Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
00:49:16 · Sarah Kocianski, Will Farnell, Caroline Plumb
[00:49:16] S0: What was your favorite announcement this morning? I didn't get to see anything you see. So... [00:49:19] S6: No. I I think the the acquisition of Instafile. So we don't quite know what it means yet. Yep. But the bit that's always been missing for for accountancy firms is is cloud based compliance products for filing accounts and tax. So it's gonna be really interesting see how that becomes part of the the Xero offering. [00:49:38] S0: So all... Automating the compliance reporting? [00:49:41] S6: And it's that challenge of we do all this great stuff on cloud, then generally, we have to revert to desktop to do the final bit in the process. So actually having having that online and integrated with Xero is gonna be really interesting to see where that goes. [00:49:54] S0: Brilliant. And then I I love a bit of regtech, so that's that's kind of my bag. So... And and you're also on stage this afternoon, I understand. Is that coming tomorrow afternoon? What are gonna be [00:50:03] S2: talking about on stage? [00:50:04] S6: So I'm working with Soldo on that, and we're talking about... The topic is why our clients deserve daily bookkeeping and how to deliver it profitably. So it's, as you can tell, a fantastic, fascinating subject. Anything through bookkeeping is obviously gonna blow people's minds, but we're talking about how we can use technology and process and people to deliver that really effectively and really profitably. [00:50:27] S0: So can you give us a quick overview of of who Soldo are and and kind of what they do?
00:50:27 · Sarah Kocianski, Will Farnell
[00:50:27] S0: So can you give us a quick overview of of who Soldo are and and kind of what they do? [00:50:32] S6: Yep. So Soldo are smart expense management, prepaid cards that now has direct integration with Xero through the Open Banking API. So they're up on the on the screen this morning as one of the the first, I think it was six, five or partners to use the new Open Banking API. Interestingly, they're they're the only one that isn't really in the out and out banking space, so that was really good that we were able to do that. And they're announcing some really interesting offerings for the account and channel at the event in terms of really competitive pricing and great technology and tools to help us really... The Talk Tomorrow is about bookkeeping and the bits that we we've historically had missing, are credit card statements and and staff expenses. So what Soldo does is it lets us kind of add those last two pieces to the jigsaw by giving us that data on a daily basis. [00:51:29] S0: So so that's really interesting because I spoke with a couple of people this morning who were saying that the missing piece is credit card expenses. So it sounds like it's gonna be quite quite groundbreaking what they're doing.
00:51:29 · Sarah Kocianski, Will Farnell
[00:51:29] S0: So so that's really interesting because I spoke with a couple of people this morning who were saying that the missing piece is credit card expenses. So it sounds like it's gonna be quite quite groundbreaking what they're doing. [00:51:38] S6: I I think it is. It... The the bank feed technology we've had is is great with direct feeds for for your current account, but credit cards has always been that little bit trickier to get the data, and it's also the bit that's really difficult to get the data from clients as well. So if we can give our clients Soldo cards, not only does it help us, but it helps our clients manage the way their staff spend money. So the way the system works is you can set spend limits and you can set restrictions on spend categories. So it gives control over over how staff incur expenses while they're they're out on on business. And the nice thing really from the staff point of view is that they've no longer got to fund fund it out of their own pocket or in their own personal cards because we can we can give them give them credit cards. So we're really excited about the opportunity to roll that out to our client base.
00:51:38 · Will Farnell, Sarah Kocianski
[00:51:38] S6: I I think it is. It... The the bank feed technology we've had is is great with direct feeds for for your current account, but credit cards has always been that little bit trickier to get the data, and it's also the bit that's really difficult to get the data from clients as well. So if we can give our clients Soldo cards, not only does it help us, but it helps our clients manage the way their staff spend money. So the way the system works is you can set spend limits and you can set restrictions on spend categories. So it gives control over over how staff incur expenses while they're they're out on on business. And the nice thing really from the staff point of view is that they've no longer got to fund fund it out of their own pocket or in their own personal cards because we can we can give them give them credit cards. So we're really excited about the opportunity to roll that out to our client base. [00:52:31] S0: And and I need to talk about a little bit of open banking as well and how how we're utilizing those APIs. Do you think open banking is gonna be something of a game changer in this space as well with this... Because we hear quite a lot about the consumer side and how consumers are gonna benefit, but you don't hear so much about small businesses, and I'd be interested to hear, you know, your your thoughts on that.
00:52:31 · Sarah Kocianski, Will Farnell, Oliver Prill
[00:52:31] S0: And and I need to talk about a little bit of open banking as well and how how we're utilizing those APIs. Do you think open banking is gonna be something of a game changer in this space as well with this... Because we hear quite a lot about the consumer side and how consumers are gonna benefit, but you don't hear so much about small businesses, and I'd be interested to hear, you know, your your thoughts on that. [00:52:50] S6: I I think it's a it's a really interesting space, and and Edward Burks has probably the best job in the world at the moment in terms of being right at the heart of of all of this going on. We've had lots of conversations recently about the kind of disintermediation of the banking relationships and accountants are really, really well placed to kind of step in and fill that void that the the the main high street banks have left by pulling client man... Or account managers out of the process and putting it centralized. So we have a great opportunity to to pick up those relationships and support our our clients in terms of raising money, building... So more [00:53:32] S12: on the [00:53:32] S0: advisory side of things rather than the sort of... Because accountants traditionally, I suppose, have done quite a lot of, you know, the bookkeeping and the papers and the number crunching, but is this moving more into the we're gonna help you do things that you need to do and do them better?
00:53:32 · Sarah Kocianski, Will Farnell
[00:53:32] S0: advisory side of things rather than the sort of... Because accountants traditionally, I suppose, have done quite a lot of, you know, the bookkeeping and the papers and the number crunching, but is this moving more into the we're gonna help you do things that you need to do and do them better? [00:53:44] S6: I I think we have to do more with with with the client relationships we have. Certain areas talk about compliance is dying. Compliance isn't dying. It's never gonna die. It's fundamentally important to what we do as accountants. But what is happening is it's getting smarter, it's getting more automated. We are seeing downward pressure on on fees because of that. So what we want to be doing is is using things like bookkeeping to deliver much closer relationships with our clients. We get the opportunities to talk to them more regularly, understand their pain points, ask the right questions that open up the opportunity for advisory led conversations. And that can be anything from introducing them to a bank that's gonna give them a better service or helping them raise money or think about how they can change the way they market what what they do. So there's a massive opportunity for us.