The FinTech Report

The Fintech Report Podcast: Interview with Paul Apolony, GM Australia, MambuBanks and the Race to High VelocityIn this podcast we discuss:  ●      How does a lifelong banker end up running Mambu Australia? ●      Discuss wider industry experience that crosses over to MambuWhat does Mambu do?●      Mambu is the market leading cloud banking platform – launched in Berlin in 2011, Mambu now operates globally. Series E funding round in December 2021 raised an additional €235m, taking total valuation to €4.9 billion (‘double unicorn’ status)●      Mambu provides the technological foundation – a SaaS based cloud-native banking platform – for banks, financial service providers and other fintechs to launch innovative digital banking products and services●      Think of the Mambu platform like the engine in a car – it provides a powerful core for digital banks, and enables other providers and services to ‘plug in’ to the platform via open APIs, so customers can build the digital bank or digital product that their customers want●      hundreds of customers all over the world have launched some of the most innovative and forward-thinking banking products and brands ever seen – full digital banks banks, digital arms of conventional banks, payment providers, ewallets, lenders, BNPL – any financial product or service you can think of can be built on Mambu●      Mambu’s cloud core banking platform replaces expensive and monolithic legacy core banking technology stacks – cloud native and soon to be cloud agnostic across(Google Cloud, AWS, Microsoft Azure,)●      Many banks in Australia, and in fact the world, have legacy technology stacks coming to the end of their life cycle – this on-premises core banking technology is expensive and time-intensive to run, and very slow to update or make changes. This is especially evident in the Mutual/Customer owned banking space.  A cloud native core like Mambu brings speed, agility and flexibility, meaning traditional, old-school banks can start to operate like nimble fintechs, launching new products in weeks rather than years, and responding to changing consumer expectations on the fly●      Companies can launch an entire digital bank on Mambu, OR launch specific digital products●      A popular and effective way of transitioning to digital is by incrementally replacing individual components within a bank’s existing tech stack – reduces risk of a rapid ‘rip and replace’ approach and allows the bank to bring customers along on the journeyWhat’s the status of Mambu in Australia?●      AU entity established in Jan 2022●      Actively recruiting – current team is 22 FTEs working from Syd, Mel, Bris and Per●      Leveraging Mambu’s experience in Europe, UK, APAC ●      Current customers include fintechs like Shaype (formerly Hay), ADIs such as Tyro, lenders such as Lumi, Bluestone, Prospa and Nimble, and soon to be announced tier 1 bank in Australia.What is ‘composable banking’ and why is it gaining traction?●      Mambu coined the phrase ‘composable banking’ more than 10 years ago, and it’s recently been picked up by competitors in cloud core banking space - a compliment ●      Composable banking is the rapid and flexible assembly of independent, best-for-purpose systems●      Mambu are now speaking to our customers and prospects about the “Race to high velocity” – Mambu’s ability to enable them to scale in a quick, flexible and cost effective way and meet the growing demands they are encountering on a daily basis.●  &nbs

Mark Monfort, Co-Founder of the Australian Defi Association, and Nick Bishop, Co-Founder of Bishop & Fang to the podcastMark is an expert on DeFi #web3 and #blockchain – he’s worked in both the finance and technology sectors. His professional career started off in insurance as well as working as an auditor for a Big 4 firm (PwC). It was through his next role as an analyst at Commonwealth Bank that he first formed his passion for analytics and the power of technology and data to transform the way we make decisions. In his role with the Australian Defi association, or ADA, Mark’s vision is to make the topic of DeFi more mainstream, build a community of partners contributing to grow the sector, and provide educational resources and news from the world of blockchain, DeFi, web 3.0 and all things crypto.Nick is the Co-Founder of Bishop & Fang, a Specialist advisory firm for Investment and management consulting, Corporate finance, due diligence, restructuring, debt advisory, capital raising, investor relations, asset management, commercialisation. Established network of institutional investors and service providers. Nick is an advisor and investor to a number of tech startups, and his experience includes stints at Gresham Partners, Standard Life Aberdeen, Deutsche Asset Management and Canada LifeWhat we discuss in this episode:What is DeFi?Who does the DeFi association represent?What are the key areas of DeFi you focus on? Mark and Nick discuss the NotCentralised team and how its projects include various internal ones like the Aus Defi Association and a payments protocol called TradeFlows and how they are helping other 3rd party projects How crypto is more than meets the eye and about the innovation in this spaceHow things are built and similarities and differences between web2 and web3We could also talk about how to get involved in this space and do some encouragement etcWhat are some of the hot topics in DeFi at the moment?All of crypto seems like its in the dog house right now – what are your thoughts on that?https://www.linkedin.com/in/markmonfort/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-bishop-cfa-94760173/

Paul Weingarth, Co-Founder of SlypPrior to co-founding Slyp, Paul worked for the Commonwealth Bank, Microsoft and PayPal.  Paul’s now on a mission – he wants to end paper receipts and plastic loyalty cards; how is it that in 2022 we tap our phone or card or watch to make a payment in-store, then we are handed a chemically coated non-recyclable piece of paper to keep a record of the purchase. 20,000KM of paper receipts are printed every day in Australia. Imagine what the global total is?About Slyp: https://www.slyp.com.au/home With Slyp you can pay with your bank card and automatically receive an itemised tax receipt inside your mobile banking app or via SMS, at no cost – Slyp calls these ‘smart receipts’ – A Smart Receipt is a tax compliant, easily accessible proof of purchase that lives directly in the mobile banking app, or via SMS - Slyp is available in the NAB banking app and other banks will follow soon.  Slyp has navigated unchartered territories by becoming Australia’s only independent fintech to gain the backing of all four major banks. 'Obsessive Customer Disorder' leads Slyp to digitise receipts and loyalty for Australia’s Big Four BanksKey points in the conversation:•Contactless payments is only half finished; Slyp wants to end paper receipts – the ‘last mile’ of the payment process•Paul and the other Co-Founders are obsessed with the customer – Paul calls this ‘OCD – Obsessive Customer Disorder’•Nothing good comes from paper receipts•Paul’s PayPal experience helped him understand the payments process•The Slyp Smart Receipt has been built on ‘pipes’ that haven’t been connected before•Slyp integrates directly into the POS terminal (Point of Sale); merchant side•Plus Slyp has built pipes into the banks, so connecting/matching transaction to receipt in a few seconds•Everything is standardised – so Slyp is the one provider that offers a standard experience for all banks (Apps) and all Merchants•Often standardisation & collaboration happens because of regulation (eg EFTPOS, NPP, Open Banking); but Slyp wasn’t driven by regulation – it’s driven by Slyp.•Slyp receipt is inside the customer’s banking app; receipt is displayed inside the banking App. Completely frictionless for the customer.•Fully tax compliant tax receipt. •For Slyp, the receipt is just the start – the customers digital data is available to the Merchant; so the Merchant now has the possibility of starting an ongoing relationship with the customer; eg loyalty, tailoring offers. •Who owns the data? – all parties to the process; Slyp, the Merchant, and the bank, all retain their component parts to the data, and Slyp wants to provide the insights for all parties – Paul uses the term “Data for Delight” – Paul says Slyp is the “Switzerland of the system”•NAB now, the other three banks in the next 12-18 months•Slyp Smart Receipts will always be free. •Business model is a SaaS model for the banks, and Freemium service for the merchants; they can take up additional services if they want.•Australia is a great place to start a fintech. Australian consumers who love using new technology, and adopt new technology very fast, especially mobile and payments.•The fintech and banking eco-system is a leader in contactless payments. •Concentration in banking of the four majors (NAB, CBA, Westpac, ANZ), plus two large / dominant merchants/supermarket chains (Coles, Woolworths), plus only two card providers (Mastercard, Visa) means it was easier for Slyp to create a standardised product. Paul says this set-up is ‘the perfect storm”•Funding: Slyp has received investment from all four of Australia’s big banks: NAB, ANZ, CBA and Westpac – the first time ever in

Build your dream on Oracle Cloud - Interview with Pijush Mukherjee from Oracle and Karthik Srinivasan from Ziksu.About our Guests:  Pijush Mukherjee from Oracle https://www.linkedin.com/in/impijush/ Pijush is a Technology leader with 2 decades of experience in business development, partner management, consulting, solution and delivery management of digital transformation initiatives across industries. - Working as Head of Digital Natives, he and his team are helping Fintechs to grow their business in APAC, partnering with OracleOracle Fintech InnovationNext-generation cloud from Oracle, with industry-leading solutions such as open banking APIs, Pre-configured blockchain, autonomous database and many more , provides an ecosystem and platform to help drive innovation. Banks & fintechs can deploy the industry’s most comprehensive set of  cloud solutions for financial domains to test out solution hypotheses, roll out MVPs and scale fast, reducing the deployment time and cost significantly. Fintechs around the world have joined Oracle for Start-ups or the Oracle Partner Network to help accelerate their growth leveraging Oracle’s world-class platforms and ecosystems.Karthik Srinivasan from Ziksu https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthik-srinivasan-z25/ Karthik Srinivasan, Founder and CTIO of Ziksu, has responsibility for the strategic direction for Ziksu and its product portfolio. Karthik has over 17 years of professional experience working across Australia and APAC region. Karthik has had stints in varied capacities with banks and global technology organisations. His area of expertise lies in the convergence of financial services and technology.Ziksu, is an Australian fintech that offers a suite of digital financial products for Retail and Business customers. Ziksu has developed a fully digital, 100% mobile only product, Scan n Pay, that delivers a third alternative for instore payments using QR codes with real-time settlements. A single, seamless, and easy to use app for merchants and personal consumers. Ziksu’s provisional goal of financial services for every Australian is to be convenient, accessible, and affordable.Key Points discussed during this interview:•            Overview of Ziksu•            What problem does Ziksu solve for?•            Who are Ziksu’s customers?•            Team size, number of customers, growth•            How is Oracle helping Ziksu?•            What is Oracle’s interest in fintech?•            Thoughts on technology selection – especially ‘Scan & Pay’ vs ‘Tap & Pay’ – including features, scale up costs•            Why did Ziksu choose Oracle Cloud?•            Experience of Oracle to date•            Why is Oracle different? Oracle's Deep Roots in Financial Space•            Global Presence supporting India and APAC expansion Plans

Cake Equity offers free “1 click ESOP” to early stage fintechs to democratise the fundraising process  Founders want to quickly and easily understand how to issue options to their team. And when raising capital from Angels, investors and VCs, they want a good deal using industry standard terms that will protect them.Cake solves the problems inherent in fundraising at the early stage; the cost and complexity of the whole process by offering very early stage fintechs the option of a free account for up to five founders/staff.Cake Equity is part of the democratisation of the fundraising process, such as Seed Legals in the UK, who enable Founders to manage their ‘cap table’ from startup to IPO.Typically this involves creating and managing all sorts of documents, from Shareholders Agreements, Term Sheets, ESOPs (Employee Share Option Plan) – Cake Equity has built a service that allows a “one click ESOP” – a huge benefit for Founders looking to streamline this process in their business. For very early stage founders/startups, Cake offer this for free. After 6 people, Cake start charging – typically $30 PCM per person.Cake integrates with ASIC and crucially, enables founders to showcase all the shareholder information to potential investors – enabling the ‘due diligence’ to be completed in days not weeks. 

“Time to Yes” is FinTechs Key Issue says Experity CapitalEpisode 18: Interview with Clint Howen, Founder at Hero Broker & Director/Head of Digital at Experity CapitalKey items discussed in this interview:1.      “Time to Yes” is the Number One Issue2.      Time to Yes is driven by FinTech ‘Super Apps’ because they offer greater insight into a customer’s financial/wealth position 3.      Super App’s only possible because of data aggregators (such as Yodlee, IDS, Core Logic etc)4.      Large numbers of Mortgage Brokers to retire soon, creating opportunity for FinTech to offer technology at scale for home loans Clint Howen from Experity Capital says he built Hero Broker to offer a fully digital home loan experience, but he realised that customers still want to speak with, or be guided by, another human when it comes to the home loan experience.Whilst the number one driving force for the technology is how to reduce the complexity and time is takes to originate a home loan, human psychology is such that customers still require explanation on the process for applying for, and getting a home loan. FinTech allows Brokers to ‘do more with less’ – Clint is planning to use technology to scale how many clients a broker can deal with at any one time. Additionally, a large percentage of the current home loan/mortgage brokers are over 55, and will retire soon; Experity will look to buy their ‘mortgage books’ and use their brokers plus their technology to service the clients.FinTech allows Brokers a greater and deeper insight into each customers, whereby the technology pulls more data into the ‘one view’ of a customers income/wealth profile, allowing a Broker to help the customer, especially on the home loan journey. This issue is often referred to as the ‘benefit of the Super App’Clint discusses how a large percentage of Mortgage Brokers will be retiring over the next decade, creating a huge opportunity for online/fintech if they can get the balance right between technology at scale and human-to-human interaction.Yodlee and other data providers play a crucial role in enabling the ‘Super App’ by bringing the data together in one place About Clint Howen, Hero Broker and Experity CapitalClint is an experienced startup founder with a mission to connect the design, technical and business worlds to help build innovative, user-centric products. Clint is the founder of Hero Broker as well as Director and head of digital at Experity CapitalExperity Capital is a fintech and mortgage broker that offers customer the ability to Manage All their Money, Assets, Investments In The One Place. Experity customers can Manage & view all their bank accounts, property assets and investments in the one place.https://www.linkedin.com/in/clint-howen-794a2b75/ https://experity.com.au/  Listen to all the episodes here:https://fintechsummit.com.au/the-fintech-report-podcast/    

Hay-as-a-Service leads Embedded Finance revolution Interview with Mark Hansell, Chief Product Officer at Hay-as-a-Service Hay-as-a-Service – or HaaS - is leading the embedded finance revolution via their platform that enables any company to ‘stand up’ financial products in as little as 10 days.  The team at HaaS believes that the future of finance does not start and end with digital transformation, rather the seamless integration of those services into any customer journey.  HaaS solves for the problem of launching financial products even if you are not a financial services company.  Through a single API, clients can access HaaS’s full suite of microservices for payments, KYC/AML, and a range of accelerator tools.  HaaS removes legacy constraints, prioritising speed, flexibility and control, to deliver value and innovationHay as a Service (HaaS) is an embedded finance platform that lets any company offer a financial product to their customers, without having to build it themselves.  More importantly, they can do that with total control and flexibility over how they bring it all together, so they can build their brand and their customer experience the way they want it to be (and the end customer doesn’t see the Hay/HaaS brand).Clients are financial and non-financial companies who in turn have consumers - and in some cases small businesses - as their customers. Clients pick and choose from the HaaS suite of microservices – and they access it all through a single API.  The platform is modular so clients can pick and choose the services they take. The majority of clients anchor their product around three core HaaS products; 1.      Accounts2.      Cards3.      Funding railsThey then add additional services depending on their specific needs – such as onboarding. In addition to the core offering, HaaS have a range of accelerator tools and support services, that are designed to get products to market better and faster.  HaaS has a multi-rail sandbox environment for both bank transfer and card payments testing – including via an app - and clients can use a staging environment to do controlled development without impacting production.  HaaS enable rapid proof of concept so clients can get to market fast.  Thank you to our Partners; Australian FinTech and Envestnet YodleeAll episodes available here: https://fintechsummit.com.au/the-fintech-report-podcast/ 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 16: Interview with James Vaughan, CoreLogicCreating the digital property DNAJames is the Head of Data Products at CoreLogic, and has extensive experience across the data, banking and financial services sectors. He holds a deep understanding of property data trends, digital customer engagement, and risk management from his years in leadership roles across sales, account management and customer solutions. https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-vaughan-a3396616/ CoreLogic Asia Pacific is a leading, independent provider of property data and analytics. They help people build better lives by providing rich, up-to-the-minute property insights that inform the very best property decisions. With an extensive breadth and depth of knowledge gathered over the last 30 years, they provide services across a wide range of industries, including Banking & Finance, Real Estate, Government, Insurance and Construction.  https://www.corelogic.com.au/ Topics covered in this interview:What does CoreLogic do? What problem do they solve?Who are their customers? What is their best work? How do they measure results for your banking and lending clients? How does house price information impact ‘responsible lending’?What is the sweet spot for CoreLogic and banking clients right now? {Digital Mortgage}·       The value of real-time data at every touchpoint in the customer journey·       Helping to modernise the mortgage process and improve the customer experience  How will machine learning and Ai impact CoreLogic and their clients?What role do you see data playing in helping connect the property ecosystem and the energy sector in the sustainability space? 

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 15Interview with: DAVE MAUNSELL, CEO, Haventec Cyber Attacks are growing; what do you need to know to keep data secure and maintain a customer’s fast access to a serviceHaventec provide decentralised platforms that transform security, accessibility and experience https://www.haventec.com/   Delighted to welcome DAVE MAUNSELL, CEO of Haventec to the podcasto   Prior to joining Haventec Dave spent ~20 years at Accenture where he occupied a number of leadership roles including Managing Director for Accenture Digital (AU and NZ).o   Haventec was founded in 2014 by Ric Richardson (inventor of Uniloc, "try and buy" software) and Tony Castagna (co-founder of Nuix) with the vision of enabling the open enterprise to engage digitally, without the risk of maintaining and operating large repositories of sensitive information. o   Haventec’s platform provides start-ups, scale-ups and enterprises with the means of protecting sensitive information (including usernames, passwords and data) in a way that when their network is breached there is nothing of value to steal - a very novel and innovative way of approaching the challenges of maintaining a secure environment and protecting privacy.  Note's from Dave:1.  ORIGINS OF HAVENTECo   Current technologies are providing inadequate protection to data and other sensitive information. o   being prepared for when your enterprise gets breached is the best protection against the loss of critical digital assets – specifically digital identities and sensitive data.o   Haventec was founded in 2014 by Ric Richardson (inventor of Uniloc, "try and buy" software) and Tony Castagna (co-founder of Nuix, www.nuix.com) with the vision of enabling the open enterprise to engage digitally, without the risk of maintaining and operating large repositories of sensitive information. o   Haventec have developed a patented platform that provides enterprises with the means of safeguarding the privacy of the people they both serve and employ – if sensitive information (data and digital credentials) is protected by the platform, when the enterprise or its cloud is breached, there is nothing of value to steal.o   From late 2018, Haventec’s focus shifted from building the platform, to validating the platform. This included:-      Engaging David Hook to complete an independent cryptographic assessment of the platform; -      Performance benchmarking the platform;-      Securing PCI DSS compliance;-      Finalising the insurance offer; and -      Deploying the platform to select clients.o   Haventec finalised its go-to-market strategy in late 2019, and focus has shifted to growth – both direct as well as channels. The enterprises we are engaging with are all seeking the means of enhancing the controls they have in place to protect sensitive information, on both sides of the firewall.o   In parallel to executing the go-to-market strategy, AustCyber are providing funding to fast-track an eConsent solution for personal health information, including genomics data.o   In simple terms, Haventec has built a platform that introduces a paradigm shift in how enterprises reduce their exposure to risk. They have solved the paradox of keeping sensitive data safe, while supporting increasing business demands, and consumer expectations, for openness, connectivity, performance and privacy.o   Consumers, enterprises and regulators are all seeking a solution to the inherent weaknesses of the current digital trust model. Haventec is

The FinTech Report Podcast: Interview with Kimberley Gaskin, Director, Six Black Pens Fuel for growth: Foundational Strategy the key to scaling up successfully Six Black Pens is an independent, strategy-led creative communications agency that’s all about smart, effective work. They are specialists in complex business and set out to understand, decode and define – to simplify without diluting. Clients have included NAB, MLC, Aware Super, Ignition Advice, PEXA and AGL. Their unique value proposition to clients is “We make the complex beautiful”. In this episode of The FinTech Report Podcast, Kimberley discusses the importance of foundational strategy to FinTechs when starting out and scaling up, and how Six Black Pens approaches foundational and other communications strategies through the lens of Behavioural Economics. Among the topics covered, Kimberley explains: ·       Why FinTechs, when they begin to scale up, need to change their communications strategy to effectively target a consumer and not an investor audience.  ·       That Six Black Pens considers its best work to be its most effective work – that is, work that delivers on a business goal for the client but at the same time delivers value to the client’s customers. ·       Why Behavioural Economics should be the foundation for any marketing, advertising or communication with a customer.  ·       How System 1 (fast, automatic) and System 2 (slow, considered) thinking drive consumer behaviour and how understanding customers’ unconscious biases leads to more effective communications. ·       How SBP expertise in Behavioural Economics – and a strategy based on 5 key behavioural nudges – helped Australians take charge of their superannuation. ·       Why it’s vital to select the best channel for your audience’s level of digital comfort – and why that channel must be optimised for its specific audience. ·       That every communications strategy must have hard metrics baked into it to measure success against. ·       The importance to FinTechs of thinking about foundational strategy right from the beginning – that is, the building blocks of your identity, your message, your communication, your customer value proposition and your audience segmentation. ·       Why FinTechs must get the customer onboarding experience right – and the building blocks needed to achieve this. ·       What FinTechs and traditional banks can learn from one another and why this new ecosystem is better for customers and Australia. If you’d like to be taken through a sector specific insights presentation focusing on the value of foundational strategy for FinTechs you can contact Helen via email: helen 'at' sixblackpens 'dot' com  Our thanks to Australian FinTech News and Envestnet Yodlee for their support of The FinTech Report Podcast.