Dispelling Misconceptions Around Payments Cultures in Asia w/ Zennon Kapron

In this episode of Digital Transformation & Leadership Danny Levy talks to Zennon Kapron the Director of Kapronasia, one of Asia's leading financial technology research and consulting firms.

Prior to Kapronasia, Zennon was the Asia Pacific Financial Industry Manager and Global Banking Industry Manager for Intel. At Intel, he helped position and sell Intel-based architecture to financial services firms globally. Before Intel, Zennon worked at Citi at a number of different technology management roles culminating in his role as CIO for Citigroup Portugal.

Zennon is a recognised thought leader on fintech in Asia and a regular speaker at financial conferences and shows globally including: Money 20/20, TradeTech, Sibos, SIFMA, Innovate Finance, Future of Fintech in Asia, APFIC and many others.

He has testified in front of the U.S. Congress on matters of China Fintech and is regularly quoted in the press and television appearances including CNBC, Bloomberg, The Economist, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times to name a few.

Zennon is the author of 'Chomping at the Bitcoin: The Past, Present and Future of Bitcoin in China' published by Penguin as well as countless reports and commentaries on the state of financial technology in Asia.

He is also a Top Voice on LinkedIn in Asian finance talking about fintech, payments, digital banking, DeFi, CBDCs.

In the episode Zennon shares insights on:

• The surge in digital payments in Asia and how this is playing out across the entire region.
• How for more than a decade, the Asian tech ecosystem has been dominated by “super-apps:” platforms such as WeChat, Alipay, and Meituan that offer an enormous network of services all in one integrated app. Something Elon Musk has recently labeled an ‘everything app’. Zennon shares what constitutes a super app. And if are all platforms that are regarded as a super-apps are worthy of the title.
• If BNPL in Asia will replace traditional credit cards.
• Government led domestic card networks replacing Mastercard and Visa.
• A commonly held belief around digital banks in Asia that Zennon passionately disagrees with.
• Zennon's counter-intuitive, half-crazy prediction about the next five years for the Asian payments industry.

To get in touch with Zennon get in touch via LinkedIn here - https://www.linkedin.com/in/zennon/

To check out Kapron Asia go to - https://www.kapronasia.com/