IBS Intelligence Global FinTech Interviews

Björn Goß, CEO & co-founder, StocardEuropean mobile wallet Stocard has more than 60 million users and aims to reshape the future of shopping and banking. In November 2020 it began rolling out its payment feature Stocard Pay and is now looking to expand its offering to provide a holistic approach to consumer financial services. Stocard aims to add multiple bank cards to its app and the company sees the future of banking as purely mobile. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence spoke to Stocard CEO Björn Goß.

Teodor Blidarus, Founder and CEO of FintechOSThe SME banking space is an untapped market which is underserved and overlooked, according to FintechOS, a technology provider accelerating digital transformation for financial institutions. Moreover, change and automation is happening at a low speed. Teodor Blidarus, Founder and CEO of FintechOS, speaks to Sunniva Kolostyak about issues around serving a very diverse group of companies, how to tailor and personalise services, and how to understand actual pain points for the segment.

Gourav Datta, Director Intelligent Automation, CiklumThe pandemic has propelled the growth of the payments industry. How now to capitalise on this? The solution – intelligent automation that targets transactional, mundane and repetitive tasks, taking advantage of a full range of RPA, AI/ML and analytics solutions. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence discusses the potential with Gourav Datta of Ciklum.

Ivan Soto-Wright, CEO & Co-Founder, MoonPay Supporting 45 fiat currencies and more than 60 cryptocurrencies, MoonPay recently marked its second anniversary by processing more than a million transactions. It has also announced in-principal approval for a Class 2 Virtual Financial Assets licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority. The company’s latest move is to provide payment tools for non-fungible tokens. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence spoke to Ivan Soto-Wright of MoonPay. 

Matteo Dante Peruccio, President International, Wave Financial GroupMatteo Peruccio of Wave Financial Group has previously been CEO of Pioneer Investments and also a board member of Jupiter Asset Management, but his journey has now taken him to the digital asset space. He discussed how traditional asset management and custodian firms are coming to grips with digital assets on the new frontier of investment and asset management with Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence.

Karen Penney, VP Payments Products UK, Western Union Business SolutionsThe Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the potential opportunities for women in the growing digital economy. Remote working and flexibility, together with the requirement for a fresh take on leadership that unites employees, clients and partners, have served to demonstrate how a new way of working can help personalise customer service and boost efficiency and productivity in financial services. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence discussed the issues with Karen Penney of Western Union Business Solutions. 

George McDonaugh, Managing Director and Co-Founder, KR1KR1 is a London-based digital asset investment company investing in digital and cryptographic assets of decentralised networks and DeFi projects at an early stage. It also seed-funds early-stage blockchain and DeFi companies and holds private equity long-term. Managing Director and co-founder George McDonaugh is a founding member of the Multichain Asset Managers Association. He discussed the company’s strategy with Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence.

Jonathan Allan, Chief Marketing Officer, PuzzelThe pandemic has brought with it sweeping changes in customer behaviours and expectations. Willingness to self-serve has increased exponentially and voice-assisted service has also grown. However, expectations have also grown – what customers need, how and when they need it – has changed and banks need to adapt to ensure they are providing the type of support customers value. Otherwise, as Jonathan Allan of Puzzel told Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence, those customers will look elsewhere. 

David Foss, President & CEO, Jack Henry; Alex Carriles, Digital Head, Simmons BankOn the back of its tech strategy and partnership with Jack Henry, Arkansas-based Simmons Bank saw a 30% rise in digital banking users in 2020 with an IOS App store rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. The bank’s performance highlights how community and regional banks in the US can leverage digital technologies to compete regardless of size or location. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence spoke with Alex Carriles of Simmons Bank and David Foss of Jack Henry.

Tom Stelzer, Cryptocurrency expert, FinderSo the price of Bitcoin is volatile – that’s a given – but almost one-fifth (19%) of potential or existing UK crypto investors told a survey commissioned by personal finance website Finder that their decision to invest was influenced by a view that it ‘seems an easy way to make money’. That’s a worrying number and a worrying attitude. Robin Amlot of IBS Intelligence discussed the survey’s findings with Tom Stelzer of Finder.