Converge

Can financial fairness and inclusivity go hand in hand with profitability? Many often say inclusivity is hard, inclusivity isn't profitable, but in reality, it's one of the strongest core pillars around which to build a business and drive growth. Automation and AI are casting a more inclusive, wider net through technology in financial services, unlocking opportunities in lending, banking and payments that were not available historically. Emerging fintechs are raising the bar for banks and pushing the whole industry to serve more people, unlocking new markets and talent. But challenges remain, and the latest technologies like generative and explainable AI must prove that with radical speed and efficiency, compliance and security can also keep pace. Naré Vardanyan is the co-founder of Ntropy, a financial data standardization and enrichment API seeking to use Large language models (LLMs) to transform the “behind the scenes” of money and unlock opportunity. Nicole Casperson is the founder of Fintech is Femme, a women-in-fintech-focused weekly newsletter with 30k+ readers, and host of the Humans of Fintech podcast, with over 50,000 subscribers and listeners. She was named one of the most inspiring women in the fintech industry in 2022.

B2B financial services are at an inflection point; business infrastructure is moving to the cloud, but financial services are lagging: they are fragmented, run on legacy tech, and lack scale and resiliency. At the nexus of driving this necessary change are integrated ecosystems of fintechs and financial cloud services providers offering businesses and financial institutions a ‘one-stop shop’ in emerging technologies for payment processing, data tokenization, AI/ML capabilities and much more - providing greater transparency, resiliency, speed, and scale. In the next phase of fintech innovation, API-enabled cloud B2B payment platforms will shape new ecosystems and bring together payments, risk, and cash management capabilities under one umbrella. Being cloud-native matters for ecosystems: They enable full customer lifecycle management with common experience across transactions, support, chat and telephony - all native on the cloud. Cloud-native B2B payments ecosystems will have access to a plethora of innovation in tokenization, payments, and AI/ML. Learn how these ecosystems will leverage Explainable-AI (XAI) and Generative AI alongside the “white box” requirements for the compliance and regulatory standards that must be upheld within our industry. Join Dharmesh Syal, Chief Technology Officer at Convera, Mick Fennel, Head of Payments EU for Temenos, and Nilesh Dusane, Head of Intuitional Payments for AWS as they discuss this massive value creation opportunity.

A panel of exceptional female leaders discuss what is being done on the ground in some of the most systemically important institutions and emerging fintechs (Swift, Convera, Ripple and Citi) to shape and implement next gen cross-border payments infrastructures. How are instant and real time payments operating now, and how will they in the future? How are targets set by the G20 for adoption of new technologies as well as ISO20022 influencing the technology roadmaps of global organizations in 2023 and beyond? How has Swift positioned itself as the ‘messenger of the future? And what does the likes of Citi’s Regulated Liability Network mean for the future of inter-bank cross border transactions? Now more than ever, responsible B2B payments innovation is needed while maintaining speed to market and the willingness to think big for customers.   Join Jennifer Parker, CCO of Convera, Kalyani Bhatia, Global Head of Payments & PMI for Swift, Ryan Rugg, Head of Digital Assets, Citi TTS and Pegah Soltani, Head of Payment Products, Ripple, as they discuss this and the impact female leaders have had in moving the needle towards more meaningful innovation in finance and payments.  Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.

Who will capture the most value in the cross-border payments ecosystem in the coming years? With new emphasis on instant payments and emerging rails, who stands to win the war for market share, and what models/protocols will be at the nexus of the new era? How do non-banks view this change and the opportunity ahead vs. the big banks and incumbent payment providers? Is “Coopetition” the new reality and interoperability the key to winning business? Where are the opportunities and where must businesses focus on winning in the next 5 years?   This live panel from Money2020 in Las Vegas is guest hosted by David Birch, of Consult Hyperion, and features Jody Visser, COO of Convera, Rich Clow, SVP Emerging Payments for Bank of America, Pankaj Sharma, Head of Remittances at Remitly, and Tom Dye, Managing Director & Partner for Payments, Boston Consulting Group. Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.

Get your full copy of the report, here: Are you ready for 2024? | Convera Join Head of Market Insights Steve Dooley as he shares a taste of the 2024 edition of Convera's annual flagship report to help businesses navigate what promises to be yet another uncertain and volatile year ahead, both geopolitically and macroeconomically. Get the full report at the link above to learn more on: How cross-border trade will be impacted by diverging interest rates  How the global bond and equity market will shift   The impact of tighter credit conditions on housing markets  The immediate future of global trade wars and supply chain de-risking The effect of 2024 elections on the geopolitical landscape  Considerations in new FX risk-management trends Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.

Also known as "the central bank of banks," the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has been guiding and influencing the world's largest financial institutions for decades. Their new innovation hub has taken a central role in exploring new technologies, #CBDCs among them, that bring "benefits that can lead to faster, cheaper and more transparent payments across borders." However, the BIS notes that "questions remain unanswered related to policy considerations, legal and regulatory frameworks, and basic operational economics that might call into question the viability of multi-CBDC platforms.”  Join Money2020's Micky Tesfaye and Daniel Eidan, Advisor & Solution Architect at the Bank for International Settlements' Innovation Hub, as we discuss the BIS' ongoing work with central banks to address pain points unique to cross-border payments, the role of bridge currencies and digital assets, regulations and regional challenges, and much more. Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.

Sardine, "a behavior-infused platform that offers fraud prevention, compliance (KYC/AML), and payments solutions for various industries," is tackling fraud in progressive ways using their intuitive API that can detect nuances of fraudulent activity with advanced AI. And with the momentum fueling real-time payment growth, faster payments can equal faster fraud, requiring new tools to detect and thwart disaster for financial institutions experimenting with new technologies. AI tools will inevitably play a big role in mitigating fraud - yet they also serve the interests of criminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities. Sardine CEO Soups Ranjan joins Converge to discuss the types of fraud that continue to impact the industry, as well as newer fraud risks that all companies should be on the lookout for - with an eye to emerging technologies standing at the ready to help. Learn more about Sardine X.

This special episode was co-produced with Tigerhall - a leading social learning platform. Commercial and retail clients have higher-than-ever expectations of banking as a service. How can financial institutions and banks stay ahead of the customer experience curve? How do we harness the latest applications in AI, including generative AI, to better serve customers? What best practices passed the stress test in 2023? What implementation challenges do financial institutions need to consider when integrating identity services for their consumer and corporate customers? How can premium APIs reduce the cost associated with more secure authentication? And what role could biometrics and decentralized identity play in enabling a more secure and personalized customer experience? Convera's Till Oberhummer, Head of Sales and BD for Central Europe, joins Converge to lend his considerable expertise on these subjects and more with 5 essential takeaways for businesses looking to stay ahead of fast-moving innovations in finance today.

Incumbent financial institutions pose both an opportunity and a barrier to the fintech boom. They've got the resources to acquire, emulate and dominate. But more legacy financial institutions are turning to fintechs and digital-first financial services providers as partners in the race to provide a better customer experience. Dig into the hungry-for-innovation FinServ environment with Sardine's Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy and Content.

Most major economies, including 19 of the G20 nations, are in the end-stage processes of developing Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). These digital currencies introduce DeFi technology and concepts into the world of central banking with many potential use cases across borders and domestically. CBDCs have opened up all kinds of opportunities for increased efficiencies, cost-savings, programmability and transparency for banks and financial institutions - but the step is clearly one towards further centralization. Added privacy concerns have led to consternation among thought leaders and future consumers. But do CBDCs spell doom for DeFi as a concept, or is it simply another form of implementing decentralized technology in a 'controlled' environment? Will privacy concerns be addressed through future standards? And how can CBDCs support innovation in the private sector that benefits all of fintech? Join Micky Tesfaye and Ian Horne, content leaders at Money2020, for our final discussion on all this and more in the future of DeFi and discover yet again why DeFi matters - to all. Disclaimer: Converge is Convera’s new podcast that discusses a range of financial services topics. We want to remind our listeners that the information shared on this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please note that the opinions expressed on Converge are solely the opinions of the host and the guests, not Convera’s.