Today fintech and incumbents industry leaders and key influencers from across Europe and the US joined in a live, industry-shaping online debate around the most compelling future roadmaps for finance: the FinTech FaceOff, organized by Capgemini and LinkedIn to accompany the launch of the Fintech World Report 2018.
What’s the FinTech FaceOff setup?
The event was streamed live on Youtube from Capgemini’s Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE) in Londen and London and LinkedIn’s NYC office. The debate was moderated by Jill Schlesinger of CBS News in NYC and Sarah Kocianski (FinTech lead at Business Insider) in London. Capgemini consultants Sankar Krishnan and Elias Ghanem were co-captains on each location. The 2 ½ hour, 10 Round debate had some great executives from incumbents (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, USAA, Lloyds Banking Group, TSB), FinTechs/Challengers (Betterment, Kabbage, Monzo, Bud, CBW Bank, Goldbean, Hearsay Systems), and an Accelerator (Startupbootcamp). Social team teams from the Americas and Europe representing the biggest FinTech social influencers shared their views and promoting their teams’ live debate commentary on Twitter. Those 15 influencers have over 600k followers on Twitter and include leaders from American Banker, Reuters, and Celent. As you can imagine this led to #WFTR18 being a trending topic today because the audience was challenged to comment and vote on Twitter as well. You can watch the fast-paced debate recording here.
Provoking thoughts and takeaways
I collected a series of tweets and Youtube videos while watching the faceoff this afternoon. Hopefully, it’s a good and information-rich impression from the exciting and inspiring meeting.
Opening positions on identity management or #blockchain as the overhyped technologies #WFTR18 pic.twitter.com/5L413nBsHO
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
Indeed, this guy better should concentrate on debating. Data should lead to insight, argues @clarashih in a better contribution.
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
Love hybrid models! How do you get CRMs full of data if no one fills it?! #WFTR18 #FinTechFaceOff Compliance can be our friend! YES!!!
— Lynne J. Johnson (@MoJoCMO) February 27, 2018
Why the cynicism about Blockchain? "Because it's basically a system for allocating wealth to geeks who hang around on Reddit!" #WFTR18 @Betterment
— Caspian Woods (@CaspianWoods) February 27, 2018
“Blockchain has the potential to change the ownership of data. We can use it effectively if we use it right – give it time” @nekliolios #WFTR18 @LinkedInMktg @11FSTeam pic.twitter.com/ksPN5lGMZu
— Capgemini UK (@CapgeminiUK) February 27, 2018
"Blockchain is short humanity." It's like saying I don't believe in society, the environment. Blockchain is an expose of technical complicated solution that doesn't serve anyone who really wants it – says Dan @daniel_egan from betterment. #WFTR18
— Anna Irrera (@annairrera) February 27, 2018
25-33% of applications to @sbcFinTech are blockchain related… And they really shouldn't be. @nekliolios #WFTR18 #RD4EU
— Maria Deam (@MariaDeam) February 27, 2018
Be customer centric:
"Are you actually improving your customers' well-being? Or just being customer friendly?" Zachary Gipson @USAA #WFTR18 #fintech #banking #FinancialInclusion @Capgemini
cc @JimMarous @leimer @pennycrosman @annairrera @sammaule pic.twitter.com/Vsiunc3kjt— Theo (@psb_dc) February 27, 2018
In 2019, the @Capgemini @LinkedIn Fintech Face-Off Should Have a Team From #China #WFTR18 #banking #Alibaba #Tencent @BrettKing @mattldooley @leimer @sytaylor @citikris @WFSULLIVAN3 pic.twitter.com/NwPzigSboj
— Jim Marous (@JimMarous) February 27, 2018
#fintech should be on customers and data. @sammaule stated that every technology is overhyped. Exciting #faceoff #WFTR18 https://t.co/an10TgnzIF
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
Left office, checked in online to see Ralph Hamers (@ingnl
) explain the #fintech #banking collaboration experience. https://t.co/an10TgnzIF #WFTR18 pic.twitter.com/zJRLbOVMu3— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
Impact of #fintech in #banking questionable, says @ZAGipson Customer focus, trust are key. Are underbanked / unbanked people now bank customers? #WFTR18
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
It’s interesting to watch consultants promote the value driven by challengers when their income comes from legacy clients.
Are consultants helping banks truly change to serve customers differently, more inclusively, and more holistically? #WFTR18
— Bradley Leimer (@leimer) February 27, 2018
The fintech revolution didn’t start in Europe, it started in Silicon Valley as over 80% of the funding of these early companies came from Bay Area based VCs. Come on. #WFTR18
Watchhttps://t.co/2E2rSQEIh0 … @WFSULLIVAN3 @leimer
— Amit Kumar (@amit_14kumar) February 27, 2018
Incumbent banks are like "bad landlords" says @sytaylor . Challenger banks can make money without charging hidden fees because they will have lower costs due to better tech. #WFTR18
— Anna Irrera (@annairrera) February 27, 2018
#Tech firm with a #banking licence? Crap, according to @nekliolios during #Faceoff #WFTR18 round 7. pic.twitter.com/p1lT6RwSuZ
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
True ! FinTechs are truly serving the under served and unserved markets #FinTech #FaceOff #WFTR18
— Kumaresan A (@FinTechBits) February 27, 2018
What really allows banks to innovate and improve is strong, nimble leaders who can make decisions quickly, I think #WFTR18
— Penny Crosman (@pennycrosman) February 27, 2018
"Current #Fintech VC funding is currently about funding the dreams of 28yr old white guys" Jane Barrett at @HelloGoldBean #WFTR18
— Caspian Woods (@CaspianWoods) February 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/emmaxclarke/status/968526827030548480
Culture is everything. How can you achieve your mission without the right people? How can you engage new customers and express any form of fiduciary responsibility through new value propositions driven by partnerships without having the right culture? #WFTR18
— Bradley Leimer (@leimer) February 27, 2018
Damn right @nekliolios on the difference between appetite & capability: stop faffing about with all the talk on collaboration. Too much noise, not enough trousers. Hell yeah!!! #RD8EU #wftr18
— Ghela Boskovich (@GhelaBoskovich) February 27, 2018
The entire ecosystem of FS and FinTech firms needs to come together to make it more effective for customers – @citikris from @Capgemini at the #WFTR18 #Fintech FaceOff pic.twitter.com/vhYbEAnVng
— Chirag Thakral (@chiragthakral) February 27, 2018
traditional banks : “we are a technology company with a banking licence” —> rubbish 🙂 #RD7EU #WFTR18
— Serkan Dogantekin (@sdogantekin) February 27, 2018
#WFTR18 #R7 Loved the idea of a @Capgemini FinTech ScaleUp Certification equivalent for #banks from @Jane_Barratt 🙂 @WFSULLIVAN3 RT@theagarwal
— Rohit Sharma (@RohitSharma_MI) February 27, 2018
“looking for people who understand our why” simply love it #RD8AM #WFTR18
— Serkan Dogantekin (@sdogantekin) February 27, 2018
No one in established financial institutions has any incentive to do anything different says @nekliolios Ouch again. #WFTR18
— Anna Irrera (@annairrera) February 27, 2018
On this, both Team US & Team Europe agree. #WFTR18 https://t.co/kDIno8j1uK
— Ghela Boskovich (@GhelaBoskovich) February 27, 2018
Culture and diversity important for #innovation but sense of purpose and mission is critical #WFTR18 #rd8am @ZAGipson @ccalmeja #fintech @Capgemini_Bnkg @Capgemini https://t.co/wX3mQLJoJx #banking @USAA
— Manish Grover (@manishgrover) February 27, 2018
Culture of agility, innovation, diversity & change would be the best assets to enhance Fintechs & incumbents collaboration #WFTR18
— Marcombe (@NinonMa) February 27, 2018
#Fintech companies become part of the #financialservices ecosystem, joining existing 'legacy' partners explains @ccalmeja #WFTR18 Think big! pic.twitter.com/ftNkE2D2Sv
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
#fintech ? As an advisor you'd better pick up the phone or take a customer out for lunch. #WFTR18 Round 7 of the #Faceoff https://t.co/an10TgnzIF
— HenkJan van der Klis (@hjvanderklis) February 27, 2018
"Don't underestimate the importance of creating a culture of #compliance. It's important to push back against [legacy] processes." #FinTech face-off #WFTR18
— Lucy Heavens (@heavens_lucy) February 27, 2018
"Regulatory compliance is not the problem in #fintech collaboration. It's process compliance: 'you have to tick this box because we've always done that in this bank" Fight it! #WFTR18 @KabbageInc
— Caspian Woods (@CaspianWoods) February 27, 2018
“Large companies need a mindset of experimentation. People are only incentivized for cost savings and ROI.” Nektarios Liolios, Startupbootcamp #WFTR18
— Penny Crosman (@pennycrosman) February 27, 2018
Legacy banks have scale, funds and stickiness of customers; innovation comes from the fintechs; Google, Amazon, Facebook have the best tech but don’t want to be banks – it’s all massively convergent.” Boe Hartman, Goldman Sachs #WFTR18
— Penny Crosman (@pennycrosman) February 27, 2018
#WFTR18 @ccalmeja A MCKENZIE report states that companies that are more diverse, perform better – “this is a call to action” #FinTechEU2018
— TheNewSpaces (@TheNewSpaces) February 27, 2018
THIS. IS. WHY. THERE. IS. A. BUSINESS. CASE. FOR. #DIVERSITY.
Damn, do we need to go over this again? #Femtech #RD7EU #WFTR18 https://t.co/mLE8vl5lhR— Ghela Boskovich (@GhelaBoskovich) February 27, 2018
#WFTR18 #RD9EU #R9 Who will be the long-term winner as banking evolves to a marketplace model: Incumbents, FinTechs, or Big Tech?
Those that move fastest, and give the user the best UX – it's hard to see the incumbents doing this? pic.twitter.com/gYBHfSwQCU— Simon Cocking (@SimonCocking) February 27, 2018
True! Tech should solve our problem… It should not present a solution and ask us to look for a problem #FinTech #FaceOff #WFTR18 https://t.co/mC4DEoUUfA
— Kumaresan A (@FinTechBits) February 27, 2018
#R9 Who will be the long-term winner as banking evolves to a marketplace model: Incumbents, FinTechs, or Big Tech? Is BigTech (Google/Apple/Facebook/Amazon) a threat or a partner/enabler? #WFTR18 https://t.co/gS3t28J3qC pic.twitter.com/CZsNFfAPjA
— Capgemini (@Capgemini) February 27, 2018
Team #Europe wins 6-3 #WFTR18 @Capgemini @WFSULLIVAN3 @chiragthakral @theagarwal
— Amit Kumar (@amit_14kumar) February 27, 2018
Ooh how I enjoyed this #WFTR18. Honestly conferences should adopt this Faceoff model so attendees can get their money’s worth.
— karyn odili (@karynodili) February 27, 2018
Next up: an in-depth review of the Fintech Report 2018 itself. I’ll read it first. Get your free copy online.
