On March 30th, The Information hosted a roundtable discussion with CEOs and founders of leading fintech companies to discuss the future of fintech and banking as a service. The conversation, held in partnership with the Singapore Economic Development Board and Tourism Board, was confidential. We want to share with our subscribers key themes from the conversation.
The primary theme of the discussion was the importance of customer success. Increasingly fintechs have eliminated fees in hopes of creating a banking experience that is orders of magnitude better for consumers with the model will be a boon to the fintech businesses and lenders. Fintech players see the ability to deliver innovation at scale that is seamless for customers as the differentiating factor between new banking and institutional banking.
Another trend is the collaboration of fintech and traditional financial institutions. The latter are using these partnerships to update and change their tech-stack. This has been particularly successful in Southeast Asia and Latin America. Latin America as many banks are focused on more personalized finance and funding fintech startups that they can fold into their customer offerings.
On the regulation front LatAm was also noted as a leader in implementing regulation, created in conjunction with the big banks, to drive more innovation and allow fintechs a more defined framework. U.S. based companies found minimal focus on regulation, but a reliance on established banks as establishing the rails the fintech companies will ride. However, the consensus was that there is nothing preventing fintech companies from acquiring the customers from the big banks in full.
