Fintech Leaders
00:17:54 · Kamran Zaki, Miguel Armaza
[00:17:54] S0: I think that's what you're seeing today. Right? I think you're seeing in parts of the world where the government is stepping in, India or Pakistan or parts of Eastern Europe and issuing this unique ID card, and on the back of it then saying, Hey, if you want to authenticate against that or verify against that, then you're pinging directly or through somebody, the the government or the central, repository anyway. I think in other cases like The US, you're seeing that it is private entities. Right? I use CLEAR all the time, and it's expanding to more and more places. Right? And there are a few other entities. So I think it is evolving over time. Maybe it becomes one flavor, but today it's multiple. And so there's probably still value in somebody sort of concatenating all of those. So at least if I am a global offering, you can give me access to all of those, but that's more of a gateway play. Over time, how can you add even more value to it potentially? [00:18:49] S1: Yeah. We we just had our summit for Gilgamesh Ventures and and the CTO of CLEAR join us on stage. One of the main things he talked about is exactly that. It's portability of identity. Right? But, know, hey, they also have the challenge that biometrics, it could get to a point where current standard is easily hacked with a deepfake or something. So, you know, they are also being challenged.
00:18:49 · Miguel Armaza, Kamran Zaki
[00:18:49] S1: Yeah. We we just had our summit for Gilgamesh Ventures and and the CTO of CLEAR join us on stage. One of the main things he talked about is exactly that. It's portability of identity. Right? But, know, hey, they also have the challenge that biometrics, it could get to a point where current standard is easily hacked with a deepfake or something. So, you know, they are also being challenged. [00:19:19] S0: And look, think back to your point, with modern technology and any new technology, this is always the case, right? AI is a great example where I think there are a lot of potential benefits, but there's also this challenge that fraudsters will use AI to hack your or my likeness and voice and other aspect. It is definitely a constant challenge. [00:19:40] S1: Speaking of AI, Kamran, are there other than identity, are are there are there areas in financial services where you're really starting to see the potential of AI?
00:19:54 · Kamran Zaki
[00:19:54] S0: I think it's definitely early days. I think everyone is experimenting and testing things. I think financial services has always been at the forefront of using whatever term. Think historically we used to call it big data. Right? Then it became machine learning and now it's probably AI. I think a lot of what financial services has historically done is predictive analysis. Right? We've we've historically taken historic data and said, how can I use it to help me with risk and fraud or other things? But if you fast forward, I think in theory, we should be able to use AI to make better decisions and create more personalized experiences for consumers. Right? So everything from credit risk and underwriting to risk and fraud to compliance, but also recommendations. Right? So I don't know if we take wealth management as an example, we should be able to use AI to offer you a very curated recommendation or set of recommendations that today either you have to be a sophisticated investor yourself or or you need a human being to help you. And it's not necessarily replacing that human, but it's just making them even more productive, right, in customizing this for you. And or some people will say it's sort of gonna go down this agentic path where it will replace that person. So... But I think it's definitely still fairly early days, but obviously a ton of investment and and testing going on as you talk to folks in in the industry.
00:21:19 · Miguel Armaza, Kamran Zaki
[00:21:19] S1: So before we started recording, was I was telling you, Kamran, that I'm starting to see a bit of a shift. Smells a little bit differently in the air. Much more positive for Fintech at least at the mainstream level. Looks like we're getting a few IPOs. Q1 of next year Klarna, Chime. I'm sure there's more. I've heard that from very senior investment bankers that there's about 100 to 200 tech companies that have filed confidentially. This is not just Fintech but tech. And they can keep extending the filing, but they're trying to be ready for when the market is actually open. What do you envision for Fintech in the coming months, specifically 2025 where it's around the core? [00:22:09] S0: Yeah. I think as you and I discussed, we're we're both Fintech geeks and pretty deeply versed, so so we may be biased. [00:22:15] S1: But that being said,
00:22:16 · Kamran Zaki
[00:22:16] S0: yeah, I think somebody in the industry put it well. They said, hey, for those people who are saying, you know, nothing exciting is happening in Fintech. If you look at your personal life, do you feel like you are having a wow experience as a consumer in all of your Fintech interactions? Right? Whether it's your bank, your wealth management, your insurance, your other capabilities, and the same question for small business. And if you don't feel like that's the case, which I don't, then that means there is a ton of opportunity still ahead for people to innovate and, make life better. So I think long term, I continue to be very bullish because I think there's still a lot of friction in all these experiences. Two, I think people sometimes underestimate how long things take, right? Because in the end of the last decade or beginning part of this decade, Fintech was so hot, right? And everyone was wanting to invest in it. But when I joined PayPal in 2004, when we would go to talk to large financial institutions around the world about partnering with them, we used to have to spend the first half hour educating them on what PayPal was risky and why we were really doing the right things on the compliance side and why they should feel comfortable taking us on as a customer. Right? And, you know, similarly, Adyen has had a ton of success, but Adyen started way back in 2006. And so to your point, if you look at, I think, some of the fintech companies that are doing well and have scaled, they've been around for quite a while. Right? I think there was an article today that Klarna filed potentially. I think Chime has in the recent past. I think examples in Europe of companies doing well are Monzo and Revolut. So I think there is a big wave of really staled fintechs, but they've been at it for quite a while. And I think there's also this sort of still quite a lot of friction in consumer and small business fintech related experiences that I think hopefully either companies that exist today or new companies that are getting formed will help solve. So that's why I'm quite bullish, not just about next year, but about the whole fintech space for the coming years.
00:24:16 · Miguel Armaza
[00:24:16] S1: So assuming there's a wave of Fintech IPOs coming, whether it is a small or big wave, we'll see. Take us through the IPO process. For the companies going through it, what is important and what do those companies have to keep in mind, the leadership throughout that process? Because it's a highly risky and complicated process.