IBS Intelligence Podcasts

 Strong Customer Authentication is coming. Or is it? The Covid-19 pandemic may be a factor in a further delay to SCA but it is not the only rock in the path over which the plans may stumble. Paul Rodgers, Chairman of Vendorcom and panel member at the UK Payment Systems Regulator, outlines the issues facing the adoption of SCA. Vendorcom is a multi-stakeholder membership organisation that connects seekers, solvers and shapers in the European Payments Community. Rodgers believes regulators and card issuers must take a more pragmatic stance during this unusual period. 

 Within the Finance and IT sectors, data analytics solution provider iDelta believes many are very well placed to continue to operate on a business as usual footing in the face of the pandemic. While finance sector PLCs are inherently risk averse, iDelta believes there is a broader risk attached to any cancellation or suspension of programmes of work – many SMEs in the sector would be forced to scale back, resulting in further job losses. There is an opportunity here for finance sector PLCs to help by maintaining or increasing the volume of project work, keeping staff, suppliers and contractors engaged so that the finance sector of the economy is part of the economic solution rather than another part of the problem. 

More than half a trillion real-time payments transactions will be processed over the next five years, according to a report from Florida-based payments group ACI Worldwide and Global Data. The report analyses global real-time, account-to-account payment volumes and forecasts across 30 global markets, projecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.4% from 2019 to 2024.India is poised to lead the world in real-time payments volume over the next five years, with transaction volumes set to grow from 15.3 billion in 2019 to 52.8 billion in 2024. Additional key countries and regions to watch for real-time payments growth include the US (42.1% CAGR growth), the Nordic countries of the P27 initiative (20.9% CAGR growth), ASEAN (39.0% CAGR growth) and Europe. Among the countries relatively new to real-time payments, Malaysia, Finland and Belgium are predicted to have the most exponential growth in the next five years, with an expected CAGR of 176.5%, 90% and 67.9%, respectively 

 A team of UK FinTechs including Trade Ledger, a digital lending platform; Wiserfunding, a digital SME credit scoring platform; Nimbla, a trade credit insurance provider, and NorthRow, a remote client onboarding platform, have established a FinTech taskforce to provide a turn-key loan origination and underwriting platform that allows banks, alternative lenders and private debt lenders to virtually and digitally deploy funds to businesses during the Covid-19 outbreak.The concern of the taskforce is that grants, loans and guarantees including the British Business Banks’ Coronavirus Business Interruption Lending Scheme (CBILS) funding may not get to those SMEs that most need it – or in the timeframe needed. 

Finch Capital is an Amsterdam-based venture capital firm focusing on Europe and Southeast Asia. In Europe the firm looks to invest in AI, FinTech and IoT. Managing Partner Radboud Vlaar talks about those FinTechs likely to prosper and those likely to stumble as a result of the economic fallout from the Coronavirus pandemic, and also what it may mean for VC exit strategies from FinTechs over the course of the next 12 months. 

ERI is a global, digital solutions provider specialising in the design, development, implementation and support of an integrated, real-time banking software package: the OLYMPIC Banking System.The company has offices in Geneva, London, Lugano, Luxembourg, Paris, Singapore and Zurich. ERI is the market leader in the provision of banking and asset/wealth management software in many countries, notably in Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland.Overall, the OLYMPIC Banking System has been implemented by more than 300 banks and financial institutions in over 50 countries around the world.Robin Amlôt sat with Nicholas Hacking, director and Jean Philippe Bersier, business development director of ERI to discuss the challenges facing, in particular, Tier 2 and 3 banks in implementing technological change. 

 Gresham Technologies came to the London Stock Exchange 35 years ago, listing its shares in 1995. More than 90 organisations around the world use the company’s Clareti platform. Just ahead of the release of Gresham’s latest results (which showed a 30% rise in group revenue and a return to profitability) Robin Amlôt asked CEO Ian Manocha whether and how, unlike many FinTechs, being a quoted company makes a difference to the way Gresham goes about its business. 

India is well-poised to become the Global FinTech Hub due to favourable support coming from the government as well as a increased adoption of FinTech products from the consumer side. Navin Surya is also the founder of India’s first digital wallet ItzCash that he sold off to US-based Ebix. He has been very instrumental in creating various forums for FinTechs to be able to put across their thoughts and agenda to the Government. Surya spoke with Priyanka Pani of IBS Intelligence in this Podcast about the growing FinTech ecosystem in India, the segments that are likely to be more attractive to the investors and also the growth in number of Unicorns emerging from this space. Surya feels that India should expect more Unicorns based on revenues and not just valuations in the coming months. 

Making her second podcast appearance as part of the International Women’s Day series, Iana Dimitrova, CEO of OpenPayd, talks about leadership and her own career, as well as the importance of access to education in order to create a level playing field. 

 Over the past few years, Nationwide has managed to reach 50/50 gender balance on its executive committee, but the journey has taken time. In the third instalment of our International Women’s Day series, Alison Robb discusses the use of case studies and role models help promote diverse working models and why women should build a level of resilience.