MONEY & FINTECH
THE FUTURE OF FINANCE
OUTLINED AT THE MONEYFINTECH EVENT The financial industry is undergoing a radical transformation. Young and old players are discovering how they can thrive in the new environment. TEXT DAVID J. CORD
O
nce upon a time banking was a conservative industry. No more. Today financial services are at the forefront of some of the hottest technologies and business models. In May about 400 experts gathered in Helsinki for the MoneyFintech event to learn how to profit in this changing world. The event spanned two days and covered two broad themes of money and financial technology. Major topics on the money side included the futures of banking, capital markets and wealth management. The professionals in financial technology covered everything from how consumers view new technologies to disruption through cryptocurrencies. EVOLUTION AND DISRUPTION
“Change is fast; adaption is hard,” Stora Enso’s CFO Seppo Parvi says to the attendees. A number of key speakers at MoneyFintech pursued a similar theme of
transformation. The innovations in financial services are accelerating and participants are struggling to keep up. “There is both evolution and disruption happening in financial services,” says Sampsa Laine, vice president of Nordea. “A great example is the financing ecosystem. In the past banks loaned to entrepreneurs. Now it is more interdependent. We see multiple financing channels and methods in a multilateral platform.” Yet sometimes small companies have one idea and old players have another. A major theme at the event was how they can work together. Networking during the breaks showed that the participants were already seeing what different companies could offer each other. “Innovation is coming from both startups and established banks,” explains Devie Mohan, CEO of fintech research company Burnmark. “We need to help collaboration between startups and large corporations.” One tangible example is Nestholma, a Finnish accelerator. They had a large contingent at the event to offer their expertise helping startups and corporations work together. TECHNOLOGY AND PEOPLE
Ideas on how to use new technologies generated considerable interest. Cillian Leonowicz from Deloitte Ireland tried to bring the hype about blockchain down to earth and explain how it could actually be useful. 24 BUSINESS CLASS October 2017 – January 2018
“Currently the main uses of blockchain are in transactions and trade finance, but we can see major changes coming,” Leonowicz says. “Look at other industries. The biggest hospitality company in the world – AirBnB – has no hotels. The largest ground transport firm – Uber – doesn’t own taxis. The bank of the future might have no balance sheet.” There are many new ideas in financial technology, but the industry has certain standards and modules which everyone follows. The startup Fundu developed a platform for other young companies so they don’t need to completely start from scratch. “Think of us as the Wordpress for fintech,” Fundu’s Tuomas Oksanen laughs. But will everyone in the financial industry be replaced by algorithms, artificial intelligence and other technologies? Billy Quinlan of BNP Paribas doesn’t think so. “There is increasing automation in the back end,” he says, “but the human relationship is still the most important thing.”