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Finovate Blog
Tracking fintech, banking & financial services innovations since 1994
In order for fintech to be for everyone, it needs to be from everyone.
It’s a line that will strike a chord with anyone, across industries, who find themselves in the minority within teams and businesses, or even the sole representative of a different background or perspective.
Addressing gender-gap challenges in the finance industry is on-going, and a key part of this is providing a platform for women to share their insights and vision for the future of fintech. As part of this endeavor, we brought together some of the leading women from FinovateEurope to share their thoughts not only on issues on diversity in the workplace, but also on the key pain points in their field and their ideas on how to overcome them.
First, here’s a look at an interview with Dr. Louise Beaumont, Tech U.K.’s Co-Chair of the Open Banking & Payments Working Group. Beaumont was the Chair of the Open Banking Industry Stage at FinovateEurope last month and spoke with Finovate Research Analyst David Penn on the future of open finance, why banks need to believe they are trusted, and creating a full data daisy.
Penn also interviewed Ghela Boskovich, Founder of FemTechGlobal and Chair of the Digital Future Industry Stage at FinovateEurope. In this conversation, Boskovich explores why culture is the cornerstone on which financial institutions built looks at and the need for more public education around data.
The next interview was with Theo Lau, Founder at Unconventional Ventures and Chair of FinovateEurope’s Future Tech Industry Stage. Lau explores the challenges AI presents to legacy businesses and gender diversity in fintech.
Finally, here’s a conversation with Simone Vroegop, Head of European Product Management of Financial Technology at Brown Brothers Harriman. Vroegop discusses why it is crucial to have an open mind and look to where value can be added to an asset manager’s operating system, and why she’s surprised that hasn’t been more disruption in the sector.
To promote the gender goal of 50/50 diversity in financial services, women who register by this Friday, March 13, can purchase a ticket to any 2020 Finovate event at a 50% discount. Just enter the code EQUALITY on the booking form.
African American comedian Richard Pryor joked after seeing the classic, 1976 movie Logan’s Run that the future didn’t look so bright to him. Why? Well, with no black people cast in the futuristic sci-fi flick, the legendary funny man surmised that, perhaps, “White folks ain’t planning on us being here.”
A similar thought comes to mind when anticipating the upcoming presentation by strategic futurist and TEDx Curator Nancy Giordano at FinovateSpring in May. In spite of the increasing evidence that the future belongs to women, the ranks of futurists – the people helping us understand, anticipate, and prepare for the world to come – tend to feature far fewer women than you might imagine.
This is just one of many reasons to look forward to Giordano’s keynote opening address “Navigating the Big Shift – How Exponential Technologies are Changing … Everything.”
A guest lecturer at Singularity University, and a ten-year TEDx curator, Giordano is recognized as one of the top female futurists in the world. A frequent panelist at South by Southwest, she has been on the board of the retail trade association, GMDC, and on the advisory council of both Retail Tomorrow and Future Frontiers, a fintech conference designed to help strengthen community banks. She also is a part of Austin, Texas-based, artificial intelligence services provider KUNGFU.AI.
And given her theme at FinovateSpring, of how big shifts change everything, it is easy to wonder how a shift in perspective on the future – from male-generated to female-generated – can fundamentally enhance our capacity to cope with technological change.
“You are also a human that is going through this. You are a parent, you are a son or daughter. You are part of a community that is wrestling with these questions,” she said in a compilation of remarks titled What Does the Future Expect from Us and How Do We Create that Future? “It’s hitting us personally, not just professionally.” She used the example of a group of women, all strangers, spontaneously consoling a young mother and her child at an airport as the model for the kind of take-action agency and humanistic focus she believes is required in order to build the future we need.
To this end, Giordano warns businesses to avoid the temptation to not make decisions. She uses the metaphor of training soldiers to act dynamically in the face of often existential uncertainty to explain why companies need to move beyond pining for “killer apps” or “the right time.” Often, she notes, by the time that’s happened, it’s often too late.”
Giordano’s futurism is a human-centered one. In response to an extended discourse from a cloud computing specialist who was extolling the virtues of the digital cloud during a conference panel, Giordano asked, “what is the equivalent of the human cloud? What allows us to level up in that same way? And are social technologies keeping up with digital technologies?”
Again and again, Giordano emphasizes less the new gadgets and gizmos to come from exponential technology development and instead reinforces how these technological changes will require new behavior on our part. “This is not just about understanding the Shift,” she says of the “permanent state of ambiguity” that characterizes our technological – and social – present and future. “It calls to a different kind of leadership, or ‘leadering’, or posture, or approach.”
To promote the gender goal of 50/50 diversity in financial services, women who register by this Friday, March 13, can purchase a ticket to any 2020 Finovate event at a 50% discount. Just enter the code EQUALITY on the booking form.
As any woman working in fintech can tell you, we have a long road to equality. The good news is that equality starts with us.
And because we are responsible for exemplifying the change we want to see in the workforce, we are in control of how we inspire others and create solutions.
Today we bring you perspectives from two women working in the fintech field to get their take on what they are doing to be the change they want to see.
First up is Sophie Theen, Chief People Officer at Oakam, a U.K.-based fintech that helps underserved individuals build credit. Theen is passionate about recruitment, culture, diversity, and inclusion and has helped a number of tech startups with talent recruitment and HR strategy. She has received multiple industry awards, including being named a WeAreTheCity Rising Star Finalist in 2019.
In your professional life you help startups recruit talent. What is your strategy in promoting diversity?
Sophie Theen: Hiring for diversity to me is very simple. We don’t want to deliberately hire for diversity i.e., rejecting male candidates or promoting or writing an advert that only speaks to a woman. It’s about making it fair and equal to all candidates who are in the process and ensuring that the hiring managers and panel of interviewers are diverse, too (so no all male or female panel).
It’s also got a lot to do with the way we present ourselves as a company. If we want to be recognized as an inclusive employer, then we need to always remember to put effort in taking those baby steps.
Tell us how someone in the industry has helped empower you.
Theen: So I haven’t been in fintech for so long yet, and my first experience wasn’t all that amazing. I was new to the industry and had to learn to navigate through adversity in a heavily male-dominated environment, most of the time feeling quite lost and insecure.
This was the case until I joined 11:FS in 2017. The leadership there really changed my impression about the industry. My CEO then, David Brear, empowered me in every way you could imagine; that made me realize this is the industry I’m passionate about and this is where I want to make a change for the better.
How do you empower other women to achieve success of their own?
Theen: Simple, I give as much of my time as I can back to the women that I meet, cross paths with, and to those who reach out to me asking for support. Because if it wasn’t for my community and mentors around me, I wouldn’t have gotten the strength– let alone the confidence– to enjoy doing what I’m doing everyday.
The one most important thing I’ve learned from them was that I needed to believe in myself. So to anyone of you thinking you can’t– stop. We’re the only ones limiting ourselves!
Our next interview was with SVP of Product and Marketing at biometric authentication company iProov, Aarti Samani. After working for more than 10 years in the investment banking space, Samani transitioned to the tech sector and has since gained experience in banking, consumer technology, and healthcare.
Talk to us about efforts at iProov to promote diversity within the organization and in the tech community at large.
Aarti Samani: iProov is an inclusive and diverse organisation. We always look to hire the right person for a role based on their experience and skill set. Everyone gets a fair chance regardless of labels like race and gender. We actively promote a culture of inclusivity in the organization in a number of ways. Our flexible working policy encourages an inclusive workplace, as well as women centric comms channels to provide support. The diversity in demographics across the organization enables iProov to propel as a startup.
We celebrate the uniqueness of our people, and endeavour to inspire young people from all walks of life. For example, as part of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, iProov published a blog post showcasing the career trajectories and accomplishments of my colleagues and I. By demonstrating some of the exciting work that STEM skills can lead to, we hope to inspire young women to pursue STEM.
Despite a lot of progress, women are still highly underrepresented in technology – both as employees and as leaders. I take conscious responsibility to empower women and other minority groups around me.
Tell us about a way someone in the industry has helped empower you.
Samani: I have been incredibly fortunate to have had great mentors and sponsors who have both supported and guided me in my career.
According to research from the Center for Talent Innovation (CTI), 85% of women and 81% of multicultural professionals need navigational support to figure out how best to succeed in the workplace, but often don’t receive it with nearly the same regularity as men.
I would like to take this opportunity to call out Eric Collins, a former colleague, and now a dear friend. Eric not only helped me navigate a career transition from finance to technology, he was also a strong role model and an influential sponsor. His endorsement and guidance helped me to grow as a leader and helped advance my career in an otherwise male dominated environment.
Working with Eric was a very positive experience and has greatly shaped my approach to leadership, team-building and the impact I aspire to have on people I work with.
How do you empower other women to achieve success of their own?
Samani: As a leader, I mentor and coach members of my team and in the wider industry to help them develop their professional and people skills to help them succeed in their careers.
I am invested in the growth and well-being of my team so that they are able to be their best selves at work and in their personal lives. I am a big believer in celebrating each individual’s accomplishments and ensure that their work is recognized across the organization. This instills a sense of pride in their work and fuels a virtuous circle of increased confidence in their ability to deliver, which encourages people to aim higher and in turn accomplish more. To foster mental well-being and create space for the team to reconnect with themselves as well as each other, I make available weekly team meditation sessions. This, coupled with an emphasis on open, collaborative team culture means everyone leans in and acts as sponsors for their colleagues. This leads to lower stress levels overall, and promotes greater happiness in and out of work.
To promote the gender goal of 50/50 diversity in financial services, women who register by this Friday, March 13, can purchase a ticket to any 2020 Finovate event at a 50% discount. Just enter the code EQUALITY on the booking form.
When it comes to defending your data, Enveil’s speciality is helping prevent you from losing it while you’re using it. The company, which picked up $10 million in funding last month and made its Finovate debut at FinovateFall in 2017, enables businesses to securely perform analysis on encrypted data at scale.
“Over the past three years, we’ve successfully created a market, solidified customer use cases, executed enterprise deployments, and expanded our capabilities, for protecting data in use where it is and as it is today,” company CEO and founder Ellison Anne Williams explained when the company’s Series A round was announced. She added that the funding will help the company market its ZeroReveal product suite on a “global scale” and, indeed, the company announced just a few days later that it was opening a new office in London.
Enveil VP of Sales Craig Trautman referred to the London opening as “an important first step toward expanding our footprint in the regions most directly affected by evolving global regulatory standards.”
Founded in 2016, Williams launched Enveil after years of working with institutions like the National Security Agency – where she was a Senior Researcher for more than ten years – and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab. She has leveraged this experience – and advanced degrees in mathematics (algebraic combinatorics and set theoretic topology) and computer science (machine learning) – into building one of the more innovative companies in the secure data collaboration / privacy enhancing technologies industry.
In a commentary for Dark Reading last month, Williams explained how a focus on securing data itself is one of the best ways for companies to negotiate an ever-shifting regulatory environment. To avoid the “hamster wheel of compliance,” she argued, businesses should learn how to secure data rather than the “networks, applications, and endpoints” that data uses.
The biggest challenge with securing data is that one of its most critical states – the state of being used – is also the most challenging state to secure. Compared to data that is not being used – data either at rest or in transit – data in use, according to Williams, represents the “point of least resistance” for the latest generation of cybercriminals. This is in large part because many of the technologies to secure data in use have historically not been “practical enough for commercial use.”
And this is where Enveil comes in. By discovering a way to apply technologies like homomorphic encryption, that are effective defenses for data in use, in a commercial context, Enveil offers businesses in verticals ranging from financial services and supply chain finance to cloud security and healthcare a way to securely work with secure data without having to decrypt it.
Enveil’s flagship solution, its ZeroReveal Compute Fabric, is a two-party platform of a ZeroReveal Client application which resides within the enterprise, and the ZeroReveal Server application, which is located where the data is kept. Via standard APIs, the technology works alongside the business’s current protections to provide security during the data processing lifecycle. Within this solution, Enveil offers functionality to power searches of secure data (ZeroReveal Search), conduct analytic investigations on encrypted data (ZeroReveal Analytics), and support the use of secured enclaves like Intel’s SGX (ZeroReveal Enclave).
In addition to expanding geographically, Enveil is also looking to add to its team. The company is specifically looking to bring on engineering talent to support new products, as well as additional sales and marketing team members to help drive Enveil’s efforts overseas.
“Enveil is stepping up to solve a fundamental security challenge: preserve privacy while ensuring that data remains usable,” C5 Capital Managing Partner Zulfe Ali said. “By empowering organizations to secure data throughout its lifecycle, Enveil’s contributions go beyond adding business value and ensuring compliance.”
As part of our ongoing #WomeninFintech series, and to celebrate International Womens’ Day, we sat down with several women leading the way in their sector and picked their brains on their role and the future of the industry. First up is Michal Kissos Hertzog, CEO of digital bank Pepper on the challenges of… challenger banking.
Finovate: What key lessons have challenger banks learned on their journey to be digital only?
Michal Hertzog: One key lesson businesses have learned is that you can’t just paste a “digital core” over an incumbent bank. They have to be truly digital or there will be limitations and barriers. The benefits of having a business model that is digital to its core is that banks can adapt quickly to constantly evolving customer demand, technology, and innovation. Incumbents with legacy systems need to adjust quickly or partner with tech and fintech companies, or innovation will always be slower.
Finovate: Why have we seen such a boom of “digital-only banks?” Do you think these challengers have the ability to take on the more entrenched players?
Hertzog: The profit and loss model no longer works. Unlike the incumbents, digital-only banks have the advantage of being able to utilize data to operate on customers first, profit second basis. Customer needs and demands are changing and they expect so much more from the companies they engage with on a daily basis. For example, Pepper’s research found that two thirds (67%) of Brits don’t feel well-equipped to make the best financial decisions for themselves, yet nearly half (47%) believe it’s a bank’s duty to help them make better financial decisions. This shows that banks need to do more in providing the necessary tools to help consumers make the best financial decisions.
This is something that many challengers have already achieved and are excelling at, so for the incumbents, it really is a question of adapt or die. Ultimately, this customer-first approach will benefit the bank, as their customers are more likely to opt for greater profit-producing solutions such as mortgages or investment products. For example, Pepper Invest provides customers with tips, guidance, and insights to break down the barriers to the investment market for all consumers, regardless of their financial ability.
Finovate: How do you ensure a great customer experience when you are a digital bank?
Unlike traditional banks who have implemented technology solutions to improve how they currently work, digital banks tend to do things differently. They work hard to identify customer pain points and then implement tech solutions to solve them.
Another way is by leveraging data. Digital banks might not have the long history of data that the incumbents do, but they are far better at utilizing it to adapt to consumer demand and offer personalized services. This typically creates a much better experience for the customer. For example, we know that debt is a huge problem for many people, so at Pepper, we use data to provide our customers with the necessary guidance before this happens, such as suggesting cheaper loan alternatives to an overdraft.
Finovate: How do you see fintech as a whole evolving over the next decade?
In the next decade, we can expect to see a lot more partnerships and collaborations – not just between banks and fintechs, but also fintech-to-fintech partnerships. Many successful businesses realize the importance of collaboration, so they can focus on what they do best and use other companies for the rest.
The other trend we can expect from fintech is increased personalization through the use of AI. At Pepper, we envisage a world where a consumer enters their favorite coffee shop, and we drop money into their account to pay for their coffee as a reward. This level of personalization and customer obsession will dramatically reform the banking industry in particular, as consumers opt for products that truly understand them and their needs.
To promote the gender goal of 50/50 diversity in financial services, women who register by this Friday, March 13, can purchase a ticket to any 2020 Finovate event at a 50% discount. Just enter the code EQUALITY on the booking form.
At Finovate, we believe that fintech has the potential to benefit people all around the world, helping with fundamental problems like access to capital, basic banking services, investment opportunities, and more. In order for fintech to make a difference on a global scale, though, it’s vital to get diverse opinions, experiences, and insights into the conversation. One group (though certainly not the only group) that’s consistently underrepresented in fintech is women, who face a slew of obstacles and challenges that their male counterparts don’t have to overcome.
This is a pain point which I’ve been aware of for my entire life. My mother spent her career working as a programmer for a variety of companies, and I grew up hearing about her experiences in a field dominated by males. Despite the obstacles she faced, she was able to rise through the ranks, and held management positions in some very large companies, including McKesson, Oracle, and Coors. Although I didn’t understand the full implications at the time, I remember hearing stories about interactions she had with male coworkers and employees that (justifiably) set her teeth on edge, and which are even more cringeworthy now that we’re 20 years further down the road.
While there has undeniably been progress made since she began her career in tech in 1985, it’s also undeniable that there’s a long way still to go. I still hear stories that echo her experiences 10, 20, or 30 years ago, and it amazes me that we’re not farther along than we are.
In honor of International Women’s Day today, we are going to be spending a week celebrating women in fintech with inspiring stories from female founders, influencers, and executives, who are helping to shape our industry. We’ll be posting daily updates on our Finovate.com blog, highlighting interviews with women on our Finovate Podcast and YouTube channels, and offering a week-long discount (see footer for details) for all of our 2020 events to help make our shows more accessible to women.
I hope you enjoy the programming coming up this week, and I hope to see the number of female speakers, founders, and attendees at our events continue to rise. In order for fintech to be for everyone, it needs to be from everyone, and we are committed to doing our part to create an inclusive, diverse ecosystem.
To promote the gender goal of 50/50 diversity in financial services, women who register by this Friday, March 13, can purchase a ticket to any 2020 Finovate event at a 50% discount. Just enter the code EQUALITY on the booking form.
The number of women in technology in general, and fintech in specific, is growing. That’s the good news.
As Julie Bort and Rachel Sandler wrote in their 2018 feature on female engineers for Business Insider, “for all the arm waving about the lack of women in STEM professions, the truth is, there are some powerful role-model female engineers having fabulous careers and creating tech used by millions, if not billions of people everyday.”
A report from consulting firm Korn Ferry supports this. The study, conducted last year and looking at the top 1,000 U.S. companies by revenue, noted an increase of 2% in the number of women who held the role of CIO or CTO last year. “The industry with the highest percentage of women CIOs/CTOs,” the report noted “is financial at 25%.”
By comparison, the number of women fulfilling the role of Chief Technology Officer within the tech industry remains fewer, maybe even far fewer, than you might suspect. By industry, Korn Ferry ranked technology behind financial, healthcare, retail, and consumer, besting only the services industry.
Women like Padmasree Warrior, who served as Cisco Systems’ CTO between 2007 and 2015 and, before that, as CTO for Motorola for four years, have been among the relatively few women at the top tier of technology leadership – especially at the largest tech companies. Elissa Murphy, at GoDaddy, Selina Tobaccowala at SurveyMonkey, and Raji Arasu at StubHub are just a few of the female CTOs in charge of technology at some of our economy’s newer, most innovative companies.
Pamela Rice, former SVP of Technology at OnDeck and current CTO of Earnest, during her presentation at FinDEVr Silicon Valley.
Turning to fintech – and our own experience at Finovate – a woman like Pamela Rice comes to mind. The former Senior Vice President of Technology at OnDeck who represented the company at our developers conference FinDEVr, Rice is currently Chief Technology Officer for Earnest. The San Francisco, California-based company she joined in 2019 provides consumer financing options for underbanked populations including recent college graduates. Last summer, she participated in a company-hosted, Tech Meet-Up on Diversity and Inclusion, sharing her thoughts on the value of making diversity “part of the DNA of everything you do.”
We took a look at how the fintech industry was faring in terms of female representation at the CTO level. There is still a great deal of progress to be made. Here is a sample of the women who are increasingly providing technical leadership for fintechs large and small.
Marianna Tessel – Intuit – With more than 20 years experience as a VP of Engineering for companies like Ariba, Docker, and VMWare, Tessel took the helm as Intuit’s Chief Technology Officer in January 2019.
Educated at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute of Science – and having served as a captain in the Israeli Army – Tessel was praised by new Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi as a “transformational change agent” who has created “an engineering culture that has accelerated innovation.”
At Intuit, Tessel is responsible for leading the company’s product engineering, data science, information technology, and information security teams around the world. She first joined Intuit in 2017, leading product development for the firm’s Small Business and Self-Employed Group, including the company’s QuickBooks product family.
Rija Javed – MarketFinance (formerly MarketInvoice) – After more than four years as an engineer for Wealthfront, including roles as Director and Senior Director, Javed joined U.K.-based MarketFinance as the company’s Chief Technology Officer in 2018. This made her one of the first female fintech CTOs in the country.
“Having Rija on board underlines our focus on hiring the best talent and building innovative technology to deliver business finance solutions,” MarketFinance CEO and Co-founder Anil Stocker said. “It’s the foundation we’ll use to help thousands of business(es) access funding quickly and easily.”
While at the Wealthfront, Javed built the company’s first mobile app. Transitioning to the company’s investment products platform, she helped scale Wealthfront’s offerings including the development of a new brokerage and banking platform. With degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Toronto, Javed is also a mentor for the New York Academy of Sciences.
Ekate Kuznetsova – Token Transit – Sometimes the only way for a woman to make sure that there’s a woman’s place at the tech table is to build the table herself. That’s the approach of Kuznetsova, who parlayed her experience in software engineering at Akamai and Google into launching a fintech startup of her own. Token Transit, for which Kuznetsova is founder, CEO, and Chief Technology Officer, provides mobile ticketing and payment verification solutions for public transportation.
Launched in 2016 and available in more than 75 cities in the U.S. and Canada, Token Transit enables people to pay for fares and passes with their credit, debit, or commuter benefits card and provides them with a digital ticket that is stored on their smartphone.
Kuznetsova earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied Mathematics and Computer Science.
While the ranks of female CTOs in fintech remains modest, it should be mentioned that there are women – from VPs of Engineering to Chief Scientists – who are not only currently leading tech teams, but also are likely among the CTOs of tomorrow. For a peek at one shortlist, check out Angie Chang’s spotlight on 21 female executives who could become one of the Fortune 100’s next CTOs.
Know a woman who’s driving technology innovation at one of your favorite fintechs? Send us a note at research@finovate.com!
FinovateEurope is innovative for us in a number of ways. This will be the first time our fintech conference has been held in continental Europe after eight years of hosting our event in London. We are also launching our new Startup Booster program, which is designed to help give fintech startups the information, guidance, and support they need in order to more effectively build, pitch, and market their innovations.
FinovateEurope will also feature the debut of our Women in Fintechstream. Held on the afternoon and early evening of Wednesday, February 12, our Women in Fintech stream consists of presentations, keynotes, a panel discussion, and an end-of-day networking opportunity with refreshments hosted by European Women Payment Network (EWPN).
Here are some of the women who will be speaking as part of our Women in Fintech stream.
Isil Ugurlu
Country Ambassador, Germany, at the European Women Payments Network, Ugurlu is also Head of Payment at Berlin, Germany-based Elumeo group, a firm that produces and sells high-quality gemstone jewelry. She is responsible for the firm’s global payment infrastructure and processes, and the company’s global payment partner relations.
Theodora Lau
Founder at Unconventional Ventures, Lau is a speaker, writer, and innovator. Her focus is on developing and growing an ecosystem of financial institutions, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, and venture capitalists to respond to the needs of an increasingly diverse consumer. She is a mentor to both fintech and healthtech startups, and supports a growing partnered portfolio.
Juliane Schmitz-Engels
Head of Communications at Mastercard for Germany and Switzerland and a host at Fintech Berlin, Schmitz-Engels is also a host at Fintech Berlin and a curator at FocusCamp. Previous to her work at Mastercard, Schmitz-Engels led communications and public relations at technology and finance companies in Berlin and Frankfurt. She studied at the Universitat Potsdam and the Institute for Law and Finance.
Also scheduled to participate in our Women in Fintech stream are:
Akira Sasaki
Ria Shetty
Sabrina Small
Weina Wang
For more on our FinovateEurope agenda, visit our FinovateEurope page. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Berlin!
As we approach the end of the summer, we reignite our #WomeninFintech series. We recently spoke with Kathleen Craig, CEO, HTMA creators of Banker Jr. and Plinqit about what inspired her to launch fintech software for banks and credit unions to engage their next generation of customers and why she thinks the future of fintech has to become more relationship driven.
Finovate: How did you start your career?
Kathleen Craig: I have more than a decade of banking and customer service experience. Prior to launching HTMA, I served as Vice President of eServices at a Michigan-based community bank. I studied Business Administration at Eastern Michigan University.
Finovate: What sparked your interest in fintech?
Craig: During my time with eServices in 2010 through 2012, I could see the writing on the wall that our community bank was going to need to compete in the digital arena. At the time the large cores were making this really hard to do. I understood that open banking and open API’s were an inevitability and I wanted to be a part of driving our industry forward to a place where only the largest technology companies could use technology and consumer data to serve $1 billion bank customers better.
Finovate: What prompted you to launch HTMA/Banker Jr etc.?
Craig: My motivation to create HTMA came from my passion for technology, children, and financial literacy. Our first product, Banker Jr. for banks and Member Jr. for credit unions, launched in January 2013 to provide financial education to children while giving institutions the opportunity to tap into their up and coming customer base through a branded platform. The solution is now licensed by financial institutions in nineteen states.
Finovate: Why is it important to teach financial literacy to children?
Craig: Financial education is lacking, especially among the youngest generations, and we are seeing the effects in consumer financial behavior and saving habits. In fact, according to GOBankingRates, over half (58 percent) of American adults do not have $1,000 in their savings accounts to cover emergency expenses, and many are struggling to pay down debt. Forbes reported that 38 percent of United States households carry credit card debt. Just under half (43 percent) of individuals with student loans are not making payments. Additionally, one in three Americans have no money saved for retirement.
Meanwhile, only 16.4 percent of United States students are required to take a personal finance course to graduate high school, however, the group where the biggest lack of financial literacy can be seen is Millennials, with only 24 percent demonstrating basic financial knowledge. This is a serious problem.
Finovate: Why is it important for banks to embrace new tech?
Craig: One of the biggest differentiators for community financial institutions is their customer service and ability to help their community members. However, increasingly people are not walking in the doors, so technology is going to be the best way for them to translate that great customer service to a digital experience. To do this, we are going to have to push for it and be creative and innovative. Digital lends itself to transactions versus relationships, but we believe it can do both.
Finovate: Where do you think the future of fintech is heading?
Craig: It has to be more relationship driven. While it is great that folks can check balances, deposit checks and transfer money, people really need guidance and help with their money. Right now education and guided experience is not happening yet in fintech. There is a lot of talk about AI, chatbots and data driven tech, but measured successful outcomes that demonstrate a customer is better off having used your platform is what fintechs need to be striving for. The future of fintechs needs to be made up of less buzzwords and more customer results.
Finovate: What piece of advice would you give women starting out their career in finance/ fintech?
Craig: First, you need to do what you are passionate about. Secondly, have great mentors and advocates. The wider and more diverse your circle is the more fun you will have and the more success you will be able to achieve by learning from those you surround yourself with.
As part of our #WomeninFinTech series, we sat down with Kristin Marcuccilli, executive vice president and chief operating officer at STAR Financial Bank.
We talked about her transition from the world of college football to the world of banking and finance, what technology she thinks will lead the way, and why it is important to work with like-minded individuals to drive a business forward.
Finovate: How did you start your career?
Kristin Marcuccilli: STAR Financial Bank is a privately-owned family bank that’s been around for more than 75 years; in fact, my grandfather’s name is the “T” (Thomas) in STAR. Despite this family history, I didn’t always aspire to become a banker. I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and pre-medicine from the University of Notre Dame, and my student work in football operations and player development ultimately led me to my first job in the Notre Dame Football office for three years. It wasn’t until later that I decided to pursue a master’s degree in business administration and management from Indiana University.
While working toward my master’s degree, I asked my dad about potential opportunities with the bank – though I still was unsure if this was the right path, I became more curious as I progressed in my studies and job experiences. When an opportunity to join the bank arose, I had to follow the same process as anyone else. Our bank has strict rules about family employees: we must work somewhere else for five years first; new positions won’t be created just for family members; and we must pursue an MBA or banking certification to even be considered for a senior management role.
In 2008, I joined the bank as a project manager, and haven’t looked back since. Over the past 11 years, I have worked my way up to chief operating officer, and I now help oversee our technology partnerships, project management efforts, bank operations and strategic direction. During my time at the bank, I’ve helped establish a strategic vision, oversaw a website redesign, helped implement 55 Interactive Teller Machines and have enhanced our digital banking strategy.
Finovate: What sparked your interest in fintech?
Marcuccilli:My interest in fintech stems from the reason I choose to work in community banking – it’s a relationship business, and our team’s involvement in creative thinking that will ultimately help change and influence the way people and businesses interact with their bank is an ever-present and ever-evolving challenge. A passion for fintech calls for an entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to embrace failure and change nearly every day. For me, that’s an exciting challenge.
Finovate: What technologies have you seen lately that have excited you?
Marcuccilli: New technology seems to appear overnight. Years from now, we expect that real-time payments will be the norm – no more waiting for money to move overnight or over the course of several days via check. The application of biometrics and advanced analytics for enhanced security will continue to expand and evolve, and artificial intelligence will support personalized customer experience through digital channels. Electronic delivery of documents, signatures and account opening will also likely be dominating a once paper-intensive banking environment. Self-service kiosks will also have advanced to replace much of the standard transaction activity both as in-branch and as standalone options. All of this excites me, as the ability to serve our customers in the best manner possible is where I draw energy.
Finovate: Why is it important for banks to embrace new tech? How is Star Financial Bank doing this?
Marcuccilli: In our rapidly changing industry, banks that are slow to adapt risk falling behind and losing critical business. Bankers have a significant advantage when it comes to building valuable relationships and supporting their local communities, but they must also add modern technology to remain nimble and relevant.
At STAR, we place a strong emphasis on maintaining our community focus while optimizing delivery channels and meeting customers where they are on their financial journey. We take a collaborative approach when evaluating and implementing new technology, starting at the top with our CEO who encourages the team to embrace change.
I am proud to be part of a powerhouse team, working alongside innovators and leaders who dedicate significant time and effort toward studying technology and client behavior to best meet our community’s needs. We have a group of smart, data-driven individuals who ensure our technology and services align with our business and customer demands.
Finovate: Where do you think the future of fintech is heading?
Marcuccilli: Delivery channel optimization (to ensure convenient and engaging customer experience), security threats and payments are all rapidly evolving and will continue to be a major focus in the fintech space. To effectively address these trends, there will be a growing demand and emphasis on the selection of third-party partnerships. Finding the right technology partner – both a technical and cultural fit – will be important in facilitating the best experience for customers.
Finovate: Why is the #WomeininTech movement important?
Marcuccilli: There is a general lack of female representation in financial services, especially when it comes to the technology side of the house. As industry professionals, we can help influence this by supporting and encouraging women to join and contribute to the field. Series like these are a powerful way to highlight how women are innovating and making a difference in their local communities through financial services and technology.
Finovate: What piece of advice would you give women starting out their career in finance/ fintech?
Marcuccilli: My advice is to be open to different possibilities within the financial services and fintech space as there are no shortage of opportunities. It’s important to surround yourself with strategic and smart individuals who help build up the team, supporting professional goals and development. I’d also encourage women to become involved in their local communities. Learning and growing from individuals outside of your organization can also be key to professional success. When we commit to staying attuned to business and industry trends and recent developments, we’re able to better support an ecosystem of entrepreneurship and growth in our local communities.
Finovate: And what piece of advice do you have for other banks to attract and retain more star female talent?
Marcuccilli: At STAR, we prioritize collaboration and innovation, and that’s been very attractive to top talent. Showing potential employees that the bank cares about exploring new ideas from all levels of the institution, not just from management or the C-suite, can be a powerful differentiator. Institutions that break down silos, encourage cross department collaboration and transparency, and embrace change will find more success in attracting and retaining star female talent.
Ahead of FinovateEurope, we spoke to Valentina Kristensen, Director, Growth & Communications at OakNorth, about her experience in fintech, why sometimes it pays to take a chance and write an elevator pitch for your ideal role, and where the future of fintech is set to go. Valentina will be discussing the current state of play amongst challenger banks during her presentation at FinovateEurope next month.
Read more about Valentina Kristensen’s upcoming presentation. And for more information about FinovateEurope, including how to pick up your tickets, visit out information page.
Finovate: How did you start your career?
Valentina Kristensen: My career in communications started at Lansons. I was introduced to the agency by someone I met at a CIPR (Chartered Institute of Public Relations) “drinks and links” event who told me they were looking for recent grads to join their trainee programme. I had sat my final exam at university two months earlier and was a week away from finishing a PR internship, so I was looking for a job in the industry. I really liked the look of Lansons and their clients, so applied, went for various interviews and a test, and was fortunate to get the job. It was 2011, so the midst of the financial crisis when a lot of companies were still undergoing hiring freezes, so I was very lucky to get it when I did!
Finovate: Tell us a little about the work you did when you started at Lansons and how that led you to fintech.
Kristensen: My first client at Lansons was Metro Bank which gave me my first foray into challenger/disruptor brands and from there, I was hooked. “Fintech” as a concept wouldn’t become mainstream for a few more years, but my time at Lansons gave me exposure to a number of challenger brands across different financial services areas – wealth management, alternative lending, pensions, banking, etc. – so I was well-versed in the “fin” of “fintech” by the time I decided to specialise in fintech.
OakNorth was a client of mine – I joined the account in June 2015, so before OakNorth had launched, done their series A, got their first client, etc. A few months after the launch in September 2015, I was seconded as things were getting busier, and from my first day, I absolutely loved it. I loved the work, I loved the challenge, I loved the team and leadership, culturally it was a great fit, and I believed in OakNorth’s mission and what it’s trying to achieve. So I emailed Rishi and Joel (our co-founders) asking to meet with them to discuss an idea I had, and then two days later, I gave them the elevator pitch as to why I felt they should hire me full-time.
Finovate: Bold!
Kristensen: Granted, it was a ballsy move, but I’d have always regretted if I didn’t go for it and fortunately, both Rishi and Joel were very receptive, so it was a risk that paid off! I joined full time in July 2016 and it’s been quite a journey ever since – going from a start-up to where we are today with a £2.6bn loan book, c.300 people across the group, offices in multiple markets, over $570m raised and a $2.3bn valuation.
Finovate: What was your lightbulb moment?
Kristensen: It was during my secondment – it was a Thursday after I’d left the OakNorth offices and I was on my way to meet some friends for dinner. I was on the tube and it just hit me – “I want to work for OakNorth. That is where I should be.” And that was it. By the time I arrived at the restaurant to meet my friends, I was so excited and had drafted a pitch to Rishi and Joel in the notes section of my phone! If I’d been too afraid to take the chance, it’s very likely that I would have missed the opportunity and wouldn’t be here today.
Finovate: Do you think we see too few women in fintech? Why do you think this?
Kristensen: Unfortunately, yes, but with every year that passes, I feel like I’m seeing more and more women pursuing careers in these industries, more and more women speaking at and attending industry events, and more and more women in leadership roles at finance and fintech companies.
I think the reason that historically (and still today) numbers are low is because there’s still not a strong pipeline for encouraging women to enter these fields and move up the ranks into senior roles in these fields.
Finovate: How can businesses improve this?
Kristensen: I’ve seen loads of great initiatives – blind CVs, the Women in Finance Charter, the Fintech Parity Pledge, gender pay gap reporting as it helps to highlight gender disparities at different levels of organisations – and institutions – FinTECHTalents which I’m on the steering committee for, Code First: Girls (I’m actually starting their 8-week coding course this month which I’m really excited for!), Raspberry Pi which is training 40,000 teachers on computing and coding so that every child (boys and girls) in the UK can learn computer science…These are just a few examples, but businesses could partner with these institutions or commit to some of these initiatives and I’m sure we’d see numbers improve.
At OakNorth, we work with schools and universities to do anything from a guest lecture or Q&A session on getting into fintech, all the way through to larger initiatives whereby we sponsor a series of talks and events specifically aimed at encouraging girls and young women to consider STEM industries for their future careers.
Finovate: What advice do you have for women starting their career in FinTech?
Kristensen: My advice isn’t really women specific, as I think it’s relevant for anyone starting their career in the industry – take every opportunity to learn and meet new people. There are loads of free industry events that are great for doing this such as: the Monzo open office days or Fintech Insider After Dark Live. Also, make sure you subscribe to relevant podcasts as they’re a great way to get to grips with all the different parts of the industry and discover which one excites you most – some I listen to are: Fintech Insider from 11:FS, Rebank: Banking the Future, and Breaking Banks.
Finovate: What tech innovations are you most excited about this year?
Kristensen: Well what we’re doing at OakNorth – applying big data and machine learning to SME lending – clearly excites me! But beyond that, I think anything in regtech is also super-interesting as it affects pretty much everyone working in the industry, and could have a 10X impact on their ability to securely service customers without jeopardising on the speed or quality of the user experience.
Finovate: So, what will the future of fintech look like?
Kristensen: It depends on how far into the future we look! In the next five years, I think we’ll see more consolidation amongst small-to-medium sized fintechs, IPOs from some of the larger ones, more unicorns being born (and some dying), and (hopefully) more fintechs proving that pursuing growth and pursuing profits are not mutually exclusive!
Mary Jane Ajodah covers fintech and emerging technology within the Client Service Delivery Strategy Group at Bank of New York Mellon. Her responsibilities entail developing use cases for emerging technology with various business areas, identifying and driving opportunities for partnerships with third parties, and articulating a strategic vision around new technology for operations. Ahead of her session at FinovateFall – Industry Discussion: Transforming Legacy Businesses with AI – Building win-win Partnerships while Focusing on Utility, Practicality and Efficiency – we speak to her about her career path and her words of advice to the future women in fintech.
Finovate: How did you start your career?
Mary Jane Ajodah: I started my career in IBM’s internal strategy consulting practice. I worked on several projects core to IBM’s reorganization and transformation, including the launch of the IBM Digital business unit. I gained invaluable experience at IBM, particularly around how innovation and change are executed in a mature enterprise.
In late 2015, a recruiter from BNY Mellon reached out to me on a role focusing on fintech within the bank’s Operations Strategy team. Around this time, interest in topics such as ‘enterprise blockchain’ and AI was accelerating, with a great deal of discussion around the future role of custodians and other financial intermediaries. It was a unique opportunity and key point in time. Since joining, I’ve worked on a number of projects related to BNYM’s overall growth and innovation strategy. I’ve also appreciated the opportunity to cultivate our relationships with startups and VCs where there is mutual benefit.
The recurring theme for both of these roles has been driving change within enduring organizations (IBM at 100+ years, and BNY Mellon at 234 years). Mostly, I’ve been fortunate to have learned from inspiring senior leaders, and to have worked with excellent teams.
Finovate: What sparked your interest in fintech?
Ajodah: I was interested in both finance and technology separately, and my current role brings both together. I studied economics and international relations at NYU, and wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on sovereign debt and default. As I started my career, I wanted to ensure I had a skill set that would endure over the long-run – understanding the impact of technology on changing business models is a core component.
Finovate: What was your lightbulb moment?
Ajodah: I’ve had a few lightbulb moments on specific projects during my career, generally uncovering some root cause or issue and proposing a solution after interviews with various stakeholders and subsequent analyses. It is very rewarding when those moments happen.
Finovate: What inspires you?
Ajodah: Travel inspires me the most. I like to do a lot of solo travel, and have visited a lot of cool places. I visited Svalbard, the last human settlement before the North Pole, when it was 24 hours of night. This trip inspired an Off-Broadway show that I wrote and produced this past July — “Savage Force”. We sold out for all the nights of our run.
I am inspired the most by those that can be successful in multiple fields of endeavor – Fridtjof Nansen – who discovered most of the Arctic, along with being a scientist and diplomat, is one of them!
Finovate: Why is the #WomenInTech movement important?
Ajodah: My generation has tremendous opportunities thanks to the success and contributions of the women of generations prior. During the time I spent both at IBM and BNY Mellon, there have always been senior women at the highest levels of management with tremendous energy, experience, and knowledge.
Finovate: What piece of advice would you give women starting their careers in fintech?
Ajodah: View your career as a marathon, not a sprint. The ability to contribute consistently and effectively over time, and put in the intensity where it is truly needed is crucially important.
