Ep. 56 How to Build Better Products in Fintech: KYC, Open Roadmaps, Product Management - with Daniel Thomason, Wise
Nov 30, 2021
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Daniel Thomason, a Financial Crime Prevention Product Manager at Wise, shares his journey from the Australian Central Bank to fintech innovation. The discussion dives deep into KYC, Anti-Money Laundering, and the importance of transparency in international money transfers. He highlights the role of collaboration with stakeholders and creative problem-solving in navigating regulatory challenges. Thomason also reflects on learning from product failures and the key decision-making frameworks that can guide leaders in the complex world of product management.
Daniel Thomason's unconventional career journey highlights the importance of diverse experiences in enriching problem-solving capabilities within product management.
At WISE, balancing compliance with user experience is essential, necessitating creativity within regulatory frameworks to effectively tackle financial crime risks.
Strong communication and relationship-building are vital for product managers in fintech, ensuring alignment and trust among stakeholders for successful collaboration.
Deep dives
Daniel Thomasum's Diverse Career Path
Daniel Thomasum shares his diverse and unconventional career journey, which includes experiences as an economist at the Australian Central Bank and as a founder of an escape room company. His unique blend of skills and experiences has led him to the FinTech space, where he currently serves as a Senior Product Manager at WISE. Daniel emphasizes the importance of problem-solving and collaboration throughout his career, indicating that his varied background allows him to approach challenges from multiple perspectives. This unconventional path has enriched his role, enabling him to leverage his strengths in economics and product management effectively.
WISE's Mission and Daniel's Role
At WISE, the mission centers around making international money transfers transparent, convenient, instant, and eventually free. Daniel's role in compliance product management involves enhancing Know Your Customer (KYC) processes and anti-money laundering initiatives, which are essential for maintaining operational legitimacy in the financial sector. He highlights the necessity for creativity within regulatory frameworks, ensuring that compliance mechanisms do not hinder user experience while still addressing financial crime risks. This dual focus on innovation and regulation is critical to the overall success of WISE and its mission.
Data-Driven Decision Making
WISE prioritizes a data-driven culture, allowing employees to access data and create their own dashboards to evaluate customer value continually. Daniel notes that this democratization of data supports collaborative decision-making across various teams, fostering transparency and alignment within the organization. Furthermore, he discusses the ongoing evolution of evaluating initiatives against WISE's four mission pillars, highlighting the challenge of balancing aspects such as speed, convenience, transparency, and cost. This holistic approach to measuring value enhances the company's ability to prioritize effectively and allocate resources strategically.
Collaboration as a Key to Success
Daniel emphasizes that strong communication and relationship-building are crucial for successful product management, particularly when working with multiple stakeholders in a compliance-heavy environment. He advocates for over-communication, encouraging product managers to maintain close relationships with various teams to foster trust and collaboration. By ensuring all stakeholders feel valued and included in decision-making processes, Daniel believes it becomes easier to navigate conflicting priorities and achieve the best outcomes for products. This collaborative mindset ultimately leads to better product development and stronger alignment with company goals.
Advice for Future Product Managers
For those aspiring to enter the FinTech industry, Daniel advises focusing on problem-solving and customer value rather than solely on a specific domain background. He suggests standing out through tailored applications for roles by demonstrating a clear understanding of the challenges WISE seeks to address. Alternatively, he encourages individuals to consider entry-level positions within the company, as this can serve as a stepping stone to further opportunities. By emphasizing the importance of adaptability and learning from experiences, he highlights how diverse skill sets can contribute significantly to a product manager's effectiveness.
During the upcoming episode of Disruption Talks we'll have the opportunity to dive into KYC, Anti-Money Laundering but also to discuss building an open product roadmap and most pressing challenges of a product manager in fintech.
Together with Daniel Thomason, Financial Crime Prevention Product Manager at Wise we will have a closer look into the work with stakeholders in compliance, operations, engineering, and risk management - and the ways of making it all work together.
Hosted by Filip Sobiecki.
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