Author: Charlie Burgess

Beyond Good and the Power of Purpose-Driven Fintech

Beyond Good and the Power of Purpose-Driven Fintech
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Book Review, Diversity in Fintech, FinovateSpring 2021, Speaker series, Women in Fintech

When we think of global corporations and business in general, do we feel pride in how we do things? Beyond Good, a new book by Unconventional Ventures co-founders Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer, is a call to arms for business leaders to recognize how they can do well by doing good.

Beyond Good showcases how fintech is changing business models and what every industry can learn from it. The leaders in financial services are fostering a thriving ecosystem of incumbents and startups, unlocking new possibilities to make broader financial inclusion a reality.

With a foreword from the Aspen Institute, exclusive interviews with leading B-Corps, policy makers, executives, and case studies from companies like Sunrise Banks, Ant Group, Village Capital, Microsoft, and PayPal, Beyond Good shows how everyone can contribute to a more common good. Finovate readers can also get 20% off their copy of the book, using code Inspire20.

Below are a few excerpts from our conversation with Theo and Brad on the new book and their upcoming appearance at FinovateSpring next month. For the full interview, check out the video above.

On the importance of financial inclusion

Theo Lau: “If we talk about the onset of the so-called fintech revolution, if you will, a lot of the new startups seemed to regurgitate old ideas that have already been around. They make it prettier, they create this bamboo credit card … But it that really changing our behavior, is it really changing how we work? In the West, are we really including more demographics and doing things better for them? I would argue a lot of the time we are not.”

Bradley Leimer: “Inclusivity goes much broader than just a credit card or just lending or just credit. And that’s a lot of what we discuss. There’s more to a financial relationship than one side of the balance sheet. There’s more to the financial services model than just profitability. There are longer term implications in everything we do every single day and every decision that we make.”

Why fintechs and financial services need to move “beyond good.”

Leimer: “We’ve seen a lot of stakeholder capitalism lately and examples of companies that have tried to mean more for their business model and their communities. That’s what we celebrate in the book, the shift that we can include more people in our communities in society. Especially in financial services and technology, companies we really need to focus how we can serve these larger groups. Everybody in society should be able to be a part of our business models. And that’s why we go “beyond good.”

Lau: “We want to reinforce that this is not a zero-sum game. Just because we are including more demographics and more considerations on how we conduct business doesn’t mean you’re losing. Case in point, one of the things lately we’ve been talking about is student loan debt, $1.7 trillion dollars of debt. Obviously the burden is shared across all demographics, but particularly in communities of color, among first generation college students, and among those in other less advantaged groups.

So our question is: how do we go about solving it? There are a lot of different moving parts. But for financial services, the role isn’t just to offer another loan on top of the pile of deb because that’s not solving the problem. We need to go back further to ask how we create a more equal society, more equal products, and create services to help people rethink their finances and get to a healthier financial situation.”

Join Theo Lau and Bradley Leimer at FinovateSpring May 10 through 13. For more information about our upcoming, all digital, spring fintech conference, visit our FinovateSpring hub today.

Photo by Steve Johnson from Pexels

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How Obsecure is Tackling the Digital Identity Crisis

How Obsecure is Tackling the Digital Identity Crisis
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2021, Obsecure

Demoing companies showcasing new and innovative technology are at the heart of Finovate events. We caught up with FinovateEurope 2021 demoer Erez Zohar, CEO & Co-Founder of Obsecure, about the company’s beginnings and the adaptations and takeaways from launching during a pandemic.

Tell us about Obsecure, when was the company founded and what problem was the company founded to solve?

Erez Zohar: Obsecure was founded in January of 2020 with a mission to provide next generation identity trust biometric solutions for assuring the highest level of trust at time of digital onboarding and high risk transactions.

What in your background gave you the confidence to tackle this challenge?

Zohar: I spent the last 20 years helping financial service organizations fight financial crime and fraud. One of my key observations was that the industry spends so much effort to spot bad actors and suspicious activities but as a result good customers are being treated as suspects as well. A lot of authentic account opening applications are being declined or abandoned because of complex verification steps. Transaction limits and various authentication challenges are being imposed on good customers. This results in frustrated customers who are likely to abandon a digital onboarding process or switch to a different financial institution, especially in such a competitive market. 

So I decided to develop products that focus on the good customers vs. the bad actors, increase identity trust and remove friction. 

Who are your primary customers and how do you attract them?

Zohar: Our technology is applicable to any digital service. However, our primary market focus at the moment is within financial services and payments / ecommerce. The value proposition is simple. We help you accept more customers which means growing your business. We further help you take on riskier business and keep your customers happy – all while protecting you from bad actors.

Tell us a little bit about the technology behind your solution.

Zohar: Our core technology uses privacy-preserving face biometrics with state-of-the-art biometrics matching and liveness detection. We use this core technology plus other very unique techniques to develop innovative solutions that are different than anything else in the market today. Our two main solutions are: 

  • CyberPrint™ – a biometrics identity verification solution that corroborates identities against their online visual persona. This solution can augment and in some scenarios replace document verification. The goal is to increase trust at time of onboarding and accept customers that otherwise would be rejected. We came up with an innovative approach that both increases trust but also maintains customer privacy which is key to everything we do
  • AuthenticAction™ – a notary-grade digital action signing solution that signs any digital transaction with the biometrics of the customer, ensuring that no one but the true customer can initiate the transaction. Very powerful for high risk transactions such as large wire or alcohol purchase. The innovation here is about using continuous biometrics authentication and combining identity with action into a single channel. 

How did COVID-19 impact your company and its customers? What were some of the big adaptations you had to make? What are your biggest takeaways from the experience?

Zohar: COVID-19 hit not long after we started our journey and we were initially concerned. However, the accelerated shift to digital turned out to be a great driver for solutions like ours. This is also when we decided to expand our offering beyond high risk transactions to remote digital onboarding which is so critical today.

My key takeaway from this experience is to always be thoughtful about how to mitigate risks and at the same time seize opportunities which are presented when the market changes.

What can we expect from Obsecure in the months to come?

Zohar: Our products are innovative and unique in their nature and as such are adopted by innovative and nimble organizations first. Our focus in the next few months is on helping our customers and design partners gain the most value from our solutions and make the necessary enhancements. In parallel we plan to expand our customer base in both the financial services and payment / ecommerce markets. And of course, our roadmap is full of new and innovative ideas which we plan to add to our products.

Watch Obsecure’s FinovateEurope 2021 demo below.

Photo by Olya Kobruseva from Pexels

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Three Ways Collaborative Innovation Benefits the Payments Industry

Three Ways Collaborative Innovation Benefits the Payments Industry
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2021, List series

How does a technology company with a near-50 year pedigree adapt and grow in a world of rapid technological change? How does a company like this meet the challenge of embracing new opportunities while remaining true to its core competencies and values?

“Our core mission has not changed,” Nick Kerigan, Head of Innovation Execution at SWIFT explained in an interview for Finovate TV. “But we are moving from a world of point-to-point messaging to end-to-end transaction orchestration.”

Watch the rest of the conversation to find out how you can collaborate to Innovate with SWIFT.

On the ways SWIFT’s new strategy benefits the payments industry

In payments, we believe we can unlock huge opportunities that help our community strengthen their many existing market segments like core banking, B2B, and cross-border payments. We also think we can open up bold new opportunities for the future around SME and consumer segments. What we’re essentially trying to do is to create instant and frictionless, account-to-account transactions anywhere in the world. The vision is to make international payments as simple and easy as domestic payments.

Obviously that’s a big goal and it won’t be accomplished overnight. But we do think, particularly with our transaction management platform, that it’s fully achievable.

On the key areas of focus in SWIFT’s new innovation agenda

Innovation is not new to SWIFT; we were created to solve a big industry challenge 40 years ago, so that’s at our heart … A few things are high on our mind: one is cloud and simplifying the journey to cloud. All large financial institutions – and smaller ones as well – have important programs around bringing their services into the cloud. Everyone knows the benefits of doing that – and they also know that can be quite a challenging task.

What we’re doing is aiming to ease that journey for our customers. We’ve launched new cloud-based products and we are also making our existing products cloud-ready so when our customers are ready to migrate and move, we are ready for them.

On the collaborative innovation and the importance of partnership

Organizations in the financial community often find it challenging to balance the imperative of innovation with everything else they have to do on their agenda, which are often driven by forces such as regulations and others, that means that they are “must do.” What we say with collaborative innovation is that one way of unlocking that challenge is to work much more together as a community so the burden isn’t on any one bank or institution, but the burden is more shared.

SWIFT is well-placed to help the industry collaborate because we are a neutral, member-owned organization that sits in the middle of this great financial community. We think that by enhancing collaborative innovation and working together we can maybe unlock some of these problems that individually we struggle to solve.

For more from our Finovate speakers, check out our Finovate TV YouTube playlist.

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The Evolving Role of the CDO at Financial Organizations

The Evolving Role of the CDO at Financial Organizations
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Sponsored

This is a sponsored post from InterSystems

Over the past several years, the role of the chief data officer (CDO) has evolved from being security-and compliance-oriented to being strategic and innovative. Not only are chief data executives of all stripes taking on a more progressive role in key business decisions, but the position itself is becoming an essential staple of forward-thinking organizations, especially at financial services organizations. According to a 2019 study conducted by Forrester, 58% of organizations had appointed a chief data officer and another 26% were planning to do so.

Moving forward, data executives must focus not only on securing data and ensuring their organizations meet rigorous data regulations but also on new strategies for leveraging Big Data and their organizations’ proprietary data to generate business value. This will require new strategies in data management, as well as the deployment of new data solutions like data fabrics, automated governance, machine learning, and blockchain.

Primarily, it will require data leaders to focus more on offensive data management—a data strategy that supports key business objectives, such as boosting profitability and improving customer outcomes—in addition to defensive data management, which refers to the strategy of securing data and maintaining compliance with regulations.

Read Intersystems’ latest report on The Evolving Role of the CDO at financial organization, which provides benchmarking information about how CDOs are fairing in a rapidly shifting regulatory landscape and exploration of CDOs’ and other data professionals’ opinions on enabling an offensive approach to data management and their best practices.

Read now >>

Photo by Tobias Fischer on Unsplash

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Facing Up to the “New Normal”: FinovateEurope 2021 eMagazine

Facing Up to the “New Normal”: FinovateEurope 2021 eMagazine
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Accusoft, Finovate eMagazine

It’s hard to believe it’s only been one year since FinovateEurope 2020 wrapped. What a year it’s been! Looking back on the 2020 demo and speaker videos feels notable precisely because of how “normal” they all look. So much of the past year has been spent dealing with specific challenges and simply trying to weather the storm. It almost seems bizarre to see innovations that don’t specifically address COVID-related problems. But that’s exactly what we have to start doing again.

As we inch towards a gradual re-opening process and, with any luck, a new, more sustainable status quo, it’s vital that we don’t forget one of the biggest lessons of 2020: to prepare for the future, we have to look beyond the problems we can already see.

Fintech is an industry that rewards those who see problems before they arise, and there are no shortage of opportunities waiting just around the corner. Now is the time to look upstream and maybe even dust off projects you shelved a year ago. Put simply, it’s time to stop playing defense all the time and approach fintech with optimism again.

The writing is on the wall – we are going to return to “normal” again. Now it’s up to all of us to imagine how good “normal” can be.

Download the FinovateEurope eMagazine to:

  • Read the latest thought leadership on returning the a “new normal”
  • Watch key sessions from FinovateEurope 2021 and find out who won Best of Show
  • Access exclusive insight from Headline Sponsor, Accusoft, on the top 5 trends to look out for this year
  • Listen in on the latest Finovate Podcast episodes, with industry experts and previous Finovate alumni

Download now >>

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Customer Engagement Tactics to Boost Loyalty and Monetization

Customer Engagement Tactics to Boost Loyalty and Monetization
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Finovate Webinar

Upcoming webinar
Title: Customer Engagement Tactics to Boost Loyalty and Monetization
Date: Thursday, April 15, 2021
Time: 04:00 British Summer Time
Duration: 1 hour

Research shows brands that excel in customer engagement often exceed their revenue goals. But how well is the financial services industry really responding to customers, and delivering on promises of “customer-centricity?”

Join this upcoming webinar where our expert panel will explore the top trends in customer engagement in 2021 for financial services companies, growth levers for financial service businesses, and how customer engagement strategies can be used to drive long-term growth. Find out which steps you can implement now, and in the long term, to improve customer engagement. Hear first-hand insights from Wise, including how the company has advanced its customer engagement strategy over time.

Featuring:

  • Erin Bankaitis, Strategic Business Consultant, Braze
  • Andrei Dinca, CRM Lead, Wise
  • Talie Baker, Senior Analyst, Aite
  • Moderated by Greg Palmer, VP, Finovate

Register now >>

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Women in Fintech: Janice Diner, “I Look at Money as Fuel — It’s All Equal to Me”

Women in Fintech: Janice Diner, “I Look at Money as Fuel — It’s All Equal to Me”
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Women in Fintech

Celebrating and empowering women in fintech is something Finovate supports throughout the year, not just during Womens’ History Month and on International Womens’ Day – earlier this week, on March 8. And you may have already seen our next guest contributor, Janice Diner, CEO, Founder of Horizn, across other parts of the Finovate ecosystem. Be it on the Finovate Podcast to talk educating customers and turning employees into digital advocates, or at the physical (or digital!) Finovate events following Horizn’s latest demo. Today, Diner shares her journey through fintech as part of our #womeninfintech series.

What barriers did you face, as a woman, in becoming successful in your field and how did you overcome them?

Janice Diner: I think of my career in two phases, before I was the CEO and founder of Horizn I was a successful Creative Director. I had no concept of the “glass ceiling”, I was part of the 3% of successful women in advertising.

When I got into tech and started Horizn, all that changed. Back in 2013 issues that presented barriers to female entrepreneurs weren’t as loudly discussed. I remember feeling it in the room, when you are or have been successful, you know what a winning room smells like.

I often talk about being bootstrapped and proud. The hidden story behind that statement reflects my early experiences at fundraising in 2013. Remember, I had a full-blown creative director ego and had no concept of ‘ceilings’. But I ran into the “female” problem of fundraising at the time and smashed right into that ceiling.

At the time it seemed like a monumental problem, but we turned it into an opportunity and we walked in another direction.  I think it has to do with how we look at money, I look at money as fuel — it’s all equal to me. At the end of the day, money is capital to build and run my business, that’s true no matter where that money comes from, whether it is venture capital, client revenue or debt financing.

And what about now, in 2021?

Diner: I am now in my 10th year of running the business. We are an award winning fintech helping many of the world’s largest banks. There is no doubt the future of banking will rely on digital platforms and the widespread adoption of new technologies. With that certainty in mind, Horizn equips both bank customers and employees with the knowledge needed to accelerate digital banking knowledge, fluency and adoption.

We won two Best of Show Finovate awards in 2020 and have multiple client awards. I am most proud when our clients speak for us about their success with Horizn, in articles, in fireside chats, webinars and on stage.

What was your first experience at Finovate like as a female CEO?

Diner: I remember my first Finovate event back in 2015, I was one of a few female CEOs on stage, nothing new for me. But this time was different. Women came up to me afterwards just to thank me for representing. They were just happy to see a female tech CEO on stage.

At Horizn we are very grateful to benefit from the diversity Toronto has to offer; together at Horizn we speak 20 languages and come from 15 countries. The team is made up of 44% women, impressive for a tech company.

On International Women’s Day, what is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

Diner: When asked the question what advice would you give women, I think my advice is to entrepreneurs in general. Do what you love and be good at it, the rest will come. The five ways I have built the business are…

  1. Build product in real time with your customers
  2. Love your customers and make them love you
  3. Visit/speak to your customers and go to industry events (or virtual – COVID)
  4. Hire the best — people are everything when you are building a great company
  5. Remember you are not in the start-up business. You are in a business.

In summary however I found regardless of what barriers I may have had or which doors have not necessarily open as I would have expected, it is always important to look at them from an opportunity perspective. Success is pretty much how you choose to define it.

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The New C-Suite Challenge: The Rise of Customer Experience

The New C-Suite Challenge: The Rise of Customer Experience
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Finovate Webinar

Upcoming webinar
Title: The New C-suite Challenge: Rise of Customer Experience
Date: Wednesday, March 31, 2021, then on-demand
Time: 02:00 PM Australian Eastern Daylight Time
Duration: 1 hour

As this year shapes up, more digital disruptors are poised to change the financial services landscape. In APAC region, we are seeing digital-first organizations harnessing the power of data to provide enhanced customer experiences to give them a competitive edge and deliver timely, relevant offerings to their customers. Customer Experience (CX) will become the currency of financial services organizations in the future and help determine how products are developed for an increasingly informed customer.

Join the webinar to hear our expert panel talk through their experiences and insights on these key themes:

  • How to fuel continuous innovation across divisions and teams
  • Building data driven initiatives within financial services organisations
  • How organisations are working with fintechs to drive better experiences

Featuring:

  • Andrew Aho, Regional Director, Data Platforms, InterSystems
  • E Long Chua, Group CTO, Kenanga Investment Bank
  • Freddy Lim, Co-founder & Chief Investment Officer, StashAway
  • Brad Scarff, CTO, YellowFin
  • Moderated by David Penn, Research Analyst, Finovate

Can’t join us live? Register now and we will send you a recording to watch on demand. 

Photo by Sabel Blanco from Pexels

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Women in Fintech: Regina Lau on How to Contribute and Support Gender Equality

Women in Fintech: Regina Lau on How to Contribute and Support Gender Equality
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Women in Fintech

Continuing our #womeninfintech series, we ask Regina Lau, Chief Strategy Officer, Retail Merchant Services, a TVC Portfolio Company and Executive Board Member of European Women Payments Network (EWPN), about her thoughts on International Women’s Day and the challenges and opportunities for women in the industry.

What does IWD & #ChooseToChallenge mean to you in your work life?

Regina Lau: International Womens’ Day (IWD) is a day to celebrate all the achievements from women around the world and also all the women who have been inspirational role models, no matter if they made big headlines or not. As a member of the Executive Board of European Women Payments Network (EWPN), this is also a very important day for us to continue the call for change and recommit to supporting all women. I believe that “when one rises, we all rise”.

What barriers did you face, as a woman, in becoming successful in your field and how did you overcome them?

Lau: I’ve always worked in male dominated industries, so I was often the only woman in the room (or at my level).  It was challenging to ensure that my perspective and ideas were heard.  I built as many relationships as possible with people who I knew supported and championed me. I also made sure I participated in discussions and meetings – if I was at the table, I was speaking up.  

How could men contribute to support gender equality?

Lau: Mentor and sponsor women and give them equal access to opportunities. Give women credit. View women through the “people” lens – speak up and stop gender-biased language and descriptors (i.e. when a woman speaks in a direct style or promotes her ideas, she is often called “aggressive” and “ambitious.” But when a man does the same, he is seen as “confident” and “strong.”) 

Can you tell us about your role model who have inspired you over your career?

Lau: I’ve admired many different women and men over my life.  One piece of advice that stuck with me was “you deserve a seat at the table, and when you get that seat at the table, make it count”.  

How important is it for women to lift each other up and what does that mean to you?

Lau: This is so important.  I had very few female role models growing up and throughout most of my career.  I wasn’t sure who had also experienced the same challenges I faced, and I didn’t know who to go to for support.  This has made me even more aware of the need to support other women, no matter how small or big.  Sometimes, people just need a listening ear or to know that someone else has gone through it before.  

What is your favourite part of your job? And then the most rewarding?

Lau: Working in teams with colleagues and partners to solve problems is my favourite, and mentoring & coaching both women and men to help them grow and learn is very rewarding.

On International Women’s Day, what is the most important message you want to send out to young women thinking about their careers?

Lau: Be bold, try new things and don’t underestimate yourself.  You won’t know unless you try – and if you need to, try again.

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Going Beyond International Women’s Day with NYC Fintech Women

Going Beyond International Women’s Day with NYC Fintech Women
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Women in Fintech

What does International Women’s Day and #IChoosetoChallenge mean in practice, and what can be done to support and develop truly diverse teams? How does the world of fast-paced fintechs compare with legacy banking when it comes to embracing women in leadership, and empowering new voices to be heard from the bottom up?

Ahead of International Women’s Day, Charlie Burgess, Head of Digital Content for Finovate, sat down with Nicole Newlin, VP Solutions at Ocrolus and part of the Leadership Team at NYC Fintech Women, and Filippa Noghani, Head of Marketing – Banking and Financial Services at Virtusa and Board Member and Marketing Chair of NYC Fintech Women to talk opportunities and challenges, walking the walk of celebrating women, and why brands getting on-board with the IWD should look beyond making it just a marketing stunt.

Watch the full interview below. If you’re interested in finding out more about NYC Fintech Women, visit their page and learn more about the panel discussed, taking place at FinovateSpring Digital 2021 here.

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Women in Fintech: Kim Snyder on Personalization and Data as an Enterprise-Wide Asset

Women in Fintech: Kim Snyder on Personalization and Data as an Enterprise-Wide Asset
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Diversity in Fintech, Women in Fintech

With International Womens’ Day just around the corner, we continue our #WomeninFintech series and speak with Kim Snyder, CEO & Founder, KlariVis about her journey through fintech and advice to the next generation of women coming through.

Tell us about yourself and your career path to your current role.

Snyder: Personally, I am a very family-oriented person and prior to the Pandemic we had started some new traditions, like “Sunday Brunch-day”; it truly is my favorite thing to do and I cannot wait until we are able to restart those activities!

My career path to KlariVis is probably not what you would expect.  I started my career with KPMG and then moved into an accounting/finance role for a small private liberal arts college. My next step was where the entrepreneurial bug hit me: I joined a local start-up company focused on creating new innovations in a variety of industries and it was here I saw what it was like to build something from scratch and it was invigorating, exciting and scary all at the same time. I then spent 10 years at a community bank, and it was my passion for this industry that fueled my drive to take the chance and start my own consulting business. During those course of 4+ years, I hired many previous team members to help me build a premier, boutique consulting firm focused on helping community banks solve the prevalent issues they are faced with in this rapidly changing industry. 

The one challenge that resonated more than any other, though, is the data conundrum that exists in the banking industry.  Regardless of size, core system, talent level or management team experience, our clients were paralyzed with the mass volume of data generated by the various siloed processing systems and the bank’s inability to access that data in an efficient manner, thus making it virtually useless to the institution. We knew that there had to be a better way and thus the idea of KlariVis was born. We spent about a year incubating our solution and our consulting clients became our focus group – by the end of that year, they were using phrases like “game-changer” related to our solution.  So, I started a second company in February 2019 and hired a technology firm to take our proof of concept and turn it into reality.  We launched KlariVis in January 2020 and the response was incredible from our prospect banks. We issued a press release last week – FVCBank has now invested in KlariVis due to the value and impact our platform is having on their bank.  I’m not sure what better testament there can be than for a client to say, I want to be more than a client, I want to invest in your success and become your long-term strategic partner.   

There seems to be a big push towards knowing your customer and providing a personalized and exceptional service in recent years. How should banks go about this?

Snyder: Community banks are known for their exceptional customer service – they typically have a very loyal customer base who value the personal touch.  The PPP program highlighted this very fact – it was the community banks who stepped up and were the heroes by helping the small businesses in their communities.

How do they take that exceptional customer service and turn it into a more personalized experience? I believe it all starts with treating data as an enterprise-wide asset – making sure it is in the hands of the relationship managers who interact with and serve bank customers every day.  The banking customer is communicating to its bank every day through transactions, whether they be transacted in person or digitally. 

Unfortunately banks and credit unions are hampered by the numerous disparate systems that exist in the banking ecosystem, most of all which have critical data points about their customer base. As such, they have no choice but to leverage solution providers to enable them to aggregate this information, cut out the noise and focus on the high-value actionable data points that will allow them to offer that more personalized touch. 

Allowing easy and efficient access to customer data at the front-line is paramount to improving and personalizing the customer experience.

Are there other trends you see driving innovation within banking/ fintech?

Snyder: Digital transformation is the primary focus for financial institutions of all sizes and I don’t see that changing for quite some time.  We’ve been talking in the industry for years about this wave coming, and due to the Pandemic, it’s here.  In a recent survey by the Digital Banking Report, the top three strategic priorities for 2021 were consistent for big and small institutions:  1) improve digital experience for consumers; 2) enhance data and analytic capabilities; and 3) reduce operating costs. 

Fortunately for KlariVis, we hit 2 of the top 3 strategic priorities – enhancing data and analytic capabilities and reducing operating costs. Our solution accomplishes both and enables financial institutions to improve the overall customer experience.

What is important to you as a leader of a fintech? Does KlariVis have any initiatives that support diversity/ women in fintech?

Snyder: I strive to build a diverse and talented team. KlariVis was born out of an identified need in the banking industry but it was conceptualized through creativity and innovation.   Diversity provides our team with expanded creativity stemming from different perspectives based upon life and work experiences.  Absent of diversity of thought, skills and unique perspectives, our concept would not be what it is today. 

My goal is to hire the best talent for the Company’s open positions, but as a female leader, I am passionate about ensuring that opportunities for women continue to grow in fintech and would like to see the same trend at KlariVis.  Many tech industry roles are often filled by men.  At KlariVis we have three females at the C-Suite level and each of us is equally passionate about hiring, promoting, and compensating talented deserving women.  We would like to see more female applicants for technical positions particularly software engineers and have recently begun participation with a university’s internship program which may yield diverse candidates for future open positions. 

What advice would you give to women looking to begin a career in banking/fintech?

Snyder: For women looking to begin a career in banking, fintech or another field, it is critical to learn the industry. Evaluating positions typical to the industry and matching that with individual skills, likes and dislikes is key to finding a position that is a good match. Passion is critical particularly in the rapidly growing fintech arena.   

In addition to pursing an applicable degree and identifying a mentor, take the time to listen and learn from that person who can provide a frame of reference that you would not have otherwise. There are many different aspects of banking and financial technology is moving quickly with new innovations. Banks are trying to keep up with the latest and greatest technology advancements as well as their competitors with the goal of enhancing the customer experience. I recommend that anyone with an interest in banking or fintech read everything they can to stay current with the industry. 

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5 Key Fintech Trends for 2021

5 Key Fintech Trends for 2021
By Charlie Burgess Posted on
Categories: Sponsored

This is a sponsored post by Accusoft.

While 2020 made its mark on the financial industry by causing tremendous disruption, 2021 is shaping up to be a year remembered for transformation and adaptation. Companies are hard at work building new digital strategies that will help them to thrive in an increasingly volatile economy.

Fintech developers are taking up the challenge to meet the functionality and performance demands of the financial industry as firms embrace true digital transformation. Their ability to build applications that deliver new features and integrate new capabilities into legacy solutions will be critical for helping firms reshape existing technology infrastructures.

Top 5 Fintech Trends to Watch in 2021

1. Customer-First Solutions

With so many fintech applications to choose from, financial organizations must take the time to consider which solutions are best suited for the needs of their customers. Banks and investment firms once put their own needs at the center of their processes, but in an increasingly competitive marketplace, they have realized that providing a high-quality user experience is paramount to success. They can begin transforming processes by eliminating friction to allow customers to access the services and products they need more quickly.

Fintech developers can help them to eliminate manual processes, reduce external dependencies, and automate common tasks by designing unified digital solutions that address multiple challenges and streamline workflows. By integrating features like document viewing, file conversion, and form data capture into their applications, innovative developers are finding ways to strengthen the connection between firms and their customers.

2. Enhancing Digital Collaboration

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the financial industry has embraced remote work arrangements for the foreseeable future. The transition has created significant demand for digital tools that can facilitate effective and secure collaboration. Not only must physical documents be converted into digital form, but firms also need ways to make those files available to remote employees without threatening data security or causing version confusion.

Organizations frequently turn to a variety of incompatible software solutions and improvised workarounds to meet their viewing, editing, and document management needs rather than implementing a dedicated, all-in-one solution. Unfortunately, these ad hoc measures create inefficient third-party dependencies, expose data to unnecessary risk, and make human error more likely. Fintech developers can integrate these features into a single application through the use of SDKs and web-based APIs.

3. Managing Big Data

Financial services firms gather massive quantities of data on a regular basis. Although much of that data is unstructured and needs to be filtered through sophisticated algorithms to bring notable trends and risks to the forefront, the industry also collects a great deal of data from structured forms. Structured documents such as loan applications, tax filings, and financial statements all provide valuable data insights that organizations can use to make more informed strategic decisions.

Fintech applications with the ability to extract and process data from structured forms accurately is essential for improving the performance of powerful analytics tools deployed by today’s financial firms. Software integrations can further enhance fintech solutions with image cleanup, document alignment, and form recognition features that make the data collection process more efficient and accurate.

4. Disaster Mitigation

After seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive disruption to global markets and supply chains, financial organizations are reviewing the way they do business to reduce the impact of similar disasters in the future. One of the key steps in this process will be the rapid transition to paperless workflows and an expansion of electronic data capture capabilities to reduce the reliance upon manual processes.

Solutions that incorporate streamlined document viewing, file conversion capabilities, and data extraction tools will be essential to these “disaster proofing” efforts. By automating previously manual tasks, such as data entry, document assembly, and signature authentication, Fintech solutions can help financial companies protect their business processes from future disruptions.

5. Expanded Partnership Opportunities

Although traditional financial institutions like banks have been skeptical of many fintech solutions, the rapidly-changing market has caused them to reassess their technology in order to reach a new generation of customers. Collaboration between banks and innovative fintech startups was already on the rise before the pandemic reduced longstanding barriers to digital transformation. The challenge they now face is how to integrate their operations and data while also launching innovative services across multiple channels.

Fintech developers can streamline this process by building flexible software applications capable of handling a variety of file formats without the need for any burdensome third-party dependencies. In some cases, that may mean building entirely new solutions, while in others it might call for integrating additional features into firmly entrenched legacy applications. The fintech companies with the ability to get innovative software platforms to market more quickly will be able to make the most of their partnership opportunities.

Building Better FinTech Solutions with Accusoft

Accusoft’s diverse library of SDKs and APIs allows developers to easily integrate robust content processing, conversion, and automation capabilities into their solutions. Whether they’re using PrizmDoc Suite to give their web applications the ability to natively view, edit, and convert documents, extracting data from multiple form types with FormSuite for Structured Forms, or building image cleanup, OCR, and PDF annotation features into their on-prem applications with ImageGear, FinTech companies can trust Accusoft to help them overcome the challenges of 2021 and the years to come.

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