Fortune Favours the Brave: Entrepreneurialism in fintech

It used to be that new technology capabilities were there to support existing business channels. But technology isn't just a supporting feature for organizations anymore, technology is a business channel. And for banks to take advantage of that, they need to be flexible, they need to be quick to adopt new features, and they need to have a solid tech foundation. And above all, they need a robust digital implementation strategy.

In this Financial Futures season finale, we explore what makes for an effective, and repeatable, digital implementation strategy. We ask what the building blocks of a successful implementation are and we find out what the common pitfalls are to avoid. Plus, we'll learn what institutions need to do to maintain their digital capabilities beyond the onboarding stage.

Joining us on this episode are vice president and general manager for Digital One at FIS, Héctor Pagés, and chief technology officer at BreakFree Solutions, Bradley Clerkin, to guide us through the technical capabilities and mindset banks need to ensure digital implementation success.

We'll also ask:

• How have digital banking and digital implementation evolved?
• What do pre-digital and post-digital mean for banks?
• Why has digital become so important for banking customers?
• How do banks ensure they stay ahead of the latest technology trends?
• Why do banks need to be involved in their digital implementation strategy?
• What are the six essential capabilities institutions need to ensure digital success?

Consumer banking, loan applications, car insurance - there are some financial services that no one was surprised to see go digital. But some others (until recently at least) seemed like they would always belong more in a mahogany-clad Wall Street office than on a phone screen. But as technology has advanced, and as consumer trends have changed, more and more services are meeting customers where they are and going digital.

And the world of wealth management is no exception to this new rule.

In this episode of Financial Futures, we learn how the as-a-service model is coming to wealth management and how this technology is democratizing this essential resource. We'll find out how demand for wealth as a service has grown in light of increasingly optimized user experiences across the tech sector and we'll learn why legacy technologies are hindering, rather than helping, wealth managers to provide the best value.

Joining us in this episode are head of wealth management at FIS Global, Luke McCabe, and head of wealth management consulting at NTT Data, Eric Bittel. They'll reveal how the wealth management landscape has evolved (and where it's going), and they'll discuss the current challenges wealth managers are facing, along with some potential solutions.

We'll also ask:

• What is wealth as a service?
• How is wealth as a service helping wealth managers to focus on higher-value work?
• What are customers demanding from the wealth management user experience?
• How can firms stay relevant and provide value to wealth management customers?
• What can wealth management professionals and firms do to prepare for WaaS adoption?
• How is WaaS making wealth management more scalable and allowing for flexible pricing models?

Time is the nemesis of the rewards program. Because as society's taste for streamlined processes has grown, the long minutes spent signing up for cards at checkouts and remembering logins online have become decidedly more inconvenient. However, those clunky loyalty program processes will soon be a thing of the past thanks to a very modern rewards solution, underpinned by tokenization and fuelled by superior data collection, making its way into the mainstream.

In this episode of Financial Futures, we learn all about the future of loyalty and rewards programs and how these solutions are working for consumers and merchants alike. We'll find out where modern rewards programs can offer the most value to customers and businesses, and we'll find out why the benefits of tokenization aren't solely monetary.

So, join us as we speak with managing director at PWC, Doug Dwyer, and director of loyalty at FIS, Mladen Vladic, all about the technologies helping to set organizations apart from the competition all while keeping customers coming back for more.

We'll also ask:

• What is tokenization?
• How can modern loyalty programs be used to benefit charities?
• What makes modern rewards programs more financially beneficial to merchants?
• How is tokenization helping organizations to personalize their rewards programs?
• What do rewards programs mean to customers and why are they important?
• How can organizations adopt modern rewards and loyalty programs?
• What does the future of loyalty look like? 

Most financial institutions are well beyond the mom-and-pop store stage of their journey. And while this greater scale is good for business, it does make knowing their customer base almost impossible. And knowing the people an organization serves is essential if they are to continue offering the right products and services. But how does an institution get to know thousands of customers?

The answer is simple - they need a customer data platform.

In this episode of Financial Futures, we find out how customer data platforms are helping financial institutions (and indeed a whole host of businesses) to once again reconnect with their customer base. We'll learn how data is helping to shape new services and strengthen customer engagement, plus we'll hear about some of the out-of-the-box strategies organizations have utilized thanks to the insights they've gained through their CDPs.

Joining us today are senior director of full-stack solutions at TEKsystems, Peter Thum, and senior director of strategy and decision & data solutions at FIS, Brandon Richardson. Join us as we find out how CDPs fit into an organization's data strategy and how institutions can adopt the technology.

We'll also ask:

• How do customer data platforms differ from traditional data warehouses?
• Why do organizations need to understand their customers better?
• How should organizations approach their customer data platform efforts?
• Which organizations (and departments within those organizations) can benefit from a CDP?
• What do institutions need to ask themselves before adopting a customer data platform?
• How will CDPs continue to evolve?

At the center of every bank’s operation is its mainframe. These computing behemoths power all of a bank’s core processes, allowing institutions to function day to day. But mainframes the world over are facing some challenges. They’re becoming difficult to maintain with the talent pool of specialists qualified to keep them operational dwindling each year. Plus, the yearly cost of running them is high and likely to keep rising.

Banks need to upgrade their cores to a more sustainable and cost-effective technology - and the solution everyone is turning to is the cloud.

In this season of Financial Futures, we’re examining a new generation of intelligent tools that are making financial services fit for modern institutions and their customers. And in today’s episode, we’ll learn how banks are taking on the task of migrating their cores from the mainframe to the cloud.

We’ll be joined by banking cloud leader for North America at Accenture, Nicole Lanza, and division executive of modern banking platform business at FIS, Rick Foresta, as we find out why banks are choosing to move their cores to the cloud and how they’re de-risking the transition.

We’ll also ask:

• How important is it for banks to move their cores to the cloud?
• What are the benefits of having a cloud-native core?
• Should banks opt for a public, private, or hybrid cloud model?
• What are the risks involved in migrating banking cores?
• How should banks approach the task?
• What does having a cloud-native core look like?

Creating a startup in any sector is a challenge. But given the level of technology, regulation, and specialist knowledge required, creating a successful business in the fintech space is even more complicated. But thanks to technology partners (and competitors that are always on the lookout for new innovations), visionaries in fintech don't need to go it alone when trying to bring their products to market, making entrepreneurialism in fintech a truly unique pursuit.

On today's episode of Financial Futures, we delve into the world of entrepreneurialism in fintech to find out how startups can set themselves up for success in the fintech space. We hear from an entrepreneur about their own journey to market and learn about the challenges and opportunities in the current investment climate.

Joining us today are CEO of Cashplus, Rich Wagner, and SVP of banking and payments Europe at FIS, Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly. They reveal what makes the fintech space such a unique, lucrative and collaborative market for startups to break into, and Rich details his own journey of taking his idea to market. Plus we'll learn how technology partners can help startups to actualize their innovations.

We'll also ask:

• What's it like being an entrepreneur in the fintech space?
• Why is it important to keep your competitors close when bringing new products to market?
• Which skills and attributes do entrepreneurs in fintech need to be successful?
• What are the benefits of innovating during a time of market instability?
• How do you spot opportunities to innovate?
• What are investors' priorities when making investment decisions?

ESG has become an increasingly important factor for investors over the years, but, recently, it's become a top priority for customers, and even employees, too. And with this increased pressure to be seen to be doing good, financial institutions are looking for new ways to improve their environmental, social, and governance credentials. However, finding ways to boost these efforts aren't always easy wins and organizations need help to work out where improvements can be made - and this is where transformative business process optimization can help.

In this episode of Financial Futures, we learn how transformative BPO is helping financial institutions not only to streamline their processes and find new efficiencies, but also how it is facilitating organizations' ability to meet their own ESG goals. We debunk some of the myths around BPO and we explore a real-life example of one institution's journey to better ESG through Transformative BPO.

Joining us today are sales lead of business process transformation and resourcing at FIS, Simon Penny, and SVP of banking and payments Europe at FIS, Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly. We discuss why ESG is so top-of-mind for everyone from investors to customers, and we reveal why good ESG starts with a thorough self-assessment of processes.

We'll also ask:

• How do ESG and transformative BPO go hand-in-hand?
• What is the difference between transformative BPO and outsourcing?
• Why is ESG important for financial institutions?
• Where can transformative BPO  help financial institutions?
• How should organizations evaluate their ESG strategies?
• Why is it important for institutions to appoint their own head of ESG?

Forming good habits takes time. But for some young people, forming the right ones around managing finances happens either far too late, or not at all. And as new financial products emerge, and as our relationship with cash becomes more abstract, the task of teaching children how to manage money is getting more complicated. So complicated in fact, that even the schools can't keep up. But what if learning how to balance the books wasn't just left up to the schools? What if institutions could help share the load?

In this special three-part series of Financial Futures, we're exploring the work FIS is doing by partnering up with fintechs and entrepreneurs to shape the future of the financial services industry. And on today's episode, we learn how one institution is taking on the mission of teaching young people how to manage money, and we ask who should be responsible when it comes to educating children about finances. We also find out how good financial education helps to promote financial inclusivity, and we discover the societal benefits that come with having a money-matter-savvy young population.

We'll be joined by co-founder and COO of goHenry, Louise Hill, and SVP of banking and payments Europe at FIS, Silvia Mensdorff-Pouilly, to discover how goHenry is bridging the financial education gap in young people's learning, and to find out how the financial services industry is proactively trying to foster a more financially inclusive society.

We'll also ask:

• How does better financial knowledge help in securing a better future for young people?
• What do institutions need to do to create a financially inclusive society?
• How do we teach children to form good money-management habits?
• What are the pillars of strong financial education?
• Who is responsible for teaching young people to manage money?
• How has going cashless affected children's understanding of money?
• How is goHenry helping young people to learn about money in a safe environment?

For every successful technological solution, there are dozens more relegated to history. Betamax, Zune mp3 players, Google Glass. All three were part of industries that saw enormous success (home video, digital music, and augmented reality); however, these products never won the battle for supremacy. So what separates the successes from the failures? What makes a trend long-lasting? And how do you determine which new technologies to place your investment dollars in?

In short, how do you identify the right disruptive themes and key trends?

In this episode of Financial Futures, we examine the emerging trends, themes, and technologies that could form the groundwork for the future of financial services. We find out how institutions can distinguish between game-changing trends and flavors of the month, and we ask what organizations can do to future-proof their investments and back the right emerging technologies.

In today's episode, we speak with Vice President of Future Exploration and Ventures at FIS, Ed Barker, to find out how institutions can look to the past to make better predictions about the future. And we'll find out how investors and fintech founders can set themselves up for success in economically volatile times.

We'll also ask:

• How can financial institutions separate important trends from all the noise?
• What are the current themes affecting the financial services sector?
• How could emerging technologies transform the way consumers interact with financial services?
• What will the rise of embedded finance mean for traditional financial institutions?
• How will the cooperation between startups and corporates drive the evolution of fintech?

The next generation of fintech is just around the corner. Gen one brought financial institutions greater technological integration during the dot-com boom, and gen two delivered traditionally in-person functions digitally thanks to the use of APIs and the cloud. But gen three will bring the financial services industry into a new era, building upon the successes of gen one and two to enable the greatest user and institution experience yet.

In this episode of Financial Futures, we take a look at the development of financial services over the last 30 years and examine the advances taking place to define the future of finance into 2030 and beyond. We learn all about the technological milestones and societal shifts that are influencing change within the fintech industry, and we’ll hear how institutions will respond to changing consumer attitudes and the never-ending innovations within the financial space.

In today's episode, we speak with SVP and global head of venture investment at FIS, Stephane Wyper to find out what gen 3 will mean for customers, institutions, and even society. We'll explore the advances and attitudes that will shepherd in this new age of fintech and find out how the digital and physical will combine, making financial services truly omnichannel.

We'll also ask:

• What is fuelling innovation and the change in customer attitudes?
• What are the factors affecting new technology adoption?
• Where do cloud and API technology fit into the third generation of fintech?
• What is developer-less integration?
• What will the financial services industry look like in 2030?
• What is the future of brick-and-mortar banks and financial institutions?