EP 142 - Greg Krasnov - Founder and Chief Bulldozer - Tonik Bank - What I Need Is a Bank That Will Help Me Save

Asia Tech Podcast was joined by Greg Krasnov. Greg is the Founder & CEO of Tonik, the first neobank in the Philippines. Tonik is backed by major international Venture Capital investors, including Sequoia Capital and Point72.

Prior to Tonik, Greg co-founded many other successful Asian FinTech companies (FORUM, Credolab, and Solarhome) and a consumer bank in Emerging Europe (Platinum Bank).  An entrepreneur at heart, Greg launched his first business at the age of 18, earning his way through college through coding and PC repair.

Some of the topics Greg discussed:

• Greg was born in Ukraine and moved to the United States when he was 16 years old
• Most of his early career was in finance and private equity
• FORUM was set up as an investment vehicle for Southeast Asia after watching what occurred in emerging Europe
• Reviewed GDP per capita comparisons of the penetration of unsecured consumer finance in Southeast Asia
• What he found was that in emerging markets at about USD 3K to 5K GDP per capita, you start to get exponential growth in the penetration of consumer finance
• Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines are all at that cusp of the GDP per capital inflection point
• Why the team decided to launch in the Philippines
• Putting your cash in a stash
• One of Tonik's corporate values is having a sense of humor
• Data and predictive analytics
• Financial literacy and why it matters

Other episode titles we considered:

• We’re the Opposite of That
• A Fundamental Reshaping of the Value Chain