By Roy Urrico
Several financial technology industry experts provided Finopotamus with post-FinovateFall 2024 observations covering topics such as physical branches, sales pitches, the fintech market, third-party partnerships, artificial intelligence (AI), and new market categories in the last of a two-part summary. As noted in Part 1 of this two-part series, the event took place from Sept. 9-11 in New York City.
“Finovate is different than the other events in our industry. Everybody that goes there is kind of engaged all the time. Between the demos and the panels and the keynotes and the breakout sessions, there is always something to do. I think it has a bit more active participation than some of the other events,” William Mills, CEO and creative director at the William Mills Agency told Finopotamus.
A Collection of Post-FinovateFall Observations Provided to Finopotamus
Steve Reider, president and co-founder, Bancography:
“Interestingly, I had a number of conversations with digital-first or even pure digital banks that are now considering adding physical branches, either to gain awareness for their brands and/or to collect those key low-cost, stable, diverse deposits, which can be much more durable than large-increment but rate-sensitive online funds. So, maybe there is a recognition that a few bricks can go a long way toward bolstering the clicks.
“Even in a world of burgeoning electronic financial activity, the largest banks continue to invest heavily in new branches (e.g., PNC, Chase, Bank of America, Fifth Third all with major branching initiatives in process). So, smaller banks should strive to keep pace, even if only within the contours of their specific primary markets.”
Joshua Jordan, digital engagement director, Jack Henry:
“The pitch should be the focus! Unfortunately, it seems as though most companies have forgotten about the pitch. They have a mere seven minutes to grab our attention, create an understanding of the problem they are looking to solve, and explaining how they will solve it. Theatrics appear to be a thing of the past. Jokes, costumes, audience engagement have all fallen away and they seem to have been replaced with life stories, uninteresting (and obvious) data, and unreadable screens. If I could give advice to any of the companies with stage time – focus on marketing, attention getting, and engagement - make us remember you and your company, you can always get into the weeds at your booth with extra time.
Pete Major, vice president of Fintech Solutions at Member Driven Technologies (MDT):
“One of the great things about FinovateFall is the quick demo presentations. You see these companies solving real problems for financial institutions and it is a wonderful way to get exposure to new technologies. You can then further connect with these companies at their booths. As the world of fintech continues to evolve, it is more important now than ever to ensure your financial institution has a good overview of the fintech market. Attending a conference like FinovateFall is a great way to accomplish that. And if you cannot attend FinovateFall yourself, then having the right technology partner who can explore these topics with you is extremely important.”
Shreenath Regunathan, co-founder of Starlight:
“There is strong interest in innovation among large credit unions and banks, driven by third-party partnerships and a growing banking-as-a-service (BaaS) mindset across all traditional banks.”
Preethi Janardhanan, vice president of client solutions, Rapid Finance:
“It is clear that the future of finance will be increasingly driven by AI, and the key to success will be how well organizations can harness their data. Those who invest in both AI and robust data organization practices will be better positioned to thrive in an environment where customer expectations for personalization and speed are continuously rising, and regulatory demands for transparency are increasing. Tools like Lynx that help clean, organize, and utilize data in real-time will be pivotal for banks and financial institutions to fully realize the benefits of AI while staying ahead of compliance requirements.”
William Mills, William Mills Agency:
“Many of the organizations that you see out there are totally new market categories,” Mills told Finopotamus. Some of these market categories, he noted, center around AI and BaaS in areas such as lending, payments, digital banking, funding, investing, regulatory compliance, and security.
“Events are becoming more and more important for people that sell (to) the credit unions,” explained Mills. “Because if you sold to a credit union pre-Covid, you could send an email, make a phone call, meet with a credit union executive in their office. But post-COVID, there is a decent chance that that person is hybrid or out of the office. So that events like this, like GAC (Governmental Affairs Conference) means events are going to become more important.”