Citi: Banks and fintech cos must cooperate

Fintech Photo: Sivan Faraj
Fintech Photo: Sivan Faraj

A Money 20/20 conference at Citi's Israel Innovation Center discussed the growing synergy between banks and fintech companies.

The world's largest fintech brand - Money 20/20 - in Israel as part of a global tour ahead of the world's large fintech convention in Copenhagen in June, has held a conference in Tel Aviv. The event, at Citi's Israeli innovation center, targeted banking, fintech and investment executives.

Josh Levin, Citi's fintech analyst for EMEA, spoke in a panel titled "Does fintech threaten the banks?" which was moderated by Citi's investment manager in Israel, Ornit Shinar. He said, "Whereas until two years ago, the banks were concerned that the fintech companies will ruin them and the fintech companies, for their part, were very bold, the situation today is very different. Both parties talk less of clashes and more about collaboration. The fintech entrepreneurs understand the banks have many benefits to offer such as knowhow, large client bases and regulatory experience and that they would be better off working with the banks rather than against them." Levin added,

"Another change is that people no longer talk about the 'fintech revolution' but on evolution. We estimate the next developments will take place mainly in payments with fintech payment tools becoming a staple. Anyone who wants to gain from payments will have to provide services with significant added value. Take the fast food chains, for example: they will modernize the service to their shoppers by studying their shopping habits or enabling them to place an order and pay for it and have it wait for them in the store. These and other tools will improve the customer experience and attract mot customers to use fintech tools."

Sivan Shamri-Dahan, partner in Qumra Capital, who sat on the panel said, "Israel has unusual expertise in cyber and data mining. Combined with fintech, this is fertile soil for disrupting the global industry, especially in a sensitive field such as fintech which combines money and end-users. For this reason, I believe Israel is where market leaders will grow, changing the way end users consume financial services."

Itsik Parnafes, partner at Battery Ventures, said, "Unlike other areas, fintech must disrupt the status quo. It is hard to imagine what the end user experience should look like, but it will transform the market and show the large banks how this is meant to be."

The second panel focused on big data. Boaz Bash, CEO of algo-trading company Final, which keeps the trading method it has developed close to hear and is considered as one of the largest in the world, who rarely speaks in public, said, "The market is exploding with information and we tackle this on a daily basis. Big data is good but not enough. Analytics is crucial." Bash did not elaborate on his company's work or tools but pointed out that "democratization of information is important and we are using Big Data Big Time."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 23, 2017

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017

Fintech Photo: Sivan Faraj
Fintech Photo: Sivan Faraj
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