The key takeaways from FinovateAsia and FinovateMiddle East 2019
Fintech innovation continues at a blistering pace and the opportunities for financial institutions to harness new technologies and embrace digital transformation have never been greater. In Singapore in October FinovateAsia brought together 100 expert speakers; 20 leading fintechs to demo their solutions and 450 attendees to explore and debate a path to change in the brave new digital world.
The live demos once again put innovation front and centre on the stage. Our unique demo model showcased some of the most transformative solutions being created across the whole fintech value chain and gave the audience the chance to speak to the innovators behind the most exciting tech in finance. Given the diversity of fintech innovation on display at FinovateAsia, anticipating which companies would win our coveted Best of Show awards was a challenge but with the final votes cast it was clear that two companies stood out from the pack.
All of our speakers agreed that fintech is Asia is booming and traditional financial services like payments; lending; wealth management and insurance are all facing disruption from fintechs and platform players alike. Speakers from financial institutions across the region debated how incumbents need to reimagine their business if they are to protect market share in an increasingly competitive environment. And the conversation has firmly moved towards collaborating with fintechs rather than competing with them to meet the needs of customers used to the level of service provided by the tech giants.
Across two main content days and two summit days we covered a myriad of topics – from regulation to lending; insurtech to AI; blockchain to emerging Asian markets; investing in fintech to financial inclusion. Time and time again we came back to the critical importance of the customer experience; the ability to harness data and the need to embrace new technologies for real business reasons not for window dressing. FinovateAsia ended on an optimistic note; opportunities abound for financial institutions who have a roadmap to embrace meaningful change and to rebuild trust with their customers. Theo Lau, Founder of Unconventional Ventures and chair of the AI Summit summed it up perfectly – “We need a glass box, not a black box – banking should be about trust, fairness and explainability”.
Following on from the explosion in recent years of the fintech market in the Middle East, Finovate returned to the UAE, one of the leading players in regional fintech advances, in November. Across the two days, over 20 demoers and 50 speakers took to the stage to showcase the latest range of innovations.
Both keynotes, Chris Skinner, Finanser, and Sonia Wedrychowicz, former Head of Technology Transformation at JPMorgan Chase, spoke extensively about the positioning of developments in MENA fintech with respect to broader global developments and to show how banking in the Middle East is changing.
To succeed in this rapidly-changing world, a common thread that emerged was the need for cultural change and commitment from senior management - empowering teams to deliver value to customers, and being encouraged to experiment and innovate without fear. The need to use technology in intelligent ways to deliver a better customer experience was another central theme - the notion that technology in and of itself does not make an institution digital but that technology is an enabler to delivering customer value.
Comparisons with developments in Asia, where digital transformation is happening the fastest, and where the rise of platform banking from tech giants has been swift and irreversible, were rife. Citi’s Ronit Ghose, in conversation with Fintech Galaxy’s Mirna Sleiman, spoke about the risks posed to banks from big tech companies entering the markets, and the ways banks need to adapt to become more agile. Ronit also touched on a key advantage banks have in the region over large tech firms; the trust that customers place in them to look after their money, and the regulatory stamp of approval.
This trust is key: Damian Cotchett, Head of Customer Experience, Noor Bank, told the room that banks need to deliver customer experiences that connect and convey trust, so customers to advocate for you and influence others.
Sonia Wedrychowicz opened her presentation with a quote from Bill Gates, that, “we always overestimate the change in the next two years and underestimate the change in the next ten.” If anything summarised the themes of FinovateMiddleEast it was this - that change is undoubtedly coming, and that institutions must act now and anticipate the changes that are on the horizon, in order to respond and adapt.