role at IPC introduced Pousaz to the payments industry – and highlighted how the world of online shopping was transforming the retail and consumer experience. Pousaz was so inspired by the payments space that, by 2007, he had launched his first startup company – a fintech called NetMerchant that facilitated payments from US and European companies needing to make payments in foreign currencies.

He ran NetMerchant until 2009 and then diversified again, buying the Mauritiusbased fintech SMS Pay for US$300,000. He also launched his second startup, Opus Payments, in 2009 – another payments processing fintech – only this time, his target marketplace was Asia. Opus Payments was based in Singapore and managed payments from Hong Kong businesses to process their international transactions from global buyers.

The launch of Checkout.com

By now, it was clear that Pousaz had found his groove. He liked payments, he was good

“BE ALL IN, ALL THE TIME. YOU OWE IT TO THE COMPANY, TO THE OTHER FOUNDERS, AND YOURSELF”

at it, he understood the power of the internet, and its potential for customers. But, he had encountered issues during his first startup years. In fact, one drawback was the issue of payments processing on a global scale, for both shops and shoppers.

He solved the issue by launching his third startup, Checkout.com, in 2012. The ease of use and frictionless experience the fintech offered its customers made it an instant hit with online retailers. By 2019, Checkout.com was one of the world's most successful fintech stories.

Pousaz and his leadership team even raised US$230mn in funding that year – which ended up being the largest Series A funding round ever for a European fintech company.

Pandemic accelerated growth for Checkout.com

Of course, the rest is history. COVID-19 did its worst, resulting in the world being plunged into lockdowns, online payments companies reaped the rewards, and Checkout.com was no exception. In fact, by January 2021, the company had launched its next funding round, raising a further US$450mn at a valuation of US$15bn. Forbes then estimated Pousaz's net worth to be US$9bn. During 2020, Checkout.com released a report saying its payments processing volume had tripled in that year alone.

What’s next for Pousaz?

Well, so far, he seems keen to stick with Checkout. com. Now married and a father of three, he spends his time commuting between Dubai and London, telling Forbes that he travels on the red-eye from Dubai to London every Sunday night, so that he can work his four-day, 80-hour week in the London office, before heading back to his family in the UAE on a Friday morning.

By anyone’s measure, it’s a brutal work pattern, but one that Pousaz seems to thrive on. And, with Saturdays dedicated to his kids, he tries not to allow himself to be distracted. “I get 800 emails a day at this point,” he said.

LINOY

KIDD

LEADING IN BANKING AND BUILDING SCHOOLS

Linoy Kidd, CIO of HSBC, shares the inspirational story of how she climbed the corporate ladder while raising money to build schools for children

Q. DESCRIBE YOUR JOURNEY INTO BANKING. HOW DID YOU GET HERE?

» I did my undergraduate degree in IT, which has a direct correlation to the job that I do now. I did a summer internship at a Dutch bank called ABN AMRO and the people were so helpful. After that position, I went into telecommunications to try a new industry, but I really preferred banking. As you can imagine, some incredible brains work in the bank; they have to understand so many intricacies including algorithms and underpinning formulas. That, and I really liked the fast pace of the job and how smart the people are.

For me, working with the business in partnership is the most rewarding part of my job. I joined HSBC 17 years ago and started in foreign exchange options as a support analyst, then worked my way to team leader. I moved on to Manager and then CIO in Mexico, before becoming CIO in MENAT for MSS (Markets Security Services).

As soon as I became a leader of men/ women I knew this was my calling in life. I love being a leader and managing people. I really feel it is a privilege to manage people and to try and get the best out of them to work and output for the business.

Q. WHO WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD HERO AND WHY?

» I grew up in the 80s, when Band-Aid was a big event on television. I knew that I wanted to emulate those that help others and to action change in the world in whatever small way I could. Martin Luther King sacrificed himself for the greater good to change the face of the world forever. I always quote him: “I have a dream where all children can play together no matter their race... not everyone can be famous but everyone can be great because greatness is determined by service.”

My grandmother was also a big influence. She could not read or write and would beg her grandkids to teach her. She was Kurdish from Iraq and was just never taught to

FIVE MINUTES WITH...

read. Because of my education, I was able to get a role here at HSBC. Fastforward three years and my daughter has just graduated with a double major with distinction in STEM. Because of this, combined with a deep understanding of what education can bring, I set up the #Infusion100 movement four years ago. With colleagues from HSBC, we have built seven schools: five in Africa; one in Haiti after the earthquake there; and one in Nicaragua. These schools have educated over 1,000 students so far, and continue to do so.

We encourage them to learn and then make a choice for how they want to live. Education gives choice; education gives freedom.

With Infusion100, I want to show women around the world that there is no glass ceiling. That we can punch through it and that anything is possible, no matter your past or who or what you are.

Q . WHAT'S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?

» I had a manager in Hong Kong who told me that it is the ‘think outside of the box’ ideas that make the difference. At Google, they have the 10% principle: carve out 10% of your work week to try and innovate, to do something new that is not part of your day's work. Google Maps came from this 10%, so its impact can be wide ranging.

Q. NAME ONE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY YOU COULDN’T LIVE WITHOUT AND TELL US WHY (EXCLUDING YOUR MOBILE PHONE)

» I am a sports fanatic; I go boxing every day after work. Every year, we walk over 100km for charity so I can’t live without my Garmin. I wake up and check it, and I go to sleep checking it. It basically shows me everything, including calories burnt, steps, stairs, heart rate (so I know when I am getting too stressed), and sleep – and no, I don’t sleep enough.

Q. WHO DO YOU LOOK UP TO IN TERMS OF LEADERSHIP AND MENTORSHIP?

» I really look to leaders that lead from the front. I built a school in Nicaragua and, like the chief of that village, I try to emulate the way that he leads his village and his tribe. He knew every mother, child, and baby by name. He greeted them with a smile on his face. He was humble and not only that, but every day at the school work site, he was there early and gave 200%. He was strong and he led the way. He had built every house in the village by hand.

On the last night, we had an arm wrestle with all the village leaders and us. He beat everyone. He laughed it off; I wanted to emulate this type of leadership, to treat everyone equally, whether they are the CEO or a graduate. Everyone has a place in the world, everyone.

DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THREE WORDS DETERMINED STRONG STUBBORN

Q. IS THERE A PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT FROM THE PAST 12 MONTHS OF WHICH YOU ARE PARTICULARLY PROUD?

» I gave birth to a son during the pandemic; it was brutal as no one was allowed to be in the delivery room with me. I had to have an emergency C-section because the baby went into distress, and I got a double infection that I couldn’t fight while in labour. I signed my life away on that table and they came over with a waiver form saying if I die, I am liable for my own life. At that moment, I felt totally alone. I experienced some PTSD and depression after that, but then I started boxing again. I got my life in order, and now I want to show women you can have it all; that whatever you live through that doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. During my maternity leave, I went to Ghana and built the sixth school. I dug it with my new baby because I wanted to show people that it's possible to do anything as a woman – even five months after the surgery. Give birth, bring up a baby and build a school. No one wanted to go on this school build, and it was very risky because it was in the middle of COVID-19. But we went and we built anyway because that is our calling as the Infusion100 team: to build a school a year until we die.

Q. WHAT INSPIRES YOU IN BANKING AND FINTECH TODAY?

» IT underpins the business; you cannot have one without the other. It is our job to take out the blockers and enable the business to do their job as seamlessly as possible.

So it’s amazing to be pivotal to the underlying strategy. Pivoting to the

cloud has been instrumental to be more agile and using the agile methodology to revolutionise the way IT works.

Q. WHAT’S NEXT FOR LINOY KIDD?

» At work, I am very happy with the level I have achieved. I worked hard to get where I am today, and I will look to grow within these shoes for many more years to come.

I’m always thinking of new ways to revolutionise the human experience within IT and banking, bringing networks upon networks of people together to show what can be achieved in a small space of time.

In terms of the charity, we will hit nine years next year. I want to build nine schools in nine years, then keep going and going with that to set up out of school education for those less fortunate and who do not have access to education. I want to think of ways to be a better leader to improve myself day on day, to help those around me and to change their lives in whatever small way I can, to keep on working on giving people the toolkit to step out of poverty, to give them the same viewpoint on life that anything is possible when you bring people together.

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WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

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THE PATH TO LIQUIDITY: EXPLORING STRATEGIES FOR PRIVATE COMPANIES

Morgan Stanley at Work is helping to create a new roadmap for private and public companies seeking to generate liquidity

The route to IPO is a complicated one – especially given the current climate, as the economy slows and companies are under increasing pressure to scale while maintaining more modest financial constraints than they were previously afforded.

When a private company seeks to go public, it usually means one of three things: firstly, a company is seeking to raise capital; secondly, its board is planning to provide liquidity for investors and employees; and, finally, there’s a desire to raise brand awareness and strengthen market position in the eyes of potential customers.

The route to an IPO has often been seen as a key milestone in a company’s development in the global marketplace.

But in recent years – helped along by some regulatory changes and market factors – many companies are choosing to delay their route to the public markets and instead work on accessing capital through venture capital and growth equity investors to maintain their private company status.

Capital in private and public markets

According to Kevin Swan, Co-Head of Global Private Markets for Morgan Stanley at Work, these days the average time for a startup company, from launch to make the move to go public, is now over 12 years.

Swan, who studied as an engineer specialising in mechatronics – a

multidisciplinary field that exists at the intersection of mechanical, electrical and computer engineering – got swept into the financial world through his early career experiences in startup companies. The path led him into venture capital and later to a company called Solium Capital, which was then acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2019.

Swan’s background has been instrumental in his understanding of the various reasons underscoring certain companies’ decision to choose an IPO route or remain as private entities.

The delay in going public, he explains, is mainly due to changes in the regulatory

environment in addition to the flow of capital from public to private markets. This has resulted in private companies being able to raise significant capital without having to go public.

“Over the past decade, we’ve seen increasing amounts of capital flow into the private markets, and we’ve encountered several other factors that have led to this dynamic situation, where companies are now staying private for much, much longer.”

“Now, the average time to enter the public market for a venture-backed tech startup is much longer and these companies are valued in the billions, many in the tens of billions.

Furthermore, some are able to raise enough private capital to not even necessarily need to pursue an IPO and rather enter the public markets through a direct listing.”

Even though it may take a company several years to reach the point where pursuing the public markets is a possibility, preparing for that process requires careful planning. Alternatively, while a company may wish to remain private, it may need to address its equity structure and liquidity strategy to ensure it remains an attractive option for its investors and employees as well as navigate the current economic climate.

Morgan Stanley at Work reshaping private markets liquidity

Although IPOs are generally considered the ultimate liquidity event, private capital markets are continuing to gain momentum in terms of investment interest. As a result, many companies are able to generate the funds required to provide employees with some liquidity on their equity packages, without going public.

These types of events, however – and the management of successful equity programmes – require considerable groundwork to be viable.

And that’s where Morgan Stanley at Work comes in: a division of Morgan Stanley that is focused entirely on private and public company share plan administration solutions that empower companies in providing employees workplace financial benefits.

Their offering covers equity management, retirement solutions and financial wellness. For private companies wanting to maximize the benefit of their equity programmes, Morgan Stanley at Work offers a number of liquidity solutions.

Morgan Stanley’s day-to-day operations primarily consist of investment banking and financial services, so offering solutions that aid in the path to the public markets beyond raising capital has been a natural progression. As a global corporation, it is uniquely positioned to provide an equity management system for the private market that can facilitate recordkeeping, transactions, and money movement.

“If you're a public company, that infrastructure already exists in the form of transfer agents and clearing brokers, where you can easily buy and sell stocks in a public

company online or through your financial advisor,” Swan says.

However, in the private marketplace, this can be more of a challenge, as historically speaking, there’s never been a highly sophisticated infrastructure to provide easy liquidity solutions. Morgan Stanley at Work is taking a progressive approach to solving that challenge by building a trading infrastructure and transaction execution framework that caters to private markets and is designed with an issuer perspective.

Specific protocols for private companies

Unsurprisingly, the private markets don't operate in the same way as public markets. Regulation is quite different, and the private investor community often has different objectives and time horizons than public investors. Morgan Stanley at Work offers

KEVIN SWAN

TITLE: CO-HEAD OF GLOBAL PRIVATE MARKETS

INDUSTRY: FINANCIAL SERVICES

LOCATION: ALBERTA, CANADA

Kevin Swan is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley in Wealth Management. He is Co-Head of Global Private Markets for Morgan Stanley At Work which delivers equity management, liquidity, and workplace solutions to private companies. He joined Morgan Stanley through the acquisition of Solium Capital where he served as the VP of Corporate Development.

EXECUTIVE BIO

Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Kevin held roles in product management and corporate development, was a Partner at venture capital firm Inovia Capital, and served as a board member at several venture backed technology startups. Kevin has a B.Sc. from the University of Alberta and a M.S. from Stanford University where he studied mechatronics and control systems.

KEVIN SWAN

CO-HEAD OF GLOBAL PRIVATE MARKETS, MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK

“Historically speaking, there’s never been a highly sophisticated infrastructure to provide easy liquidity solutions in the private marketplace and Morgan Stanley at Work is taking a progressive approach to solving that challenge”

Shareworks – an equity management platform utilized by private companies to manage their cap tables, employee stock plan and liquidity programmes. They have also launched a private market transaction desk that can help execute block sales and other forms of secondary transactions, giving shareholders access to liquidity and clients access to investment opportunities.

“We have the equity management platform and transactional capabilities to be able to support companies and shareholders,” Swan explains. “We also have an attractive investor client base for participation in liquidity events and secondary transactions.”

According to Swan, high-growth venturebacked companies control their cap tables, as ownership structures and the different legalities provide them the authority to

decide who can be an investor –and who can't.

“The big takeaway is that these companies have a definitive say in terms of who can actually own their shares. So they want highquality, reputable, long term investors on their cap table.”

Morgan Stanley at Work is fortunate to work with some of the best companies in the world, due to the full suite of wealth management and financial wellness offerings. These services empower companies to extend benefits to their employees, at the same time as engaging directly with both employees and investors.

“A lot of times, for employees in these startups, it's the first time that they've obtained any wealth. And whether that's a modest amount or generational wealth–which isn't uncommon at some of these

startup companies – we have solutions and a large population of top financial advisors to support these employees on their financial journey.”

Managing the public versus private pathway

Sam Adams is the Executive Director of Private to Public Strategy for Morgan Stanley at Work. A veteran of the ‘route to IPO’ journey prior to joining Morgan Stanley, she managed a number of prominent IPO projects, which helped her to decide that managing share plan administration programmes and supporting companies through the process was the perfect use of her acquired skills.

“We have several private clients who have no intentions of ever going public and we're starting to see a larger trend in new clients who want to establish stock plans with regular liquidity activity already preprogrammed in,” explains Adams.

“This is because it gives them the flexibility to allow people to take some of the value that they've helped create in the company off the table through the shares they've earned as an employee, while not putting so much pressure on the overall company to have to make a decision of whether or not to go public within a certain time period.”

As someone who has witnessed firsthand the complicated process of the path to IPO, Adams is passionate about her role and says companies that manage their equity programmes well not only benefit themselves but in turn, also change the lives of their loyal employees.

“One of my personal missions in life is to make sure that capturing that opportunity doesn't get lost on other people. It really can be a life-changing thing, and Morgan Stanley at Work can not only help the company have the underlying infrastructure to make those

SAM ADAMS

TITLE: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRIVATE TO PUBLIC STRATEGY

INDUSTRY: FINANCIAL SERVICES

LOCATION: CALIFORNIA, US

Sam Adams is currently an Executive Director at Morgan Stanley at Work leading a specialized team focused on helping private companies transition their stock plans into the public market.

Prior to this role Sam lead the global equity team at DoorDash through building a best-in-class equity infrastructure to operate as a growing public company and a tremendously successful IPO in 2020. She also led MuleSoft’s global equity team through an IPO in 2017 and subsequent acquisition by Salesforce in 2018.

EXECUTIVE BIO

Additionally, she designed MuleSoft’s Total Rewards and Mobility practices, including global compensation programs, ESPP, and employee benefit packages. Sam was also a key member on the Trulia legal team managing all things stock and corporate compliance through their IPO in 2012 and subsequent acquisition by Zillow in 2015. Sam received a BA in Sociology from UCLA in 2004 and the CEP designation in 2015.

SAM ADAMS OF MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK DESCRIBES HER IPO STRATEGY JOURNEY

As the Executive Director, Private to Public Strategy for Morgan Stanley at Work, Sam Adams is passionate about managing IPO and private equity paths for companies

Playing a major role in the IPO and private equity programmes of some of the world’s largest companies was not originally in the career plan for Sam Adams. The Los Angeles native initially had ambitions to enter the interior design industry, as her family owned a textile cleaning and restoration business. “I felt it was part of my DNA,” she says.

But fate had other plans. After a post-college move to San Francisco, following the 2008 financial crash, Adams ended up working for a small start-up company that inadvertently put her on the path of being an equity owner and guiding companies and employees through large liquidity events.

From there, Adams moved to another start-up company, which involved her in the IPO process, and gave her the opportunity to be mentored. This led to further roles at MuleSoft and DoorDash – always operating in-house equity functions with a penchant for the private to public transition process.

She joined Morgan Stanley at Work because it offers her the opportunity to employ her skills and knowledge without having to move on from companies once the IPO process has been completed.

“I'm a single mom and I've had to learn all these things on my own, and I take it really personally that, through my work, I can help other people who are probably in the exact same position that I was in 10 years ago.”

She adds: “It's great to be able to recognise the value potential in a growing company. It's also important to have a high amount of responsibility and gratitude for those things, too. That really gets me up in the morning because I know that the work we do ends up creating an experience for an end user that we probably never talk to.”

SAM ADAMS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRIVATE TO PUBLIC STRATEGY, MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK

“Trust and reputation are a really big deal. Typically, when a company decides to embark on the path to IPO, they may only give themselves three months to manage the entire process”

transactions happen, but on the participant side, ensure that people have the right resources to take advantage of what that opportunity brings to the table.”

A developing trend in private capital markets

A good equity programme not only rewards employees but also creates a deeper investment culture within the organisation. If an employee can see the value of their shares rising as the company grows, it can incentivise them to work towards the company’s common goals. Equally, companies today may have to take into account lifestyle choices. Employees might have certain expectations in mind when they consider equity programmes at the job-offer level. Today, as companies take longer to reach the IPO stage, they also have simultaneous

opportunity to scale and grow. This means they have to offer competitive equity stake value or risk losing out to the competition. The war for talent as we’ve known it for the last 10 years is beginning to slow, evidenced by the volume of layoffs, particularly in the technology sector. However, down markets may breed innovation because with mass layoffs comes a surplus of talented people that find themselves without work, have potentially realized some significant value from previous roles and are ready to solve new problems. Similar to companies that emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, Morgan Stanley at Work believes there will be a new period of innovation out of the current downturn as well.

Swan says: “One of the big drivers in the evolving approach private companies take

towards liquidity over the last decade was the war for talent. Private companies have become much larger, but the draw for startups to attract employees was always in the equity. You knew that you were taking a job where you were going to be fairly underpaid from a market perspective in your base salary. However, you're going to have the upside of equity, which could create an asymmetrical outcome, financially, for yourself.”

But what happens if these companies stay private for longer? “Now, we have companies that are worth billions – even tens of billions of dollars and they're financially sound –and they’ve raised a tonne of capital. But as valuations increase, you obviously don't have quite the same upside in any new equity you

receive as you did when you were a small startup worth a few million dollars,” Swan says.

He goes on to explain that a shift has occurred, where these companies have to start paying more competitively on base salaries. But, they may also have to be competitive on the equity front. And very often in these cases, private companies are competing with large public companies.

“So, if I'm a senior engineer looking at joining one of these late-stage private companies and I've got an offer from them and I've got an offer from one of the world’s leading public tech companies – they may be very similar in terms of the base salary, and even the value of the equity I'm getting. But one big difference is that in a public

company, when your equity vests, you can immediately sell it on the public markets. You have access to a liquid market.”

At a private company, the options are more limited. Swan establishes that this is where Morgan Stanley at Work comes in, following a growing number of private companies that have started becoming more proactive in providing liquidity to compete with public companies. Just over the past three years, it's a much more commonplace approach for large companies to take.

Offering access to value through private equity programmes

Current financial instability is another reason for employees to demand greater value and

security from their companies, says Adams, highlighting that the need for better equity packages has probably never been greater.

“In terms of what's happening economically, I think liquidity is even more important because people don't have access to as much capital. Credit is far more expensive; inflation means that your money doesn't go nearly as far as it did a couple of years ago.”

“But people still have real needs to manage their lifestyles, and that can look like buying a home or paying for education for children. Your day-to-day life in this environment now means that it's harder to meet those same financial obligations. And so, if you have equity and you have all this value sitting on the side lines, people want

access to it. They need access to it now, probably more than they have in the last 5 to 10 years.”

Private market liquidity and the investment community in a downturn

Questions, however, remain. How do private companies fit into all this, particularly at a time when investment is activity low? And how can they generate enough capital to remain as competitive as their public counterparts?

Adams says it all comes down to arranging the right types of liquidity events and setting up a strong framework.

“As an employee, you've been helping generate value over the period that you've been employed, and you've seen prices go up. Now, we're starting to see company valuations level out or go back down. But investors still believe in these businesses. Some of the economic factors at play here are not necessarily because these businesses aren't good businesses worth investing in.”

She points out that the tough climate doesn’t mean investing opportunities won’t happen; rather, in some ways, the opportunities are greater. “It's an interesting opportunity for investors who have probably

been sitting on the side lines when valuations were higher and saying, ‘That price point feels too high for me to start to get involved’, and take positions in companies that they truly believe in at a price that seems a little bit more reasonable and sound, and start to be able to play the long game.”

Private market liquidity can be beneficial

Not going public but enabling employees to gain value from their stocks can result in gains all around, without the demands of going public. For example, if a group of two or three investors is looking to take a position and a group of 100 employees is ready to sell to them, it reduces the number of shareholders on the company’s cap table.

“This can potentially be really beneficial to all parties,” Adams states.

She points out that the benefit of gaining liquidity works on two levels for companies. Firstly, by letting them sell directly to an investor, they are allowing liquidity for employees without dilution. The process also provides an opportunity to clean up the cap table, the records of stock ownership, and reduce the number of actual shareholders.

One downside, however, is that the process may force companies and individual shareholders to come to terms with the delta in current valuations versus where they were a year ago. The gap in valuations from a company’s last fundraising round and what investors are willing to pay today is widening in private secondary markets.

“Something that we think our clients are still coming to terms with is taking the hit on price now and knowing that, if this is a good business, it will outlast the market conditions that exist today,” she says.

KEVIN SWAN

CO-HEAD OF GLOBAL PRIVATE MARKETS, MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK

“We’ve seen increasing amounts of capital flow into the private markets… companies are now staying private much, much longer”

Investing in Private Companies

From a venture capitalist perspective, the situation can be complicated. They want to maximize the valuations in their existing portfolio companies while entering new ones at what they deem as fair valuations. VCs carry out their own valuation models on what future valuations of certain companies will look like, generally built on revenue multiples, growth rates and unit economics. But, there is also an element of volatility in share prices, depending on competitive dynamics and the market’s climate.

Added to that is the current, ongoing economic downturn – though this will almost certainly self-correct at some point, with Swan explaining that “the venture capital market is very cyclical”.

“Even compared to other financial markets, it has the highest highs and the lowest lows

when it comes to valuations. For example, just over a year ago, secondary investors would pay a premium on the last round that a company raised.

“Now, we're in a different macro environment and talking about the discounts on the round an investor would pay. What's interesting or unique is that it's been so long since we've had one of these downturns. The market has been relatively stable for a decade. So there's a whole generation of people operating in this market that have never experienced a recession.

Also, 10 years ago, we didn't have these massive private companies, liquid secondary markets, and large amounts of private capital available; it's uncharted territory for everyone. But, like any market, it'll figure itself out in the long-term.”

The future for Morgan Stanley at Work

Due to Morgan Stanley at Work offering a unique service via the provision of a clear and managed path through both IPO offerings and private liquidity services, the future's looking bright. Adams explains that, very often, these processes are messy and rushed. But when a dedicated team can guide a company through the regulatory and transactional minefield, it can be an invaluable service.

Furthermore, many companies are now turning to the service because they want to be ready and prepared in the event of an IPO. Equally, though, they would like the support of an expert team when it comes to managing their private equity programmes, too.

“If you're a corporate company and you're issuing equity to raise money or leveraging stock as part of your compensation programme then it's really important to continually connect the dots between your investor community, your board of directors, and your employee base,” she says.

Adams stresses the importance of understanding the needs of different groups and elements that are going to propel the business and provide liquidity for people while still potentially scaling to be a public company, “whether or not that ends up being the final result”.

“Sometimes it's M&A; sometimes it's staying private; and sometimes it's going through an IPO process,” Adams outlines. “For us, I think the next 12 to 18 months are really focused on making all of that easier for corporate clients. If it's easier for them, then it should be a better experience for their investors and their employees.

And working with a brand like Morgan Stanley at Work for such heavyweight decisions also has its merits.”

“Trust and reputation are a really big deal. Typically, when a company decides to embark on the path to IPO, they may only give themselves three months to manage the entire process. It can be messy and disorganised, because there are just so many bases that need to be covered. And then, once they reach the IPO, all that must be managed on the other side of the event, too. It’s not a process that suddenly ends when the company is public.”

In relation to this point, Adams notes that companies thinking about their route to IPO may begin preparations a good 12-months in advance to give themselves time to organise everything. She also says that many companies are using Morgan Stanley at Work to get their financial ducks in a row, so that if they do make a last-minute decision to go public, they can do so at short notice and be in their best shape.

“It alleviates a bunch of the pressures that companies start to feel as they approach a large liquidity transaction, like a tender offer or IPO, because they have trusted partners within the Morgan Stanley at Work umbrella. You can help give people resources to make good smart decisions.”

SAM ADAMS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PRIVATE TO PUBLIC STRATEGY, MORGAN STANLEY AT WORK

“IPOs can be messy and disorganised, because there are just so many bases that need to be covered”

Disclosure

This following article is a paid advertisement by Morgan Stanley at Work and does not necessarily represent the views and opinions held by the staff and management of FinTech magazine.

©2023 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC. CRC 5429284 1/2023

ASSESSING THE PROGRESS OF OPEN BANKING

Open banking has come a long way in just five years, establishing itself as a key driver of innovation within finance. But do consumers know what it means?

WRITTEN BY: ALEX CLERE

Open banking refers to the concept of consumers granting third-party app developers access to their transactional information, usually from their bank, directly through an API. This then allows the fintech ecosystem to build out more value, creating tools that support those customers through their daily lives and bring meaningful insights to their banking data.

Open banking has been around as a concept for several decades, but it has only come to life in practice in the last couple of years. In fact, it may have reached mainstream status at just the right time. According to Constanza Castro Feijoo, Stakeholder Engagement Manager at the Open Banking Implementation Entity (OBIE), open banking in the UK – one of the pioneering markets for it – has only been around since 2018 and it took two years to get the standard live.

Like most things in fintech, it began relatively slowly. After 1mn people had started using open banking in their daily lives, it took a year until the industry reached the 2mn people mark. Yet it took only 3 months for open banking to accumulate its latest million customers, going from 5mn to 6mn users. Today, there are 6.6mn users of open banking technologies in the UK, with 90% of banks adopting the standard and

offering this service to their customers. Over 250 fintechs have joined the open banking ecosystem and there are regularly 1bn API calls a month involved in facilitating the technology, Castro Feijoo says.

Part of the reason for this success is that regulators and government agencies have got on board with open banking early, recognising its potential to completely reshape the banking landscape. In the UK, open banking was initially mandated to the nine banks who, together, offer 85% of all business and personal current accounts – but of course, since those days, the sector has surpassed all regulatory minima. According to Grand View Research, the size of the global open banking market is expected to grow to over USD$135bn by 2030.

Open banking is still learning, still tweaking “We’re still learning and we’re finding things we need to improve as we go,” says Nicole Green, VP Product Strategy and Operations at Yapily, summing up the current juncture that open banking finds itself at. “That’s where we are as an industry – we’re a teenager maybe, if we wanted to age ourselves. We’re going through that awkward stage.”

“OPEN BANKING IS STILL LEARNING AND WE’RE FINDING THINGS WE NEED TO IMPROVE AS WE GO”

NICOLE GREEN VP PRODUCT STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS, YAPILY

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Broad adoption and rapid acceleration inevitably mean challenges along the way: Green acknowledges that, with open banking being so dynamic and constantly evolving, there are bound to be pitfalls and obstacles. But when done correctly, open banking has the power to improve the banking relationship from three different sides.

Green thinks of the beneficiaries of open banking as three distinct groups. There’s the fintech players within the ecosystem itself, who bring new open banking solutions to market and have created whole

businesses based on this new approach. Then there’s the businesses who are able to consume these products and create more personalised financial products for customers – like affordability or credit assessments that can improve financial inclusivity, or payment products that can eliminate chargebacks and reduce the cost. The final, and perhaps most important, group is the customers themselves: they get the benefits of all of these products, which can potentially have meaningful impacts on their financial security.

“

OPEN BANKING IS MAYBE A TEENAGER, IF WE WANTED TO AGE OURSELVES. WE’RE GOING THROUGH THAT AWKWARD STAGE”

NICOLE GREEN VP PRODUCT STRATEGY AND OPERATIONS, YAPILY

Yapily published a report towards the end of last year that cited the cost-of-living crisis, driven by high inflation and interest rates and rising energy costs, as a major source of concern for 95% of people. This is an area where open banking could have a really positive impact on consumers’ lives. According to the report, around twothirds of respondents had started using new financial tools for the first time to help them budget, manage their bills or check their credit score.

Do people need to understand the term ‘open banking’?

Despite these promising signals for adoption, Yapily’s survey also raises a potentially

detrimental side-effect of open banking’s meteoric rise to success. It found that 52% of ordinary consumers have not heard of the term ‘open banking’, despite an increasing number of people enjoying financial tools that rely on it. So is it important that consumers are educated about open banking and understand what’s involved ‘under the hood’, so to speak?

Rolands Mesters, CEO and Co-Founder at Nordigen, believes that it’s important for consumers to understand that open banking is a trustworthy technology. “The early adopters need to be sure that nothing funky is going to happen with their most precious assets,” he says. But this doesn’t mean they have to call it the same thing that industry

calls it. After all, few people understand the wires and the signals that happen behind an ATM, but they know what it’s for – and, crucially, they know how to use it.

“The further we go into adoption, the less open banking as a name is going to matter,” Mesters explains. “Today, for example, when we’re making payments, we’re not really thinking about what sort of payments there are. We tend not to wonder whether paying with your phone on a counter is a card payment or not. It is and it isn’t. Open banking hopefully gets to that scale, and the faster it gets to that scale the better. At that scale, it really doesn’t matter how many people know what open banking means and what it is.”

“THE FURTHER WE GO INTO ADOPTION, THE LESS OPEN BANKING AS A NAME IS GOING TO MATTER”

ROLANDS MESTERS CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, NORDIGEN

Nantes Kirsten, Director of Financial Analytics CoE, and Matthew MacEwen, VP of Finance Transformation, detail Finance’s change catalysts via data and analytics

Bell is Canada’s largest communications company, providing advanced broadband wireless, TV, Internet, media and business communication services throughout the country. Their purpose is to advance how Canadians connect with each other and the world, enabled by a strategy that builds on their competitive strengths and embraces the new opportunities of the integrated digital future.

Founded in Montréal in 1880, Bell has a long history of connecting Canadians to the people and things that matter. From their earliest days, starting with the telephone, Bell continues to bring generations of Canadians together with the latest technology. Today, Bell is delivering the future to customers with an unmatched infrastructure investment in the best broadband fibre and wireless technologies, including the growing 5G network.

Through Bell for Better, they are investing to create “a better today and a better tomorrow”, by supporting the social and economic prosperity of their communities with a commitment to the highest environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards. This includes the Bell Let’s Talk initiative, which promotes Canadian mental health with national awareness and anti-stigma campaigns like Bell Let’s Talk Day, and significant Bell funding of community care and access, research and workplace leadership initiatives throughout the country.

Transformations through Data and Analytics

Beginning their finance transformation journey back in 2019 – Bell Finance saw the potential emerging technologies have to fundamentally transform the way that they work and the services that they provide, discerning that data and analytics (D&A) is core to what they do as a finance function. So fundamental, in fact, that they consider D&A and technology adoption to be a cornerstone of their entire transformation, if not the chief driving force behind it.

If you stop to consider what a finance department or an accounting function actually is, you’ll quickly realise that it begins and ends with data and information – and the packaging up of that information to either produce new insights on performance, help develop business forecasts, or to ultimately provide strategic recommendations and services to the organisation as a whole.

“It's really about being able to develop a leading edge practice by moving away

from a traditionally federated approach, to instead managing data and analytics by channelling it into a centralised team and a centralised system,” says Matthew MacEwen, VP of Finance, and lead of Finance Transformation initiative at Bell, including the Finance Data and Analytics work stream. “This has really helped our finance function to accelerate its transformation and to have a specific focus, ensuring our entire finance community has access to all of the data that they need in order to carry out their day-to-day jobs, and help drive automation of manual processes.”

In 2019, MacEwen was asked by the CFO to help lead their finance transformation initiative, and to help develop their future state roadmap. At that time, the company had started centralising their CoE and MacEwen was – and still is – the leader of that group. In his D&A role, he leads finance transformation, as well as supporting

EXECUTIVE BIO

Nantes Kirsten

TITLE: DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL ANALYTICS COE

INDUSTRY: FINANCE

LOCATION: CANADA

Nantes Kirsten leads the Financial Analytics Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Bell, a specialist team of financial data, strategy and automation experts developing solutions that drive efficiency and are enabling transformation within Bell’s Finance organisation. Kirsten’s involvement at Bell started as a management consultant supporting the formulation of the vision and roadmap for Bell Finance’s D&A transformation program.

Before joining Bell, Kirsten held various hands-on and leadership roles within risk and finance divisions, across Telecommunications, Financial Services and Retail industries.

“It's really important that the entire Centre of Excellence is engaged in the transformational vision, and that all those involved share the same beliefs”

NANTES KIRSTEN DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL ANALYTICS COE, BELL

KPMG in Canada helps telecommunication companies gain a competitive advantage

The sector is undergoing transformation at a rapid pace driven by changing consumer behaviours and new technologies.

Our team offers a forward-looking portfolio of Audit, Tax, Risk, Financial and Strategic Advisory services backed by a global network of skilled industry professionals positioned to help clients anticipate and exceed evolving expectations.

Learn more

KPMG in Canada joins forces with Bell to drive finance transformation

Dan Krausz on how KPMG is one of Bell’s strategic advisors on its finance transformation journey, operating as an integrated team to realize value

As Partner and Telecommunications Sector

Lead at KPMG in Canada, Dan Krausz has played a key role on Bell’s finance transformation journey over the past few years.

Rapid technology innovation in telecommunications

To be successful in the face of huge industry transformation, Krausz explains that one thing is vital: “Telecommunication organizations need access to more data, more frequently, that is well governed. Data is at the core of what finance does, so being able to make informed decisions, fast, is something that finance needs to drive.”

Business-led and technology-enabled finance transformation

By working with Bell on their finance transformation project from the beginning, KPMG has helped shape the related vision and strategy.

“We started out by helping Bell determine what they wanted to achieve and then translated that into a practical roadmap for implementation,” explains Krausz.

An integral aspect of KPMG’s involvement in the transformation is the combined approach of delivering technology outcomes while bringing a business lens to the table, taking a use case approach.

He adds: “There have been several workstreams that we have been involved in. One that I’m most proud of is intelligent forecasting – we were able to develop AI models which use both internal and external data sources to produce forecasts. These not only improved forecast accuracy, but they also continue to learn and become more accurate over time, and drive efficiency into a process which was previously manual in nature. Another use case was for analytical process automation – significantly reducing the number of manual journal entries as part of the financial close process. This also provided additional granularity from a management reporting perspective given the details were maintained in the data warehouse.”

“A common theme throughout this project with Bell has been our collaboration, working shoulder to shoulder to not only deliver transformation outcomes, but to support the enhancement of Bell’s capabilities, helping to ensure that the teams are well equipped to leverage new technologies,” concludes Krausz.

EXECUTIVE BIO

Matthew MacEwen

TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE TRANSFORMATION

INDUSTRY: FINANCE

LOCATION: CANADA

Matthew MacEwen is the Vice President of Finance, Customer Experience and Corporate Planning, Transformation and Finance Analytics at Bell Canada. In addition to supporting various Business Units in achieving their strategic, operational and financial objectives, Matthew is responsible for executing Bell Canada’s digital transformation for the Finance function. This includes advancing the function’s capabilities with the development and

MATTHEW

some of their finance operation’s business, including business units from a more financial planning and analysis (FP&A) perspective.

The emerging technologies in question –and central to Bell Finance’s transformation – are, of course, artificial intelligence (AI), the application of machine learning (ML) and predictive analytics within finance processes. These technologies have the potential to provide many organisational benefits, such as providing useful insights to minimise unpredictability, creating sophisticated forecasting capabilities and automating traditionally time-consuming and inefficient processes.

For a finance department, the fiscal knock-on effects of such technologies are able to free up resources that can have a sweeping effect throughout the entire structure of an organisation. This is exactly what Bell finance has set out to do – and they are already seeing the impact of such systems.

Another aspect of this transformation concerns not only technology and data, but also Bell Finance building new capabilities within the actual function, as well as the critical upskilling of their workforce so

MACEWEN VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE TRANSFORMATION, BELL

“One of the things that we learned was to take a more agile approach and to work on smaller developments that we iterate on – and then to build out from there – versus trying to do more big-bang developments from the outset”

Assess Your Analytics Maturity

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that they are able to leverage these new technologies and provide services in more sophisticated forms. The dynamic balance between the transformation of processes and that of people is a delicate and everpresent one. These are not just changes that take their aim at possibilities with the potential to transpire weeks and months into the future, but incremental shifts that have a fundamental effect on the dayto-day workings within the organisation itself, with the potential to transform organisational processes as a whole. The Finance organisation therefore realises that

this transformation starts with people and people engagement.

“It's really important that the entire CoE engages in the transformational vision, and that all those involved share the same beliefs,” establishes Nantes Kirsten, Director of Financial Analytics & AI, Centre of Excellence.

“I realised early on in my career, as a quantitative risk-management consultant –that I enjoyed data science and the ability to translate data into actionable decisions and insights, and that's when I decided to move into telecommunications where there's an abundance of data and untapped insights.

At Bell, as the Director of Finance and Analytics at the CoE, we are trying to help use data to enable transformation and drive better insights – and there are so many others in the team that share this alignment between what we enjoy and the work we get to do,” he says.

The Financial Analytics CoE is focused on the finance 2025 transformation program data and analytics delivery, seeking to complete its transformation in the next few years; a transformation that will reshape Bell Finance from the bottom up and inevitably evolve the organisation closer to the Finance of the Future.

“I lead the financial data development team,” explains Kirsten, “alongside the solutions development teams that focus on visualisation, reporting automation, and financial data science initiatives like intelligent forecasting; we're currently focused on using the data and technology work-stream within finance 2025 to enable the transformation.”

Asked about the genesis of such a program, MacEwen says: “A program like this starts with leadership support and commitment. We had crucial and very strong support from our senior leadership

MATTHEW MACEWEN VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE TRANSFORMATION, BELL

“Beginning with leadership sponsorship, one of the first things we did in the early phases was to focus on people, and to find those within their finance function who had leading-edge skills in some of these technologies and to bring them together, and that really formed the nucleus of our centre of excellence”

team, starting with our CFO all the way through to the actual investment in the Program as well as in bringing people together to provide a different way of working for our finance function.”

Beginning with leadership sponsorship, one of the first things they did in the early phases was to focus on people and to find those within their finance function in possession of leading edge skills in some of these technologies and to bring them together, “and that really formed the nucleus of our centre of excellence”.

“As we gathered those folks, along with some of the work that they were doing, into a single team, we started to build a team vision – and to create a roadmap that we then started to execute as a part of our longer-term strategy.”

The Centre of Excellence’s core capabilities

The CoE acts as the brain as well as the executive centre of the finance transformation’s nervous system at Bell, and there are core capabilities and skills that determine how effective it is in bringing about this transformation.

Kirsten proposes that they are categorised broadly in two areas: “There are behavioural capabilities and technical capabilities that are required.”

“On the behavioural side, for any centre of excellence, you need to have an innovative, strategic and critical thinking cap on. It ensures that we keep driving our transformation mandate, but also helps keep our lives interesting. Also on the behavioural side is solid engagement and stakeholder management capability. It's critical that we have a strong stakeholder engagement capability in the CoE so that we continue to keep our finance partners involved, engaged, testing and adopting

the solution, and of course, collaboration is absolutely key.”

“On the technical side (and I don't think this will come as a surprise), you need to have an intimate understanding of the finance organisation. As we're a finance CoE, this is different from what you would see in other enterprises – typically as a Centre of Excellence with an analytics focus. You naturally need the technical Data mining / Wrangling and Visualisation competence, but the solution development is crisper with a good foundational finance understanding.“

“Finally, it’s important that we are technology agnostic. We should be able to pick up a technology, learn how to code in it, use it, and to make sure that our solutions can be developed in any technology, any coding language and focus more on driving value through the use case, not leading with technology.”

The central data design and architecture principles for the Centre of Excellence In terms of core data design and architecture principles, the Bell Finance CoE began

NANTES KIRSTEN DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL ANALYTICS COE, BELL

“Pick an impactful use case and find the data that unlocks it”

the transformation journey with a keen understanding that the solution component (that is, the use case) was going to be the driving force at the helm.

“Pick an impactful use case and find the data that unlocks it,” says Kirsten. “And that's one of the principles to which we adhere: find something that’s tangible to our clients and that adds value and then make sure we have centralised data that reconciles with upstream accounting systems that can enable development and automation of that use case.”

The other core aspect that they wanted to retain while reaching their transformation goal was “to develop principles that give us a blueprint, to be able to repeat what we've done”.

The use case would then lead to repeatable principles and processes, (“recipes”) for the Data Development Lifecycle, and then to solid Data Governance around the solutions and lifecycle.

So, in terms of the data lifecycle, Bell Finance wants to make sure that they have core principles in place to answer the data lifecycle questions, for example how they gather requirements, how they develop and how they engage and train their finance users.

“‘How do we start experimenting and have those data lifecycle components at the core of our CoE initiatives?’ – these were all part and parcel of the principles that we needed to put in place. Then there are support considerations, such as the finance support for the end-users, so we needed to make

sure that we had a process in place for them to ask someone for help. We need our CoE as their first-line of support.

“At the core of all of this is easily accessible, curated and centralised data.” For such a transformation, then, the Centre of Excellence was necessary. This Centre of Excellence then had to be formed with systems in place that would sustain it –so that it could then go about forming the transformational process that would feedback into its own operations, like an organisational form of M.C Escher’s ‘drawing hands’.

Essentially, the point is that the systems in place are open-ended and ever-adaptive to change – a necessary requirement for an effective transformation to take place. But,

of course, such a program is no easy feat, to say the least. As part of the CoE, both MacEwen and Kirsten acknowledge that, early on, one of the challenges that arose stemmed from attempting to tackle too much at once and “biting off more than we could chew”, which they both emphasise.

MacEwen says: “One of the things that we learned was to take a more agile approach and to work on smaller developments that we iterate on – and then to build out from there – versus trying to do more big-bang developments from the outset.”

Kirsten adds: “And you should never underestimate the amount of time testing and training of users will take. The endusers sitting in the finance organisation are so critical to adoption,” – (the crucial user-

Bell for Better—Monika

adoption aspect of the transformation)

– “so you want to make sure that they're bought in and brought in from an early stage and that you allow sufficient time in your program plan for that piece.”

He also underlines that finding the right people – those that are passionate about finance, data and analytics, but also about the vision and practicalities of organisational transformation – is key and that, with such a transformation, “it’s critical to choose the right technology and advisors (internally as well as externally) to ensure that your vision is in-line with best practices in the industry and with best in class companies are doing so that, from a solution development and technology point of view, you're not finding yourself on an island.”

The partner ecosystem

Beyond senior support and the obvious financial investment needed in bringing about such a transformation, partners are invariably vital to such a process.

For their finance transformation, a blend of a strategic-advisory type of partner, as well as technology partners were needed.

“Ultimately,” says MacEwen, “we were looking for partners with a proven trackrecord and experience in the field that had demonstrated capabilities in being able to deliver some of the specific work streams on a roadmap – be it around data or new capabilities with reporting or forecasting – as well as wanting to make sure that they were involved from a technology perspective.”

“We also have a core engine of subjectmatter experts that are helping to deliver a lot of the more technical elements of our finance transformation program. A big part of our strategy, though, is to try to scale up as quickly as possible by leveraging the full breadth of our finance function – and this is

a great way to help ensure that we overcome some of those change-management and adoption issues that an organisation can encounter during such a transformation.”

In terms of technology capabilities and partners, Kirsten adds: “And just as ease of use is important, the next consideration is ease of integration.”

“In terms of this side of things, we wanted to pick technology that can speak to –and pull information from – our source

accounting systems, which host critical financial information that we don't share enterprise-wide, as it contains sensitive information relating to our corporate financial reporting. The technology needs to support that vision, but also have native documentation and metadata capability.

“In other words, whether developed by the finance users, or within the CoE - we need to be able to document what has been developed so that we don't build

solutions in a vacuum and just hand it over to finance, or they build solutions and create critical resource risks.

“We also wanted to make sure that the solution isn't just a desktop technology and that you can productionise the workflows that you build onto a server environment – which, again, removes the critical resource risk.

“As you go through this, I think it's clear that Alteryx was one of those technologies

NANTES KIRSTEN DIRECTOR OF FINANCIAL ANALYTICS COE, BELL

“You need to have an innovative, strategic and critical thinking cap on in a CoE"

that really supported our transformation journey; therefore, given the criteria, utilising them was a no-brainer as part of our technology kit to enable automation.”

Orienting to the future

Kirsten says that Bell Finance have completed some of their more foundational development, specifically around their finance-governed data warehouse, but adds that it's an evolution. Now, they’re scaling new capabilities with visualisation and reporting, trying to develop crosscompany insights and analytics for their finance community, as well as starting to look to ML and AI to build new capabilities with intelligent forecasting and analytical process automation.

“We're in an accelerated development phase of being able to leverage these new capabilities,” Kirsten says, “where it's now become real for our finance function, and we're seeing the benefits. We're continuing to grow from that foundation that we’ve built, and scaling the solution is the most important piece over the next 18 months.”

MacEwen adds: “The telecommunications industry is currently going through a rapid transformation. When you think about new services emerging in the marketplace, with things like the launch of 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) and Cloud – these are all new types of services that telecoms globally are launching and trying to take advantage of.

“This is going to bring new and interesting ways for the finance organisation to analyse data and provide insights, bringing new capabilities along the way. We think there's going to be lots of interesting ways for our industry to monetise these emerging services, and finance will play an important role in that process.”

SHAPING THE SHOPPER EXPERIENCE THROUGH BNPL

In the 1970s, mail-order catalogues became popular because, during a period of dismal economic depression, they enabled customers to order multiple items on tick, have them delivered to their door, and pay the bill in bite-size instalments. Sound familiar?

Like all new trends, this came with teething problems – including a large number of customers who ordered far more than they could realistically pay for. Debts to catalogue companies soared, while the credit ratings of the younger generation predictably dipped.

Half a century later and on the tailend of increased online purchases, BNPL appeared at the checkouts of millions of ecommerce outlets and instantly began to trend. Like a magic bullet payment solution, given at a time when global populations were placed

AMIR NOORIALA CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, CALLSIGN

under enforced lockdowns as a result of the pandemic, it's hardly surprising that BNPL’s usage skyrocketed.

But along with this came the same, age-old problems associated with free and easy credit: despite five decades having passed, lack of regulation in terms of lending has resulted in debt once again visiting a generation of enthusiastic young shoppers.

Encouraging a culture of impulsive buying, BNPL services have conclusively been found to fuel personal debts. A recent report from the UK-based ewallet fintech HyperJar revealed that 25% of the debts accumulated by millennials are due to BNPL schemes.

Easy credit boosts toxic spending Amir Nooriala, Chief Commercial Officer at Callsign, says the temptation to take

“CURRENT ECONOMIC HEADWINDS AND THE PANDEMIC PLACED REAL BURDENS ON THE FINANCES OF MANY, BUT APPETITES FOR CONVENIENCE AND CONSUMER GOODS HAVEN’T WANED”

WAYS BNPL HAS TRANSFORMED THE ECOMMERCE MARKETPLACE

• BNPL encourages consumer spending: Studies show that customers are more likely to purchase large ticket items if BNPL is available to them.

• BNPL provides interest-free credit options: Depending on the scheme, BNPL generally offers customers a much cheaper credit option than a credit card. Instalments for certain term arrangements are often interest-free.

• BNPL reduces cart abandonment for retailers: This boosts their sales and gives them a competitive edge in an increasingly busy marketplace

• BNPL companies pay the total amount to retailers: As soon as a purchase is made, retailers receive their cash. This saves businesses from financial risks.

• Over time, BNPL provides businesses with: Increased conversion rates, better sales, and increased average purchase limit of customers.

FIVE

“FINTECH START-UPS HAVE CAPITALISED ON THIS ‘BOOM’ AND INVESTORS, TOO, HAVE FOUND IT A LUCRATIVE OPPORTUNITY”

AMIR NOORIALA CHIEF COMMERCIAL OFFICER, CALLSIGN

advantage of the easy-to-obtain, zerointerest credit agreements have not only encouraged irresponsible spending but also an uptick in fraud.

“Current economic headwinds and the pandemic placed real burdens on the finances of many, but appetites for convenience and consumer goods haven’t waned,” he explains. “This has led to younger consumers wanting to buy now and pay later for goods – an attractive option when it comes to financing purchases at times of economic hardship. BNPL has emerged as one of the most popular online payment methods, due in part to the ease of use for consumers.”

Nooriala continues: “Fintech start ups have capitalised on this ‘boom’ and investors, too, have found it a lucrative opportunity, so the pace of growth has been relentless. Unfortunately, so far, the unregulated nature of BNPL has not only encouraged companies into the space, but also fraudsters as well.”

Ecommerce cart abandonment at the POS

It’s easy to see how this situation has come about. As shopping methods increasingly moved online, competition has soared. Even just a decade ago, shoppers were searching online for specific goods from specific providers. They were purposeful and decisive in their actions, because the online shopping environment offered highstreet alternatives rather than the actual high street.

Today, increased cart abandonment is endemic, with some reports showing that as the cost-of-living crisis has soared, so has the volume of customers clicking away from their virtual shopping baskets before hitting the checkout.

Online retailers are facing an upward battle to remain profitable because of this. Put into perspective, recent data from the Baymard Institute – which collated information from 41 different studies on the issue of cart abandonment – shows that in late 2022, the problem had hit a 70% average across the ecommerce marketplace.

That means 70% of customers, on average, walk away from their intended purchases at the point of payment. And this is after the added incentive of BNPL has been offered.

Promoting good business and good lending practices

The battle facing BNPL providers now is to reach that middle ground that provides

enough good incentives to retail keep customers interested, without resorting to irresponsible lending.

Reports show that flexible payments offered by BNPL services do reduce cart abandonment rates. They can also encourage shoppers to increase the size of their purchases. What’s more, when ecommerce stores provide BNPL service at their checkouts, they can also expect an increase in their average order values (AOV), which is one of the best ways to generate more income.

But, how can these benefits be balanced out in terms of good lending practices?

Nooriala says regulating the space will be the key to better services and a healthier outcome for customers. “The new regulations announced by the UK government will better protect millions of consumers through the strengthened regulation of interest-free BNPL credit arrangements, and that should be

“B2B BNPL IS ABSOLUTELY THRIVING AS COMPANIES OF ALL SIZES LEARN ABOUT WAYS IN WHICH THEY CAN IMPROVE THEIR BUSINESS OPERATIONS THROUGH EMBEDDED FINANCE TOOLS”

CHRIS TSAI CEO, RESOLVE

welcomed. They will help reduce financial harm to consumers and ensure that BNPL advertisements are fair, clear, and not misleading.”

However, he points out that the new regulations don’t go far enough when it comes to protecting consumers from fraud, as they do not require BNPL providers to implement technologies such as behavioural biometrics to reduce fraud and build digital trust. This is something Nooriala would like to see implemented in the UK, as it would be in line with regulatory moves being considered by the European Union.

The future of BNPL in a depressed economy

Ultimately, the problems that have come to light of late are part of a natural maturation process for any new business or service: regulators assess the issues that arise and act accordingly – and BNPL is no exception.

But these services are also applicable to business payment services. Chris Tsai, CEO of Resolve, says that despite the downturn and tough new regulations in the pipeline, leading BNPL players are thriving. This is especially true for consumer players like Affirm, who know how to underwrite and grow in all market conditions.

“It may be tougher for others with lesser capabilities in a recessionary environment. But for B2B BNPL players, it’s even more exciting as so many B2B companies are ‘getting religious’ about how to modernise their business payments – net terms, accounts receivable processes, and so on –for the digital age.”

B2B BNPL vs B2C BNPL regulations

When it comes to regulatory requirements, Tsai says differentiating between B2B and B2C BNPL services is also important. “While B2C BNPL is being watched very closely by regulators and investors as a brand new approach to consumer lending, B2B BNPL should more appropriately be considered the digitisation of business payments and practices that have been occurring since the beginning of commerce.”

He points out that, prior to BNPL, it wasn’t uncommon for B2B companies to already use net terms for extended credit.

“What we are seeing now in the B2B BNPL space are technologies that are allowing a broader swath of companies to embed these tools into their accounts receivable functions which ultimately increases their access to working capital and provides downstream workflow efficiencies.”

He adds: “B2B BNPL is absolutely thriving as companies of all sizes learn about ways in which they can improve their business operations through embedded finance tools.”

CONNECTING INVESTORS AND COMPANIES THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

PRODUCED BY: JAKE

MEGEARY

Donna de Winter is the CFO and COO of Q4 Inc. - which operates

other capital market participants

The current investment climate is tough. Markets are unstable, and finding the right investors to partner with businesses is a challenge. But one company, Q4 Inc., is addressing those market difficulties with its unique array of offerings and experiences.

In a nutshell, Q4 Inc. is a technology and software platform company with a unique set of solutions primarily for its corporate issuer clients. It is focused on capital markets, and its offerings impact investor relations programmes, investor relations (IR) strategies, and, therefore, financial valuation of 2,700 public companies in its client base.

Q4’s solutions include IR websites, IR virtual events, capital market events, CRM and Analytics for investor management and investor pipeline management. It also provides analytics through its technology platform, with unified data and increasing functionality on a capital markets platform.

Through these solutions, Q4 enables all sides of the capital markets to enter and connect with the other in suitable investment relationships.

Core aims for sound investor relations

At its core, Q4 serves investor relations on the corporate issuer side. The company’s mission is to help corporate issuers win in the capital markets.

This takes careful strategy but reaps great rewards because winning in the capital markets enables businesses to have access to the right investors at the right moment in their journey.

as a multi-sided platform for corporate issuers, investors, and

Explaining the company’s core aims, Q4’s CFO and COO, Donna de Winter, states that democratising the investor relations space is Q4’s biggest motivator, because it enables companies that would otherwise be left out of the investor loop to engage with investors that suit their agenda.

Describing the process, de Winter says Q4 is a big disruptor because it offers an alternative to the traditional model.

“You have the corporate issuers and you have buy-side or portfolio managers, and the two shall only meet through the sell side connector. It was the sell side deciding to bring corporate issuers in front of the buy side, and the buy side deciding whether to

“The hardest part as a new public company has been to say, ‘Park what the market feels about us right now and just operate the hell out of the company, just operate with excellence’”

DONNA DE WINTER CFO & COO, Q4

take a position or not. That's how it's worked for a long time.”

“Now, between regulation and the economic model, the banks (the sell side), have had to move up and up and up in market cap to who they serve. This has left a good portion of capital markets unable to access the buy side and unable to access the money. So there's inequity in how they find the right money for their story, for their strategy.”

It’s important to note that Q4's vision is not to replace the sell side; rather, it is to democratise capital markets by levelling the playing field via its technology platform, where all sides of the market can meet. It enables equity of any size to meet with the right buy-side money.

DONNA DE WINTER

TITLE: CFO & COO

COMPANY: Q4

INDUSTRY: FINANCIAL SERVICES

LOCATION: ONTARIO, CANADA

Donna de Winter is an industry veteran with a proven track record of success in strategy, finance, and operations at leading technology companies across North America. Donna joined as COO to help scale the customer-centric service model globally. Prior to joining Q4's executive team, she worked with Q4 as a consultant and has worked in a number of leadership roles across the technology sector including CFO of Vision Critical and CFO of Varicent where she led the company's sale to IBM. Donna received her Master's in

EXECUTIVE BIO

“I feel very strongly that, in the next 10 years, that's how capital markets will be described. It's so important that the issuers, the ideas, the momentum in society is fueled by the right investment, by the right investors through a technology meeting place.”

Transforming the investor relations space de Winter likens the Q4 platform to many current multi-sided platforms that have disrupted their industry. Rich profiles created from valuable interactions with the platform coupled with the right filters and data, and the outcome is intelligent communication and engagement across the stakeholders. Companies can identify and engage with investors having similar goals, thus creating productive partnerships.

“You should be able to identify each other and meet through insightful data and

“It’s almost a match.com story here. Corporate issuers need to attain and maintain their investors and without insights from our platform, there are a lot of dates and only a handful of marriages. It’s critical to make sure the marriages happen on the right basis and that’s where Q4 comes in”

DONNA DE WINTER CFO & COO, Q4

technology. We don't want a part of the economic transaction and we understand that the large cap companies are always going to work with the sell side. There's a lot of value that comes out of the sell side.”

2,700 Amount of companies Q4 Inc has in their portfolio

“But for everybody else, it should be equitable to be able to interact in that way. I believe that society will stagnate if that's not enabled over the next decade. I believe we have a large role to play in allowing that to happen and enabling it to happen with our platform.”

A pragmatic approach to investment

With her broad-spectrum experience, de Winter possesses the kind of skills’ arsenal that means she can stay cool under fire – an undeniable asset in the

midst of a cost-of-living crisis that follows a global pandemic of apocalyptic proportions.

At the beginning of our conversation, she tells me how she’s kitted out her daughter and grandchildren with Canadian cold weather gear – meaning they are well equipped to deal with the much less challenging UK cold season where they are currently residing.

It's an indication of her pragmatic approach to life. Preparedness is essential, experience, invaluable – and staying calm in the tough times inevitably produces the most favourable outcomes.

A natural problem solver, de Winter has thrived within Q4’s holistic approach to business. The company has a robust

marketplace reputation when it comes to investor relations, a critical element of the company’s success story.

“It’s almost a match.com story here. Corporate issuers need to attain and maintain their investors and without insights from our platform, there are a lot of dates and only a handful of marriages. It’s critical to make sure the marriages happen on the right basis and that’s where Q4 comes in.”

But, on a more serious note, she points out that the investor relations programme and strategy is critical right now because asking investors to believe in their company and the investment thesis in a market that's out of control is challenging. But, she says that part of Q4’s success can be attributed not only to their long-term marketplace experience, but also to their technology and service offerings focused purposefully on IR.

“We chose a path to offer technology and service. And, within the services org, we have accumulated well over a hundred years of

“Numbers are an outcome of how you operate, you therefore can't understand the numbers if you don't understand the operations of the business”

DONNA DE WINTER CFO & COO, Q4

IR expertise. This goes across many types of markets, companies, and industries.

“We work closely with IR Agencies and see the importance of the entire capital market ecosystem. While we don't compete with IR Agencies, we've been in their shoes as practitioners, which differentiates us when serving our 2,700 clients. We know there isn't an investor relations programme that can solve what's going on in the stock markets right now. There is just operating soundly, challenging your business investments to their outcomes, sticking to your strategy, and your performance against your peers. Our clients value our support in these times.”

Operating as a CFO and COO

Once again driving her actions from a place of practicality, de Winter made the decision to occupy two C-level positions – simultaneously.

“Numbers are an outcome of how you operate, and, therefore, you can't understand the numbers if you don't understand the operations of the business. I had that broader understanding as a CFO. No number happens by accident; it is an outcome of your business strategy, of your operations.”

She is clearly comfortable with this duality that she has occupied since June 2022 – and little wonder, as prior to her COO appointment at Q4, she was a CFO for 25 years, thus is adept at large-scale numbercrunching. “I have the history of being the shortest tenured board member for the company,” she laughs.

“I came in as a guest, was approved as a board member, stepped out; two weeks later, I resigned so that I could become COO in the company. It was a fantastic opportunity and I was hugely excited to join. Since then, I've been with the company for

four years in the COO role. Last June, I took on both the interim and then, eventually permanent, CFO seat as well.”

She also believes that more companies should consider the dual-role route, especially within the technology space, because creating balance can make or break a company.

“In these kinds of markets, you're attaining that balance of the right amount of investment without forfeiture of client excellence or employee excellence, and that teetertotter, that balancing, is so critical. Having spent three and a half years close to the clients, and with a large number of the employees in my direct reporting line, it allowed me to say, ‘These are the right places to

continue the investment, and these are the places I believe we can pause investment until we see a different market’.”

Ultimately, because financials offset operations, de Winter has a solid grasp of what money goes where across the board.

Generally, the role of the CFO has also changed over the past decade, evolving from a strictly financial perspective to one that also involves partnership decision-making. de Winter says that when she first started out, the job was mainly about the production of financials, around GAAP accounting.

Today, however, far more BI tools are available, as well as insights for rolling forecast, forecasting planning and analysis, meaning that she describes the role as: “GAAP accounting from today and backwards, while the financial planning –the FP&A – is today and forward, though leveraging the trends of the past. The ability to model the future is addictive.”

Balancing the decision-making process

The financial markets have always fluctuated, but, currently, the environment is very difficult to predict. It’s essential not to overreact to movement – and it's also important to remember that stock can go up or down on any given day without a business reason.

de Winter views the use of accurate data and communication as a critical part of supporting clients. “It is allowing them to see through the noise, to retain their strategies, to retain their communication plans. And, in some cases, it is to pursue different investors who are more aligned with the duration or for the term of the strategy.”

If it's a two or three-year strategy, then you need investors who are available for that duration and not those with a short term investment mandate.

“It's so important that the issuers, the ideas, the momentum in society is fueled by the right investment, by the right investors through a technology meeting place”

DONNA DE WINTER CFO & COO, Q4

“All of that is necessary to help our clients; all of it's necessary to be excellent. But the resident subject matter expertise in the platform and our people allows the delivery, the calmness and the credibility in service to the clients.”

Marketplace inclusivity for small cap investors

Fueling Q4 is the marketplace demand for its solutions. There have only been single point solutions for small to mid-cap customers, who make up the majority of Q4’s client base. These companies have experienced a range of struggles over the past three years as a result of the fluctuating economy and need access to a full set of solutions with one partner.

de Winter cites a few examples, saying: “They've lost the currency of their equity with lower share valuations. They could have turmoil in their shareholder base. At a minimum, they have shareholders who are highly concerned about the stock markets and then they have the day-to-day operation of their business – there's a whole range of challenges in this type of market.”

Q4 has also had its fair share of turmoil as a result of the markets, and recently went through its IPO - a move that, due to the tumbling market, has resulted in share price and valuation drop. But the experience and focus of its leadership team has resulted in building a fair degree of resilience.

“We have been more fortunate than most, in that, when we went public a year ago, the core investors were in it for the long run. There was a core set of holdings that said, ‘Well, I'm buying now because I know what this company can be in three years’.

“I think the hardest part as a new public company has been to say, ‘Park what the market feels about us right now and just

“We're stronger technology-wise and we're stronger client base-wise. You have to almost put blinders on to just operate and trust that the dynamics influencing the market right now won't be there forever”

DONNA DE WINTER CFO & COO, Q4

operate the hell out of the company – just operate with excellence’. We are stronger. We were stronger in November 2022 than we were in '21. We will be stronger again in November '23.

“We're stronger technology-wise and we're stronger client base-wise. You have to almost put blinders on just to operate and trust that the dynamics influencing the market right now won't be there forever.”

She points out that companies that have focused on core strengths will turn around the fastest. “We watch the stock, but we make sure the company is doing all the

right things. We have an obligation to our employees, the investors , and our clients. We're going to do the right things year over year, and it'll play out in the stock market the way it should over time – probably not in '23, but over time.”

The future for Q4

Regardless of the economy, Q4 is unstoppable in its strategy, which involves the full rollout of its investor relations platform by early to mid-2024.

The development has been thoroughly ambitious – but de Winter points out that it's just the beginning – that new applications and services launched on the platform will ensure increasing value creation for clients. The past year has already seen the company move ‘light years’ ahead, in terms of technologies and offerings.

“It is a one stop shop. You log on in the morning and spend your day there supporting your IR programme – that's incredibly powerful and exciting for us as well, watching that play out. It's not for the faint of heart, getting to a platform technology and deciding to bring the clients over into this experience, even when you know it's a better experience. Every migration has to be planned very thoroughly. “But it's certainly been worth it: de Winter is fired up and ready for the months ahead. “As with most technology companies, 60-70% of their expenses as a percentage of revenue are people costs, and that 60-70% means people are your biggest asset. I’m looking forward to empowering that asset, having the respect for their full potential, and attracting and retaining great talent as Q4 moves from strength to strength.”

SEASONS CHANGE: EMERGING FROM CRYPTO WINTER

CHANGE: FROM THE WINTER

As governments speed towards CBDC pilot programmes, cryptocurrencies are facing tough recovery and trust issues. But is a thaw on the way?

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

It’s been a disastrous few months for the cryptocurrency market. The long winter of discontent has been extended by the global economic recession, tanking currencies, and scandals — think FTX. High-energy-sapping currencies such as Bitcoin have also suffered from criticism, while progressive Ethereum has set the bar high by moving from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, thus reducing its carbon footprint to almost nothing from its previous usage – which equalled the energy consumption of Finland. Regulation is also looming large, as governments and financial conduct authorities set out new parameters for the decentralised finance space – and this is being shaped by the need for greater security as cyberattacks and fraud incidences continue to rise in the digital currency space.

Exchanges look set to embrace new regulations

Experts agree that trust must be restored so that investors have confidence in cryptocurrency and DeFi. The journey towards better security begins with the world’s leading exchanges, which look set to lead the way by introducing tougher verification methods.

PayEX offers customizable AR/AP Automation software for B2B businesses looking to optimize their working capital and unearth hidden revenue otherwise written off due to manual processes and slow communication

Micheal Ramsbacker, CPO of Trulioo, a leading online identity verification fintech, is convinced this will play a large role in the development of the DeFi sector. He says crypto users will naturally gravitate towards exchanges that embrace stricter regulations because new research shows that consumers now want to see visible signs that organisations are focused on protecting them.

Indeed, 66% of crypto users claim that they have become more tolerant of identity verification measures during the past three years, and 78% are more comfortable with identity verification checks taking longer.

“Diving down into specific sectors, it’s likely that we’ll see identity verification take on an even more critical role within the crypto sector. Recent events will likely lead to increased regulation across all areas of cryptocurrency and decentralised finance and, in particular, exchange functions. Regulators will look to bring in rules to protect consumers.”

Ramsbacker says that from a consumer perspective, confidence and trust around crypto is probably at the lowest level it’s ever been. “Our own research last month found that 83% of crypto users said crypto companies should be doing more to reassure and protect customers.

“Against this backdrop, I think it will increasingly be a case of the market deciding how the crypto sector recovers and the direction it takes going forward. I predict that we’ll see mainstream crypto investors voting with their wallets and favouring platforms (and jurisdictions) that are embracing, rather than trying to escape, regulation.”

Better help for victims of crypto fraud

Last year in the UK, the judiciary introduced a new legal gateway called the CPR to

“RECENT EVENTS WILL LIKELY LEAD TO INCREASED REGULATION ACROSS ALL AREAS OF CRYPTOCURRENCY, DECENTRALISED FINANCE, AND, IN PARTICULAR, EXCHANGE FUNCTIONS”

MICHEAL RAMSBACKER CPO, TRULIOO

serve disclosure orders on overseas cryptocurrency exchanges. The High Court ruling means that fraud victims are given greater legal routes to track down their stolen digital assets, at a time where fraudsters can be located anywhere around the world. Faster access to international crypto exchange data will result in more victims being able to track fraudsters before the scent goes cold.

Sam Roberts, a cryptocurrency legal expert and Partner at Cooke, Young, & Keidan, says: "The use of the new CPR gateway to serve disclosure orders on

overseas cryptocurrency exchanges is an encouraging step in the fight against crypto fraud. Despite this, the challenges facing claimants in these cases remain considerable and this particular case may not illustrate in full how useful this gateway will prove to be.”

However, it's not quite as clear cut as it could be, and more work needs to be done in the identity security space, explains Roberts: “Although these developments are encouraging, compliance by overseas exchanges with these orders will continue to be patchy, and the information provided by

“I PREDICT THAT WE’LL SEE MAINSTREAM CRYPTO INVESTORS VOTING WITH THEIR WALLETS AND FAVOURING PLATFORMS (AND JURISDICTIONS) THAT ARE EMBRACING, RATHER THAN TRYING TO ESCAPE, REGULATION”

MICHEAL RAMSBACKER CPO, TRULIOO

exchanges will not assist claimants if – as is often the case – the account holder has had his identity stolen."

More pilot schemes launched for CBDCs

Globally, pilot schemes for the new digital currencies are being rolled out during 2023. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced a major pilot scheme in November 2022. The programme is being pressure tested for 12 weeks, and the data gleaned will shape the full rollout of the digital US dollar – which, as yet, has not been announced.

According to reports, the banks and fintechs involved will be exploring the feasibility of an “interoperable network of central bank wholesale digital money and commercial bank digital money operating on a shared, multi-entity, distributed ledger” on a regulated liability network. Furthermore, banking behemoths including Citi, HSBC, BNY Mellon, PNC Bank, Mastercard, TD Bank, Truist, US Bank and Wells Fargo are taking part in the pilot via a token issuing scheme, settling transactions through simulated central bank reserves.

Blair Halliday, Managing Director of Kraken

UK, says caution needs to be exercised before the official rollout of CBDCs can be considered. “Today, more than 100 countries are in various stages of developing CBDCs and around 10 have successfully launched to the public. There are mixed opinions regarding how CBDCs will impact the DeFi space, as well as how closely CBDCs align with the underlying principles of crypto assets.

“Though the applications are endless, it’s possible that CBDCs could provide governments and banks with the ability to track transactions and provide real-time censorship to individuals that disagree with their viewpoint. While this might seem outlandish, it is not beyond the realms of possibility, so the industry is carefully

watching the CBDC roll out across various countries to assess whether they are acting as a force for good or providing tools for control.”

Trust in crypto set to increase

As CBDCs are endorsed by governments, it seems likely that trust in the digital currency space will increase. This will be further bolstered by tougher regulations and security, as well as being a currency alternative for those who are not keen on using CBDCs.

One of the benefits of using a nongovernment-regulated cryptocurrency is the privacy it affords the user. Cash is swiftly diminishing and also has limitations in terms of cross-border transactions.

These are being addressed by new crossborder fintech products that are enabling a growing number of transactions to be carried out seamlessly on the blockchain.

The NFT market will encourage greater adoption

Although it's currently in a depressed state, the potential for tokenization to be used to transform traditional assets into digital, transferrable capital is growing. For example, moves are now being made to make real estate transactions on the blockchain. The use cases are increasing on an almost daily basis because they cut out the middleman – as well as the laborious and expensive paperwork, on top of weeks of processing time.

Halliday says: “I believe we’re going to see greater use of cryptocurrencies as a force for good once trust is restored in the crypto industry. In 2022, Ukraine showcased a great example of how this innovative technology can offer a rail of last resort for citizens left behind by traditional finance in their moment of need.”

He adds: “But cross-border payments is not the only use case of crypto, and I expect we’ll see more practical applications emerge as smart minds in the industry find ways to use the technology to solve real-world problems.”

“THE USE OF THE NEW CPR GATEWAY TO SERVE DISCLOSURE ORDERS ON OVERSEAS CRYPTOCURRENCY EXCHANGES IS AN ENCOURAGING STEP IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CRYPTO FRAUD”

SAM ROBERTS PARTNER, COOKE, YOUNG, & KEIDAN

HOW FIDELITY BRINGS DIGITAL ASSETS TO INSTITUTIONAL CLIENTS

WRITTEN BY: ALEX CLERE

PRODUCED BY: LEWIS VAUGHAN

Informed by customer demand, Fidelity International has backed itself to create innovative investment products for institutional clients

When we first talk to Fidelity International, it’s one of the coldest days of the year so far in Europe, with temperatures in some parts dropping as low as -10°C. It’s representative of the mood that has swept over the crypto industry in the past year, undergoing a winter of its own. In part that has been affected by unfavourable economic conditions, price volatility, and the collapse of crypto exchange FTX and crypto lender Genesis.

Retaining investor confidence in crypto, then, could be seen as an unenviable task. For Luc Froehlich, Global Head of Digital Asset Solutions at Fidelity International, it was a challenge he wanted to take on, being an early adopter of crypto. Froehlich, who talks to me from his office in Hong Kong, started investing in bitcoin back in 2015 – the early days, so to speak, for a sector that has moved with pace in such a short period of time.

Froehlich has a background as a credit analyst, trader and a fund manager, working for industry heavyweights like Credit Suisse and Manulife Asset Management. Cryptocurrencies were still an incredibly new frontier at that time. In 2016 and 2017, shortly after Froehlich took a step into crypto investing, a wave of initial coin offerings (ICO) started coming out. Froehlich says, over the next couple of years, he underwent an “educational journey” – and senior leaders

at Fidelity, whom he joined in 2016, started becoming more vocal about the potential for cryptocurrency.

He believes that a lot has matured in the space since those halcyon days, sparked by the increasing mainstreaming of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. In the beginning, crypto was the preserve of geeks and tech nerds – but in the last couple of years, it’s started to attract the attention of those in the traditional finance space.

“You have a space that is more professional, with quite a few people coming from a traditional finance background. There is definitely much more of a focus on real-world applications

“Our role is not necessarily to dictate what investors should do but to offer them a convenient and secure way to access this asset class”

LUC FROEHLICH GLOBAL HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSET SOLUTIONS, FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL

now – how can distributed ledger technology, in particular blockchain, be used to solve day-to-day problems?

That makes it a slightly less exotic space but more interesting in the sense that it's an opportunity to showcase how blockchain is not just a buzzword or a fad.”

Fidelity’s strong culture of innovation

The part of Fidelity’s business headed up by Froehlich focuses on digital assets and only started at the beginning of 2022, but it was the culmination of a long journey into decentralised assets. Not only was Fidelity seeking to enter the digital assets space, it was striving to future-proof its business

LUC FROEHLICH

TITLE: GLOBAL HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSET SOLUTIONS

COMPANY: FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL

INDUSTRY: FINANCIAL SERVICES

LOCATION: HONG KONG SAR

Luc is the Global Head of Digital Assets at Fidelity International, where he spearheads the firm's digital assets and cryptocurrencies strategy and engages with institutional investors.

Along with his role at Fidelity, Luc has worked with the World Economic Forum on workstreams related to distributed ledger technology, central bank digital currencies and stablecoins. He has also been advising fintech start-ups in the cryptocurrency and tokenisation space and is a guest lecturer on digital assets at several universities.

Before joining Fidelity, Luc was a portfolio manager, managing money for central banks and pension funds; he was a trader in credit derivatives and started his career as a credit analyst.

EXECUTIVE BIO

He holds a Master’s degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland; is a CFA and CAIA charterholder; and is currently working towards a Master of Science in Blockchain and Digital Currency at the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.

by preparing for tokenised securities and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) too.

One way it did this was by examining the tokenisation of some of the fund share classes it offered, and identifying where there was demand in the market, Froehlich says: “If you think of digital-native investors, which are naturally more adept to digital assets, they are also looking at ways of integrating traditional assets into their portfolio or wallet. Tokenising this asset necessitates a change, an upgrade in our infrastructure, which is another area that I'm focusing on. So it's both this convergence from client demand and need for an upgraded infrastructure that led to the decision to dedicate resources to this topic.”

The fact that Fidelity’s customers were asking them to invest in this space was

“We have a philosophy of pushing the boundaries and using new technologies.

There is a very entrepreneurial spirit that runs within Fidelity International”

LUC FROEHLICH GLOBAL HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSET SOLUTIONS, FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL

one of the primary motivating factors. Froehlich believes that it would not be possible to test out this emerging area without the backing of key stakeholders within Fidelity, as well as a desire to meet customer demand.

2.57mn

“I think we have a philosophy of pushing the boundaries and using new technologies,” he tells us. “There is a very entrepreneurial spirit that runs within Fidelity. Most employees have an opportunity to test certain assumptions and hypotheses, to potentially launch new solutions, new services or new lines of business.”

“It doesn't have to come from the top; there are a lot of people within the company that are given the flexibility of testing a new concept. That's also one of the reasons

that we managed to launch a standalone business dedicated to digital assets.”

Fidelity’s first digital assets product launch was not just a case of a new asset class, it was a case of a new technology that clients had to become accustomed to. Questions around custody pervaded at that time, as they do today, and there was uncertainty about the regulatory wrapper that would surround a launch of this nature.

This was in spite of the loud noise that reverberated around the crypto space. These were crucial concerns, such was the breakneck acceleration of digital assets.

“Because there was so much uncertainty about the technology and a few of the environmental impacts, as well as the

Fidelity’s total number of customers

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valuation… the question was whether it was appropriate for us to launch a product like this for our clients,” Froehlich explains.

“We came to the conclusion that, because the client demand was there, our role was not necessarily to dictate what to do but to offer investors a convenient and

secure way to access this asset class. So the way this product was positioned was as an access product. If you are interested and if you think that you are knowledgeable on the topic, we will provide you access. That also meant that the focus has been very much on institutional investors, and not on retail investors.”

Supporting Fidelity’s digital asset growth journey

As part of their digital asset growth, Fidelity International has been partnering with Keith Bear, Associate Partner at Elixirr and a member of the Bank of England Central Bank Digital Currency Technology Forum and ESMA’s Consultative Working Group for financial innovation.

“Within digital assets, whilst we may be in a ‘crypto winter’ at present, institutional

“The level of education among retail investors is still limited. People have had an extremely short amount of time to digest the concept of digital assets”

LUC FROEHLICH GLOBAL HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSET SOLUTIONS, FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL

interest in digital assets remains high, especially with recent gains in prices of bitcoin (up 20% in recent weeks) and Ether,” Bear says. “Failures of centralised entities like FTX have prompted a ‘flight to quality’, which has benefited firms like Fidelity International. The increased focus on crypto by regulators around the world is leading to greater confidence in the asset class by institutions, and the innovation and low costs seen in DeFi protocols is prompting a wave of innovative proofs of capacity (PoCs) and pilots by leading banks, regulators and central banks, such as Projects Guardian (MAS, JP Morgan, SBI), Mariana (BIS, SNB, MAS and Bank of France) and SocGen Forge’s recent US$7m loan from the Maker Dao DeFi protocol.”

Fidelity International and Elixirr recently collaborated in researching how many institutional clients are offering crypto and digital asset services to clients, how many have dedicated digital asset units in place, and what the perspectives are for growth of the digital assets industry.

“We are at the early stages of a transformation of financial markets,” states Bear. “Whilst the crypto market may be beginning to show green shoots in its recovery, the bigger opportunity is how the key technologies from crypto (blockchain, tokens, automated market making) will transform traditional financial markets. Tokenisation can bring great investor access to illiquid markets like private equity and real estate, broader investor access through fractionalisation of assets like art and collectibles, and great efficiencies to post-trade through the instantaneous exchange of tokenised cash and securities through atomic settlement,

reducing friction and costs. Some estimates see tokenised markets being a $16tn market (10% of global GDP) by 2030, and the early innovators such as Fidelity are well-positioned to ride this wave.”

Institutional investors adopting a long-sighted approach

The issue of knowledge and education continues to be one of crypto’s sorest points. On the retail side, research from Cardify suggests that a third of consumers who invest in crypto admit to having little or no understanding of the products they’re buying. Crypto has moved into the mainstream so quickly that some consumers haven’t done their research properly before parting with their money – and although

the picture is different with institutional investors, it points to broader challenges within the digital asset space.

Extreme price volatility and the prevalence of crypto scams leave a lingering sense of unease among retail investors towards crypto – something that the past few months have only exacerbated.

“The level of understanding is still limited,” Froehlich says about retail investors. “Bitcoin was launched in 2009, so some passionate people have had time to explore the concept and make an opinion about that, but most consumers started looking at cryptocurrency around 2020 or 2021 when bitcoin was making all the headlines. In this sense, it has been a relatively short period

for people to learn about digital assets. You also need to take a multi-disciplinary approach, from technology to economics, which is time-intensive and takes a while to digest.”

Like many trends within the industry, the COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be a catalyst; some people spent lockdown baking bread, while others got to grips with the mechanics behind cryptocurrencies and the blockchain. But, within the retail market as a whole, there is still progress to be made.

On the institutional side, investors who have already made that decision to include digital assets within their portfolios are generally unflinching – perhaps, as Froehlich alludes to, it is because their crypto holdings represent a fairly low proportion of their overall investments and because they appreciate that, whatever happens with cryptocurrencies, traditional finance and decentralised finance are converging thanks to the adoption of distributed ledger technology.

“In addition, through the process of experimenting with digital assets, those investors have been gaining an understanding and a comfort level with this asset class,” Froehlich continues. “Interestingly, theses vary with some investors hypothesising that bitcoin could be, for instance, the future digital gold, or Ethereum could be the next platform on which the majority of financial services are going to be built.”

Barriers to traditional adoption still persist

Despite the robust confidence in digital assets that exist among

institutional investors, there are still considerable barriers to adoption. That situation has not been helped by events involving FTX and Genesis.

Froehlich states: “Even before FTX and other collapses, one of the biggest hurdles was regulation. For an institutional investor, especially if you invest on behalf of clients, you need a high degree of certainty that you are operating within an acceptable regulatory framework. That regulatory framework is not clear in most jurisdictions. There's a lot of challenges in understanding the current statutes, and they are also continuously evolving. But this issue is normal for new technologies, and it is an opportunity for established houses like Fidelity to help share the future of this industry.”

There is also a challenge in getting institutional investors to consider what they could be doing with digital assets. That necessitates a different approach and a different way of thinking from Fidelity. He likens it to the iPhone: when that groundbreaking technology was launched over 15 years ago, people didn’t understand the full capabilities of what they could do with it, whereas now it seems second-nature

KEITH BEAR

TITLE: ASSOCIATE PARTNER

COMPANY: ELIXIRR

INDUSTRY: MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

LOCATION: LONDON, UK

Keith is an Associate Partner at Elixirr where he focuses on Digital Asset strategy engagements. He sits on the Bank of England

CBDC Technology Forum, ESMA’s Consultative Working Group for Financial Innovation and mentors at the Techstars Barclays, ABN AMRO and Web3 Accelerators. He also serves as an Advisory Board member for a number of fintechs, as an Independent Director at DFNS, a wallet-as-a-service infrastructure provider, and on the Technology and Operations Resilience Committee at the London Metal Exchange. Keith is also a Research Fellow at University of Cambridge’s

“With the skills and resources we have, we can go right from upfront consulting all the way to building and deploying IT solutions”

KEITH BEAR ASSOCIATE PARTNER, ELIXIRR

“Institutional investors need a high degree of certainty that they are operating within an acceptable regulatory framework. That regulatory framework is not clear in most jurisdictions”

LUC FROEHLICH GLOBAL HEAD OF DIGITAL ASSET SOLUTIONS, FIDELITY INTERNATIONAL

to most consumers. Perhaps in 15 years’ time, the same will be said of digital assets.

“There is a bit of a change in the philosophy of how to approach investment solutions in digital assets,” Froehlich continues. “We need to be a little bit more experimental and push for innovation. This is not straightforward for traditional asset managers because it's a different process to traditional asset classes.”

In the next couple of years, we should expect to see a rebound in the crypto market after a difficult patch – but there will also be a flurry of new applications and usecases for digital assets, from sustainability to carbon credits and food safety. It will take time for us to identify which trends are worth capitalising on but it will be worth it because there is room for significant improvement and new business models, Froehlich says.

There will also need to be a conversation about how distributed ledger technology is implemented – whether it’s a way to provide a more convenient and cheaper access to your fund, or whether it’s the start of integrating new types of assets through tokenisation.

“I think it's a golden era for institutional investors to move into the digital assets space because what this washout has done last year was not just to remove bad actors, but also to recognise that there were a lot of companies that just didn't know what they were doing or didn’t have the means to cope with hyper-growth. I see the opportunity for established, highly licenced operators like Fidelity to position themselves in this market and help shape it in a way that make it more suitable for institutional and retail investors.”

DISRUPTING FINTECH THROUGH DIVERSITY

DISRUPTING FINTECH THROUGH DIVERSITY

Innovation and disruption in fintech are occurring in conjunction with increased diversity and more women in the boardrooms

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

This month, the world celebrates International Women’s Day 2023. And it's easy to wonder what all the fuss is about. After all, women are a force to be reckoned with –not only as prominent political leaders, but as scientists, astronauts, professors, and captains of industry, too…

Well, if only it were that simple. According to recent studies, despite the numerous opportunities offered to women over the past five decades, which have wrought huge changes both in society and the business world, we don’t quite have the same established seat at the table as our male counterparts.

Things aren’t as diverse as we think they are Indeed, a new report by The Reykjavik Index found that as many as 1 in 10 respondents felt uncomfortable about having a female CEO.

Similarly, Trachet – a female-led business advisory consultancy – commissioned a landmark study of the UK business market, which found that 28% of women in Britain believe investors won't consider them as a viable investment opportunity simply due to their gender.

Women account for 1 in 3 entrepreneurs in Britain, yet data shows that only 16% of all equity finance is raised by female business owners. Furthermore, the Reykjavik Index for Leadership (which surveys all G7 nations) found that in the current climate, trust for women in positions of power has actually decreased.

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Trachet’s data suggested a staggering 52% of Brits share the sentiment that women must work twice as hard or be twice as qualified as men to reach the same objectives in business – an issue that is further exacerbated when it comes to female-founded companies.

Female leaders in the fintech space

As far as pan-industry results go, it’s not a pretty picture. So, how do prominent women working in the fintech industry see their positions and the future shaping up?

Maria Campbell, COO of Griffin, has pioneered inclusive, people-led strategies for tech unicorns such as Snyk, GoCardless, and Monzo. Her career sweet-spot is helping startups establish the right cultural

MARIA CAMPBELL COO, GRIFFIN

and operational environment to scale successfully. Recently, she was recognised as one of the Top 25 Women Leaders in Financial Technology in Europe by The Financial Technology Report and as one of London’s ‘20 Most Impressive & Successful Banking VPs by Best Startups (2022)’.

She says: “Fintech is at the intersection of two industries that are both historically dominated by white, middle-class, cishet men. There’s still a long way to go, but we’ve seen some progress this past year; interestingly, I think this is due to changes in investor sentiment. Changes in the macroeconomic environment have led to hyperscale tech companies pulling back – especially those with products that are considered 'nice-to-haves', or who’ve focused on growth over sustainability.

“MORE DIVERSITY IN THE CANDIDATE POOL HAS BEEN PROVEN TO RESULT IN INCREASED DIVERSITY IN COMPANIES, WHICH IS WHAT WE’RE SLOWLY SEEING HAPPEN”

They’re no longer getting attention from investors, leading to large layoffs. In contrast, fintechs have remained more resilient, as they’re solving real-world problems and remain relevant.”

Campbell says this has resulted in fintech companies having a larger talent pool to hire from – one that consists of more people from demographics that are typically underrepresented in tech companies. “More diversity in the candidate pool has been proven to result in increased diversity in companies, which is what we’re slowly seeing happen.”

New trends driving a more diverse workforce in fintech

Meanwhile, a greater authenticity when it comes to diverse practices has also been brewing in the space. Rather like the phenomenon of ‘greenwashing’ in the past, some companies have hired more women merely to check boxes, rather than actually adopt better diversity practices.

Ben Aier, VP of Product at Yapily, leads a diverse team exploring new ideas and building new products within the fintech company. She has worked her way from a software developer to an Executive Director

at investment bank J.P. Morgan, where she led Global M&A technology strategy and execution, before joining Yapily just over 12 months ago.

“The growing acknowledgment that diversity is not just a buzzword or checkbox exercise – and that having more female fintech leaders could increase a company’s ROI and culture – has made diversity the top agenda for the industry,” Aier states.

“There is growing accountability for companies that are not currently taking the necessary steps to build richly diverse workforces.”

BEN AIER VP OF PRODUCT, YAPILY

“

DIVERSITY IS NOT JUST A BUZZWORD OR CHECKBOX EXERCISE”

Aier says it’s not enough to lament the fact that only 19% of tech workers are women and that companies do not get enough female applicants for job openings as excuses for this lack of diversity. Instead, companies have to question why fewer women want to work for them and take the necessary steps to build better hiring practices, foster transparent cultures, and fight harder for female talent.

“This year, the focus has to be on building this talent up: nurturing them, advocating for them, and mentoring them. But this responsibility can’t just fall to our female leaders, although I believe we have to be part of the solution. I haven’t always had mentors who looked like me or had the same background as mine, but they still had a huge impact on my career. Good mentors are the ones that listen and show up.”

Flexible working and the post COVID era

Other trends that have driven greater diversity in the workplaces of fintech and insurtech companies are hybrid work patterns and flexible working practices, which were implemented as a result of the pandemic and have left their mark on today’s work environments.

Romi Savova is the dynamic Founder and CEO of PensionBee, the UK’s leading online pension provider. She launched the business in 2014 in a bid to simplify pension savings in the UK, following a harrowing transfer experience of her own. Before launching her own startup, Savova held key positions at Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, while also possessing an MBA from the prestigious Harvard Business School.

Savova says: “Many employers have retained the flexible working policies first implemented during the COVID19 pandemic, and this has really helped

“WITH WOMEN ONLY REPRESENTING AROUND 30% OF THE FINTECH WORKFORCE, MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE TO OPEN UP ROLES TO THOSE WITH DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS”

ROMI SAVOVA FOUNDER AND CEO, PENSIONBEE

challenge the perception that, in certain roles, working from home or working flexible hours wasn’t possible.”

Savova explains that with a quarter of women stating that they previously had to take a career break due to a lack of flexibility at work, the adoption of remote working has helped facilitate greater participation for those who may not have previously been able to commit to working full-time, such as women with caring responsibilities and disabled workers.

However, change has not gone far enough. Savova would like to see much more done to encourage more women to join the fintech industry – including better access to affordable childcare and equal pay opportunities that are, she says, still a problem, even in the UK.

“With women only representing around 30% of the fintech workforce, more needs to be done to open up roles to those with diverse backgrounds to ensure a wider range of transferable skills and experiences in our sector.

“Offering flexible, inclusive working and offering equal pay for equal work is fundamental to hiring more women to work in fintech. One of the biggest obstacles to working women is access to affordable childcare, and we know this is one of the main reasons women take a career gap after having a child. As women are more likely to cut down on paid working hours to take on a larger share of unpaid caregiving or housework, they subsequently earn less than their male counterparts and find it harder to re-enter the workforce at the same level.”

Diversity starts with better education

But all the perks in the world are not going to drive change if fewer women than men are applying for opportunities in the fintech industry. The fact is that fewer women are entering into these types of careers because, even from a young age, they see jobs in the financial sector as primarily better suited to men.

Krista Griggs, Head of Financial Services & Insurance at Fujitsu, says more needs to be done from the ground up to promote the idea of careers in STEM to girls in schools. She says companies can play an active role in helping that to happen.

“Harmful stereotypes continue to persist in certain parts of the industry, and it is important to work towards creating a culture

of equity. This will require more female role models and male allies to shift the culture.

“As we move into 2023, it is essential to ‘embrace equity’ and support one another by lifting each other up and celebrating our accomplishments.”

Griggs explains that industry cultures persist – and this is unhelpful. “In the past, the financial and insurance industries often saw women in leadership positions as ‘firsts’ or ‘onlys’. To remove this ‘othering’ connotation, industries must shift the narrative by elevating the profile of women in senior positions and positioning them as leaders on par with their male counterparts.”

“For younger people seeking meaning in their careers, it is particularly important to highlight the significant initiatives of female leaders in the tech sector,” she continues.

“Women in leadership positions can promote the social benefits that technology brings to society and motivate the next generation of female technologists. At Fujitsu, we host ‘Our Girls’ Days to promote STEM activities for children aged 7 to 11 and introduce them to females in STEM.”

“HARMFUL STEREOTYPES CONTINUE TO PERSIST IN CERTAIN PARTS OF THE INDUSTRY, AND IT IS IMPORTANT TO WORK TOWARDS CREATING A CULTURE OF EQUITY”

KRISTA GRIGGS HEAD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES & INSURANCE, FUJITSU

KRISTA GRIGGS HEAD OF FINANCIAL SERVICES & INSURANCE, FUJITSU

ROMI SAVOVA FOUNDER AND CEO, PENSIONBEE

BEN AIER VP OF PRODUCT, YAPILY

MARIA CAMPBELL COO, GRIFFIN

TOP 10 TOP TEN

WOMEN TO WATCH IN FINTECH FOR 2023

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

As the fintech industry continues to thrive globally, breaking new boundaries and introducing more innovations to the marketplace, women are taking an increasingly central role at the helm of disruptive fintech companies.

Whether they are C-level decision makers in established global corporations or dynamic startup founders, their contributions to the changes in fintech – and the way in which products and services now better serve 50% of the world's population – are undeniable.

We list the top 10 women to watch in 2023 and the companies they steer that are propelling change.

As more women enter the fintech industry, we take a look at ten women to watch in 2023

Vrinda Gupta is the innovative Founder and CEO of Sequin Financial – a fintech company aimed specifically at boosting credit ratings for women. She launched the company after developing a card for Visa and then being turned down for the product.

Gupta was recently named one of NYC’s 55 Most Inspiring Women in Fintech, which was celebrated at the New York Stock exchange. Of the moment, she said: “This is an especially meaningful honour, as the New York Stock Exchange took 175 years to seat its first woman – Muriel Siebert. I’m inspired by women’s progress and accomplishments, as inspirational leaders and innovators in an industry that was designed to leave women out of the narrative.”

09

Manuela Seve is the co-founder and CEO of the US-based startup Alphaa. io and was recently named one of the top 100 influential Latinos/Latinas by Bloomberg.

An Economics graduate from IBMEC, Seve spent five years working with the former President of the Central Bank of Brazil, Armínio Fraga, at Gávea Investimentos.

In 2015, she began examining the use of blockchain for authenticating art collectibles and, in 2017, developed the Alphaa.io API – a blockchain platform that addresses three problems in the space, namely authenticity, resale, and communitybuilding in various sectors.

VRINDA GUPTA CEO & Founder

Sequin Financial

MANUELA SEVE CEO & Founder

GHINWA BARADHI Chief Information Officer HSBC

Ghinwa Baradhi is considered one of the top CIO banking leaders globally. An innovative and dynamic executive who excels in leading multi-disciplined international virtual resource teams across both business and IT, she is HSBC's nominated member of the UAE Banks Federation (UBF) IT Committee.

Baradhi is also HSBC's nominated Sponsor for Diversity & Inclusion for Technology, globally. She is on the Technical Advisory Board of Nodes Agency, a leading digital product development enterprise, and is also an Advisory Board Member for the Money 20/20 Asia RiseUp Program, a global accelerator programme focusing on gender diversity and supporting women across financial services.

CHARLOTTE HOGG Chief Executive Officer, EU Visa

With over 25 years of experience in financial services, bank operations, and management consulting at Visa, Charlotte Hogg is a respected figure in the financial industry.

She served as a Chief Operating Officer for the Bank of England from 2013 to 2017 and, before that, led retail distribution for Santander in the UK. Prior to these, Hogg was the Managing Director of Experian’s UK and Ireland operations.

Earlier in her career, Hogg was also the CEO of Goldfish Bank at Discover Financial Services, a Managing Director for strategy and planning at Morgan Stanley, and a Management Consultant at McKinsey & Company, based in the US.

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MARIQUIT CORCORAN Group Chief Innovation Officer Barclays

Mariquit Corcoran has 20 years of experience in leading business teams in areas spanning fixed income, operations, risk management, finance, and banking.

Before Barclays, she led the team responsible for sourcing and closing deals for all strategic engagements of a newly launched fintech, Marcus by Goldman Sachs. Now, Mariquit serves on the Strategic Advisory Board for FTV Capital.

Corcoran was recognised in the HERoes Top 100 Women Executives in 2021, 2020, and 2019 by INvolve and Yahoo Finance; NYC FinTech Women’s Inspiring Females of 2019; and, most recently, named in the 2021 FinTech Magazine/IBM’s Top 100 Women in FinTech.

In her spare time, Corcoran is a keen runner, dancer, tennis player, and endurance racer.

A global data expert with substantial experience creating data strategy and management programs, Stonier ensures data innovation while navigating data risks. She’s a leading expert in data ethics and responsible data practices, with a focus on machine learning and AI. Her skills include expertise in anonymisation and analytics, and she is Adjunct Professor at both Graduate and Undergraduate level.

JOANN STONIER Chief Data Officer Mastercard

JoAnn Stonier – formerly Head of Business Intelligence at Emirates Bank in the UAE – has spent two decades climbing through the ranks at HSBC.

04

BODEN CEO & Founder Starling Bank

Welsh entrepreneur Anne Boden MBE is a veteran of the financial industry. Prior to launching Starling Bank in 2014, Boden enjoyed a 30-year career holding leading positions at Allied Irish Banks, Royal Bank of Scotland, and ABN AMRO.

A qualified computer scientist, she was an early advocate for the use of technology in the financial industry and launched Starling Bank in 2014. Her strategy from the outset involved making the bank a global brand.

As the CEO, she oversees the Executive Leadership Team and is a member of Starling’s Board of Directors. Boden was awarded an MBE for her services to the financial and technology industry in 2018.

SAMANTHA KU COO

Square Financial Services

The climb to success hasn’t always been easy for Samantha Ku. After graduating from the University of Miami as a 21-year-old in the middle of an economic recession, she was deeply in debt and found the employment market unforgiving. She recalls that it was “a perfect storm of emotion to end the greatest college experience anyone could have”.

But, despite a period of turmoil that came after attending 50 job interviews seemingly without any success, Citibank offered Ku her first position in the financial industry in 2010.

She later joined Square in 2015 as Head of Operations, rising through the ranks to her current position of COO. Ku then built and led several teams foundational to the Square Capital program product suite, expanding the team to 100+ employees across San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, and Melbourne in Australia.

ANNE

Emilie Choi holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She helped build the Coinbase exchange alongside the company’s Founder and CEO, Brian Armstrong. Choi is also a keen angel investor and has taken part in several seed, Series A, and Series B funding rounds for a number of successful fintechs.

Before Coinbase, Choi served as LinkedIn’s Vice President of Corporate Development, overseeing more than 40 transactions at LinkedIn – including the acquisitions of Lynda, Bright, Newsle, Connectifier, Slideshare, and Fliptop, as well as LinkedIn’s JV in China and strategic investments in Cornerstone On Demand and G2 Crowd.

The dynamic COO and President has helped steer the company through four crypto winters and Coinbase’s recent round of redundancies. In relation to the

fluctuations in cryptocurrency, though, the leadership team is looking beyond the current economic cycle and says that, despite the recent downturn, the company continues to be strong.

EMILIE CHOI President & COO Coinbase

Let’s digitalize the lending process

Lending industry dynamics and consumer financing habits are changing rapidly and a whole new breed of financial institutions is fundamentally redefining the industry’s modus operandi.

Now more than ever, meeting customers’ needs and speed are crucial factors, and this applies to both lenders and borrowers alike.

A fully digital experience

There are 4 key aspects that should drive any financial institution’s decisions:

1. Client expectations are always more demanding in terms of the overall experience

2. More and more alternative lenders are disrupting the industry

3. Regulatory requirements are increasing

4. Operational challenges have to be faced, both from a technological and operational perspective.

CRIF supports lenders on their journey to a more efficient and productive operating model, traditionally providing information, advanced analytics, and innovative solutions to help their business grow.

Thanks to the continuous search for cutting-edge technological solutions, CRIF launched a new native-cloud Digital Lending Platform built in partnership with Microsoft, which allows lenders to easily activate a digital channel for the entire lending process.

Delivered in an as-a-service model only, reducing IT complexity and effort, the CRIF Digital Lending Platform takes advantage of all CRIF data, analytics, and solutions, providing a fully digital end-to-end customer experience, with customer onboarding, profiling, and instant decisions, complete with all regulatory checks such as KYC/KYB and AML.

With the CRIF platform, lenders can easily activate an online channel both for consumer and business requests, providing them with a fully digital experience and reducing the time taken to evaluate their applications.

For more information: www.crif.com

CRIF is a global company specializing in credit & business information systems, analytics, outsourcing and processing services, as well as advanced digital solutions for business development and open banking.

Through

continuous innovation, the use of state-of-the-art technology and a strong information management culture, CRIF supports 10,500 banks and financial institutions, more than 600 insurance companies, 82,000 business clients and 1,000,000 consumers in more than 50 countries across 4 continents.

CRISTINA JUNQUEIRA Co-founder

Nubank

Financial innovator and fintech founder Cristina Junqueira has smashed the glass ceiling in the fiercely male-orientated environment of the Brazilian financial industry, with her contributions having helped launch a new wave of digital banking and finance in the region.

Prior to the launch of Nubank – a collaborative effort between Junqueira and her two co-founders, David Vélez and Edward Wible – bank customers in Brazil had little choice but to fall in with the demands of the incumbent banks, all of which charged high fees for every service. Such exorbitant expenses drained precious resources from hardworking families, thus maintaining, rather than aiding, the financial inclusion gap.

A mother of two and qualified engineer, Junqueira helped launch Nubank in 2013. Her passion to drive change in the Brazilian banking world has, in turn, been realised, serving an estimated 75mn customers.

According to its IPO prospectus, Nubank's total market potential was valued at US$99bn in 2020, and it has been predicted to grow to US$126bn by 2025.