Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
00:40:09 · David Barton-Grimley
[00:40:09] S0: It's just profound, isn't it? And this is definitely a rabbit hole that we could we could talk about forever. But I I just wanted to move on to the immediacy of data, which is actually related to AI and generative AI in some ways, we can so we can keep talking about it. One of the threads that goes through this conversation is real time data and how amazing it is both for your business and for your for your banking partners and and how by using this real time data, you're gonna be able to change your business. But I suppose the the critical lie to that is how able our organizations to actually utilize the real time data that comes through to a decision that that they can make, and then how able, therefore, is an incumbent bank to be able to to utilize, some of this real time data. So to to bring this to life through an example, we heard recently about a real time underwriting solution such as Perfius. So the Indian fintech recently raised $229,000,000 investments, so a huge amount of money as they look to expand their services into US and Europe. They wanna shake up the mortgage industry with their AI powered underwriting platform, which collects data in real time and calculates offers instantly. Right? So that is a classic example of fintech automation. We're using AI models. We're gonna come up with, you know, fairer, better decisions for customers, and we can integrate, you know, bang. We come up with an answer straight away. So with this in mind, how important actually is immediacy, in banking? And Pranav, I'm gonna come to you on on this one. You know, how how able do you think would the bank, for example, be able to actually utilize some of the insights that come out of systems like this? Do do the customers that that you speak to really want to see everything to be done right here, right now?
00:41:51 · Pranav Sood
[00:41:51] S2: So I think speed is becoming more and more important, and it's a big guiding principle when it comes to the way that we're building our infrastructure. So we offer the ability for customers to pay out instantly in, I think, 60 countries around the world, which is something that people really value because, of course, when they make a payment, they want to know that it's gonna be able to move around the world, you know, as quickly as it possibly can. I don't necessarily see banks yet at the point where they can act on information as quickly as as you as you can suggested. I don't necessarily see them being able to patch together the various different rails that exist around the world and the processes that accompany those rails in a way that allows their customers to be able to act with real immediacy. I do think though that it's always worth sounding a slight note of caution, is immediacy is very important, but actually I think predictability is almost as important. And so of course, commercial, you know, banking customers want things to happen instantly, but equally if you say to them, look, I'm sorry, this isn't gonna happen instantly, but it will happen within this period of time, then that is often also fine. And I think where traditional banking institutions have suffered is because they've struggled to both provide... Well, provide either immediacy or predictability. And in that that that situation, as Sarah mentioned earlier, you've got a bunch of business owners who are trying to run businesses. And if they can't do it quickly and they don't know how how long it's gonna take, it becomes extremely difficult for them to do that. And so that's where I see the opportunity for us as as disruptors and challengers to to come in and help and either do it really fast or say, look. It's gonna take us this long, and we'll stick to that.
00:43:23 · David Barton-Grimley
[00:43:23] S0: And, Sarah, I'd love to get get your perspective on real time from a from a broader, retail point of view. This this immediacy of of data that you see in mortgages. If you if you just take the customer point of view on the mortgage as opposed to the commercial banking point of view in the mortgage, yes. Absolutely. I want this done now. I want my agreement ready. I want the documentation done. Want no one to have to speak to to, you know, lawyers and multiple banks and estate agents. I just I just want it want it done. Where where would you say is the main... The the major kind of upcoming innovation in in real time? Alright. Just any thoughts on it.
00:43:56 · Sarah Kocianski
[00:43:56] S3: In in mortgages particularly or just just kind of real fintech? Okay. I was gonna say, I have thoughts about mortgages, but this is not the time or the place to go into that. The... I think I think... So I think real time, again, to to go to the point that Val made earlier, real time needs to have context. Otherwise, real time is dangerous. So it's almost like saying, it's almost as simple as like saying real time buy now. Like, do you really should you really be buying this right now? Should you probably hang on, just stop and think for a minute. What is the context of whatever this purchase might be and whether that is, you know, buying that, you know, whatever it is you've seen online, that handbag or that top or that, you know, pair of trousers or whatever. Should we be buying that right now? What is the context for this, you know? Secondly, kind of personalization. The So that context needs to be personalized. So you need to know when you're making a real time offer of a product, when you're making a decision that somebody can accept something in real time, what is... Is it that right for them? Is that... Or is that just something you've made a snap decision that we've got this right now? You know, get it now. There's only 10. It'll be gone in five minutes or whatever it is. I think the... Some products, and this is... You know, people who know me and listen to this will laugh because I'm researcher and analyst. I always want to spend time looking through kind of, I don't like to make real time snap decisions. I like to take my time behind it. And then maybe I want things to happen quickly, but I don't necessarily want things pushed at me, and it goes, right. Do it real time now. Push this button, you can't get... Take it back. Like, if it's push this button and you can't take it back and you spent £20 and a pair of trousers, then that's that. But if it's push this button now and you can't take it back and it's a new credit card or... And you didn't understand the terms and conditions of that credit card or it's changing the terms of your loan, and that can go all the way up to one organization of any size, or it's changing the terms of your insurance. You know, change... Saying change your insurance right now. We can do it in thirty seconds for you.
00:45:48 · Sarah Kocianski, David Barton-Grimley
If you haven't given them the context and the time before that point to fully understand it, you can find yourself in hot water. And I think from a from a bank's perspective as well, one of the reasons that they hold back on doing things in real time is just because their systems can't handle it. They get to the end of the day and they think, my god, we... Some simple... We've lent more money than we have. Whoops. Now how do we fix it? So I think the, you know, that was that was a bit of a long and winding road, but I think the most important thing when you're doing anything in real time is that it must also have the point of context. And I think that's particularly dangerous as well, or that's particularly important, sorry, when talking about embedded. If you throw it embedded into the real time as well, then context is a 100 times more important again. [00:46:31] S0: You're right. Actually, sometimes decisions do take slower than than sometimes we we think or get excited about, when we think about fintech innovation. And I just wanna go around to the panel for the final for the final word. We've been talking a lot about real time data. We've been talking about contextual decisioning. What does the future of innovation look like? What's what's coming up next? Pranav, I'm gonna come to you first. Is it... Is... Are embedded solutions the answer? Is there anything else? What's next for you?
00:46:31 · David Barton-Grimley, Pranav Sood
[00:46:31] S0: You're right. Actually, sometimes decisions do take slower than than sometimes we we think or get excited about, when we think about fintech innovation. And I just wanna go around to the panel for the final for the final word. We've been talking a lot about real time data. We've been talking about contextual decisioning. What does the future of innovation look like? What's what's coming up next? Pranav, I'm gonna come to you first. Is it... Is... Are embedded solutions the answer? Is there anything else? What's next for you? [00:46:59] S2: I think more embedded and more AI. Those are the two areas where I see huge amount of opportunity for us as fintechs to do more. And I think in the embedded side, we we talk a lot about banking as a service, but in reality, I think that's only a real fraction of what embedded financial services can look like. And on the AI side, I think people have got very excited about some of the less interesting use cases, frankly. So the customer support type type use cases. I think there are really interesting use cases out there around the way in which you direct payments around the world, the way in which you enable people to interact with complex product documentation or data at scale. And I think we're only just scratching the surface of of what we can do in those in those fields. [00:47:43] S0: I agree. Sometimes people forget the boring, but the boring is actually exciting. The world is based on boring processes that that can be can be massively optimized. Valentina, what's next?