IBS Intelligence Podcasts

Ana Quirola, Business Development, Strategic Partnerships and Commercial Channels Manager, COBISAt the latest Global FinTech Innovation Awards, COBIS, a leading core banking solutions provider in the Latin American market, won the award for Most Innovative Cloud Deployment for Banco Santander Peru’s SURGIR project. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses the solution behind the award, COBIS Serverless, with Ana Quirola, Business Development, Strategic Partnerships and Commercial Channels Manager of COBIS.

Sandeep Bagaria, Chief Executive Officer, TagitTagit works with banks in Asia, the Middle East and Africa to bring their digital strategy to life with secure and scalable omnichannel digital solutions. The company picked up the award for Most Effective Bank-FinTech Partnership at the last Global FinTech Innovation Awards for its project with India’s AU Small Finance Bank. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses how banks need to prepare for the future with Sandeep Bagaria, Chief Executive Officer of Tagit.

Altin Kadareja, Founder & CEO, CardoAIAsk anyone in in the private debt market just how big it is, and you’ll get different answers each time, but it is big, opaque, and not standardised. And Europe accounts for around two-thirds of it. On the buyside, institutional investors, banks and credit servicers need to improve how they manage private debt investments, and on the sellside, corporates and SMEs are looking for keener pricing and access to more funds. Altin Kadareja of Cardo AI suggests to Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence that what Europe needs is a standardised risk model. His firm has spent the last 4 years developing an AI algorithm that takes and interprets data from more than 80 private debt information sources.

Paul Nilsen, Commercial Director, MD Africa, CIS & Global SaaS, Codebase TechnologiesInterest is growing in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions in order to meet the needs and expectations of the next generation of consumers, not least in Africa, which has the youngest population. It is estimated that 70% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is under the age of 30. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses what that means for the neobanks, banks and telcos looking for a piece of the digital action with Paul Nilsen, Commercial Director, MD Africa, CIS & Global SaaS for Codebase Technologies. 

Kosta Du, CEO, DapioThe coming ‘Tap to Pay’ smartphone payments tech wave, reinforced by Apple’s recent announcement of turning iPhones into payment terminals, offers an instant service at the tap of a mobile device. What will this mean for merchants, especially small/micro businesses, gig economy workers and sole traders? We discussed the potential for this solution to make payments more accessible with Kosta Du, CEO of Dapio, a SoftPOS payment engine for business apps. 

Marina Goche, CEO, SentifiSentifi is one of the leaders in the fast-growing alternative data sector and its data and analysis are formed from millions of different online sources, including forums like Reddit as well as blogs and social media. The company’s data are already being used by a range of institutional and retail investors to better understand the underlying price signals and sentiment in over 50,000 stocks, commodities, currencies, and cryptocurrencies. Marina Goche, Sentifi's CEO discussed with IBSi’s Reporter Gaia Lamperti the key role that alternative data played during and after the pandemic in tracking new trends, identifying risk, and providing real-time ESG scores that informed investors’ decisions.  

Jason O’Shaughnessy, Head of International Business, Envestnet/YodleeFinancial wellness for many is currently at risk. The combination of the aftereffects of the pandemic and of a spike in energy prices because of the war in Ukraine are hitting consumers hard. Financial literacy remains an issue and, there is an onus on financial institutions and FinTechs to help. Banks may use data analytics to identify consumer trends, empower consumers and take personal financial management to the next level, providing actionable advice tailored to customer circumstances. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence discusses financial wellness with Jason O’Shaughnessy, Head of International Business at data aggregation specialist Envestnet/Yodlee.

Anurag Sinha, Co-founder and CEO of FPL Technologies, shares insights from his FinTech startup focused on credit accessibility in India. He discusses the innovative OneCard and OneScore products aimed at improving credit scores for young consumers. The conversation highlights the swift shift in financial behavior post-pandemic and the untapped potential in India's credit card market. Anurag also unveils ambitious plans for issuing 15 million credit cards, emphasizing the importance of partnerships with banks to reach underserved populations.

Igal Rotem, Chief Executive Officer, FinaroPayments’ provider Finaro is being acquired by Shift4 in a deal valuing the company at $575 million. The takeover follows just a few short months after a rebranding exercise in which Finaro became the new name for Credorax. Together, Shift4 and Finaro are leading players in both card-present and card-not-present experience across a range of verticals. Not content with these headlines, Finaro committed in January, in concert with GoTo and Mastercard, to the planting of 1 million trees by 2025. Robin Amlôt of IBS Intelligence quizzed Igal Rotem, CEO of Finaro about these developments, beginning with the takeover by Shift4.

Laurent Descout, Founder & CEO, NeoWith the one-year anniversary of the end of the Brexit transition period, we take a look at what’s changed in the world of cross-border payments as a result of Brexit. That’s in the past, looking to the present and the future we also investigate how the war in Ukraine is affecting payments and international corporates with Laurent Descout, Founder and CEO of payments and FX platform Neo.