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Digital Disruptors podcast: Mobey Day episode

Meghan Warby — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 19:18:03 +0000

To share even more great insights from Mobey Day, we’ve put together this 10-minute Digital Disruptors podcast.

This episode features a handful of the Canadian and European industry experts who spoke at this year’s conference.

Say Yeah’s proud to have a long relationship with this groundbreaking conference. As ‘open banking’ becomes more well-known, it’s time to get behind this element of digital transformation in financial services broadly.

Take a moment to listen to STACK’s chief product officer, Ranjit Sarai, and Erlend Sundvor, the Eika Bank Group’s payment expert, as they share their companies’ innovations in finance (transcript below).

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Transcript

Meghan Warby:

Welcome to digital disruptors. Today we’re sharing insights from Mobey Day. You’ll hear from Canadian and European industry experts who are bringing digital transformation to financial services.

I’m Meghan from Say Yeah, and our team supported Mobey Day from its very beginning, in Toronto in 2016. We’ve presented at the conference, we’ve judged competitions, moderated panels, and connected with its many diverse delegates. There’s no better time to talk about financial services transformation in Canada, and open banking is definitely a hot topic.

Lee Dale:

Thanks, Meghan. I’m Lee Dale, Say Yeah’s CEO. And I like to take a moment to unpack open banking. The heart of open banking is data portability. Think about your mortgage. You have a pay schedule with your lender, you can make lump sum payments, but you’ll be penalized if you want to change anything. All these details are carefully guarded by your bank. They don’t share your mortgage options with anyone else, which makes it harder for you to control and understand your home financing.

The difference with open banking is you have control over this data, your data, you could share it with other lenders use it to study trends or shop the market for a better, clearer, more flexible mortgage option. Now in Canada, there’s still no legislation on open banking, but it’s coming as Europe leads the way North America will follow. This is what makes Mobey Day an important event for Canadian financial leaders, giving them the chance to connect with peers from across the pond, who are already years into open banking.

Meghan Warby:

Now, let’s dig into our highlights. We’ve got Stacks’ Chief Product officer Ranjit Sarai, and Erlend Sundvor. the Eika bank group’s payment expert. They’re sharing their companies’ innovations in finance.

Ranjit Sarai:

I’m Ranjit Sarai, I’m the Chief Product officer at stack. I have been at Stack for about a year and a half. And I’m responsible for all product strategy roadmap and development of the product. We found a lot of our customers are paying tons in fees every month. And it’s tough because as a bank, you typically rely on that fee revenue to support your customers in terms of the overhead, so you have to pay for branches, you have to pay for a lot of overhead as a traditional bank. And the way to generate the revenue from a retail bank perspective is charging fees.

And typically millennials unfortunately don’t have large bank balances. And so they actually pay the most in fees, because they’re not as profitable for the bank. And so if you’re someone that’s, you know, you’re 45 years old, and you have 510 thousand dollars in the bank, they’ll waive all your fees. If you’re a millennial with $1,000 or $500. In your bank account, you’re probably paying the most in fees. And so we from day one created this product that’s basically free, essentially eliminate all the fees for the customer. And our business model is based on interchange, which is every time you spend on the card. Merchants pay a percentage to us in terms of revenue. And so for us, it doesn’t really matter what the balances. It’s really if you use the card, and so customers really are profitable to us, the more they use the card, which is a natural behaviors you spend the shot in terms of what banks could do. I mean, really, it’s really Looking at their business models, it’s tough to do. But to really attract millennials, you have to have an authentic business model. You can’t kind of charge fees or high fees with other products, you really have to be transparent, authentic. And I think part of the things we’re talking about today at Mobey are an open banking is going to help drive that, for banks is really that transparency in the data and in terms of the products and services itself. So we spent a lot of time at campuses, we spoke to a lot of materials, talk to our friends, and really tried to understand kind of what, what’s wrong with banking today.

And obviously, the big one that came up is was fees. And so that was a big part of it, part of our core value prop is again, no fees. But the other part was that banking just wasn’t exciting anymore. Right? It’s kind of a chore. If you think about, you know, the the big take we’ve got is actually it’s quite a painful experience to open up your bank account, because the balance is typically less than what you expect. And you kind of you kind of hate yourself for spending all this money not saving enough. And so we did a number of things in our products that really helps change that emotional experience when you open the app. And so one thing we did which is kind of unique is every time you Make a transaction, you make a purchase with stack, you have the ability to take a photo or video that purchase and share it with your friends in the app. And so now when you open the app, you have this whole feed of the stack community. And they’re sharing purchases, they’re sharing deals, they’re saying I got 40% off Banana Republic, they’re sharing coupon codes.

So you have this sense of community, not there alone. Every other bank when you open its you and the bank, right doesn’t matter. If I’m part of Bank A and they have a million customers, I don’t benefit from that. Right. But with stack you benefit from the screen sharing deal sharing stack hacks, we call them financial hacks. So we have that built in. The other part was saving. So the key takeaway found when we talk to our customers, as everyone knows, they have to save, but the hardest part of saving is actually starting. So everyone’s like, you know, I need to save I need to save, but they don’t have know how to start. And so what we did is we have this feature enabled, where when you set a goal, we let you know Okay, when is this when do you want this goal because they want to go to trip to Mexico and you want to go in a month. We actually tell you you need to save $5 every day to get there. And then we round up your transactions to five dollars. So every time you spend you’re saving. And so we’ve taken the whole kind of thinking and the barriers and then saving away by tying it to spend. And so now when you shop you’re saving and so you’re shopping, you know, people shop, typically to buy things that make them happy here they enjoy doing. But now you’re getting the benefit saving at the same time. So it’s less guilty. And now when you go in the app, you see your transaction just like any other bank, but you see what you save every transaction. And so we’re really trying to make an experience that’s more delightful when it comes to banking.

Erlend Sundvor:

So I’m Erlend Sundvor, I worked at the Eika group in Norway, we are local alliance of small banks in Norway. So we are a bit different from some of the other players here. Mainly large banks. And I’m head of payments. So I am responsible for all everything that’s happening in the payment space for our local bank. I think this this new openness not only what we call open banking, but in general the ability to connect services and build new customers. experiences through that and in new and innovative ways. That wasn’t always the case. You know, we have seen a tremendous development over the past couple of years previously and payments were something that happened in the back office was not very interesting. nobody really cared.

Lee Dale:

Outside of these international experts. We met local leaders from TD Bank, BMO, Scotiabank, and more. Not to mention attendees and speakers from insurance, law and FinTech backgrounds. Everyone’s talking payments, identity and data portability. And they’re here to form partnerships, all with a Human Centered Design lens, putting customers first. This is the transformation happening within the industry, both locally and abroad. That’s why we’re so excited to be here today connecting with this great group of leaders.

Erlend Sundvor:

Everybody’s talking about customer centricity and customer first but in the end it’s not really happening. It always ends up as the bank first. Almost always. So, it’s fairly obvious, but it’s, it’s proving hard to do in reality, it is basically just looking where the customer is. I mean, that is Norway, the main interaction the customer has with the bank is through the mobile banking app and debit card. So that’s where the customer is. And that’s where where much of the focus should be. Not all that’s not everything. Of course, we have to have other channels as well. But but that is really where the digital innovation has to happen. I don’t think there’s any more exciting business to be in right now than the payments and digital banking space. So so if you really want to get a lot of exciting things to do, and that’ll be exciting projects and the world happens and I think that’s, this is the right place to be.

Ranjit Sarai:

At Stack, it’s kind of straightforward. We start, we’re starting from scratch at a startup, there’s no legacy really you, you build a team together, you build the technology together. And you’re able to instill from day one, the principles of digital kind of innovation and agile methodology and all those things. I’ve worked at many banks before. With, that’s not the case. And it is a lot more difficult, where you have legacy, you have legacy technology, you have legacy institutions and culture. You know, the biggest thing I found in those instances was the culture piece. And so getting people on board with agile thinking in terms of, you know, not everything has to be 100%. Right? When it goes out the door, all the requirements will not be fully specked out. You don’t need a 400 page requirements document before you start. You know, that’s difficult if you’ve never done it before. And so from a from an organization perspective, digital transformation is really a journey. It’s essentially for especially for large bank, it’s really like you’re trying to move this aircraft carrier, right. So you can only move a few degrees at a time you can do a complete 180 or 90 return and so The biggest thing is getting your people on board. The technology is actually not that difficult. It’s freely available. A lot of tool kits exist. But if you don’t have buy in from your people, then you’re not gonna be able to execute on this.

Meghan Warby:

Let’s finish up with Ranjit Sarai’s take on the value of Mobey Day.

Ranjit Sarai:

I really think Mobey forum itself is a pretty unique kind of organization. It’s kind of built by kind of members for members. It’s really kind of this gives you an inside look into kind of what’s happening behind the scenes. I know, there’s two parts to the Mobey Day, there’s kind of the closed closed door, forum groups, and then there’s the open one. Both are amazing in terms of the things you learned, but the closed door sessions are amazing. So if you can become a member, it’s super interesting because you’re with your peers. And again, in the privacy of a closed session, people are a lot more open in terms of what’s happening. There’s there’s kind of that that unsaid rule of what’s said at Mobey forum stays at Mobey Forum, and so I get tons of value from those sessions as well. Well as the open sessions are amazing because you can bring outside speakers in and get outside perspective. And so having a combination of both is pretty unique.

Meghan Warby:

We hope you enjoyed our digital disruptors Mobey Day episode, visit Say Yeah’s Digital insights section for event recaps, videos and more.

Looking for more banking industry content? Make sure you check out our event recap from Mobey Day Toronto 2019 for more on open banking, fintech, and digital transformation in banking.

From uncovering new market opportunities to finding new efficiencies through tech

We’re here to help explore innovative ways to improve service delivery and customer experience.

Get in touch

The post Digital Disruptors podcast: Mobey Day episode appeared first on Say Yeah!.

Mobey Day 2019 recap: exploring open banking innovation

Kate Matesic — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 20:21:47 +0000

This June, Mobey Day (in partnership with Dentons Boekel) was held in Toronto’s TD Centre. This year’s talks focused on ‘open banking,’ which encompasses everything from digital identification, to how Canada can navigate regulating the exchange of financial data.

Make sure to check out our Digital Disruptors podcast episode on Mobey Day, diving deeper into customer experience and trends in open banking.

Say Yeah is a proud partner of Mobey Day, and our team captured the action. Here are our highlights:

Challenger Banks and Canadian Open Banking

EQ Bank’s Dan Dickinson delivered a presentation about the importance of advocating for ‘open banking’ on behalf of users. Open banking is an industry term that refers to: using open APIs for third-party developers to build apps and services; increasing the transparency options for account holders, which can range from open data to private data.

He used the experience and future plans of his employer – EQ Bank – to illustrate his thesis. Through vivid case studies based on real EQ Bank clients (including his father, who’s a farmer), he demonstrated the genuine impact of open banking, especially on those with limited access to in-person branches.

His talk also addressed the many opportunities for organizations to rebrand and advocate for open banking, which is important to do before it becomes a key concern for the average Canadian. He labelled EQ Bank as a “challenger bank,” which is a position for less-well-established, smaller institutions to capitalize on open banking opportunities.

One of the key concerns Dickinson raised is how traditionally regulations in the financial industry have been developed to benefit large institutions, not consumers. Dickinson believes it’s time to flip the script, and combine technical support with policy to serve all Canadians through fair, progressive, transparent open banking practices.

Panel: The Rise of Open IDs – Creating a Successful Digital ID Scheme

All panellists in this session brought unique perspectives from Canada and abroad regarding the rise of technologies for online identification. Jenny Ahlqvist, Senior Advisor from SpareBank 1, spoke from the perspective of a Norwegian banker, where open IDs are on the cusp of being approved, and have been in experimental beta phases since 2000.

The panel covered a wide full range of issues, from: open ids, data sharing, forgery, and the concerns that preventing the adoption of these advances. For instance, biometric data like a fingerprint is not sufficiently secure to serve as a stand-alone piece of identification. These IDs must be, at a minimum, three-factors strong to ensure security and prevent fraud.

Soon, digital IDs will be integrated into Canada’s regulations and banks, and this panel delivered keen insights into its potential.

The Canadian Open Banking Landscape

Another in-depth panel deep-dove into the Canadian open banking landscape. It featured experts such as Ramesh Jayakrishnan from Mastercard, Ranjit Sarai from Stack and Marc Folch from Interac. Panelists mused on how the federal government in Canada is preparing for the advent of open banking, and how this is sometimes out of step with the fintech approach.

The panel’s main takeaways:

Open banking can feel like a zero-sum game, but there’s opportunity
Consumers currently lack ways to express consent; they need to be presented with intuitive and safe options
Banks and other legacy organizations shouldn’t JUST comply with open banking

As open banking becomes a reality, these panelists’ insights will guide big banks and fintechs alike, ensuring success and continued, digital-first revenue growth.

Like previous years, Mobey Day 2019 was a great chance to connect with professionals in fintech and financial institutions. Attendees and panelists’ generous approach to sharing knowledge about the upcoming shift to open banking is a refreshing tone for an industry that can feel straight-laced and staid. We encourage anyone interested in the future of financial technology to attend next year’s event.

From uncovering new market opportunities to finding new efficiencies through tech

We’re here to help explore innovative ways to improve service delivery and customer experience.

Get in touch

The post Mobey Day 2019 recap: exploring open banking innovation appeared first on Say Yeah!.

It’s all about open banking at Mobey Day Toronto 2019, June 11th-12th

Caroline Dinnall — Thu, 09 May 2019 17:30:53 +0000

Organized by Mobey Forum and hosted by Dentons, Mobey Day Toronto, a two-day conference featuring the latest trends in banking, will feature a range of speakers from across the industry, including speakers from CitiBank, TD Bank, STACK and many more. Expert groups for Mobey Forum members in topics such as Digital IDs and the Internet of Things (IoT) will also be in attendance.

View the full recap of our experience at Mobey Day Toronto 2018.

This year’s main topic of discussion? Getting Real with Open Banking: Monetizing APIs and Creating Profitable Business Models.

We’re looking forward to a full 8+ hours of networking with 200+ industry professionals from over 15 countries. You won’t want to miss out on your chance to gain valuable insight from the top minds in the financial technology space.

Say Yeah is a proud partner of Mobey Day Toronto 2019! Our CEO Lee Dale will be in attendance and is open to discussing digital transformation and the future of technology in banking.

Connect with Lee on Twitter or at lee@sayyeah.com

Our team will also be recording interviews with a selection of speakers from Mobey Day. We look forward to discussing digital strategy and integration of digital within financial services with some of the conference speakers.

Additional Networking Opportunities

Be sure to take part in the networking breaks during the two day event and cocktail reception, hosted by BDO on Tuesday June 11 at 6:00-8:00 PM. This is a great opportunity to discuss the climate of open banking in Europe and get a range of open banking perspectives from visitors of the city.

Mobey Day Toronto will be the perfect opportunity to hear from and network with the top fintech professionals today all in one place.

View the full conference schedule here.

Get tickets

We hope to see you at Mobey Day Toronto 2019!

The Say Yeah Team

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Mobey Day Toronto 2018 recap: highlighting the latest trends from across the financial services and insurance industries

Caroline Dinnall — Thu, 12 Jul 2018 18:09:22 +0000

Transcript

Jan-Lukas Wolf:

So being part of a fintech and vendor to banks today, that whole notion of big financial institutions working with start ups was completely unheard of five years ago. It isn’t anymore.

Sumit Sarkar:

We’re constantly challenged by disruptors out there. For the longest time, I think people believed fintechs are more disruptors than partners, and as we see today, fintechs are more partners to the banks, in terms of how we look at the customer journey and solve for different parts of that equation.

Ben Hammersley:

What we’re starting to see right now is a huge influx of new competition and new entries to the market who are coming from other countries or other continents, or from other completely different businesses. So Apple, for example. Apple are about to launch a physical credit card. If you were to go back eight years and say is Apple going to be a threat to the financial services industries, you’d be like, no. Well now it’s very much a part of the financial services industries. Facebook has a banking license in Europe, the Chinese social networks all have very large financial offerings now. And all of those things wouldn’t have been foreseen five or six years ago. And I think if you’re only looking within your own business, you’re only looking within your own field, you’re going to be crushed in the onslaught when the new entries arrive.

Yaka Sakkejha:

I think it’s so critical that all companies use digital and design thinking with every breath that they take in their occupation, because if you don’t, you really become the frog in the pot, so the frog in the pot story is that somebody put a frog in cold water in a pot and they slowly increase the heat until it was boiling and the frog was dead. But the frog didn’t feel the heat, and just died. So you know, you don’t expect to be thrown into boiling water, I mean technology doesn’t change instantly, Generation Z is not gonna automatically buy a whole life insurance policy from you, but I think if you don’t use that thinking on a day-to-day basis, then you’re really at risk of being disrupted.

Johannes Suikkanen:

I think first every organization should define its role in the world, even before moving into human-centered design practices. The bigger question is an existential one. Why do we deserve to exist? What is the unique value that we can provide as a company in a society, and for human beings? And once you have that figured out, sort of your unique market definition, out of that, you have to execute it against that. And I think there are these human- centric design methods that are absolutely very valuable.

Sumit Sarkar:

Everybody’s trying to level best to be a customer-centric organization, and human-centered design is a big, big part of it. It’s how you think about customer journeys, what their needs and wants are, and how you kind of fulfill that.

Yaka Sakkejha:

Before we spend a dime on anything, we talk to our customers first. We also then don’t believe our customers because people say one thing and they behave differently. So we will build these small toys or tools with a very small budget, and then float them out to our customers, and then see if our customers actually use it, or if they don’t touch it. And then from there, we’ll look at investing in bigger partnerships. And then of course, using the data that we’ve found from these toys to inform actually building something internally.

Sumit Sarkar:

Data means everything. We look at vast amounts of data that exist out there in terms of what our customers really need, in fact, even building something like the chatbot, we looked at real life cases of what do people actually ask when they call in, or visit a branch, and as I mentioned, self service online is one of the biggest things people ask for. Branch is one of the biggest things people ask for. ‘Cause you always want to build a product that people are gonna use at the end of the day, and if you don’t kind of build that with a platform or foundation of data, then it’s just a product.

Ben Hammersley:

You’re not going to do your banking through virtual reality, almost certainly not. Cause that would be stupid and weird. But, virtual reality as a technology, is very interesting and very promising. And will transform the world in some way, will make a cultural change, will make a social change. And so the banking that you do is in a world where VR has happened.

Johannes Suikkanen:

Think realistically and you know, what do you do for people? Just try to avoid those labels, because I think those labels have become very problematic, I mean, ideally, you actually start by studying people and thinking about how do you create a very meaningful relationship with them. And I don’t think it’s a bad digital first, I don’t think it’s about just creating experiences, but defining first, like what’s your role? How can you create a very valuable relationship with those people?

Held in the heart of downtown Toronto at the Steam Whistle Brewery, Mobey Day Toronto invited professionals from top Canadian financial services, service design, and technology companies, as well as leaders from across Europe.

The two-day conference welcomed industry veterans and trailblazers to connect and learn, around the topics of open banking, technology partnerships, enhancing customer experience, and emerging technologies and methodologies.

Say Yeah had the privilege of interviewing the global group of speakers, representing top-performing companies that are driving effective transformation and emerging businesses that are disrupting markets.

Here are the topics that stood out to us during the talks and discussion panels.

Customer spending habits

Representing STACK—a new service for people to save and share money through their smartphone—Ranjit Sarai shared the importance of meeting the needs of the growing millennial market, and how data is the answer to meeting these needs.

With millennials trending towards exclusively operating across digital channels in order to manage their finances, this gives organizations more data to work with in order to make informed decisions about product, value, and experience. It’s this active, ongoing feedback loop to learn from that becomes a vital tool in order to continue serving millennials efficiently.

Sarai also highlighted how customer journey mapping and design thinking are great tools for helping organizations understand current behaviour and deliver suitable and customizable solutions to enhancing customer experience and increasing customer spending habits.

Customer Experience (Debbie Gamble, Interac)

Debbie Gamble is the VP of Digital Products and Platforms at Interac. This company is considered a B2B2C, but Gamble and her team believe that design is essential to customer experience. It’s not enough to focus on the businesses they service, and Interac takes its role in shaping the end-user experience seriously.

“Customer is at the centre of everything we do.”

~Debbie Gamble

When bringing products to market, Interac focuses on three key values:

Keeping their customer first;
Embodying a trusted relationship between the company and the client, and;
“pivoting with ease,” which is essential in an age of disruption.

She went on to describe that although serving customers most effectively requires the right channels, that’s not enough. Channels matter, but the right strategy is what makes all the difference.

Chatbot revolution

Sumit Sarkar from BMO presented a case study on the BMO Bolt Messenger Bot. BMO saw the implementation of a chatbot as a way to become more effectively engage with their customers.

They launched the Bolt Messenger Bot on Facebook Messenger and Twitter and found they were able to more effectively deliver service across these networks.

“We wanted to be where consumers are.”

With chatbots following familiar messaging service patterns and usage across already populated networks, BMO was confident that this new channel would be welcomed by the majority of their customers, and they’ve been thrilled with the response so far.

Open banking on the rise

The dynamics of financial services is changing significantly with open banking. With the implementation of real-time money management across a variety of providers, people have more control over their data and their money. The emergence of technology has propelled the notion of open banking (the use of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow third party developers to construct applications and services around the financial institution) quite rapidly.

According to Christine Robson, manager in the Monitor Deloitte corporate strategy group, open banking is here to stay. Open banking legislation and the use of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that allow third party developers to construct applications and services across financial institution is opening up both consumer benefits and partnership opportunities.

“Open banking is not a new concept, it’s a movement.”

With the right application and adaptation, open banking has a potential to reshape the entire industry.

Panel

Stemming off from the topic of finance and chatbots, a panel featuring Jake Tyler from Finn.ai, Sasha Caskey from Kasisto, and Gurpreet Singh from BMO, gave insight on designing and deploying conversational AI. Participants challenges one another with thought-provoking questions for the future. With AI in banking, what will the future look like? How can one ensure bank loyalty in an age where millennials will never touch foot in a bank; is chatbot the answer to this?

With over 38 countries and 20 banks represented, Mobey Day Toronto provided a diverse outlook on the rapid transformation of the financial industry due to the increased use of AI, robotics, and the sudden change in spending habits.

Stay in touch with Mobey Forum for upcoming events across the globe and gain access to fintech content you just can’t Google!

If you’re looking for support in navigating these kind of emerging new technologies and methodologies to ensure your organization is effectively serving your business and your users, we’re here to help.

Get in touch

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Managing disruption in financial services: Mobey Day Toronto 2017 recap

Caroline Dinnall — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 19:29:26 +0000

Transcript

Kristian Sorensen:

While Mobey is a global organization, it has found it easier to set root in certain geographies. There seems to be something about Canada and about this collaboration spirit that just made a lot of sense. I think that’s one of the main reasons that Mobey keeps returning here, to Toronto.

Eva Wong:

I think that the cross-pollination is really key to success and I think key to winning the hearts and minds of the consumers. There’s so much that can be learned through a big fintech partnership, so we partnered with CIBC and we launched a partnership to power one click personal loan for them and also power their free credit score product. We were 16 people when we launched. There were 160 people on CIBC’s product team. And there’s just like, so much great learning that I think really existed on both sides.

Lee Dale:

If you only map the touch points you’re aware of as an organization where you’re currently interacting, You’re actually not doing your job as an organization to understand how you can impact the market, how you can impact consumers.

Ayanna Augustine:

The world is changing with things like Google and the iPhone. Their expectation of what we’re going to do has shifted, and we are trying to find our way in that world. And the only way to do it is to introduce our business partners to the mindsets of our customers.

Shelisa Bainbridge:

It’s getting outside of your day to day and really trying to understand what you’re doing from the perspective of the customer and what value can you add.

On-stage speaker:

The paradigm of open banking is bringing the business of bankers beyond what has been traditionally defined as providers. How can banks really build intelligent systems that can offer personalized experiences when the user interacts through their mobile device? The open banking paradigm is going to help banks overcome that lack of data.

Paul Burkness:

The fintechs provide an opportunity for the banks because all of this change will have to be focused on the customer and how do things become customer centric? Customer centric is not always an easy thing for a bank to achieve, but working in collaboration with partners there is an opportunity to marry both sides of those worlds.

Greg Wolfond:

Using blockchain technologies, not just for cyber currency but also in other kinds of solution problems is you could have multiple people connected to the same system solving a problem where you have resilience against the Nile of service attacks, where you have immutability, where you have proofs that work and last a long time. So people are finding that this core technology that started, I guess kind of as bitcoin, has all kinds of applicability to other businesses.

Pavel Abdur-Rahman:

I think people who are afraid of AI are missing the point. Human resources will be more precious than ever because without human beings we won’t be able to figure any of these things out.

Katie Greenberg:

Having different opinions and different views and different backgrounds in a room to challenge your either preconceived beliefs around your business model, around your product, or around your consumers, sometimes can be uncomfortable. And sometimes there’s a level of comfort around surrounding yourselves with people who have similar views to you. You don’t have to debate or challenge things as much, but the end result is that you’re gonna end up with an inferior product or an inferior business.

Harinder Takhar:

-I’ve been in a taxi where you just turn your microphone on and that guy sitting in the front has his– that person has a microphone on and your speaker makes some noises and the money is just moved across. You can do the same by just scanning your QR code, picking a bottle of water, and just leaving. So these things have actually already proven that you don’t need to be in that card not present sort of scenario. The token is always in the cloud and you don’t have to worry about it.

On August 30, 2017, the Mobey Forum and Carta Worldwide hosted the two-day Mobey Day conference at TIFF Bell Lightbox to explore disruption in financial services. Over 300 professionals from the banking, insurance, and technology industries filled the main theatre to soak in the latest fintech and financial services trends and innovation processes.

The conference started off with a warm welcome from Maikki Frisk, Mobey Forum’s executive director, who revealed the new identity and direction of the Mobey Forum. Following after were talks and panel discussions from some of the brightest in banking, fintech, and related industries.

During the hour-long networking lunches each day, attendees jumped on the opportunity to connect with speakers, panelists, and peers.

Here’s what was covered at Mobey Day Toronto 2017, relating to disruption in financial services:

Cross-pollination

The cross-pollination topic focused primarily on the opportunity for banks to partner with startups who are able to provide highly-focused and personalized consumer products—something difficult for banks to accomplish on their own. Cross-pollination was identified as way for banks to stave off disruption with a leading role as the core services provider for new best-of-breed consumer solutions. Essentially, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS).

“Banks are starting to understand that you need that personalization in selecting particular products that are going to be meaningful to your consumer.”

~Izabella Gabowicz, Sensibill

Amber Foucault from Symbility Intersect says there is much that startups could learn from banks in terms of structure and principle, and vice versa. “Startups have a lot to learn from standardized systems in banks that have a good foundation,” she said. Eva Wong, co-founder of Borrowell testified to this, mentioning Borrowell’s partnership with CIBC’s large product team of 160 members to power a one-click personal loan product and free credit score service that Borrowell supports with their 16-person product team. Eva says the partnership with CIBC was valuable and hugely impactful for Borrowell, and it helps CIBC reach and serve a market they otherwise would not target.

Diversity in fintech

Startup companies and the fintech industry itself are disrupting financial services; these nimble, customer-focused organizations are a catalyst for change. The general hope is that there is opportunity for the players in this space to be catalysts for change beyond technology, services, and improved user experience.

Uber and Google are great examples of organizations bringing the topic of diversity to the forefront. Their stories, however, speak to difficult and challenging outcomes, highlighting how even relatively new organizations fall into the same old patterns of misogynistic, non-inclusive, and dismissive teams. Following discussions around cross-pollination and gaining new insight from other industry practices, Mobey Day explored the organizational benefits of a diverse team.

“As a country, in Canada, we’re a diverse country. If we are looking to service a diverse group of individuals, it’s kind of crazy to think we could do that without a diverse group of individuals creating the product or the business model that we’re trying to sell.”

~Katie Greenberg, Scotiabank

The discussion continued around the correlation between diversity and high performing teams. Tom Pawelkiewicz of Scotiabank offered, “If you don’t get it, I can send you a hundred papers on why diverse teams perform better.”

We understand the complexity of shaping a more diverse digital community. That’s why Say Yeah has worked to establish and support the volunteer organization Together, which runs a series of professional and youth-oriented programs and events that help shape a more inclusive workforce.

Design systems that accelerate digital transformation

Digital transformation requires untamed minds; minds that are open to new discoveries and possibilities, all while fully understanding what customers want and need. The only way to know that you are impacting your customer is by presenting them with a solution—early and often. When you do, you learn, and you discover.

“Digital transformation seems on its surface to be about data, artificial intelligence (AI), automation, responsiveness and access across multiple channels, …but it goes much deeper. That is, how do we leverage digital to actually enable the organization to create a stronger connection with their customer and improve their service model.”

~Lee Dale, Say Yeah

The triangle between fintech, healthtech, and insurtech

The desire to enhance customer experiences has transformed financial, health, and insurance services. These industries are leaving their stoic systems and grabbing hold of new innovative alternatives, be it AI, mobile and digital payments, invisible payments, and more, all in order to serve their customers.

Mark Dowds from Trov explained why Trov’s effort to allow users to protect the things they love for as long (or as little) as they want through on-demand, mobile alternatives speaks to the needs of a shifting next generation market, where consumers put less value on things and ownership, and more value on travel and mobility.

Michael Serbinis from League also shared how health organizations are intensely preparing for innovation and transformation, with the rise of mobile digital services for instant health care information and on-demand, localized healthcare services.

Open Banking

When it comes to digital banking, “data is the new oil.” Suresh Ramamurthi from CBW Bank enforced the importance of getting enough data about customer behaviour. Unfortunately, banks do not currently have the capacity to hold an exponential amount of data for all of their customers.

Open Banking helps banks overcome their lack of data through the use of shared systems that can enable personalized financial services for users. Open Banking also helps banks better understand user needs so they can continue to build toward a value-driven relationship with their customers.

While European Union (EU) banking regulations are kickstarting an Open Banking movement, for other jurisdictions, this becomes an opportunity to embrace a future of collaboration and cross-pollination now.

Big data & AI

A major point raised throughout Mobey Day was that big data and artificial intelligence is not something to fear, rather, something to embrace and appreciate.

During his presentation on conversational AI, Pavel Abdur-Rahman from IBM showed how interacting with an intelligent system gets users all the detail they need on a particular topic, making masterminds of people within seconds. Rather than trying to draw out information from select coworkers, past work, or hunting for research, you can be fully equipped and informed with all the latest internal and external information and practices with the support of your intelligent assistant. IBM’s goal for this innovation is to take general AI and create industry-specific solutions for high-end knowledge. Ultimately, AI is making humans appear smarter than they really are. Thanks AI.

Pavel also had a response for the controversial question that dominates all discussions on the future of work, will AI replace humans?

“I think people who are afraid of AI are missing the point. Human resources will be more precious than ever because without human beings we won’t be able to figure any of these things out.”

~Pavel Abdur-Rahman

Mobey Day Toronto brought industry professionals new insight regarding the ongoing shifts in the banking and financial industries, particularly driven by fear of disruption and more engaged consumers.

“It’s always great to meet a number of financial services leaders, changemakers, and innovators who are thinking about the future at a time of disruption. And I think it’s a great thing to connect those people and make sure that, as a community, they are advancing that work,” said Mark Kuznicki, co-founder of The Moment.

If you’re looking for support navigating these kinds of emerging methodologies and technologies to stave off disruption and improve customer experience, we’re here to help.

Get in touch

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Connecting the digital and financial industry at Mobey Day 2016, two-day fintech conference in Toronto

Caroline Dinnall — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 22:29:46 +0000

Transcript

Greg Wolfund:

Mobey Day is a great forum because it brings together people to talk about issues like digital identity or you are you, and how innovative companies are solving it or how ecosystems are getting built. So we get to highlight for us, an ecosystem we’re building in Canada to people around the world.

Brian Semkiw:

It’s an outstanding event that’s members travel around the world and give insight to one another for the benefit of the whole industry.

Sirpa Norlund:

We know the temperature of the industry, we know the key players, we know what they are probably doing earlier than some of the others because of all these collected data that we can share in our meetings.

Jimmy Dinh:

For us, really, it’s to understand and share. Share wins, share insights, be able to meet colleagues, and then really interact with them on a great thing, where we’re talking about ways to, again, innovate, ways to move the industry forward and really help our viewpoints and our point of views on the industry, on the banking and payments industry.

Kaspar Sylvest:

The real value, best value is actually participating in the working groups we have. Because there, we have these very intimate discussions about what can be done and how to face a specific problem. And for me, personally, it’s not the paper by itself that brings value, because everyone can download and read the paper, it’s all the things that’s not being printed in the paper. All of the discussions there, that’s where the real value is.

Sirpa Norlund:

I borrow the thinking of one of our speakers today, who said that people are actually like neurons, like neurons in our brain. And what happens when neurons touch each other, there will be synapses. And the more synapses there are in your brain, the more you can produce quality in your thinking. And I also think that people are like that. If you put people, like neurons, together you create those synapses more and it just increases the value of interaction so much. And it brings better ideas, and better future.

Hosted by Carta Worldwide, the Mobey Forum held its annual fintech conference at the Four Seasons in Toronto from December 7 to December 8, 2016.

The two-day fintech conference was an opportunity for individuals from financial institutions to connect with innovators and professionals in the digital industry to discuss trending fintech topics, such as digital payments, intelligent technology, and other future fintech trends.

The fintech conference consisted of thought-provoking panel discussions and talks featuring individuals from some of the fastest-growing companies and notable banks across the globe; from Jimmy Dinh of CIBC Capital Markets, to Andrew D’Souza of Clearbanc.

In between were coffee and lunch breaks, and evening cocktail hours, all used as opportunities to network.

The concept of disruption was the major concern for most people in the room.

“Disruption is always looked at as a negative thing [as we look at the long-lived culture of financial institutions], but there is also a positive aspect to all of this. Technology is inevitable. It is changing and advancing digital systems around us,” said Giles Sutherland.

Chief Strategy Officer Mark Dowds from Trōv also touched on disruption as a positive thing for the world of banking.

“The world of banking is being disrupted by these new fintech companies, who are taking the concept of banking to a new level.”

All parties were in agreement that innovation in fintech brings disruption and uncomfortable change, yet produces fruitful partnerships between innovators and financial institutions.

In addition, Mark Dowds said that millennials are the most underinsured generation since WWII.

“Insurance products no longer fit the needs of millennials’ lifestyles. Insurance companies are ripe for disruption,” said Dowds.

Speakers shared their views on the battle of delivering a good user experience with effective security features.

According to some professionals, the impeccable delivery of a great experience or effective security is often at the expense and downfall of the other.

Kasper Sylvest, head of financial market infrastructures at Danske Bank said, “If solutions are too secure, they are not user-friendly. This is something that will chase innovators forever.”

“If solutions are too secure, they are not user-friendly. This is something that will chase innovators forever.”

~ Kasper Sylvest, Danske Bank

The importance of building an ecosystem was reinforced time and time again as a core necessity of continued success in the financial services industry.

Financial institutions that are being disrupted by innovators need to develop lasting partnerships with emerging companies in the tech industry to keep up with society’s demands.

“None of what we do is possible without ecosystems,” said Greg Wolfond, CEO of SecureKey, while addressing the company’s vision to connect with financial institutions like Scotiabank in an effort to create a “digital identity ecosystem to lead the world.”

Market speed, the speed in which companies bring products to market, is increasing.

Increasing technological advancements and related products are bringing about social and service delivery changes, ultimately shifting the lifestyles and behaviours of consumers, and the operations of organizations. Companies are working harder and faster than ever before to keep up with their target markets.

Other related hot topics at the conference included future machine learning capabilities, the emergence of digital wallets in banks, big data, and artificial intelligence.

Imagining The Bank of the Future

From transactions to taxes, ease of use to automated, personalized coaching, Mobey Day saw top multidisciplinary teams compete in Visa’s Bank of the Future Challenge.

Across the board, attendees were swayed by the thoughtful approaches to serving consumer needs, leveraging data intelligence, and offering increasingly valuable services to consumers.

Hasta La Visa, the winning group for this year’s Bank of the Future Challenge, wowed the judging panel and conference attendees with their pilot app that empowers consumers to find their financial self.

Our own Lee Dale was one of four judges for this year’s challenge.

With their prize winnings from the $15,000 contest, Hasta La Vista will continue to explore their accounting, marketing, and millennial strengths to build out a transactional and learning platform to guide consumers to a positive financial future.

What’s next for Mobey Forum

Mobey Forum continues to take engage with their members across the world in an effort to empower the banking and financial technology industry, encouraging them to take action and put customers first with the best technologies, integrated features, and innovative ideas.

The next Mobey Forum member meeting takes place March 21 to 23 in Rotterdam.

Shaping your organization to compete in the transitioning fintech space

From Mobey Forum to ecosystem partner discussions, surveying the fintech landscape gives you the foundation of knowledge you need to compete in an ever-changing industry. When you’re ready for actionable and quantifiable digital strategy, product, and validation solutions, which drive consumer engagement and optimize service delivery, Say Yeah is here to help.

Get in touch

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Carta Worldwide presents The Future Bank contest and Mobey Day fintech contest, Dec 7-8

Caroline Dinnall — Thu, 17 Nov 2016 02:40:21 +0000

Mobey Forum‘s flagship fintech event is coming to Toronto from December 7 to December 9, 2016. They’ve partnered with Carta Worldwide to hold Mobey Day Toronto.

Hosted at the Four Seasons, this event will focus on topics such as UI/UX, machine learning, and innovation integration in mobile and digital payments.

We are pleased to announce that our CEO Lee Dale will join the judging panel for the Future Bank Contest.

Lee will judge the innovative digital payment methods of four finalist teams alongside executive representatives from Visa, BMW Design Works, and Wealthsimple. The winning team will receive a grand prize of $15,000 and the chance to work with Visa to build a prototype with the Visa Developer Program.

We’re encouraging UI/UX, MBA candidates, and accelerator and incubator attendees to join this challenge by forming teams of 4-6 and submit your pitches by November 30.

In addition to the Future Bank contest, Mobey Day Toronto will also include the Wallet Veterans Panel Day discussion, where early innovators share their approach to balancing reality and optimism, insight into the Digital Wallets Database, and multiple inspiring speakers from the tech world.

Mobey Day Toronto is an opportunity for top decision makers and financial influencers from fintech industries, as well as fintech innovators to come together.

Organizers anticipate that this event prepares attendees with the proper knowledge surrounding future fintech innovation. If you are in the downtown core and find interest in this event, we encourage you to register!

Say Yeah has a long history working with financial services companies to drive customer engagement, digital payment solutions, internal financial team insights, B2B transactions in the consumer loan space, and other lending products. If you’re looking to make an impact in the financial services market, fintech space, or would like an expert eye on your existing digital initiatives, contact us now.

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