Exclusive video: Creating digital ecosystems in fintech

Held at the QEII Centre in the heart of Westminster, London, our annual two-day conference FinTech LIVE London was a disruptive learning and networking event showcasing the industry’s leading figures across innovation, thought leadership and strategy.

With sessions running over two stages, our digital ecosystems forum panel joined us on Stage 1 to discuss the value of creating digital ecosystems in fintech and how partnerships can help drive the industry forward. 

Joining us were Matthijs van Voorst, Strategic Partnerships Director at ABN AMRO Bank, Ayca Tunc, VP and Head of Banking & Capital Markets at Genpact, Venkatesh Varadarajan, Financial Services and Insurance Partner at Infosys Consulting and Gabino Roche, Jr, CEO & Founder of Saphyre. 

For Tunc, a digital ecosystem is “like a triangle.” She continues: “When we speak about partners, it's typically financial services institutions or fintechs and platform providers such as the hyperscalers. Then there are third parties, like us at Genpact – a service provider.

“One thing that tends to get forgotten quite often is why we get together. For me, it’s important to be very specific when it comes to solving a problem. At the end of the day, you either have to fix your customer experience or improve on your customer experience or user experience. So that's the reason for getting together.

“Once you have the broader vision it comes down to people, process and technology. This is when you have to be very clear on your vision. What is it that you want to achieve? You need to walk the talk. The senior management needs to be aligned, and you need to go for it.”

Having, and backing a shared vision is important for Varadarajan too. He adds: “For me, what’s most important is the value realisation model that binds partnerships and digital ecosystems together.

“It’s about putting in thought as to where the ecosystem will add value, and make needle-moving change to customer experiences, automation and other propositions you have.”

Of course, there are dangers to any partnership, and or digital ecosystem, which Saphyre’s Gabino Roche Jr calls selfish interest – something that is just “a part of human nature.”

He continues: “What do I mean by selfish interest? Let's give you concrete examples. Every one of the financial institutions I work with has its own internal technology teams who want to keep their jobs.

“I worked at one bank and I thought the world worked like that bank. Then I worked at a consortium and I saw multiple banks working very different ways and the data was completely disparate.

“So people that work within the four walls of one firm don't always understand how a vision can span across other firms. So when creating a seamless digital ecosystem, there is often resistance to collaboration and change, which means that any change can take forever. 

“What’s key to understand is that within teams is where the true transformation matters. It’s about making sure your employees are truly empowered and aligned to the vision shared with your partnerships – that is paramount for me.” 

For more from our speakers, including van Voorst, you can click on the video above. 

Want to see more from FinTech LIVE London? Stay tuned to our website for more content, which will be coming your way very soon. 

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For more insights from FinTech Magazine, you can see our latest edition of FinTech Magazine here, or you can follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

You may also be interested in our sister site, InsurTech Digital, which you can also follow on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Please also take a look at the playlist for our latest hybrid event, FinTech LIVE London, to learn all about the latest trends in fintech. 

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