FinTech Magazine - October 2021

October 2021 | fintechmagazine.com

Finserv: xxxxx Top 10: Biometric technology companies to watch

Banking: xxxxx Exclusive Preview: Payment Fintech & InsurTech Solutions: Live 2021

Commercial Bank of Dubai: Smarter banking for a digital future

xxxxxx

Technology: Future proofing fintech

DRIVING AN AUDACIOUS PLAN FOR

CHANGE

Tokio Marine Highland’s CEO Patrick Blandford is joined by four executives to discuss its rebrand, digital transformation, and cultural alignment

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Raiffeisen Bank: Smarter Contracts, Better Banking with SirionLabs Founded in 1886, Raiffeisen became a pioneering financial force in Austria before expanding its horizons beyond the country’s borders a century later into Central and Eastern Europe. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) today has 45,000 employees servicing 17.7 million customers. By partnering with SirionLabs, the bank has rolled out a 36,000-contract system across 14 countries in 18 months.

Better Banking: SirionLabs will allow the bank to refocus on more complex, forward-looking challenges. “Now, we have all the documents we need in that system,” Janssen explains. “We have a single source of truth for all of our contractual information. We have all relevant metadata including the complete relevant regulatory information stored in the system and we have the flexibility to add metadata if it is required.”

Smarter Contracts with SirionLabs: As Edzard Janssen, RBI’s Chief Procurement Officer, explains it, regulation in banking is ever strengthening and bringing more complexity also in the areas relevant to outsourcing risk management. This meant RBI needed a way to store its contracts and prove to Austrian and European regulators that it met the irrequirements by a) having complete visibility of contractual landscape, b) identifying and managing outsourcing relationship, c) ensuring ease of reporting. This may seem straightforward, but it’s slightly more difficult than it sounds. European regulators, after all, don’t differentiate between internal and external suppliers when checking for banking risks and compliance.

In this regard, SirionLabs enabled RBI to track more than 1,000 internal suppliers in addition to its 36,000 external contracts. “In other words, SirionLabs provided RBI with a fully-fledged contract management system,” says Janssen.

“With their Smarter Contracting Platform, we can report to all authorities in real-time – on whichever dimensions they decide to track. SirionLabs’ system is compliant by default.”

So far, Janssen has been highly pleased with how the contract management platform has unfolded.

After all, SirionLabs excels at what it does. The company was named a Leader in the Forrester Wave for CLM, Q1 2021, a Visionary in the 2021 Gartner Magic Quadrant, and a Value Leader in the Spend Matters CLM Solution Map. But RBI and SirionLabs are good partners not only because they lead their respective industries but also because they’re aligned on final outcomes.

“There are many contract management systems out there. The technology itself is not a differentiator. What is important to us is how much flexibility we have to adapt to changes in our banking environment. And here, SirionLabs helps us to solve specific banking challenges, specially in regard to compliance,” says Janssen.

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The FinTech Team EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

JOANNA ENGLAND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

SCOTT BIRCH

PRODUCTION DIRECTORS

GEORGIA ALLEN DANIELA KIANICKOVÁ PRODUCTION MANAGERS

OWEN MARTIN PHILLINE VICENTE JACK THOMPSON PRODUCTION EDITOR

JANET BRICE

CREATIVE TEAM

OSCAR HATHAWAY SOPHIE-ANN PINNELL HECTOR PENROSE SAM HUBBARD MIMI GUNN JUSTIN SMITH REBEKAH BIRLESON DUKE WEATHERILL JORDAN WOOD VIDEO PRODUCTION MANAGER

KIERAN WAITE

MOTION DESIGNER

TYLER LIVINGSTONE

DIGITAL VIDEO PRODUCERS

SAM KEMP EVELYN HUANG HABBIE AMOS JACK NICHOLLS MARTA EUGENIO ERNEST DE NEVE

MARKETING MANAGER

EVELYN HOWAT

PROJECT DIRECTORS

JAKE MEGEARY MICHAEL BANYARD JOE PALLISER ADAM FERGAR

MEDIA SALES DIRECTOR

RICHARD TURNER

SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR

JASON WESTGATE MANAGING DIRECTOR

LEWIS VAUGHAN

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

STACY NORMAN PRESIDENT & CEO

GLEN WHITE

FOREWORD

EIGHT-BIT BLOCKCHAIN ASSETS ARE HERE TO STAY Digital transformation is changing more than we ever imagined

“Investments built on blockchain are a long way from being transient”

FINTECH MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHED BY

When 12-year-old Benjamin Ahmed, from north London, created the ‘Weird Whales’ eight-bit pictures and sold them online, he netted himself a neat £290,000.

Despite the recent success of NFTs, many financial experts consider them a passing trend.

However, there are five key blockchain trends that look set to transform the investment landscape over the next two to five years. These are; BaaS - blockchain as a service.

The second is VC and SSI - namely Veritable Credential and Self Sovereign Identity - which provides verifiable, globally resolvable, privacypreserving credentials that can be stored and managed on mobile devices.

The third is DeFi - decentralised finance - which is shifting the very fabric of the financial landscape by moving away from the traditional, centralised banking system.

The fourth is CBDC - or Central Bank Digital Currency, where legal tender digital currency is based on blockchain technology and is created, recognised, and backed by governments.

The fifth is the rise of NFTs - which brings us neatly back to Mr. Ahmed. FinTech Magazine ran a recent LinkedIn poll that revealed the majority of our readers believe NFTs to be a passing trend.

However, investments built on blockchain are a long way from being transient. So, while Weird Whales may not be your cup of tea, be assured that our strange and new financial ecosystem is here to stay.

JOANNA ENGLAND

joanna.england@bizclikmedia.com

© 2021 | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

fintechmagazine.com

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CONTENTS

Our Regular Upfront Section: 10 Big Picture 12 The Brief 14 Timeline:

Britain’s oldest bank 16 Trailblazer:

Jared Isaacman 20 Five Minutes With:

Scott Walchek

42

Banking

Buoyant banking: Lean and agile transformations

26

Tokio Marine Highland

Driving an audacious plan for change

50

Commercial Bank of Dubai Smart banking for a digital future from CBD

66

Financial Services

Game of loans: Fun and finance in the world of fintech

74

Mambu

Rethinking rip and replace: Why the future of digital transformation is incremental revolution

80

Backbase

Building banks that people love

98

Payment Solutions

Blockchain boom: Secure payment solution or passing trend?

Top 100 Leaders in FinTech To be announced at the FinTech & InsurTech LIVE Event

October 12th - 14th

A BizClik Media Group Brand

GET YOUR TICKETS TO LIVE

Creating Digital Communities

118

Technology

Future-proofing fintech: risk and recession management

106 Ringler

Winning IT formula for the future

126

138

Biometric technology companies to watch in 2022

The ultimate Fintech & InsurTech live event

Top 10

Event Preview

BIG PICTURE

© Benjamin Ahmed/Getty Images

NFT boom for Gen Z UK

Recently, 12-year-old UK coder Benjamin Ahmed earned his first quarter million (£250,000) following the launch of his Weird Wales digital art-turned-cryptocurrency.

The boom in NFTs (non-fungible tokens) globally has been highly concentrated among Generation Z, who have embraced the digital asset culture. The most expensive NFT sold to date was a digital artwork by the graphic designer Mike Winklemann (aka Beeple) called Everydays—The First 5000 Days which was auctioned at Christies for US $69mn in March 2021

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THE BRIEF “A (DECENTRALISED) BLOCKCHAIN SOLUTION CERTAINLY HAS MANY ADVANTAGES, SUCH AS NO SINGLE POINT OF FAILURE AND NO COUNTERPARTY RISK”

BY THE NUMBERS We asked: How much do you know about non-fungible tokens (NFTs)?

WOULD YOU EVER INVEST IN THEM?

Pavel Matveev CEO, Wirex 

READ MORE

“WE WORK PROACTIVELY AND SYNERGISTICALLY WITH ALL THE AREAS SO THAT WE CAN HAVE A COMPREHENSIVE VISION OF ALL THE PROCESSES, THUS REDUCING EXPOSURE LEVELS, MITIGATING VULNERABILITIES AND IMPROVING DATA PROTECTION” Santiago Fernández

Chief Information Security Officer, Naranja X 

20% Yes

35% Possibly

45% No

READ MORE

FINTECH GLOBAL GROWTH BY 2022

“HISTORICALLY, FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WOULD EMBARK ON MASSIVE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, TYPICALLY USING WATERFALL, WHICH WOULD REQUIRE MANY MONTHS OR YEARS TO SCOPE, DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT” Tim Carmody CTO, IPC 

READ MORE

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October 2021

The fintech industry size is expected to hit $310 billion by 2022. In 2018, nearly 50% of the total venture capital of $254 billion went to fintech businesses.

LUCKY STRIPE

Stripe is now the biggest fintech company in the US – worth an impressive US$95bn.

BIGGEST IPO FLOAT OF 2021

UK fintech Wise floated on the London Stock Exchange on July 7 at a starting price of £8 per share before rising 10% to £8.88 during its first day of trading, putting the company's value at £8bn and making it the largest ever tech float on the LSE.

FINTECH IN LATIN AMERICA

On a par with Africa, Latin America looks set to become the next biggest emerging market for fintech in the world. Investors from the UK, Europe, and USA have recognised the region as a hotspot and are pouring capital into local companies, while M&A is also rife. The result is a high growth trajectory that is tackling the unbanked population.

 EBANX The US-based payment solutions provider EBANX has secured an investment of $400mn from Advent International and an additional commitment of US$30mn to the company’s planned IPO. The company is looking at expanding into Latin America.

Latin America demographics With a population of approximately 650 million people – and an estimated 325 million of them currently unbanked, the region offers rich pickings for ambitious fintech companies. Data shows that there is also above the global average rate of home internet penetration, with 66% of households with connectivity. Mobile internet usage also sits at 75%. The UK payment solutions company Paysafe recently acquired the Peruvian fintech, PagoEfectivo, and will now extend its service across that marketplace.

 KLARNA The fintech’s operating losses have soared from SKr89m ($10mn) a year earlier to $111mn as credit losses more than doubled in the second quarter.

Klarna was consistently profitable in its first 14 years but has been lossmaking since 2019 as it has expanded rapidly, particularly in the US.

Fintech funding in the region 2021 has been an excellent year for fintech in Latin America. The total amount of capital invested in the sector by the end of quarter two reached an all-time high of $7.6bn – exceeding 2020’s total of $2.9bn two-fold.

Much of the recent growth in the region’s sector can be attributed to the pandemicinduced acceleration of digital payments.

ROOT Since going public in October 2020, Root’s stock has fallen in value by 79%.

The most recent quarter’s revenue took a hit and its net loss was four-fold compared to the same quarter last year.

GOOD TIMES BAD TIMES

 SALTPAY Investors can’t get enough of the UK payment solutions fintech, SaltPay, which secured a cool $470mn of funding from backers in the first half of 2021.

OCT21

fintechmagazine.com

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TIMELINE

BRITAIN’S OLDEST BANK

C. Hoare & Co is the UK’s oldest independent bank.

Founded by Richard Hoare in 1672, the bank’s head office is in Fleet Street and it even has its own museum. We plotted its remarkable history, from Charles II to modern day fintech.

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October 2021

1672

1690

C. HOARE & CO IS LAUNCHED

HEAD OFFICE

Founded by Richard Hoare, times were very different to 2021. There were no street numbers, businesses were identified by signs due to illiteracy rates, and the bank started out trading in Cheapside – under the ‘Sign of the Golden Bottle’ which can be seen in the bank’s Fleet Street museum.

The bank relocated from Cheapside to its first proper offices in Fleet Street. The move marked the beginning of a long relationship with the area in which it still resides. During this time, the famous diarist Samuel Pepys opened an account with the bank. Other iconic historical celebrities later joined the bank, including Jane Austen and Joseph Smith.

1702-1712

1800’s

HOARES IS KNIGHTED

A CENTURY OF STRIFE

Following the great success of the bank, Richard Hoare was knighted by Queen Anne in 1702. His popularity and sense of fair play, as well as his interest in his immediate communities, led to his election as Lord Mayor of London in 1712.

During this period, the bank entered a turbulent time, caused by dishonest directors and a series of family feuds that saw members of the Hoare family disagree on the direction of the bank. In 1825, William Christmas embezzled £1,000 from the bank to fund his affair with an actress.

He was sentenced to be transported for 14 years and his father was asked to make good the bank's losses.

2000’s

CRYPTOCURRENCY AND FINTECH Hoare sold its Wealth Management business to Cazenove Capital Management, owned

by Schroders in October 2016. In 2018 Rennie Hoare was appointed a shareholding partner, in an effort to bring “millennial thinking” into the bank and to lead Britain’s oldest independent bank towards digital transformation. In March 2019, the bank opened a branch in Cambridge, its first ever office outside London.

1900s

WAR AND THE BLITZ Central London was the target of numerous bombings during the Blitz, so although the bank’s credibility had recovered from the previous problems, and it had survived being absorbed by larger banking corporations, it now faced a physical threat. Most staff were evacuated from the headquarters at 37 Fleet Street. The building was almost destroyed by fire, but was ultimately saved through the swift actions of its employees.

TRAILBLAZER

JARED

ISAACMAN CEO Company: Shift4 Payments Job Title:

W

e document the aeronautic and fintech billionaire’s journey to success, which began in his early years.

The fintech industry certainly has its fair share of young entrepreneurs, but none are quite as interesting as Jared Isaacman – a New Jersey native and high school dropout from Bernards Township.

Born in 1983 in New Jersey, Jared Isaacman grew up in the neighbourhood with his parents and three siblings. The family had an unremarkable existence and were middle-income earners.

As a teenager, Isaacman’s penchant for all things technical became insatiable.

He was clearly gifted, yet the academic environment failed to fulfill his interests in IT and technology. By the age of 16, he quit school and began working as a technician in a computer repair business.

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October 2021

2.6bn Net worth (2021)

38

Years old

1 of 4 on SpaceX's Inspiration4 is the world's first all-civilian mission to orbit

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TRAILBLAZER

Meet the commander behind SpaceX's first all-civilian space mission

By the age of 18, his sharp intelligence and technical whizz-kid ability had impressed those working with him and he was offered a full-time position with one of his clients, with the proviso that he could obtain a GED as part of the deal.

Taking to the skies As his interest in financial technology grew, Isaacman’s love of technology turned to flying machines and breaking new boundaries. In 2004, at age 21, he fulfilled a lifelong dream and began to take flying lessons.

At the same time, his passion for fintech was also taking off and in 2005, he founded his first company – a retail payment processing platform called United Bank Card.

The company, which later rebranded as Harbortouch, was a point-of-sale payment 18

October 2021

solutions business based in Pennsylvania.

Isaacman took the helm as the CEO and continues to hold that position today.

Harbortouch was phenomenally successful in its first decade, processing an astounding US$11bn a year and generating $300 in revenue from 60,000 merchants.

During this time, Isaacman was also working on his piloting skills – another area he was excelling in. In 2009 he set the world record for circumnavigating the globe. He also gained his degree in aeronautics in 2011.

Not content with setting world records, he continued to fly in airshows and is also qualified to pilot multiple military aircraft jets.

In 2012, the love of flying became even more serious, as Isaacman co-founded the Florida-based company, Draken International, a school that trains pilots for the US Armed Forces. Draken International

operates one of the world's largest fleets of privately-owned fighter jets globally.

The sky’s the limit Despite devoting so much time to his highflying passions, business is better than ever. By 2020, Harbortouch was rebranded again as Shift4 Payments. With Isaacman as the CEO, the company has continued to move from strength to strength, and now processes an estimated $200bn per year in payments.

But it seems that billions are merely a means to an end – and the stratosphere is Isaacman’s true objective lies. According to reports, he is serving as commander of Inspiration4, due to fly this autumn – and the first private human spaceflight where none of the crew are from a government agency.

The flight is also a charitable endeavour and the event will be raising funds for St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Isaacman, now aged 38, is married with two children. fintechmagazine.com

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

Scott Walchek Scott Walchek is the CEO and founder of Trōv. The San Francisco-based technology company develops APIs and software that enable insurtechs to increase recurring revenue. We talk books, childhood heroes and future goals with Walchek as he looks back over 2020 and 2021

CEO AND FOUNDER

Q. WHO WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD HERO AND WHY?

» I suppose, like most kids who grew up

on 60s TV shows, I loved superheroes and spent countless hours watching Superman, Batman, and Will Robinson on Lost in Space.

Can’t say I aspired to be like them, but their stories surely resonated with a deep thrum of justice in me.

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

»

“Don’t be clever. You’re not God.” (King Solomon) This piece of advice (which stems from Eugene Peterson’s interpretation of Proverbs 21 verses 30 and 31: “Nothing clever, nothing conceived, nothing contrived, can get the better of GOD. Do your best, prepare for the worst— then trust God to bring victory”) has provided a powerful guardrail for me, especially when I get all spun-up trying to outwit, outmanoeuvre, and cleverly ‘work the angles’ to achieve what I perceive is best for me.

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October 2021

In “Road to Character”, author David Brooks – one of our generation’s most prominent moral thinkers, details what he calls “the Humility Code”, a fifteen-point contract with ourselves designed to engender moral clarity on “what to live for and how to live”. He writes: “The long road to character begins with an accurate understanding of our nature, and the core of that understanding is that we are flawed creatures. We have an innate tendency toward selfishness and overconfidence. We have a tendency to see ourselves as the centre of the universe as if everything revolves around us. We resolve to do one thing but end up doing the opposite. We know what is deep and important in life, but we still pursue the things that are shallow and vain. Furthermore, we overestimate our own strength and rationalise our own failures. We know less than we think we do.”

Q. WHICH ACTIVITY ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO DOING WHEN THE PANDEMIC IS OVER?

» The pandemic has had such a devastating

impact on so many lives, and I feel extremely fortunate and grateful to be in a position in which our company has maintained relatively high levels of performance throughout the crisis and that my family and I have remained healthy and safe.

Covid-19 has completely transformed the way we go about our daily lives, catapulting our society into the world of remote working and social distancing. So above everything else, I look forward to reclaiming a certain amount of normality

“ ABOVE EVERYTHING ELSE, I LOOK FORWARD TO RECLAIMING A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF NORMALITY IN OUR DAILY LIVES” in our daily lives and being able to meet with family, friends and colleagues in person again.

The uneven response to Covid-19 has also heightened divisiveness and brought about a public narrative rife with mistrust. With society now gradually opening up, I am hopeful that we can put the vitriol and eggshell-stepping behind us. fintechmagazine.com

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FIVE MINUTES WITH...

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

» The past 18 months have been

challenging, and – like so many other businesses around the world – we’ve endured several structural changes in order to adapt to the new norm and ensure our sustainability in the face of massive uncertainty.

Despite the pandemic-induced market instabilities, which left us having to navigate around a rather tricky acquisition offer, find new sources of capital, restructure our cap table and pivot our business, I cannot say enough about the

people at Trov who have managed through this time with great positivity, and optimism. I couldn’t be more proud of how our people have dealt with the crisis and emerged stronger from it.

Closer to home, this year, my wife, Kelli, and I are celebrating 40 years of marriage.

Take my word for it; if your readers knew our story, they would conclude with us that “adventure” is a more apt descriptor than “achievement”!

Q. NAME ONE PIECE OF TECHNOLOGY (OTHER THAN YOUR MOBILE) THAT YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT?

» Anything that keeps me active outdoors.

I love to swim, surf, cycle (road and mountain), and ski. Strava, the sports app and social network, keeps me honest and appeals to my sense of competitiveness...and it works seamlessly with the iWatch.

“ WITH THE STRESSES THAT NATURALLY EXTEND FROM THE CONSTANT MICRO-PIVOTS OF TECH START-UPS, I CAN “GET IN MY HEAD” A LOT” 22

October 2021

With the stresses that naturally extend from the constant micro-pivots of tech startups, I can “get in my head” a lot. Physical exertion, fresh air, cold water, speed, and some distracting mild “danger” tricks me out of my head and is a refreshing and necessary palliative.

Q. WHAT INSPIRES YOU IN BUSINESS TODAY?

» Insurtech has evolved at a blistering

pace over the past seven years, and with its emergence, insurance customers are being retrained to expect greater flexibility, immediacy, and agent-optional engagement. Meanwhile, insurance incumbents are playing catch-up as they

modernise their core systems in order to adapt to the new digital consumer’s expectations.

We‘ve seen the emergence of a range of new and exciting insurtech sectors in recent years, including embedded insurance, which is currently revolutionising insurance distribution as popular brands are enabled to sell insurance in their applications, generating new revenue streams while keeping customers within their existing ecosystems.

More recently, I am following decentralised finance, and I find the prospect of real disruption from decentralisation absolutely fascinating. I’m ​​ a student at the intersection of “solopreneuring” and DeFi; I’m not sure where it will take me, but I love learning and considering the implications.

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Creating Digital Communities

DRIVING AN AUDACIOUS PLAN FOR CHANGE WRITTEN BY: WILL GIRLING

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October 2021

PRODUCED BY: JAKE MEGEARY

TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

HQ: The River Point building in Chicago (far right) fintechmagazine.com

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TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

CEO Patrick Blandford is joined by four other executives from Tokio Marine Highland to discuss its rebrand, digital transformation, and cultural alignment

A

mainstay in US-based property and casualty underwriting (P&C), Tokio Marine Highland has nurtured a celebrated industry reputation based on the breadth and quality of its speciality risk management solutions, such as private flood, construction and lenderplaced products.

Originally founded as WNC Insurance Services in 1962, Tokio Marine Highland recently opted to rebrand in order to capitalise on the brand prestige of its parent company Tokio Marine Kiln (itself part of Tokio Marine Holdings), which completed its acquisition of WNC in 2018. “It's really enhancing the reputation that we’ve already built as WNC,” explains Joshua Clifton, Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “We see this as a great opportunity to enter new markets, attract talent, and seek new acquisitions and capacity partners.”

At the helm guiding the company through this exciting time is Patrick Blandford, CEO, who originally joined in 2004 as a board member and took on the CEO role in 2018.

Characterising his role as assembling the best team possible and overseeing Tokio Marine Highland’s overall performance,

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October 2021

“We favour niche markets where we can establish a leadership position by understanding them through the customer’s perspective” PATRICK BLANDFORD

CEO, TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

1962 Year founded

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TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

Driving an audacious plan for change

“[On the company’s rebrand] We see this as a great opportunity to enter new markets, attract talent, and seek new acquisitions and capacity partners” JOSHUA CLIFTON

VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS, TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

30

October 2021

Blandford emphasises that achieving the dual objectives of digital transformation and “to be a good company” (the official Tokio Marine philosophy) remain his top priorities. “I saw [at Tokio Marine Highland] the opportunity to preserve a very strong entrepreneurial culture, but one that is backed by the strength and resources not only of Tokio Marine Kiln but also the broader Tokio Marine Group. This has been the most rewarding challenge of my career so far,” he says.

Previously involved in other aspects of finance prior to his present appointment, particularly private equity investing, Blandford states that his background

TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

PATRICK BLANDFORD TITLE: CEO INDUSTRY: INSURANCE

gives him a unique perspective that helps guide Tokio Marine Highland’s strategic direction. “Successful private equity investors are able to understand market cycles, identify pockets of opportunity and get in front of risks. There is a natural sense of urgency when you have a three to fiveyear expected hold period. The beauty of our ownership is that we have a very long horizon but are still driven by that sense of urgency.” This experience has proven particularly invaluable over the past 18 months when a taxing blend of shifting customer expectations and COVID-19related market disruptions conspired to change the entire insurance sector.

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, US Pat Blandford joined Tokio Marine Highland as a board member in 2004 to focus on growth strategies. He assumed an operating role in 2011 as the Managing Director of Strategy and Finance. In that role, he led acquisitions, product line expansion and relationships with key capital partners, including Tokio Marine Kiln. He was named CEO in 2018.

Prior to joining Tokio Marine Highland, Pat spent 20 years investing in and advising growth services companies. He was a Managing Director of two private equity firms, Frontenac Company and CCCC Growth Fund. He led both firms’ financial services investments.

He began his career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

KIRAN ACHEN TITLE: CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER INDUSTRY: INSURANCE

Kiran Achen is responsible for defining and implementing a technology strategic vision aligned to Tokio Marine Highland’s growth and performance goals. He has oversight of the technology organisation and all technology initiatives.

Prior to joining Tokio Marine Highland, Kiran Achen was Assistant Vice President in the IT organisation of CNA and focused on strategy, roadmaps, IT modernisation and simplification, digital innovation, customer experience and cloud computing. Kiran began his career with Deloitte Consulting.

Kiran holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Northern Illinois University.

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, US

Tokio Marine Highland prides itself on a strict operational focus within highly specialised P&C niches. Now holding a leading position for nearly three decades, the company is experienced at exploring new lines of coverage within these parameters and swiftly introducing a team of proven underwriters empowered with strong data resources and digital tools.

"We are fortunate to be owned by our principal risk partner. It is natural that we put sustained underwriting profitability ahead of everything we do," explains Blandford. “We favour niche markets where we can establish a leadership position by understanding them through the customer’s perspective.” This approach makes Tokio Marine Highland’s mindset

TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

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TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

230 Number of employees

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October 2021

TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

“Over the last 18 months, insurance has proven to be a very resilient industry that is attracting even more capital and, therefore, more opportunity, but a different set of challenges” NIRAV SHAH

CHIEF ANALYTICS OFFICER, TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

comparable to a startup, albeit reinforced by an established presence in the market that smaller companies would not possess.

The relentless focus on customer outcomes is in recognition that service expectations are changing, a key observation in a traditionally conservative industry. Although outside of insurance, tech leaders like Google, Apple, and Amazon are rewriting how customers view modern business experience, and Tokio Marine Highland is determined to keep pace with the change. “Over the last 18 months, insurance has proven to be a very resilient industry that is attracting even more capital and, therefore, more opportunity, but a different set of challenges,” says Nirav Shah, Chief Analytics Officer. “Newer capital sources have very different expectations when compared to traditional providers. Therefore, insurance markets need to be a lot more agile to make the most of the influx of non-traditional capital into the marketplace.”

In this new market, ‘the experience’ of a company has become a strong metric for quality and competitive differentiation.

Kiran Achen, CIO, believes that driving Tokio Marine Highland’s wholesale

REASONS TO CELEBRATE 2020 Although 2020 has been a difficult year, Blandford still praises Tokio Marine Highland’s leadership and employees for providing so many reasons to celebrate nonetheless. Among his cited highlights are: The strong underwriting performance of the private flood team in spite of record hurricane activity.

Achen and Shah’s respective teams in building the company’s data platform, ‘The Ark,’ capable of providing higher quality insights to underwriters.

Recognised as one of the best places to work in insurance.

"I missed the in-person interaction for much of 2020 and 2021, and it definitely made our transformation effort more difficult. I’m thrilled to be working side-byside with the team again, and you can see it in the velocity of our accomplishments."

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TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

JOSHUA CLIFTON TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT OF MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY: INSURANCE

Joshua Clifton is responsible for the development and execution of Tokio Marine Highland’s marketing strategy to enable profitable growth and position Tokio Marine Highland as the underwriting agency of choice within its target markets.

Joshua is accountable for Tokio Marine Highland’s web and social media platforms, and driving public relations and communications strategies.

Joshua has two decades of experience in leading communications, content development and digital marketing initiatives in the financial services and publishing industries.

He previously served as Communications Director of Content Strategy and Development for CNA. Joshua holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and political science from Indiana University.

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, US

digital transformation will be crucial for pursuing this new focus; advantages gained elsewhere will be fleeting. “For me, the insurance industry is the last frontier that hasn't yet been disrupted. There is now an opportunity for carriers like us to partner with insurtechs, hire the right talent, and actually disrupt the industry from within.”

Tokio Marine Highland’s digital transformation journey began in earnest in early 2018. The first step, according to Blandford, was shaping the leadership team and assembling resources in order to create a foundation of expertise and technical infrastructure. Unlikely assistance came in

the form of COVID-19, which, despite its obvious negative impact, actually helped concentrate the company’s efforts. “I think of 2020 as the year that we turned the corner,” he states. “The unfortunate environment enabled us to spend less timefighting fires and more time bringing our larger team into the transformation efforts.”

Centering the change around robust datadriven insights, exceptional client interfaces and automated operations, Shah and Achen state that a special emphasis was placed on the cloud, low-code/no-code platforms, open-source, smart systems, AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning).

“For me, the insurance industry is the last frontier that hasn't yet been disrupted” KIRAN ACHEN

CIO, TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND fintechmagazine.com

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TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

“We’ve rolled out a new digital platform products to fit their lifestyle: they're more housing our difference in conditions (DIC) conscious of where and who they choose product,” says Tim Reilly, Senior Director to place their business with. We need of Digital Distribution. “Essentially, this to be flexible with our tech stack and platform enables straight-through ensure our products and services processing for earthquake and complement those already being landslide coverage. We’re also in used by other ecosystems.” the middle of a soft launch for our Although Tokio Marine Highland new flood product, which will be has the expertise and technology Revenue housed on the same platform.” In to drive its transformation roadmap in 2020 its quest to unlock additional value forward, Blandford is under no for its customers, Tokio Marine Highland’s illusion that the end is in sight, “this is approach to product development is a continuous journey.” Therefore, he exploratory and empathetic to their considers that the ultimate success or needs. “Our customers are looking for failure of the company’s endeavour will

$98mn

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October 2021

NIRAV SHAH TITLE: CHIEF ANALYTICS OFFICER COMPANY: TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND INDUSTRY: INSURANCE

be determined by its cultural cohesion and the adoption of an inclusive and agile operating philosophy. Separating the business into dedicated squadrons, Blandford explains that each is encouraged to experiment, learn and improve on its own terms. Whether focused on product development, how the company collaborates with its partners, or diversity and inclusion, Tokio Marine Highland is continually exploring new ways to reinvent itself. “Obviously, key results have to align with the objectives, but every 13 weeks, we're looking at what has changed both internally and externally.”

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: LONDON, UK Nirav Shah is responsible for setting and executing Tokio Marine Highland’s strategy to become a data-driven business. He oversees the data and analytics functions and leads the Springboard Squadron, a team charged with reimagining what insurance looks like in the digital age through experimentation.

Nirav started his career with RBS Insurance in the UK (now known as the Directline Group). He joined Tokio Marine Kiln in 2013 to join an embryonic Actuarial Pricing Team, eventually taking leadership of the team in 2017.

He has a BSc in Actuarial Science from The Business School, City University of London.

TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

TIM REILLY TITLE: SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION COMPANY: TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND INDUSTRY: INSURANCE

Tim Reilly is responsible for leading Tokio Marine Highland’s distribution strategy and delivering a common digital experience to enhance customer satisfaction and drive profitable growth.

Prior to joining Tokio Marine Highland, Tim served as director of digital operations at H.W. Kaufman Group, where he managed product and distribution for operations pertaining to the Burns & Wilcox digital platform. He has also previously served as the digital engagement manager at Risk Placement Services.

Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Iowa and a certificate of international relations and affairs from the University College of Cork.

EXECUTIVE BIO

LOCATION: CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, US

“We need to be flexible with our tech stack and ensure our products and services complement those already being used by other ecosystems” TIM REILLY

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION, TOKIO MARINE HIGHLAND

In 2021, the company is fully embracing the "new normal" in more ways than one.

The launch of a new fine art division headed up by industry expert Christiane Fischer (a hiring "coup," as Blandford describes it) provides an exciting opportunity to reconfigure Tokio Marine Highland's digital platform even further. "What you see in 2021 is the execution of our digital playbook," Blandford says. “You'll see our broader product portfolio apply the Tokio Marine Highland digital offerings.” Safe in the knowledge that through a united and focused culture, the company will prosper, he calls for setting “audacious” goals that

push the envelope of modern insurance and keep Tokio Marine Highland at the cutting edge where it belongs. “We have to enjoy our success and treat every setback as a learning opportunity. We also need to remain humble: our competitors are highly skilled, well-capitalised, and they're moving quickly.” However, by prioritising experimentation, corporate agility and customer-centricity, Tokio Marine Highland has the capacity to move even quicker.

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Buoyant banking: Lean and agile transformations Incumbent banks are adopting new business models and incorporating lean and agile principles to keep up with fintechs

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

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BANKING

W

hile incumbent banks still rule the financial services industry globally, it would be a mistake to assume they are comfortable sharing the space with up and coming fintechs.

The cutting-edge technology used by swiftly scaling fintechs that are now being granted banking licences are popular with the younger generation of customers who appreciate fast service, constant connectivity and mobile app convenience.

In order to compete with the rise of fintechs, banks must transform from their traditional systems and embrace the new era. It’s expensive, requires considerable disruption and takes time.

But adopting lean and agile principles as part of the transformation process is also a large part of employing Business Intelligence practices.

Lean and agile teams in finance According to Tim Carmody, CTO at IPC, it is the fintech industry’s ability to adopt new technologies and embrace emerging business models quickly that has led to the sector’s considerable success.

He says lean and agile development has allowed the space to dramatically accelerate and increase the rate of technology adoption – an aspect that traditional banking has struggled to implement.

“Historically, financial institutions would embark on massive development projects, typically using waterfall, which would require many months or years to scope, develop and implement. Now, we can deliver minimum viable product features quickly and iterate frequently.”

This change, says Carmody, has enabled fintechs to “push the envelope and rapidly evolve”.

And the proof is in marketplace performance.

“IPC has embraced agile software development for years, and this has significantly decreased time to market for new features and technology adoption.” fintechmagazine.com

43

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“ Cloud service providers, like many fintech providers, have built entire development and support models around Lean / Agile and DevOps” TIM CARMODY IPC

But what do the terms ‘lean and agile’ actually mean – and how exactly do they improve performance in financial institutions?

Steve Strickland-Wright, CTO of Fluent Money Group, explains the concept.

“It’s a good idea to remember what the terms ‘lean’ and ‘agile’ stand for,” he says.

“Going back to basics, ‘agile’ is focused on software and the delivery of value into a business. In the agile manifesto, you can see just what it represents: collaboration, focusing on value, and delivering to appropriate standards. It’s about avoiding verbose, heavy documentation and not over-thinking. And for ‘lean’, it’s all about optimisation, delivery and production.

“For me, the impact of these two things is an industry seeing fewer drawn-out projects following a waterfall delivery model, overplanning and over-analysing.”

Lean and agile technology Cloud technologies have been massively instrumental in creating a lean and agile environment. With real-time data transfer, aggregation, secure storage and more, these services, which are available to all businesses, have cut the fat from timeconsuming, labour-intensive processes in the financial services industry.

Carmody explains, “Cloud service providers, like many fintech providers, have built entire development and support

SEVEN principles of Lean & Agile practice • Optimise as a whole, not just departments • Eliminate waste – in time, products and processes • Build-in quality – it's not an afterthought • Create knowledge – and share it • Defer commitment – keep options open • Reliable service – delivered quickly • Respect for staff – keep your talent

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BANKING

models around Lean / Agile and DevOps. This has not only decreased time to market but also created an inherent focus on what is most important for the industry.

He says lean and agile principles provide an opportunity to pivot more quickly. “This was the driver for the recently launched IPC Agility, a transformational application platform that simplifies development and deployment of tools, applications and new technologies alongside mission-critical Unigy trading systems. IPC Agility provides the same ability to quickly innovate and pivot without risk to the primary trading system.”

Strickland-Wright agrees. He believes cloud has played an essential role in developing the fintech sector because they enable companies to streamline product, pricing and collaborations.

“Cloud service providers are making systems available to engineers and product teams that enable concepts to quickly be proven.”

He elaborates, “We’ve done this a few times at Fluent Money in the last 12 months, rolling out a number of projects, quickly spinning up a platform in Azure, assessing how it works, testing and proving a concept.

It’s costing us very little and takes very little time.”

Forming digital partnerships Traditionally, incumbent banks have been self-contained entities, handling their own data storage, aggregation and technical requirements in-house. However, fintechs take a different approach and rather than blowing budgets on high-cost technology systems, they outsource to expert partners, creating what is now described as the fintech ecosystem. This ability to reach out and form collaborations when required is part of the lean and agile mindset.

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October 2021

“Outsourcing and in-house both have their place in a development strategy, and in many ways Lean / Agile actually makes this even more true by creating more frequent checks and balances,” explains Carmody.

Although he isn’t averse to in-house development – he says that in this current climate, it has its place. “In-house development is best when developing fundamental core competencies or ‘special sauce’. Outsourcing is helpful when your team does not have (or need) the technical or domain expertise and spike capacity.

But this is only successful if you bake this into your work culture predictably and from the outset; otherwise, it is very challenging to maintain product quality and corporate morale.”

Lean and agile banking trends The past two years have seen momentous changes being ushered in terms of the digital transformation of financial services.

But much more is to come, and 2022 to 2025 will see massive shifts being made by incumbents to keep up with the trends.

BANKING

“ We cherry-picked the tools we wanted to use. Now we see cloud service providers getting together and building multi-tool solutions for folk like us” STEVE STRICKLAND-WRIGHT FLUENT MONEY GROUP

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Carmody says, “Agile will continue to become even more distributed; this is particularly true in COVID times where collaboration tools and remote working have been adopted.”

He believes this trend will further motivate the need for agility across the entire organisation and not for development purposes.

“ Now, we can deliver minimum viable product features quickly and iterate frequently” TIM CARMODY IPC

“Lean concepts will also permeate further across other processes and not just R&D. These philosophies will extend to project management and ultimately selling motion.

IPC sees this happening with our customers with the need to support new trading paradigms and rapid technology adoption aided by API First design, Open Platforms and solutions such as IPC Agility.”

However, Strickland-Wright says the biggest shift occurred a decade ago when fintech first drew breath.

“I think this revolution was 10 years ago.

It’s been and gone, and now people are looking at where delivery goes next.

“The stand out for me over the last two to three years is having a development or engineering function that is split into platform-based teams.”

The types of tools available, he points out, are also a game-changer. “I think back 10 years 48

October 2021

when I was working on a project for a greenfield system. It was a blank piece of paper. We cherry-picked the tools we wanted to use. Now we see cloud service providers getting together and building multi-tool solutions for folk like us.

“We’ve now got things like Azure Dev Ops, which is all of these things, all rolled into one but only one budget line and one vendor rather than multiple. It accelerates development.”

The future for incumbents In a world that is constantly changing, only those that evolve will survive. Incumbents will have to develop to stay relevant. That much is certain, concludes Carmody.

“There is no one simple answer that covers obsolescence of legacy systems, but it is happening. Legacy systems continue to naturally fall away. IPC has already seen

some of our competitors that are not able to adapt quickly enough get left behind.”

He adds, “Moore’s law has already been slashed multiple times, and the second derivative of fintech development continues to increase. It is only a matter of time that legacy systems will become obsolete, and IPC is poised with agility for the long haul.”

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COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

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October 2021

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

SMART BANKING

FOR A DIGITAL FUTURE FROM CBD WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE

PRODUCED BY: JOE PALLISER

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COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

Commercial Bank of Dubai is driving the UAE economy with its smart digital innovation and client focus

Stefan Kimmel, Chief Operating Officer Commercial Bank of Dubai

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October 2021

F

or more than 50 years Commercial Bank of Dubai has been driving the UAE economy and is now future ready with its suite of innovative digital offerings.

Stefan Kimmel, Chief Operating Officer, is driving the digital transformation at one of Dubai’s first banks, which has flourished alongside the emirate from the days when oil was first discovered in the Fateh oil field, through its tourism boom to today’s space exploration to Mars.

“Customer first, boosted by digital,” is how Kimmel describes the bank’s digital journey saying they only adopt new technology if it will bring value for the end-user. This includes being the first bank in the region to launch a robo-advisory investment app and a preferred bank for e-Dirham.

“Our digital initiatives include customer onboarding, loans, digital card applications, and account opening,” said Kimmel who said their mobile banking app is focused on providing the best possible customer experience. “CBD has always been at the leading edge of the digital transformation, so when I was offered the opportunity to join and be part of that transformation journey it was an exciting opportunity,” said Kimmel from the bank’s office in Deira, Dubai.

His international experience helped him to hit the ground running in managing IT, Operations, Change Management, Administration and the other areas in his responsibility when he joined at the height of the pandemic. CBD has more than 100bn dirham in assets and an overall market share in excess of 4%. “We have a full spectrum of services for the smallest to the largest businesses,” said Kimmel who pointed out CBD offers a full set of services

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

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Together with the CBDCBD Team, Team, we were we were ableable to streamline the technology and service fulfilment of the new eDirham E11 platform.

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COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

Commercial Bank of Dubai: Leading digital customer service

“CUSTOMER FIRST, BOOSTED BY DIGITAL.”

from lending, trade a richer offering of finance, investment digital services. “When services, and treasury the first wave hit, we cash management. already had our core CBD was established services available to our in 1969 by an Emiri customers so they did STEFAN KIMMEL Decree issued by the late not have to come into CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed a branch.” These included: COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI Al Maktoum. Today, it • Opening a new dirham is in a position to offer a current account wide range of retail and commercial banking • Getting a mortgage products and services, in both conventional • Applying for a personal loan and Shariah-compliant formats, with a • Opening accounts in different currencies network of 14 branches and over 160 ATMs “When it comes to the customer, we are and CDMs throughout the UAE. always working to improve the user experience, As part of the global Visa Card network, the look, feel, convenience, and the slickness debit cards from CBD can be used at more of the experience. We strive to ensure the than 550,000 banks, 1.2 million ATMs experience they have when they use our online worldwide, saving customers money by services is as smooth as they would see in minimising surcharges, cash-out fees, and social media and Facebook and Apple.” expense processing costs.

Kimmel said serving a diverse set of Kimmel pointed out how the challenges customers in the Middle East, where social of Covid-19 accelerated the move to media penetration is the highest in the 56

October 2021

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

world, implies that people expect to do their banking online. “Of course, we also have some traditional customers who prefer to sign a cheque in a branch and for these we have our relationship managers to enable that to happen but also to educate these customers about the benefits of doing certain things through our digital channels.

If you take the effort to explain the benefits of online banking it tends to drive adoption with all customers.”

STEFAN KIMMEL TITLE: CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER INDUSTRY: BANKING LOCATION: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Stefan has 20 years of experience in digital transformation, technology management and innovation with a range of globally leading organisations including BCG, Oliver Wyman and IBM. Prior to joining CBD, he was the Leader Digital Technology, Financial Services at PwC for the Middle East. Kimmel holds a Master’s in Business Management from the University of Nuremberg as well as a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Georgia in the US.

1969

The year Commercial Bank of Dubai was founded

160

ATMs and CDMs

EXECUTIVE BIO

Retail and business services Since the past year, Kimmel said most of the new retail products are available online, instantly, and with a few clicks. “For example, a customer can apply for personal loans on the mobile app and it will be fulfilled and in the account within minutes.

Likewise, our credit card fulfilment process is fully online. So that's a fully digitised online service end-to-end. We are now looking at digitising mortgages and making those fully available online that will come in the next two or three months.

“On the business side, small businesses can already open their accounts fully online with us, and shortly we will have digital loans available for SME clients. That goes all the way up to more sophisticated services such as trade finance. We've just launched our trade finance portal, where companies can apply for letters of credit and guarantees

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

1,300+ Employees

100bn+

Dirham assets under management

4%

Market share

14

Branches

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October 2021

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

fully online. They get the dashboards, they do the tracking and all the services they require for trade finance are now fully available online, and we continue to offer more capabilities and more service to them.”

Kimmel said although CBD is investing in technology as they power ahead with their digital journey, it always comes down to what will benefit the customer. “Customer first, boosted by digital,” is how he describes the on-going transformation, saying they only adopt new technology if it will bring value for the end-user. “Our digital initiatives from customer onboarding, loans, digital card applications, and account opening are all focused on being user-friendly.”

“Our digital initiatives from customer onboarding, loans, digital card applications, and account opening are all focused on being user-friendly” STEFAN KIMMEL

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

Robo-advisory investment app “We were also the first bank in the region to offer a robo-advisory investment app which allows customers to invest globally into all relevant global stock markets,” said Kimmel.

The app was developed in partnership with InvestSuite, a leading wealthtech company based in Belgium. This innovative investment app is powered by smart algorithms that actively manage investment portfolios to deliver optimal risk-adjusted performance.

CBD Investr offers customers convenient access to globally diversified and personalised portfolios of stocks, bonds, fintechmagazine.com

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VOLA DIAMO PLATI

ANTE OND OR INUM

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

“ We were also the first bank in the region to offer the robo-advisory investment app which has the ability to invest globally into all relevant global stock markets” STEFAN KIMMEL

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

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and other asset classes using low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These portfolios are tailored based on the customer's specific goals, risk appetite, and investment time horizon and are actively monitored and optimised based on changing market conditions to deliver the best possible performance over the long term.

“Customers can start investing in a matter of minutes by simply downloading the CBD Investr app, registering using their Emirates ID and answering a few questions to assess their risk profile and create a personalised portfolio. Customers do not need a CBD bank account to fund their portfolios and can make a local transfer from any bank account in the UAE. The best part is that customers can start investing with just $500 and withdraw at any time, without any charges.”

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI HAS BEEN AWARDED THE FOLLOWING AWARDS • “ Best Online Cash Management Award” by Global Finance, World’s Best Digital Bank Awards • “ Most Innovative Digital Bank Award” International Finance Awards • “ Best Digital Bank” - Banker Middle East Awards

DID YOU KNOW...

What gives CBD the competitive edge?

Commenting on what gives CBD its competitive edge, Kimmel praised the leadership of CEO Bernd van Linder who he says sets a clear vision for the bank which is shared and aligned across all operations.

“I think something that sets us apart, and is definitely a strong trait, is the degree of alignment in the leadership team as we have a CEO who sets a very clear vision which is shared across the bank. Driving that joint vision is something that works quite well here and is clearly driven by our CEO. “That vision is then translated into our core values, CODE. CODE stands for Collaboration, Ownership, Delivery and Excellence, and we aim for the whole organisation to live these values in all aspects of their day-to-day work.

“I think a third aspect to that is taking an end-to-end view across the bank. So what I see a lot in organisations is that different leaders are driving their own agenda within their own silos. For example business trying to optimise products, services, operations or IT optimising the technology side of things.

That goes to a certain extent, but then you lose the extra potential and I think the way we drive end-to-end unleashes a whole bunch of additional benefits and capabilities.

This starts with the initiation with customers and runs through the entire journey across the bank that provides a whole new level or different capabilities in terms of service, quality, efficiency and turnaround times.

Our core value of collaboration is one that is instrumental in being successful in this space.

“Finally, we focus relentlessly on Delivery and Excellence. Every bank in the world right now is trying to drive digital transformation but oftentimes it fizzles out and it doesn't yield the expected results. At CBD we are focused on that journey and are working to

• “ Best Cash Management” - Banker Middle East Awards • “ Banking CEO of the Year” awarded to Dr Bernd van Linder, CEO of Commercial Bank of Dubai - CEO Middle East Awards - who Kimmel cites as his most inspirational leader

make sure the benefits are being delivered - it's a relentless follow-up of fine-tuning to ensure we get the benefits of these projects all the way through to the end.”

He pointed out Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is embedded in CBD which strives to be an industry leader by adopting progressive environmental standards and practices that demonstrate their commitment to CSR. “We diligently evaluate the way we build and manage our properties, looking for innovative ways to reduce our carbon footprint.”

ATB key partner for eDirham Kimmel said: “When it comes to prioritising technology, we prioritise and invest based on customer needs. Sometimes it may not even fintechmagazine.com

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KEY PARTNERSHIPS

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

CBD PARTNERS WITH MBME PAY TO TOP UP EDIRHAM CARDS As part of CBD’s commitment to provide innovative payment solutions it has entered a partnership with MBME Pay, a pioneer in the UAE services and payment solutions to enable topping-up the eDirham card conveniently through MBME’s wide network of kiosks.

Initiated by the Ministry of Finance, the eDirham card is part of a cashless payment platform that empowers users to make payments for a wide range of services across Ministries. The eDirham card provides the next generation of convenience, security, and flexibility for all financial transactions at Ministries.

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Through the partnership with MBME Pay, customers will be able to instantly top-up their CBD issued eDirham cards conveniently from any of MBME’s 860+ selfservice payment kiosks across the UAE. Dr Bernd van Linder, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Bank of Dubai, said: “We are delighted to partner with MBME Pay, the leading provider of self-service solutions, to provide a convenient and easy way for customers to top-up their eDirham cards from any of their large network of kiosks spread all over the UAE.”

COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

“When it comes to prioritising technology, we prioritise and invest based on customer needs.

Sometimes it may not even be technology, it might be a process change, policy change or working with a new partner” STEFAN KIMMEL

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, COMMERCIAL BANK OF DUBAI

be technology, it might be a process change, policy change or working with a new partner.

ATB Pay is one of CBD’s key partners.

“ATB is our service partner both on the technology side and in the service fulfilment with the eDirham which is a digital payment scheme for government services in the UAE. That has been another success story for us over the last 12 months as CBD has been selected as one of the preferred banks by the government to provide eDirham cards. ATB is our service and ecosystem partner in that space.”

Focus on cybersecurity Kimmel stressed that cybersecurity is a very important topic at CBD. “There's a strict set of industry requirements which we comply with and on top of that, we regularly employ third parties to do external reviews, audits, and penetration testing to really make sure the required safeguards are in place. We invested quite heavily in an internal team, both from a technological side and capability side to be on top of cybersecurity. Clearly with the pandemic

and more things being done online, the risks have increased in that space.

“The main challenge with cybersecurity is not so much from an external hacker, the biggest risk is vulnerabilities on the client side where clients are tricked into revealing their passwords and their credentials and that then leads to fraud,” said Kimmel who pointed out CBD work with their clients to educate them on the dangers of phishing and scams.

Looking ahead for future services, Kimmel said they have a permanent pipeline between products and services being released. “The next big thing in the retail space is making mortgages available online and adding further investment services to the robo-advisory app.

“On the corporate side we already have digital account opening for SMEs and will be doing digital loans and onboarding for them as well. It's a permanent flow of new capabilities and services that we're making available for our customers,” he said.

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FINSERV

GAME OF LOANS:

FUN AND FINANCE

IN THE WORLD OF FINTECH The gamification of fintech services is revolutionising finance for customers. Expert Josh Hart is YuLife’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, tells us more WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

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raditionally, financial services have been the stomping ground of the rich and dull. Grey-faced accountants in cookie-cutter suits, alongside endless columns of numbers, are the caricatures of the industry.

Thankfully a new wave of fun financiers has injected some colour into the monochrome world of finserv – finally making it colourful, competitive and goal-orientated for users.

Gamification is taking off and is on a mission to improve user enjoyment, engagement and services. The data suggests the ploy is working, with more fintechs seeing take-up

of their services by an increasingly hip and lively generation of customers.

Gamification expert, Josh Hart, is the Chief Product and Technology Officer of YuLife – a UK-based insurtech that uses elements of gamification to enhance the customer experience.

Q. W hen did gamification enter the fintech space – and in what form?

Gamification has been a feature of the financial services industry since day one.

There’s always been an element of key gamelike characteristics, such as point-scoring (collecting money) and competition (taking money from others and competing for the most money), combined with rules of play (regulation and monetary frameworks).

Money has, in some sense, always been a game.

Games are effective in two key concepts: control and creativity. On the one hand, games reinforce our feeling of control.

There are rules, structure, and a clear premise.

On the other hand, they engage our imaginations and spur us to think creatively.

In the world of fintech, there are a number of examples where gamification has been adopted effectively. The combined energy of Reddit and Robin Hood has taken individuals

“ Gaming is accessible for everyone! It’s simply the level of depth we create at the outset” JOSH HART YULIFE

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FINSERV

who may never have invested in financial markets otherwise and are now engaged and participating in a ‘game’ they wouldn’t previously have thought about playing.

Another example is eToro, a platform dedicated to improving accessibility to new investors, helping them learn from others by following investors and copying trades. These mechanics fundamentally pull from the world of games, where cooperation and taking onboard learning experiences are vital for improved performance in the future.

Q. H ow different is this approach to traditional finance?

Essentially, it's a world away from traditional financial products, where the outcome of a given decision is often perceived as being pre-set in advance. People feel little control over the results of their decisions, so they grow disengaged from vital financial services.

Q. W hat benefits does gamification bring to the table in terms of customer service satisfaction/data collection etc?

Gamification has led to a paradigm shift in how users relate to financial products. With

“ Functional financial experiences with optimised design and customer journeys aren’t enough to be considered transformational in fintech” JOSH HART

DID YOU KNOW?

Josh Hart

MIND GAMES The mechanics of gamification are more serious than they seem, endeavouring to; • Create challenge accompanied by feelings of accomplishment – a natural high • Prevent boredom setting in – which destroys focus • Change behaviours by rewarding certain actions • Educate by introducing new concepts through gaming mediums PLAY TO WIN Fintechs use gamification principles to encourage customers to develop good saving habits, establish goals and to better monitor their spending habits by; • Holding contests and incentivising actions with rewards • Keeping game tactics simple and engaging • Widening the playing field through social media • Promoting new services through a gaming interface

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“ Not everyone is a game buff, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t benefit from gamification” JOSH HART YULIFE

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online banking, the focus had always been on efficiency, delivering value through cutting away old-fashioned ways of operating. But early fintech didn’t seek to redefine people’s relationships with banks or financial services.

Gamification opens up entirely new avenues, enabling people – for the first time – to actually enjoy their experience of using financial services. We owe this change to the games industry, which has never thrived when generating functional or efficient products but rather has aimed to create enjoyable experiences.

FINSERV

Introducing YuLife – Life insurance that inspires life

The end result is a win-win for vendors and customers alike. Customers suddenly gain ongoing value from an industry they might previously have considered excessively complex, bureaucratic or inaccessible.

Meanwhile, fintech providers reap the rewards from increased user engagement.

Q. W hich demographics has gamification proven most popular with and why? Are older customers also embracing it?

Gaming is accessible for everyone! It’s simply the level of depth we create at the outset; if we assume everyone has grown up playing World of Warcraft and League of Legends, we will find ourselves struggling to get the older generations participating in games.

Not everyone is a game buff, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t benefit from gamification. One of the things we’ve learned as a company whose goal is to improve our

FINSERV

users’ physical wellbeing is that not everyone needs to spend hours in the gym every day in order to develop healthy habits – sometimes simple, straightforward steps are the most useful, and the same is true in the world of gaming.

If we keep the diversity of users’ backgrounds in mind when designing our financial products, we will create something truly accessible and engaging to all.

Q. W hat elements are trending in this space right now?

A lot of emphases is being placed on functional components of a gaming experience such as badges, achievements, leaderboards and challenges. In my view, what creates a truly unique and bespoke gaming experience is a combination of these statistical or empirical pointers together with an engaging, emotion-led experience.

This shift will help businesses understand the potential of gamification in making a difference outside the space of the game arena. Ultimately, gamification for its own sake is not the end goal for financial service providers with a social mission, such as increasing their users’ financial wellbeing– a tangible impact is essential for a deeper, game-based mission.

Q. W hat new technologies are driving the movement?

Perhaps uncharacteristically, for a CTO, I see psychology, rather than technology, as the main driver towards gamification.

The more sophisticated our understanding of what truly motivates individuals, the more effectively we’ll be able to build gaming techniques that address the needs of different personality types – or, in our world, ‘player types’. Understanding human psychology better helps us make our 72

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“ I see psychology, rather than technology, as the main driver towards gamification” JOSH HART YULIFE

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products accessible and engaging across all demographics.

Q. W hat will the future look like in terms of gamification and fintech?

Gamification in fintech will become the norm. Functional financial experiences with optimised design and customer journeys aren’t enough to be considered transformational in fintech. Companies will have to go above and beyond and set a new

standard for innovation in the industry.

Businesses have to constantly prove that they are effectively challenging the perception of the financial industry as elitist, complex, or dishonest; instead, they now have to build an emotional connection to their customers, and gamification can be a key tool in helping them do so. In sum, the person who understands why Fortnite, Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush and Farmville changed the tech world will win the fintech race. fintechmagazine.com

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Rethinking rip and replace: Why the future of digital transformation is incremental revolution WRITTEN BY: ELLIOTT LIMB CHIEF CUSTOMER OFFICER, MAMBU

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igital transformation is rarely out of the headlines nowadays. The pandemic has put pressure on businesses, across all sectors, to accelerate their digitisation plans – none more so than financial services.

This is because banking has much further to go on its transformation journey than other consumer sectors, and reflects a sudden, seismic shift in the way we manage our money.

But this heightened urgency isn't necessarily translating into the innovation consumers expect. So what’s holding banks back and how can they deliver on the promise of accelerated change?

The speed of banking Traditional systems and mindsets have characterised banking for decades. Plagued by manual processes and legacy infrastructure, incumbent banks have been quickly leapfrogged by digital challengers.

Their one-size-fits-all approach may seem out of touch, but banks recognise they must evolve. The threat from digitally-enabled fintechmagazine.com

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rivals that configure and deploy services in the cloud is too big to ignore.

Incumbents, then, were implementing large-scale transformation programmes long before the pandemic. But these projects moved at the speed of banking.

In a tightly-controlled industry, risk is high and progress slow.

This is compounded by a trade off between short-term profit motives, which appease shareholder expectations, and long-term organisational objectives which are key to ensuring their future survival.

The COVID effect Banks could trudge ahead with this status quo back in 2019, but not today.

With the pandemic forcing physical branch closures, consumers have increasingly moved online to manage their finances. Digital banking options are now a necessity and expectation, with banks under pressure to deliver financial services whenever and wherever customers need them.

Likewise, long-term economic uncertainty saw consumer confidence plummet. With COVID-19 restricting short-term buying power, demand for personal lending and flexible payment options surged dramatically.

As customers come to expect point of sale (POS) lending options, such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), as standard, it’s vital banks can bring products to market quickly to keep pace with changing consumer demands.

Rethinking rip and replace But current transformation efforts revolve around the rip-and-replace model. That is, transitioning from one large-scale monolithic system to another, replacing old technology through a long, expensive and risky implementation.

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digital transformation projects fail. This is because it is difficult to know what the best tech stack looks like – and what’s best now might change in six months.

For a notoriously risk-averse industry, the conventional route is ironically the most perilous. It’s new technology that enables financial institutions to mitigate risks, test models and strategies, and implement them in a controlled environment.

The future, then, is about in-built agility and adaptability – made possible through the composable banking approach. Rather than outright replacing systems in one big bang, a composable approach involves building the new to integrate with the old

MAMBU

incrementally, or progressively changing systems over time.

This means embracing cloud technology and ecosystem tech partners to deliver a precise transformation, targeting and augmenting individual systems with a surgical approach. Not only does this afford banks greater control but means business dynamics and unit economics remain unchanged.

Banks can proceed with business as usual, while developing next-generation products and services for a best-in-class customer experience.

must be built to change. If banking wants to deliver the hyper-personalised services and automation we’re seeing in consumer sectors like retail and hospitality, it must rethink the rip-and-replace school of digital transformation.

Slow, costly and time consuming, this approach can be as cumbersome as the systems it’s designed to replace. But, working with technology partners, banks can bring innovation to market almost immediately, along with the agility needed to respond to an ever-changing future.

Built to change Banks were built to last. But today they fintechmagazine.com

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MAMBU

Flexibly build new finan products to meet your customers’ needs.

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BUILDING BANKS THAT PEOPLE LOVE WRITTEN BY: GEORGIA WILSON PRODUCED BY: BEN MALTBY

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Backbase’s Heidi Custers discusses the acceleration of digital transformation, the unvalued innovative mindset of Africa, and its growing FinTech industry

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2003

Year founded

1,500+

Number of employees

120+

Financial institutions around the world powered by Backbase

oining Backbase at the start of 2021, Heidi Custers is the Digital Transformation Director for Middle East and Africa at Backbase; an Amsterdam based software company and creator of the Engagement Banking Platform (EBP).

“I moved here at the beginning of 2021 from South Africa, where for most of my career I’ve worked in digital, focusing on banking and telecommunications. From an African perspective, that’s quite important because the convergence of those two industries are actually driving much of the innovation on the continent. So even though I now live in Europe, my focus is still on digital transformation in Africa,” says Custers.

Prior to joining Backbase, she worked at Deloitte as the Digital Transformation Strategy Lead for Africa “My experience of working with big banks, insurers, and telcos across the African continent has driven my interest in the FinTech industry. Tech companies are really driving the acceleration of innovation in financial services ” she adds.

Founded in 2003 – Backbase is a digitally native company that has made a massive impact in just two decades. “I've been following this company for over 10 years now, watching it with interest. Backbase has evolved into an end-to-end engagement banking platform. If you take the jargon out of it, that means we work with banks to help them transform the digital layer that their customers engage with, whether that be a web or mobile application, to become completely seamless. We enable customers fintechmagazine.com

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REINVENTING THE BANKING EXPERIENCE Zafin is an award-winning, SaaS platform that helps financial institutions create personalized offerings, by externalizing product and pricing from legacy core systems.

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Build Relationships: Execute innovative product, pricing and offer strategies to serve existing customers, attract new ones and deepen relationships

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I ncrease Efficiency: Deploy new product, pricing and offer strategies in days rather than months with minimal IT involvement required.

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Accelerate Digital Transformation: Simplify your core, de-risk your modernization program and accelerate project payback.

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Strengthen Governance: Manage product information across the full product lifecycle, ensuring consistency and transparency while mitigating risk.

Zafin Helps Banks Create Personalized Customer Journeys Consumers are spoiled. They are served up with the exact experiences they desire before they even ask.

Music playlists are curated for them. Movie recommendations play automatically. Social feeds display trending topics and images. Banking has no choice but to mimic those personalized experiences. Not only because consumers expect them - but because emerging financial challengers and disruptors are already doing it. Traditional financial institutions have an enormous opportunity at this moment to build authentic, profitable relationships with customers. But it requires agility.

Externalized Product and Pricing Creates Unlimited Flexibility Zafin’s cloud-native SaaS product and pricing platform externalizes product and pricing from bank core processing so financial institutions can accelerate their digital transformation efforts and gain unlimited flexibility to create highly personalized customer journeys and bring them to market more quickly, to attract and retain more customers.

Relationship Pricing Simplified Using Zafin’s toolbox of features, financial institutions leverage the insights they already have from the treasure trove of customer data siloed across the bank or credit union. By surfacing this valuable information in the Zafin platform, they can strategically configure and launch loyalty and rewards programs, multi-product bundles and relationship pricing that is deeply personalized, down to the individual, to resonate with their customer’s individual financial situation and life stage. Most core systems can’t do that – and they shouldn’t.

When financial institutions embrace an ecosystem approach to technology, in which they can select best-in-class partners that align with their strategic goals, they advance their modernization efforts more quickly without the obstacles of core rigidity or a costly internal build.

Expanded Hyper-Personalized Offerings As a key partner in the Backbase ecosystem, Zafin unleashes enormous possibilities for financial institutions to expand their offers well beyond traditional bank or credit union accounts and pricing models. Zafin’s product and pricing platform even opens up the option of packaging additional customer-driven services and conveniences from outside of the financial industry.

As banks focus on offering hyper-personalized experiences in every channel, from in-person to online to mobile, they will require a full-featured tech stack that removes friction and propels innovation. Our cloud-native product and pricing platform is the engine powering this transformation in dozens of global financial institutions, from North America to Europe to Africa and Asia.

LEARN MORE

www.zafin.com

BACKBASE

Backbase: Building Banks That People Love

to have an experience with their bank that is easy, that compares to some of the worldclass neobanks like N26 or Revolut, and to do so in a way that is easily reusable across different lines of business,” says Custers.

“To achieve this, we integrate with banking systems, whether they are legacy tech or the digital-first, pricing engines like Zafin or core banking solutions like Mambu.

Backbase partners with companies to allow banks to place Backbase on top and create captivating and intuitive experiences for the customers no matter what other technology they’ve chosen. We have traditional banking customers that have gone from having an onboarding experience of 180 minutes, to 5.7 minutes on Backbase which is right up there with the neobanks.”

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building banking experiences that people love and be a platform that integrates easily with the rest of the banking ecosystem. The platform powers an endto-end user experience across all channels.

Backbase orchestrates the experience from start to finish when customers get onboard. “We are a fully-fledged engagement banking platform. Many analysts agree with us because we're consistently seen as the leading EBP in the world.” says Custers.

Authentically Living the Company Promise When asked what she thinks makes the operations at Backbase special, she says: “I've seldom worked for a company where the promise made to our clients is authentically lived within the company day-to-day as much as it is at Backbase. We

BACKBASE

“ Backbase has decided that it's going to focus very squarely in the business of building banking experiences that people love, and being a platform that integrates easily with the rest of the banking ecosystem”

HEIDI CUSTERS TITLE: D IGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR INDUSTRY: COMPUTER SOFTWARE LOCATION: NETHERLANDS Heidi Custers has been working with leading African enterprises to guide them through the various aspects of their digital journey since 2006. The focus of her career has been on the importance of customerled digital transformation, and how convergence of the financial services and telecommunications industries is changing the African landscape.

After working in banking, marketing and management consulting, she recently made the move to Amsterdam and joined Backbase as Digital Transformation Director for the Middle East and Africa. Heidi and Backbase share a vision to build banks that people love, and believe that Africa is the perfect place to accelerate the digital revolution.

HEIDI CUSTERS

really live our mission help banks to innovate and improve speed to market. This passion is reflected in the operations at Backbase. We live our values authentically. We have a flat structure within the company; the culture is very much one of autonomy. We hire the best in the business, and then we allow them to just get on with it,” explains Custers.

Growing at breakneck spend, Backbase has consistently doubled in size over the last couple of years, sitting at over 1,500 employees and operating in fifteen hubs around the world. Yet Custers says that the company still feels like you are working within part of a startup.

“Honestly, the company is very fastpaced. Our operations are changing all the time, but it's not uncomfortable, because we give people a sense of purpose and autonomy to do their jobs in the way that they feel is right for our customers.

EXECUTIVE BIO

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR, BACKBASE

Organization on a mission to make an impact on millions of people’s lives by solving our clients’ challenges in a digital, connected and cashless world.

We achieve this through delivery of world-class digital business solutions and insights transforming the world through seamless services at various lifestyle occurrences.

business innovation engineers Business Innovation engineers?

Yes, They do exist.

At the heart of every great business innovation in the 21st century, is the ability to identify challenges faced by the human race, and application of technological advancements to meet the needs or challenges in whatever shape of form this may be.

Business Innovation engineering is a unique methodology of delivering Digital Product offerings that combines business logic and technology innovation to create the perfect mix to address increasing digital solutions to global community. This is achieved through use of system thinking to help organisations and individuals find, filter and fast-track big and functional business ideas.

A great example of this is in the African financial services segment, where great innovations that address human lifestyle and sustainability needs have produced some of the greatest large scale digital financial inclusion solutions that have been a result of the convergence of applying great technology to work to achieve a human need. This has resulted in the African Financial services segment leapfrogging some of the innovative solutions in more developed regions such as in the US and Europe, driven primarily by partnerships with non-financial institutions like Telcos and fintechs and their drive to become lifestyle platform providers.

At Bring Global, we love the African story, with extensive roots in Africa, and the success of the African continent as a strategic pillar of our existence in the African market, we have partnered with Backbase technologies to deliver Digital Omnichannels solutions for Banks and Financial services providers across Africa that not only work, but make commercial sense through origination and creation of innovative monetization methodologies of this digital solutions.

We are committed to supporting the Africa Digitalization success story by providing software delivery capabilities from our Africa Hub in Nairobi to help build digital financial solutions that consider the modern day African residents Digital financial lifestyle needs, and now more than ever, supporting banks to build their ecosystems and services to be an integral part of this story.

Having successfully partnered with some of the largest banks in the African continent, we welcome you to join us in being part of the journey to digitise the African continent.

We are Business innovation engineers, and we are here for the African story.

learn more

LINKEDIN

BACKBASE

This means we can be incredibly flexible and move at lightning speed. I've seen decisions made that change the course of the business in an hour and a half meeting, and then be implemented immediately after, which is not something that companies usually do when they get beyond a certain size,” comments Custers.

“A word that often comes up when you read about Backbase is ‘love’, because our credo is ‘become the bank that people love’, and our mission is to get 10% of the people in the world using Backbase as their engagement banking platform. This is infused into the way that every one of us at Backbase thinks. We don't just care about our banking customers, we also care about the customers experiences, whether they are consumers, businesses or large corporations. Our CEO and founder Jouk Pleiter is testament to how well this company has been built. It's filled with energy and passion, even though we're growing so quickly."

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Tech Companies Disrupting the African Financial Services Sector “Africa is an interesting space,” says Custers. “I believe true innovation is born out of constraint, it doesn’t often happen in a vacuum. If there is nothing forcing it, it is seldom able to accelerate. The first world has historically benefitted from a lot of technology and connectivity infrastructure.

In my opinion, that means that technology in financial services has innovated and evolved at a linear pace.” In Africa, Custers explains that the limitations can often seem overwhelming. “Internet connectivity is still very low and unemployment is very high, in some countries over 30%. It’s these constraints, coupled with a really deep entrepreneurial spirit of the African people, that are driving non-traditional players to dominate innovation in financial services, by doing things that often leapfrog what you’ll see in the developed world.”

Some of the examples of this come from financial services, technology and telecommunication collaborations. “Often spoken about is M-PESA in Kenya, as a

“ I believe true innovation is born out of constraint; it doesn’t often happen in a vacuum. If there is nothing forcing it, it is seldom able to accelerate” HEIDI CUSTERS

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR, BACKBASE

BACKBASE

BACKBASE AND PARTNERS

DID YOU KNOW...

digital currency based on your mobile phone using your mobile number. But, so much has happened beyond that, which I think the rest of the world could learn from. An example of this is ‘Juice’ by MCB in Mauritius, powered by Backbase. This is essentially enables for people to make payments and payment requests on their mobile without logging into their bank and making a transfer. Out of 'juice' comes 'juicing,' a new term born in Africa that is beginning to catch on in other countries," claims Custers.

Something else that is happening more and more in Africa is that banks that initially felt the FinTech and telco threat have adapted and see partnering with companies that are not financial institutions as strategically imperative.

The most impactful industry convergence is that of the banks and the mobile network operators.

“Partners are just human beings,” says Custers. “A human-based partnership strategy for any bank or large enterprise wanting to do business in Africa is actually as important, if not more important than anywhere else in the so-called developed world. Because the continent is so unique, it has so many constraints and so many different regional, country and cultural nuances that it’s critical to have a really good network of partners that absolutely understand how human beings in Africa think, and the differences in the way that African people act country to country.

It’s not just about partnering with the companies that have the best tech, or the most advanced developers.”

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BACKBASE

Backbase in Under Two Minutes — an Introduction to our Engagement Banking Platform

In most countries in the region, telecommunications companies own the customer share of wallets more than anywhere else in the world. In many cases, the one connection to the internet that a household has is on a single mobile phone.

This is often a feature phone, without apps, or a very rudimentary smartphone. The mobile network operators facilitate that connection to the world. Everything from the ability to speak to family, to access education, make purchases, and even run businesses – which are often small subsistence enterprises.

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reach into Africa, Custers says: “Telcos have become the dominant force across various countries. It didn't take very long for them to realise that if they own the customer connections, as soon as they unlock the ability for that customer to transact, save, or even borrow, using their platform without a bank account – because over 50% of the continent is still unbanked – they would be able to own the customer entirely.”

“That’s when banks started to realise that they either needed to radically transform digitally and go beyond banking, or partner with telcos or risk their connection to their customers being eroded.”

BACKBASE

“ There’s a very old African proverb; ‘If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far go together’. In this fast-paced, everchanging digital world, I believe you can go far, and you can go fast if you go together” HEIDI CUSTERS

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR, BACKBASE

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BANKING DIGITALISATION DELIVERED DIGITAL ENABLEMENT is driving

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DVT’s 20+ year history of servicing major banking and financial services institutions delivers digital solutions in shorter time frames.

Digital initiatives in financial services encompass a variety of technology areas requiring experience and skill.

DVT provides a complete array of critical skills and services including web and mobile application development, DevOps, Backbase digital banking engagement implementation, UX / UI, data and analytics.

DVT is a proud

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BACKBASE

An example of this is a Zimbabwean bank that Custers has worked with in 2018, and cites as the proudest moment of her career.

“FBC Bank is a perfect example of this. In Zimbabwe, 70% of all people who carry out financial transactions do so primarily through their telco, and less than half even have bank accounts. So, you can imagine the power that these telcos actually have, and how important it was for the bank to take bold steps in their digital transformation. Three years later, they are winning awards for their digital experiences, and they are doing so in the face of overwhelming odds.”

BRING GLOBAL AND DVT

PARTNERSHIPS...

“On the face of it, these two Backbase partners could be seen as doing the same thing; they are often seen as competitors to each other.

But I think this is where the uniqueness of being part of the Backbase partnership ecosystem comes into play, because we believe they are both leaders in their respective fields, in different countries, and in different capabilities where they’ve chosen to play. We work well with both of them and understand exactly how to partner with them to improve a bank’s digital transformation,” says Custers.

DVT “DVT is a new partner to Backbase. But what we’re seeing is they have a passion for innovation and a commitment to really ensure that the customers of the banks that we work with get the best experience, as well as to accelerate development. So we look forward to working with them and finding the nuances where they can accelerate the transformations of banks that have chosen the Backbase platform.”

Bring Global “Bring Global, has a longstanding partnership with Backbase. In fact, they consistently win Backbase partner of the year. We’ve been working with them in Kenya, Ghana, and Angola, as well as in all sorts of other places around the world. Bring Global understands the way that the African continent moves.

It also has a deep understanding of the Backbase platform and the way that it is implemented in banks.”

ZAFIN “Backbase recently announced a global partnership with Zafin; the global leader in SaaS cloud-native product and pricing solutions for financial institutions, to integrate Zafin’s award-winning relationship-based product and pricing capabilities into our Engagement Banking platform. The exciting thing about partnerships like this one, is that it allows our customers to instantaneously deploy products and offers with pricing optimised to each individual customer, no matter their core system. This unburdens institutions and allows them to launch at lightning speed.”

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Another example of African ingenuity is in Kenya, where the dominance of telcos in financial services is absolute. In response to this, Equity Bank, CBA and KCB strategically partnered with Safaricom to improve financial inclusion. Custers does not think this is a coincidence: “As I’ve already said, it’s often constraints that force companies, even those who traditionally compete, to innovate creatively and work together with the endcustomer experience in mind.”

This unique brand of innovation is not constrained to the private sector, in Custers’ opinion; “I think Africa one place in the world where we've really seen that combination of constraint and community make a tangible, continent-wide difference and actually improve GDPs of countries, often forcing governments to digitally transform because the innovation in the private sector is

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moving so fast that the citizens now expect that of the governments. If you look at Rwanda, for instance, it is fast becoming a digital-first government, mostly because of the partnerships between banks, FinTechs, government and telcos.”

FinTechs helping African banks Accelerate Their Digital Transformation Backbase and its partners are contributing to the digital transformation of Africa in two different ways. “On one hand, we are working with the leading banks in Africa, not only creating neobank-like experiences for their customers on their own digital channels but also giving them the opportunity to have an engagement banking platform that seamlessly plugs in the best FinTechs on the continent to augment their capabilities, allowing them to scale at speed.

BACKBASE

Backbase provides a class-leading omnichannel experience, not only for customers through web and mobile but also for employees by giving them access to digital experiences with the same user experience the customers enjoy. “We're helping banks to create a future-fit architecture, that is cloudfirst, and powered by APIs. By unburdening our clients across the Middle East and Africa, and enabling them to adopt engagement journeys that have been proven on a global level – over more than 150 implementations in the USA, Europe, LATAM and Asia – we accelerate their digital transformations. The learning goes both ways, however. We also leverage the innovations built on our platform by our African clients and feed it back into our 750 people strong Research and Development team, giving the rest of the world the opportunity to learn from this incredible continent.”

“ Banks started to realise that they either needed to radically digitally transform and go beyond banking, or partner with telcos or risk their connection to their customers being eroded” HEIDI CUSTERS

DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION DIRECTOR, BACKBASE

The other way Backbase is accelerating digital transformation in Africa is through its partnership network. Custers explains; “We partner with some of the leading Fintechs, advisory firms and development shops across the globe. The Backbase marketplace consists of both accelerators and connectors to Backbase so that a bank can essentially create an end-to-end banking ecosystem almost out of the box in a six month period, or less.

The necessary integrations and configuration on the platform can be easily delivered by Backbase, our delivery partners or the bank themselves in our flexible delivery approach.”

Custers is clear on Backbase’s vision for Africa. “The bottom line is, we want to work with the banks, the FinTechs and other partners across the region that share our passion to build banks that people love. There’s a very old African proverb; ‘If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far go together’.

In this fast-paced, ever-changing digital world, I believe you can go far, and you can go fast if you go together.”

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BLOCKCHAIN BOOM:

SECURE PAYMENT SOLUTION OR PASSING TREND? 98

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PAYMENT SOLUTIONS

As the most secure, decentralised transactional system available today, blockchain is gaining ground. But is it really the best option?

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

“ The ability to track misappropriated funds is the best way to offer preventative security” PAVEL MATVEEV CEO OF WIREX

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ailed as the ultimate solution to fee-hungry, centralised payment systems and cyber criminals alike, blockchain technology has a somewhat stellar reputation in the payment solutions market.

But last month, the financial industry was rocked to the core when what appeared to be a lone hacker stole US$600mn from the international cryptocurrency exchange, Poly Network.

The event caused shock and consternation, not only because of the sheer size of the heist – the largest recorded event to date – but because the hacker had done the unthinkable and exploited Poly Network’s formidable blockchain security.

Even more revealing was the fact that the hacker claimed to have carried out this feat after looking for system vulnerabilities for a mere ‘few hours’. In a seeming ‘thumb the nose’ gesture to the technocrats, the perpetrator then posted a Q&A guide to their hacking process on the social networking site, Twitter, just 24 hours after the event.

The funds (or most of them) were then returned, with the hacker (or hackers) admitting to carrying out the theft to prove a point and to highlight vulnerabilities in the DeFi (decentralised financial) system used by Poly Network.

Blockchain and security What the Poly Network case highlighted is that a DeFi system using blockchain technology can have serious vulnerabilities. The case is also not the first to happen in 2021 – and data suggests cybercrime against blockchain entities is on the rise. Although the losses have been smaller in other breaches this year, the amounts stolen are far from pocket change. For example; • February 2021, Year Finance has $11mn stolen by hackers • In the same month, Alpha Finance lost $37mn to cybercriminals • In March 2021, Meerkat Finance suffered a breach and had $32mn taken from its accounts.

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No system is fail-safe Ultimately, the incident proved that no system being used today could claim to be ‘unhackable’. In fact, the spate of recent breaches has even prompted the Bank Of England to state their position on digital currencies and decentralised systems.

Karan Kapoor, Head of Regulatory Change and RegTech at Delta Capita, explains, “In terms of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the Bank of England has already suggested that a digital pound does not have to be necessarily built on blockchain technology and that more centralised technologies can be used. However, we are seeing many other countries opting to use Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for the design of their digital currency, such as Sweden’s e-Krona that is currently in its pilot stage.”

Kapoor also suggests that the widespread uptake of blockchain is not necessarily guaranteed. He says, “Whether or not a central bank will adopt DLT/Blockchain technology will partly depend on the level of privacy that they want to provide to users, and partly on the purpose of the digital currency – whether it be for retail or wholesale.”

“ Just as we see in the stock market and domestic centralised banks, zero risk does not exist, but mitigation is the best means to create a safer blockchain for everyone” PAVEL MATVEEV CEO OF WIREX

Blockchain in the market One of the newest yet most popular financial technologies, blockchain is essentially a decentralised ledger of endto-end transactions. It helps users to avoid transaction and data manipulation because it automatically tracks every movement and change.

Blockchain enables: • Instant payments through process automation, shortening transactional processes to minutes rather than days.

• Reduces costs because its decentralised status means it cuts out the ‘middleman’.

• Increases transparency: Transactions can be clearly regulated by financial regulators, and all interactions between transactional parties are recorded.

• Cuts down on risks associated with counterparties due to the instant nature of the transactional technology.

• Audits are simplified due to the constant tracking of the transaction.

Sankar Krishan, EVP and Industry Head at Banking and Capital Markets at Capgemini, agrees and says that the upscaling of security happens according to the demands set by the criminal climate. “Since digital payments were first introduced, cybersecurity teams and hackers around the world have been fighting against one another, which is only expected to continue. The recent Poly Network hack has arguably exposed vulnerabilities in blockchain security which are now being fixed.” fintechmagazine.com

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“ Banking and finance rely on stability, as well as on regulations” PAVEL MATVEEV CEO OF WIREX

Krishan points out that while cryptocurrency, by definition, has no FDIC type of insurance, it is possible that crypto will have greater protection in the future with the introduction of further regulation.

He continues, “Given that there are many types of blockchain protocols, it is extremely important to understand what the security protocols are for a security breach. While there are initiatives like cloudsecurityalliance.org, which publishes a detailed list of blockchain weaknesses, it is safe to assume that given the 102

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growth of payments on blockchain networks, the vulnerabilities are high. But that is only because of the growing pains these networks are facing in their early days.”

Advantages to blockchain Regardless of the recent breaches, blockchain technology presents a wide range of advantages, which is why it’s considered such an important transactional solution. With the rise of popularity in cryptocurrency, there is a much higher demand for ledger-style transactions.

Pavel Matveev, CEO of Wirex, explains, “A (decentralised) blockchain solution certainly has many advantages, such as no single point of failure and no counterparty risk. What does

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What Are dApps? SMART CONTRACTS AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION

this mean? In layman’s terms, transparency – of contracts and rules that live on the blockchain.”

He continues, “For mainstream providers, they simultaneously give an opportunity and a threat. If they can adapt their business models, they can also participate in using these platforms themselves.”

However, he points out if providers base their models on charging significant fees for ‘middleman’ actions such as processing and fulfilling contract transactions, they will be undercut by cheaper, more transparent and potentially faster blockchain alternatives.

Better transparency on blockchain One of the most important elements to consider when looking at blockchain is

that not all technologies – or systems are made equal. Matveev explains: “The word ‘blockchain’ can be misleading to those not familiar with it because it suggests that all blockchains are the same and built with the same kind of code – this is not the case.”

He says that, like cryptocurrencies, blockchains can be tailored to different levels of complexity. The vulnerability comes from the authentication and encryption – as in the case of Poly Network because the hacker managed to interact with a critical contract without proper authentication. “The immutability of hacking public and private keys and the quality of the code used are key focus areas for ensuring such attacks don’t succeed.” fintechmagazine.com

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Blockchain security for customers The strongest asset blockchain offers against theft is the trackability of the digital currencies that pass through it. The online ledger system automatically tracks every action taken on the funds and who owns or has moved them elsewhere.

Matveev says that in terms of prevention, it is this aspect that makes blockchain a popular option among traders. “The ability to track misappropriated funds is the best way to offer preventative security,” he explains.

“For example, at Wirex, we work with partners such as Elliptic, a compliance firm known for its work with organisations like the FBI to track illicit funds. Because blockchain is decentralised, the current global and state structures and regulations don’t necessarily offer the same protections as, say, the FSCS in the UK for fiat accounts.

“That doesn’t mean there’s no protection, though – many crypto-friendly platforms such as Wirex will include a basic level of protection or give the option for additional security for additional insurance fees. Wirex also recently partnered with Fireblocks, which insures the platform for up to $30mn within its DeFi services.”

“ Whether or not a central bank will adopt DLT/Blockchain technology will partly depend on the level of privacy” KARAN KAPOOR

HEAD OF REGULATORY CHANGE AND REGTECH, DELTA CAPITA

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What the future holds for blockchain As financial technology gallops forward firmly in the direction of DeFi systems and solutions, it looks likely that blockchain will maintain its popularity simply because, in the main, it's fast, efficient, cost-effective and secure.

Preventative measures, such as code security audits, which provide a comprehensive analysis of source code revealing bugs, security breaches or violations of programming conventions, will become more commonplace. Security solutions will also tighten up as the cat and mouse game between hacker and

organisation continues in the global, online space.

Decentralised systems are here to stay, Matveev says, and the consequences that accompany them do not outweigh the advantages. “Just as we see in the stock market and domestic centralised banks, zero risk does not exist, but mitigation is the best means to create a safer blockchain for everyone.”

Regulation will also play a key role in fortifying and streamlining blockchain systems, Matveev points out. “In 2021, we’ve seen national regulators from the US, UK and EU and China take more

interventions within cryptocurrencies and, in some ways, blockchain generally. While this might on one level be seen as bad, it might actually help bring blockchain payments to the mainstream.”

Matveev adds, “Banking and finance rely on stability, as well as on regulations. If we start to see a consensus in 2022 forming on how to regulate blockchain, we’ll see more mainstream participation. The full deployment of ETH2 and the consequent cheaper and faster transactions in every layer or the crypto economy will also be a topic to look out for in 2022.”

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RINGLER

Winning IT formula

for the future

WRITTEN BY: JANET BRICE

PRODUCED BY: JAKE MEGEARY

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Innovative IT strategy for Ringler the largest US settlement planning company who has put the customer first for 45 years - will ensure “Everybody Wins”

Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President & CIO

B

ridging the gap between business and technology is Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Ringler - the oldest structured settlement planning company in the US. For more than 45 years it has designed hundreds of thousands of settlement plans with premiums in excess of US$3bn.

Stepping into his role at Ringler, Knowlton is driving innovation by leading the digital journey to expand its competitive edge and create additional value for clients. “We are working towards innovations that will be more scalable, more secure, will deliver strong analytics, and will have greater integration capabilities.”

Ringler is renowned for its message “Everybody Wins,” highlighting a tradition of helping clients succeed at the settlement table by providing products and services that create the best settlement solution for all parties involved. The team of 150 structured settlement consultants work in 65 offices nationwide to collaborate and design the best settlement plan for injured people, attorneys, and insurance professionals.

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Ringler: Winning IT formula for the future

With previous career expertise in managing virtual teams at Aon Hewitt, the fact that Knowlton joined Ringler at the height of the pandemic wasn’t ever a concern. From his office in Powell, Ohio, he was able to quickly be up and running, hiring seven new staff members, and overseeing a US$3mn IT budget with the goal of accelerating Ringler’s digital transformation.

Curve of the digital journey “We are on the curve of a digital transformation which is the foundation to accelerate innovative products and services,” said Knowlton who points out that during the pandemic, Ringler focussed on digital housekeeping, comparing it to a spring clean. “At a time when business was slow we focused on our internal security data and technology. This is testament to our Board of Directors and our CEO who chose to make investments internally to support our continued path of growth and innovation.”

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Knowlton’s long-term digital strategy for Ringler includes: • Cloud adoption - which will allow for scalability • Digital Application Sales Hub (DASH) • Creatio CRM • Focus on cybersecurity and zero trust • Data-analytics to drive future decisions internally and for our clients • Voice of the Customer • Artificial Intelligence

“ Today’s business solutions end up being a technology solution” BUTCH KNOWLTON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER

RINGLER

“I’ve always been solution-focused, and my interest in technology has evolved over time. Today’s business solutions often end up having a technology component.

Although I’ve never coded, I’m able to bridge the gap between business and IT and I’m a strong advocate for integrated IT-business partnerships.”

By thoroughly understanding business strategy, Knowlton is able to be agile in his approach and pivot technology to match Ringler’s business goals. “For an IT organisation to be successful you have to understand the business goals and show your peers how technology can be enabled. Success comes from understanding and using the technological tools available. As CIO I manage a myriad of pieces to support the business. When technology dictates to the business or hamstrings goals, this is where you have a lot more difficulty in delivering strategy,” said Knowlton.

Ringer helps to bridge the settlement process to create the best outcome for all parties involved, with the main focus on the injured party. Our consultants look to provide the best solution to ensure the injured party has the funds they need, now and in the future. “Our company values are woven into every settlement we create and is the heart of what we do,” said Knowlton.

TITLE: EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CIO INDUSTRY: INSURANCE LOCATION: COLUMBUS, OHIO As Chief Information Officer for Ringler, Butch Knowlton is responsible for setting and overseeing the strategy for the data and technology and for defining how Ringler manages information across the organisation.

As a senior strategist and IT architect, he plays a key role in helping Ringler expand its competitive advantage to serve its clients and improve profitability.

During his accomplished 30-year career, Knowlton has navigated that unique space between business and technology – sometimes steering toward business roles, sometimes more focused on IT.

EXECUTIVE BIO

Scalability offered by cloud Knowlton highlighted how he has overcome legacy architecture and why he has prioritised cloud services (Microsoft Azure’s cloud computing platform) for Ringler’s digital journey. “We're in a heavily regulated space and have security requirements that we need to meet for different state requirements, federal requirements, as well as client expectations.

BUTCH KNOWLTON

RINGLER

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WHAT IS A STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT?

“ For an organisation to be successful you have to understand the business goals, strategy and show your peers how technology can enable that” BUTCH KNOWLTON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER

DID YOU KNOW...

“As Ringler deals with multiple clients one of the things we're building out within Azure is an enterprise gateway so that we'll have a RESTful API architecture that allows us to quickly and easily integrate with any client that we may engage with.”

API architecture is the process of developing a software interface that exposes back end data and application functionality for use in new applications.

“When we think about the expectations of our clients and regulatory agencies, as well as where we need to go for innovation and scale, we felt the most economical and

At the heart of a Ringler settlement plan is an annuity which is a financial tool that provides a tax-free solution to maximize their settlement dollars and is exclusively for injured people called a “structured settlement.”

Instead of taking all of the money a client receives from a personal injury claim as one lump sum, they can choose to put some or all of that money into a structured settlement. Regular payments are then made over a specified period of time to match your future needs and goals. The financial advantages of a structured settlement are: • Guaranteed • Tax-free • Customised • No risk, no fees • Eligibility Structured settlements apply to a wide variety of injury cases regardless of how much money is involved.

Structured settlements are used for any personal injury claim including workers’ compensation or medical malpractice cases involving: • Long-term medical needs • Temporary or permanent disabilities • Minors or the mentally incompetent • Severe injuries that result in brain damage or shortened life expectancy • Surviving spouse and/or dependents The money can be distributed as future lump sums, over a set period of time; in level or increasing payments; or in some combination of these options.

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DID YOU KNOW...

HOW “EVERYBODY WINS” WITH RINGLER

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Objectivity combined with expertise, experience and a reputation for collaboration is how Ringler helps everybody win. Rather than representing the interests of just one party, Ringler is responsive to the needs of everyone involved in settlement negotiations.

• Attorneys - by providing them with the information and recommendations they require to analyse how a settlement plan and structured settlement will meet the needs of their client.

• Insurance professionals - in bridging the gap between a lump-sum offer and the need of the injured party for funds for future medical expenses.

• Injured people (and their loved ones), knowing a plan is in place that will provide future financial stability and peace-of-mind.

“We know every injury and every negotiation is different, which is why Ringler consultants specialise in designing custom settlement plans that explore all the options,” said Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Ringler.

October 2021

RINGLER

secure solution was in the cloud. In order to accomplish that plan, we had to update some ageing technology. We congegrated our data centres into one location, and in doing so, we addressed potential security risks and reduced our overall online footprint,” said Knowlton.

Ringler is now turning its focus to delivering a new proprietary application suite, DASH (Digital Application Sales Hub) which will combine their five currently used applications (an accounting app, two case management systems, and a proprietary quoting application) into one experience.

This new application will be used to support consultants, clients and internal employees.

“We know every injury and every negotiation is different, which is why Ringler consultants specialise in designing custom settlement plans that explore all the options.”

BUTCH KNOWLTON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER

“DASH allows us to put all five into one application experience. In order for us to be able to do that we are building everything in the cloud, within Azure This approach allows us to scale as necessary, manage our staffing costs, maintain best in class security and confidently interface with our many partners and clients. It enables our organisation to utlise modern technology - which was one of our goals,” comments Knowlton. fintechmagazine.com

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QUICK FIRE QUESTIONS...

Focus on cybersecurity To ensure sensitive data is protected, Ringler uses a virtual information security officer from All Covered, who offer a layered approach to security services.

“We consistently perform monthly vulnerability scans, periodic penetration testing, and 24/7 monitoring with SIEM and SOC services. But the biggest security threat we have is our people,” said Knowlton. “90% of security breaches come from an individual who has broken protocol like clicking on a phishing scam,” said Knowlton who points out they work with security education specialist KnowB4 to help train their team for spotting security threats. “Going forward, we will continue to focus on security awareness and following protocols.”

Butch Knowlton, Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer of Ringler What technology trends do you see shaping the industry in the future?

“I think organisations who can make data-driven decisions and take advantage of the tools associated with that, will be the organisations still here in 10 years time.”

How effective are your podcasts on Ringler Radio for reaching out to your clients?

“Incredibly effective! With more than 10 years in the podcast space, we have created a terrific following. Our marketing strategy connects all of the tools to provide insights to our followers. Our new CRM capability is also focused on continuing to find new ways to share our podcasts and information provided in them.

Ringler Radio will help to create awareness about the structured settlement industry as this is quite a niche area and help our clients better understand the industry. “With our digital transformation, we now have more tools like podcasts that we can seamlessly incorporate into our marketing material to provide value to our clients,” said Knowlton.

RINGLER

“DASH allows us to put all five into one application experience. In order for us to be able to do that we are building everything in the cloud, within Azure This approach allows us to scale as necessary, manage our staffing costs, maintain best in class security and confidently interface with our many partners and clients” BUTCH KNOWLTON

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, RINGLER

Power of partnerships “The costs from a development and Ringler works with an ecosystem of partners new project perspective are substantially to ensure they offer the best service for their smaller because we're starting with a base customers. These include long-standing application capability. Creatio has bent partners Creatio, Microsoft, Ascydent (a over backwards to work with us on the Columbus-based consulting customisation. At the end partner), and All Covered of the day, we're able to STATISTICS (Ringler’s security partner). configure our outcomes.

Knowlton highlighted We have someone on our the fact that working with • 1975 the year Ringler team who has trained in Creatio gives Ringler a “lowas founded that Creatio space to allow code, no-code solution” • 65 offices us to really manipulate the that allows them to • 150 individual application in a supremely configure their CRM. “One settlement consultants unique way,” he said. of the challenges I have as • US$3mn budget for the Looking ahead, Knowlton CIO is the decision to build digital transformation said Ringler is focused or buy. Creatio has allowed • Hundreds of thousands on organic growth. “We us the happy medium of settlement plans with already own 33% of the between buy, or build and premiums in excess of market and our goal is come up with a solution $33 billion since 1975 always to improve that that allows the smooth • US$3MM investment in market share. We're always execution of our application technology transformation looking for opportunities suite,” said Knowlton. to improve our services “We ended up with a and customer experience proprietary solution for Ringler that isn't being and the work we are doing today is the replicated anywhere else, yet we were able foundation for future growth.” to use the out-of-the-box capability from Creatio to start us off and then configure toward where we wanted to go with our goals. fintechmagazine.com

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THE RISK AND RECESSION MANAGEMENT SPACE HAS TRANSFORMED IN RECENT MONTHS. WE TAKE A LOOK AT HOW FINTECHS ARE HOPING FOR THE BEST AND PREPARING FOR THE WORST

WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

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F

intech globally has risen smelling of roses despite the murk and flux of the past two years. For an emerging industry, its meteoric growth in the face of incredible financial uncertainty almost gives the sector an indestructible air of resilience.

But resting on proverbial laurels is never a good plan for the future. And if fintechs can be made, or indeed thrive in the utter chaos of a world-paralysing pandemic, then perhaps a period of calm and growth won’t be quite such an exhilarating ride.

The world has changed, and with it, certainties once relied upon. The areas of risk and recession management are now contemplating a fresh gamut of scenarios that fintechs and financial services institutions must consider as part of their future-proof plans.

VENTURE CAPITAL

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Anticipate tomorrow.

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TECHNOLOGY

Resilience and working from home One of the biggest, beneficial changes to take place in terms of risk resilience in the business world has been the remote workforce mandate. Martijn Groot, VP of Strategy, Alveo, a technology company based in the Netherlands, says the move has resulted in the provisioning of robust infrastructure to support it, providing a far more agile operating model.

However, although business models have become more resilient, the move has also created vulnerabilities. He explains, “With immediate operational resilience and infrastructure challenges now resolved,

The war on talent The war on talent Robert Zondag, senior manager at the fintech accounting and consulting firm, Wipfli, believes protecting the workforce and holding on to talent will be essential for fintechs in the event of another recession. He says, “Fintechs should really focus on continuing to attract and retain talent in a market that is seeking employees at all levels while monitoring the pulse of the potentially dramatic and quickly evolving market changes.

“As the number of vendors increases due to outsourcing and infrastructure needs, vendor risk management platforms are becoming more front and centre. With same-day payments and the continuing increased movement towards P2P, pressures continue to remain in payment platforms, providers and integration into core and legacy systems.”

“ CONSOLIDATION OF FINANCIAL SERVICES IS KEY, WITH AMBITIOUS BUSINESSES LOOKING FOR SINGLE-PORTAL ENTRY FOR PAYMENTS, CREDIT, FX AND OTHER SERVICES” KEVIN VON NEUSCHATZ

GROUP CEO, STANHOPE FINANCIAL GROUP

the focus has largely shifted towards the acceleration of cloud migrations. Basic bandwidth and infrastructure aside, remote working has exposed additional data management challenges, including data access, permissions, workflows, and user rights.”

It’s also worth remembering that investment caution has reached unprecedented highs during the pandemic – an aspect that has curtailed development in an industry going through its growth spurt stage.

Kevin von Neuschatz, Group CEO, Stanhope Financial Group, points out that this, along with fragmented teams, has not been immediately helpful. “Investors are cautious that emerging

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RISK AND RECESSION TECHNOLOGY Need to future-proof your fintech? There are a number of companies offering state-of-the-art solutions to risk management in the event of a downturn.

• British startup SPIN Analytics, for example, has

developed RiskRobot, software for credit risk management in financial companies. The solution applies big data management methodologies, machine learning, AI, and credit analytics to build advanced credit risk models.

• G-Square is an Indian company that builds

AI-enhanced market risk analytics for banks, portfolio management entities and other financial firms. “It employs market data science, deep learning, language processing and business analytics to track and manage arising market risks.

• Based in Sweden, Sharpfin, a Swedish company,

offers a suite of applications for wealth risk management, allowing users to view consolidated company assets and design investment restrictions.

• The US-based Black Swan Technology addresses the

problem of financial risks. It built a Cloud Outage Risk Engine (CORE) to analyse and evaluate the risks.

strains of the virus could trigger new lockdown restrictions, stalling growth and innovation.

By definition, fintech companies require investment in market-leading technology and the hiring of talented people to build, develop, deploy and maintain products.”

Under the best of circumstances, this can be hard enough to achieve. But when team members can’t meet face to face, building a company vision and shared values can be a huge challenge, he says.

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cannot be predicted in economic cycles. It is driven as much by global Coronavirus infection rates as it is by share prices, which creates a new level of uncertainty.”

Technology and recession management Despite these setbacks, the global digital transformation of businesses has been an unprecedented success because it has driven forward new technology and innovations that can assess and mitigate risk.

Groot says risk management has become increasingly granular, and future market

TECHNOLOGY

“ TO CORRECTLY ASSESS DIFFERENT SCENARIOS, WE NEED FASTER DATA AGGREGATION AND CALCULATION CAPABILITIES” MARTIJN GROOT VP OF STRATEGY, ALVEO

and credit risk will be refined due to additional, non-traditional datasets that can provide further colour on potential future movements.

“We will see technologies emerge that can scale data processing and allow easier integration of disparate datasets to create a single view of customer or product exposure. With that in mind, however, there 9s a number of capabilities that need to be developed first, for example, clear data lineage to trace data flows and help explain prices used in risk and valuation.”

He adds, “To correctly assess different scenarios, we need faster data aggregation and calculation capabilities, as well as the ability to correctly track the context of data, including quality metrics and access permissions.

Dr Pooja Lekhi, Lecturer at University Canada West, points out that throughout 2020 and 2021, the fintech industry has been investing in innovations that can “reduce credit scoring bias and improve fraud detection.”

The same technologies can also carry out market predictions using real-time data and predictive analytics, thus reducing the fintechmagazine.com

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risks associated with economic downturns because they enable companies to respond more quickly to market changes.

“These solutions measure and monitor systemic risk, market risk and volatility in financial markets,” Lekhi says, “as well as identifying illegal activities in crypto markets, fraudulent initial coin offerings, money laundering and other cyber risks.”

Providing solid customer service can also protect fintechs in the event of a recession.

Crucially, says Neuschatz, “Fintechs have to put customer needs first. Building a fintech brand with a long-term future means taking customers with you; this means reinvesting in the latest technology but also ensuring first-class customer service and support is available around the clock.”

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Strategic partnerships, he points out, will also help maintain stability in the event of a downturn. “Consolidation of financial services is key, with ambitious businesses looking for a single-portal entry for payments, credit, FX and other services. In previous years, this would be offered by multiple providers on different contracts, sometimes in different geographies. These platforms are often powered by artificial intelligence and automation technologies, which are underpinning the delivery of such services.”

Future-proofing fintech To safeguard the future against unknowns, fintechs must fortify themselves in several key areas, says Adam Vipond, Director of Fintech at Caspian One. He believes maturity in fintech

TECHNOLOGY

“ COVID AND THE LIKELY INCREASE OF A RECESSION BRINGS HUGE VOLATILITY...WITHIN MOST TRADING BUSINESSES, IT IS AN OPPORTUNIST TIME TO INVEST, EXPAND AND CAPITALISE” ADAM VIPOND CASPIAN ONE

markets, especially digital assets, has seen increased growth – and companies need to streamline and fortify themselves against instability and the risk of crisis.

“Covid and the likely increase of a recession brings huge volatility, which means that within most trading businesses, it is an opportunist time to invest, expand and capitalise.

“The overall risk with all fintech organisations is the risk of poor cybersecurity measures and systems. We believe the majority of technology investment at businesses will be an increase in cyber-related security, along with best of breed platforms to beat the highly competitive market,” remarks Vipond.

Vipond pinpoints seven key areas that, if managed properly, can mitigate risk and help fintechs to ride the storm in the event of unexpected downturns. They are: • Cybersecurity • Data analytics • Integration • User experience • Speed to market • Infrastructure reliability • Know your clients (KYC) Lekhi concludes that digital transformation has become necessary for survival, and

technology is the life raft that can help companies survive recessions.

“Cloud computing, artificial intelligence and big data have been widely adopted by fintech organisations… Fintechs are bolstering their infrastructure by expanding capacity and investing in new resources to withstand the stress on their systems from higher transaction volumes.”

She adds, “These actions could be especially challenging for fintechs that depend on transaction volumes for revenue and are cash-starved now. Some are raising capital and funding from investors and lenders. Others have implemented costsaving measures, including workforce reduction. Because revenues, for many of them, are transaction and volume-based, a priority strategy right now is making sure that as many expenses as possible are variable, and fixed expenses need to be minimised.” fintechmagazine.com

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BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2022 126

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WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

TOP 10

As cybercrime and finance fraud ramps up, we take a look at the latest biometric technologies in fintech and beyond

Just a decade ago, the notion that our fingerprint scan would be needed to facilitate something as simple as making a call on our mobile phones was somewhat unthinkable. But in this emerging climate of digital transformation and increasing cybercrime, using biometrics to access a device or app is the expected new normal.

Biometric authentication technology is emerging as the ultimate fortification against fraud and false identity fraud. Check out our round-up of the most innovative devices and systems to hit the marketplace.

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10

ColloseoEAS Founded: 2005

This Slovakian technology company was founded in 2005 and developed biometric technology for sports venues.

The company is currently the only organisation to implement four real-time biometric facial recognition systems into a stadium venue to track visitors and fortify security. It’s also set its sights on the banking sector as the next industry to conquer.

Watch this space!

09

Cognitec Systems Founded: 2002

Based in Dresden, Germany, and funded in 2002, Cognitec Systems specialises in a range of facial technology authentication solutions. The team behind the company are development experts who have been working on algorithmic face mapping solutions since 1996. The company’s main industry contribution is in digital ID technology in the regulatory fields, including passport ID compliance.

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08 Face++

Founded: 2012

The Chinese biometric technology company, Face++ has taken facial recognition to the next level, mapping 14 areas of the human body that can verify the identification of a subject and even search for those traits in a crowd.

The technology provides face detection, comparison, searching, facial landmarks, attributes, emotion recognition, body detection, skeletal detection and gesture recognition - among others.

07 Aware

Founded: 1986

Based in Massachusetts, Aware is a global leader in biometric technology. The company develops biometrics software products and specialises in liveness detection for financial services, enterprise security, healthcare, human resources, citizen ID, border management, law enforcement, defence, and intelligence.

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LEVERAGING INSIGHTS IN DIGITAL BANKING RETAIL BANKING

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TOP 10

06 iProove

Founded: 2013

The UK-based company iProove has developed Genuine Presence Assurance (GPA). The solution is used to deliver high security for online identity authentication, providing companies with the ability to check that the person they are speaking to is a genuine customer. Genuine Presence Assurance, which is currently being used by the NHS. Eurostar and the US Department of Defense.

05 Securekey

Founded: 2008

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce has recently partnered with the Torontobased biometrics technology company, SecureKey, to improve its customer verification processes. Securekey specialises in facial recognition software that uses AI and machine learning to authenticate users.

The authentication process utilises mobile selfie technology to verify users.

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TOP 10

04 Sumsub

Founded: 2015

Sumsub was launched in 2015 and is a leading provider of biometric authentication for cryptocurrency exchanges. The London-based company recently partnered with Bybit to support its user onboarding process. Sumsub’s secure technology is providing customers with enhanced KYC and AML routines and secure identity checks. The updated platform asks users who request to move over 50 BTC, to submit a photo of their ID and then go through a selfie biometrics check through a smartphone app.

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TruNarrative Founded: 2017

TruNarrative provides transaction monitoring, identity verification and fraud network detection.

TruNarrative and ieDigital recently entered a digital ID collaboration.

The partnership provides banks and financial institutions with a number of services, including ID verification, eKYC, AML, and account monitoring technologies.

The UK based company services the banking, fintech and regtech sectors and is a leading UK player.

TOP 10

FaceTec vs 120 Spoofs: 90 Seconds

FaceTec

Founded: 2014 Founded in 2013, FaceTec is a variable newcomer to the biometric arena, but its three dimensional ‘anti spoofing’ facial recognition technology is far from embryonic. The authentication system maps the human face from three angles and also uses AI technology to ascertain ‘liveness’ of the person to identify deep fake attempts.

Currently, the technology is being used in a variety of places, from biometrically unlocking cars to enabling users to gain access to their financial accounts.

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NEC's Face Recognition based application

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TOP 10

NEC Corporation Founded: 1899

One of the longest established technology companies globally, NEC was founded in Japan in 1899 as the Nippon Electric Company. With centuries of experience in the electronics industry, NEC has been researching and innovating authentication technology since the early 1970s. The corporation currently specialises in fingerprint recognition, palm print technology, and facial recognition.

However, the NEC biometric division is also exploring iris, voice and ear acoustic recognition software as part of its biometric authentication programme.

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EVENT PREVIEW

The Ultimate FINTECH & InsurTech

LIVE EVENT FinTech & InsurTech Live, the industry’s ultimate event, launches this month alongside our celebration of the Top 100 Leaders in the FinTech and InsurTech industry WRITTEN BY: JOANNA ENGLAND

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his October, BizClik Media Group launches a new platform to connect our digital communities, combining the strengths of in-person and virtual discussion, networking and access to the industry’s leading voices.

FinTech & InsurTech Live, a brand-new event, takes place 12-14 October 2021, giving you the opportunity to network with C-level executives, gain insight from industry pioneers and walk away with actionable insights to accelerate your career. Taking place and streaming live from Tobacco Dock in central London, it is a unique opportunity to reconnect with the fintech and insurtech community after such a prolonged period of disruption.

This event is the next step in placing our digital community at the heart of the

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EVENT PREVIEW

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EVENT PREVIEW

“ Our aim is to provide professionals with the tools, techniques and innovations they need to be at the forefront in our everevolving industries” JAMES CALLEN

MANAGING DIRECTOR, BMG CONNECT

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fintech and insurtech industries. Organised

by BizClik Media Group, FinTech & InsurTech Live is shaped and influenced by the thousands of professionals who interact with our magazines, websites, live streams, podcasts and exclusive industry reports every day.

“With over 120 speakers confirmed, our agenda for October is shaping up to be spectacular, with three days of insightful content from some of the best in industry,” says James Callen, Managing Director, at BMG Connect. “Our aim is to provide professionals with the tools, techniques and innovations they need to be at the forefront in our ever-evolving industries.

“We are partnering with online platform Brella to deliver the event however you choose to participate,” Callen adds. “Whether attendees decide to attend virtually or in person, they will still be able to interact with industry pioneers and participate in discussions on topics that are affecting their

business, allowing them to walk away with an actionable framework to implement into their strategy.

“FinTech & InsurTech Live is ultimately about delivering value and insights to elevate your career and further your organisation’s objectives. Whether that’s navigating global disruption, achieving vital ESG commitments, or strengthening the partner ecosystem that makes your value chain unique, we look forward to welcoming you later this month.”

World Leading Speaker Line-up FinTech & InsurTech Live will bring together global industry leaders to discuss the challenges, opportunities and issues facing fintech and insurtech across a variety of formats, including keynote addresses, panels, and fireside chats. Confirmed speakers for FinTech & InsurTech Live include: • Tevi Legge, VP and Head of Digital Products at ATB Financial • Colin Payne, VP and NextGen FS Global Lead at Capgemini • Luke Manning, Head of Sustainability at the London Stock Exchange Group • Elona Ruka-Wright, CRO at Finastra • Johnathan Holman, Head of Digital: Corporate & Commercial Banking at Santander • Alistair Fraser-Hawkins, CEO, UK Corporate, at Marsh McLennan • Diana Dinis, Product Director of Daily Banking at Mambu • Parul Kaul-Green, Board Member of UK InsurTech board, Tech Nation, at AXA • Scott Abrahams, Senior VP of Business Development & FinTech at Mastercard • Bryan Carroll, CEO at TNEX • Nino Ulsamer, Co-founder and CTO at StashAway

Join us at LIVE In a COVID-disrupted era, we understand that travel is not always possible. As such, BizClik Media Group has decided that FinTech & InsurTech LIVE will offer the best of both worlds through hybrid accessibility.

In Person For attendees who wish to join the event in person, the venue is working to governmentendorsed AEV All Secure Framework, alongside mia’s AIM Secure and ‘Good to Go’ accreditation, to ensure a COVIDsecure environment to facilitate all of your networking needs.

Virtually Our physical Tobacco Dock venue is both historic and stunning, but it has no bearing on the information that you and your peers can gain from the event. Absorb it all, interact with other attendees, and enjoy the conference experience on our virtual platform, powered

by Brella, featuring live feeds from all of the stages, as well as virtual networking areas.

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In Association With:

THE ULTIMATE FINTECH & INSURTECH EVENT OCTOBER

12th - 14th STREAMED LIVE FROM TOBACCO DOCK LONDON A BizClik Media Group Brand

Confirmed Speakers Include: Jonathan Holman

Head of Digital Transformation: Corporate & Commercial Banking Santander UK

Scott Abrahams

SVP Business Development and Fintech Mastercard

Bryan Carroll CEO TNEX

Rafa Plantier

Head of UK & Ireland Tink

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Creating Digital Communities

Top 100 Leaders in FinTech To be announced at the FinTech & InsurTech LIVE Event

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EVENT PREVIEW

“ The Top 100 Leaders are individuals championing everything that we love about technology and embracing best practice that’s good for business”

Top 100 Leaders in FinTech and InsurTech The definitive list of leading executives and influencers will be announced at the event and shared across social media channels, our websites, and presented in a special supplement that honours all of those named in our annual list.

“The Top 100 Women, which we shared to coincide with International Women’s Day 2021, recognised the incredible and influential women driving our industry,” says Scott Birch, Editorial Director, BizClik Media Group. “The success of that initiative encouraged us to recognise the Top 100 Leaders – individuals championing everything that we love about fintech and insurtech and embracing a best practice that’s good for business.”

Tickets are still available for FinTech & InsurTech Live, just click on the button below.

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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, BIZCLIK MEDIA GROUP

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