big data made simple ppp five experts talk

Interviews with

FIVE BIG DATA

EXPERTS IN

BANKING

Powered by

Introduction

Banks have to upgrade themselves,

or risk being burnt to the ground

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Interview with banking expert JP Nicols

1

2

3

4

5

On the past, present, and future of banking

Interview with banking expert Vik Atal

The challenge for banks isn't becoming

digital; but providing personalization

Interview with MasterCard’s Eric Schneider

Both the physical and digital

worlds present new challenges for

banks Interview with Ron Shevlin

We’re witnessing the creative

destruction of financial services

Interview with banking expert Arvind Sankaran

INTRODUCTION

Baiju NT,

Editor,

Big Data Made Simple

Read interviews by five thought

leaders in banking and their

views on Big Data for banking.

igital personalization. FinTechs. Business models of banks. Innovation in

the banking industry. Big data Analytics. In order to compete today, every

bank must embrace these and other techniques that were irrelevant a

generation ago.

These topics continue to evolve, and new theories and practices are created and

discarded constantly. That means that the typical search-engine approach can yield

conflicting or out-of-date information. Really, the only way to get accurate and

complete information is to ask people with hands-on experience in the industry.

So that’s what we did. Over the past few months we have been lucky to conduct in-

depth interviews with five experts in the banking industry for bigdata-

madesimple.com. The five interviewees have varied roles and focus areas: from

strategic advisors to consultants, to those working at established companies.

The raison d'etre of this PDF version: we wanted to make the interviews easily

accessible to the community. You can read this ebook in any order. Each interview is

standalone, so feel free to skip around to the topics that interest you.

This is second ebook in the Masters of Big Data series. We hope you enjoy the read

and thanks again to all our expert interviewees!

D

Chapter One

BANKS HAVE TO

UPGRADE THEMSELVES,

OR RISK BEING BURNT TO

THE GROUND

Interviewed by Manu Jeevan Prakash

Sub-editor, Big Data Made Simple

JP NICOLSCo-founder,

Bank Innovators Council

For decades, banks have only

competed with one another, on

the same terms. As an industry

not very used to change, the

banking sector is currently

undergoing a radical

transformation.

or decades, banks have only competed with one another, on the same terms.

F As an industry not very used to change, the banking sector is currently

undergoing a radical transformation. JP Nicols, a veteran from the banking

sector, has spent twenty years in the space. For the past eight years, his work has been

at the intersection of banking and fintech. In this interview, Nicols shares his

perspectives on the transformation of the banking sector.

You are the COO of Innosect.com. What exactly does Innosect do and what is

your role as a COO at Innosect?

At Innosect, we believe innovation is the intersection of human capacity and ideas.

Ideas alone are a dime a dozen. What matters is how you organize people around

those ideas to bring them to life.

I often tell banking audiences about what happened to Kodak . It is not that Kodak

was unaware of digital photography, in fact they were actually pioneers of the

technology. However, they failed to get the company focused on how digital

innovations in the industry were changing customer behaviors.

All businesses want to move forward. To do so, they not only have to create ideas but

implement them and turn them into revenue.

That’s where Innosect comes in. We mobilize companies to turn ideas into action, 5

often that is under the heading of innovation, but it may also be a product manager

or a business line executive that just wants help generating new sources of revenue or

new cost savings.

What kind of analytics techniques do you use at Innosect.com?

Founder and chairman of Innosect, Jay Van Zyl, has been a pioneer in social

innovation. Social innovation is the concept of getting people involved throughout

the organization, in the process of innovation. He helped FNB (number one bank in

South Africa) to be named the most innovative bank in the world in 2012, he did that

using the social innovation approach. He got people across the whole organization

involved in ideas.

Now, we do it with big data analytics at machine scale. We are taking social computing

and multi-dimensional data sets and actually applying network theory and social

computation, on how people and ideas come together.

What if, out of your hundred ideas, we could tell you which two you should try first –

based on market place positioning, your customers and your probability for success.

These are the algorithms we are building and testing.

Our algorithms are similar to the network analysis techniques used to track terrorists.

A government security agency once wanted our help tracking down some suspected

hackers. We were actually able to predict their location based on analyzing social and

multi-dimensional data. But that’s the most I can tell you!

It is not that Kodak was

unaware of digital

photography, in fact, they were

pioneers. But they failed to

notice how digital innovations

were changing customer

behaviors.

With what motives and vision did you start the Bank Innovators Council?

The Bank Innovators Council is a public membership organization that is designed to

support and promote innovation banking. Our motive was simple. Three years ago, I

was a part of a bank that wanted to innovate. I also knew that such people were often

lonely, because they were surrounded

by what we called the “Business

Prevention Department”. Fintech

companies actually have a lot of support,

in the form of incubators, accelerators

and venture capitalists, but banks were

on their own.

We wanted to reach out to bankers who

were trying to innovate and create a change,

and give them a place to connect, support

one another, and discover new ideas.

Two years ago, we launched the Bank

Innovators Council in New York during

Finovate Fall . Today, we have members

in 65 countries.

In your interview with Money

Summit companies you said: That if Consumers engage directly with Fintech

companies instead of banks, then banks become a commodity behind the

scenes. To illustrate your point, you talked about companies like Kabbage or

Moven or Prosper that team up with a banking entity. Why did you make this

statement? Can you please elaborate?

Harvard professors — John Haggle and Marc Singer—formulated a concept called

unbundling the corporation. There was a similar concept brought out by Michael

Treacy and Fred Wiersem in their book called, “The discipline of market leaders.”

Each of those two groups came up with similar positions, even though they use

slightly different terminology. Let me explain.

There are three main domains, which you can master in any business:

If consumers

engage directly

with fintech

companies instead

of banks, then

banks become a

commodity behind

the scenes.

7

- an infrastructure manager

- being customer intimate

- a product innovator

I believe that very few banks will be product innovators, maybe a handful across the

globe.

When asked, most banks think that they are customer intimate. Just last week, I was a

keynote speaker at an event. I asked the audience what single word they think

differentiates them from everybody else. Most people simultaneously said the same

thing; service.

Hence, even though banks think they are customer intimate, they are not—they are all

trying to compete on the same dimension. Realistically, most of them focus on

infrastructure. Banks pay attention to economies of scale, standardization and cost

reduction; all three far from customer intimacy.

So if banks cannot truly be customer intimate, they are doomed to be just dumb

commodities, acting behind the scenes, like utilities. The problem arises when we

think about how many of these banks we really need. In the US, there are over 6,000

banks, and we certainly don’t need 6,000 utilities. What we need is a bank that is

intimate with a group of customers that truly thinks about their needs, ambitions and

problems.

43 percent of U.S. customers believe their primary bank does not understand

their needs. How can you explain this?

I think there are two primary causes for this:

Even though banks think they

are customer intimate, they are

not—they are all trying to

compete on the same

dimension.

8

The first, is that for thousands of years, banks have only competed with one another.

They didn’t have to provide meaningful benefits to their customers. They just needed

to be better than the worst bank. Technology has completely changed this.

The second, is that the current era is one that is in the context of the aftermath of a

global financial crisis. The focus for many since the crisis has been on standardizing

and improving internal processes and quantifying and reducing risks, and not enough

banks have been truly focused on taking care of the customer. This focus has been

driven by regulators’ concerns about banks’ stability and compliance, and with

eliminating unfair and deceptive practices. Banks don’t have a choice to be compliant,

but the regulators are typically focused on what negative behaviors to avoid, not what

positive, customer-centric behaviors to embrace. All of this tends to reinforce the

necessity of focusing on infrastructure.

The problem with losing customers is, it doesn’t hurt overnight. If you quietly leak a

few customers every year, it’s easy to misdiagnose what went wrong, and you keep

making small adjustments to improve customer experience. Meanwhile, the gap

between the experience you are providing and what your customer needs keeps

widening.

A customer who spends his days using customer friendly apps like Uber, Netflix,

even Starbucks, feels a huge disconnect when he walks into a bank branch. Bankers

don’t even recognize this disconnect.

How do you think banks can understand their customers better, and become a

part of their customers’ lives?

If banks cannot truly be

customer intimate, they are

doomed to be just dumb

commodities, acting behind the

scenes, like utilities.

That’s simple. They need to analyse customer data. Data from social media,

merchants, and transactions is readily available to banks. They can create buyer

personas around their customers. Banks can buy aggregated data from companies like

Yodlee, Xignite, and others. Merchants like Nordstorm, Walmart and Target have a

lot of customer data, and they are very good at analyzing it. Most merchants are

pretty proprietary about that data, but a strong partnership that combines merchant

purchase data with banks’ income and other data would create even deeper insights to

provide a more intimate customer experience.

Major banks sit on troves of data. However, less than 10% of this data is

readily accessible, and less than 1% is actually used for any analytics. So, how

can banks better exploit the power of data?

The good news is that even the worst

banks have thousands, if not millions,

of customers, and a lot of data on those

customers. They know what their

customers own and what they owe,

what comes in and what goes out,

when it goes and where it goes. You

are absolutely right that they have

done very little with it so far. However,

they are investing in big data analytics,

in better ways to harness the data. There

are many even looking for partnerships

with big data firms and customer-facing

technology firms. In my opinion,

the winners of the future will be the ones

who successfully adopt big data

technologies.

As for those who don’t, I think they will just quietly merge with somebody who

understands how to monetize their customer data. Lack of innovation is never put on

a banks’ tombstone when it dies.

BBVA, Capital One, Wells Fargo, are just some of the banks starting to experiment

with big data. To quote Francisco Gonzales, chairman of BBVA, “BBVA will be a

software company in the future.”

What we need is a

bank that is

intimate with a

group of customers

that truly thinks

about their needs,

ambitions and

problems.

10

Even more important than

technology is a very strong

focus on customer intimacy.

There are a number of banks that are using cutting-edge innovative tech. Can

you give us some examples of banks that are doing well in digital

personalization and the big data space?

Capital One is a credit card company turned bank that is trying hard to personalize

offers for their customers.

Umqua Bank in Portland, Oregon takes a bit of a unique approach. They aren’t really

high tech, and their personalization mostly comes from building engaging branch

environments. In the long run, we will need fewer branches overall in banking, but

banks like Umqua will do well with branches.

Barclays is experimenting with tech startups that tackle different facets of consumer

issues. I think this works for bigger banks who can afford to invest in this kind of

approach.

It’s getting harder and harder for small banks on one hand, but on the other,

technology has never been more easily accessible. Small banks like Live Oak Bank and

CBW are examples of such banks, that have embraced technology despite their size.

Even more important than their use of technology though, is a very strong focus on

customer intimacy. They are very clear about who their customers are, and who they

aren’t. Most banks cannot be all things to all people, and they shouldn’t try.

What is the future of banking?

As far as I’m concerned, there are two trends.

The first, is what Francisco Gonzalez said, Successful banks are going to be more like

technology companies.

11

The second, is that we will have fewer banks. Banks that were built in the era of brick

and mortar either have to upgrade themselves, or risk being burnt to the ground.

I think these two trends will combine in pretty powerful ways, and the most successful

banks will be the ones that are digital.

Highlights

• If consumers engage directly with FinTech

companies instead of banks, then banks

become a commodity behind the scenes.

• Even though banks think they are customer

intimate, they are not—they are all trying to

compete on the same dimension.

• The focus for many banks has been on

standardizing and improving internal

processes and quantifying and reducing

risks, and not enough banks have been truly

focused on taking care of the customer.

• We will have fewer banks. Banks that were

built in the era of brick and mortar either

have to upgrade themselves, or risk being

burnt to the ground.

Go back to the Table of Content

Chapter Two

On the past, present,

and future of banking

Interviewed by Srikant Sastri

Co-founder, Crayon Data

Vik AtalFormer Executive Vice President,

Citigroup

For banks, using data analytics

for better customer satisfaction

and deeper engagement is like

developing a muscle that’s

never been completely used.

ell us a little about yourself, outside of the information that is publicly

available online.

Ah, that’s a tricky one.

Well, it may be interesting to note that before I started my career in finance, I had

explored the option of doing an advanced degree at ISI (Kolkatta). Eventually, I

opted to pursue finance instead, but with my recent shift in focus to information,

analytics and insights, I feel like I’ve come back full circle!

In the initial stages of my career, I focused on traditional finance. However, for the

past 15 years, I have worked on a wide range of consumer-oriented roles in business

management. Interestingly, both have straddled the banking and retail sectors. To

work in these sectors has been an incredible learning experience for me. It has given

me the opportunity to gain remarkable insights into the mind of both, customers and

retailers while remaining focused on the business and profit dynamics of banking.

Most recently, I’ve been exploring how to leverage information and analytics to drive

business performance. This curiosity was heightened due to my learnings from the

global financial crisis. I think the chaos it left in its wake could probably have been

reduced, to some extent, with predictive analytics.

As the Executive Vice President of CitiBank, one of the largest banks in the

world, you watched the world endure and recover from the worst financial

crisis since the 1930s. What were your key learnings?

T

14

During the financial crisis, I was asked to manage high-risk global accounts for Citi

Bank. At the time, the approach we adopted was largely focused on collections and

repayments. However, by the time a customer showed evidence of risk, it was often

too late to take action.

Hence, the question became – how could we change our approach to identify and

manage high-risk accounts better? We did try to use predictive analytics to determine,

which customers demanded immediate action and, which ones could be tended to

later. But we soon realized that business processes and models were just not calibrated

effectively enough at the time for predictive analytics.

Post the financial crisis, the efficacy of financial models was thoroughly scrutinized

for what techniques and information sets might be applicable. Unanimously, the

conclusion arrived at suggested that there was enormous opportunity for banks to

leverage data and improve their performance substantially.

If you compare banks to companies like Google, it’s evident that banks are still at the

nascent stage of the digital and data revolution. Banks have very complex embedded

business processes and business models. It is, therefore, a significant challenge for

banks to migrate to a new state.

I view this challenge as a significant opportunity since it has provided a clear rationale

for bringing solutions to the financial services industry across their needs – building

scalable(and low cost) customer acquistions, moving towards real-time processes,

laying out a framework for becoming information centric and similar activities.

Can you tell us about your role at Crayon Data? What excites you most about

your work at Crayon Data?

If you compare banks to

companies like Google, it’s

evident that banks are still at the

nascent stage of the digital and

data revolution.

To be honest, my role at Crayon evolved quite dramatically!

I was having a casual cup of coffee with Srikant, discussing the work Crayon had

been doing in Asia.

Srikant wanted to explore the opportunities in the U.S market for Crayon. The U.S

market is unique in that companies in the U.S gain credibility only by actually working

in the U.S.

And before I knew it, we were enthusiastically chalking out a plan for Crayon to

penetrate one of the most competitive markets in the world.

I’ve sat through a number of

Crayon’s business meetings and

presentations to clients. In all of

them, I’ve noticed that there has not

been a single client interaction at

the end of which the client did not

concur with Crayon’s vision,

approach, and highly practical

recommendations.

What excites me most about Crayon

is that I’m proud to say that I have

partnered with a credible organization

whose product clearly meets the needs

of the modern consumer.

What is your view on how

the financial services sector &

insurance space in the US is

changing with the advent of

big data analytics?

Right now, banks are being confronted with the realization that the boundaries of

what is possible and, in tandem, customer expectations are shifting dramatically. Their

business models are no longer as successful as they were in the past.

Banks have very

complex

embedded business

processes and

business models. It is,

therefore, a

significant challenge

for banks to migrate

to a new state.

16

Banks are only now starting to lay the foundation for a completely new business

model. They are shifting their focus to consumers, trying to figure out how to get new

customers, deepen relationships and meet demanding customer expectations. They

are making efforts to go digital and even employ big data analytics, but the practical

state of this migration, on a scale of 1 to 100, is still in the teens.

Accenture estimates that competition from non-banks could erode one-third of

traditional bank revenues by 2020. Companies like Paypal, Apple Pay, and

Google Wallet. How can banks respond to these threats?

Yes, these companies are stealing away a decent chunk of revenue from banks.

But let’s not forget, there are multiple drivers of banking revenue – lending,

transactions, and savings. And neither Apple nor Google or Pay pal are interested in

lending or savings because it is heavily regulated and extremely complex.

Banks need to focus more on how to drive market share in traditional asset side

lending and think less about external competitors like Google, because the core

lending business isn’t going anywhere in the foreseeable future.

With specific regard to Google, Apple, and Paypal, they have caused two problems for

banks:

• Banks lose a portion of a revenue stream – revenue they receive from

transactions done by their customers – that is high volume and very low risk;

• Banks now have one more platform on which they need to compete for shelf

space and allocate scarce marketing resources.

Banks business models are no

longer as successful as they

were in the past.

17

Allow me to explain. For a bank, it’s not enough to have an Apple iOS or Mac

application. Since all banks are on the Apple ecosystem, each bank has to figure out

how to make their product stand out for a customer to, say, use their credit card.

According to a Transunion study, 8 million credit card users are “inactive”.

How can banks get their customers to use credit cards?

Firstly, it’s more than 8 million. It’s probably, multiples of that.

• Customers that use their credit card actively for sales transactions.

• Customers that take a credit card because of low-interest Let’s say a customer

gets 0% interest rate for 18 months. There are many customers who will just use

the credit card for those 18 months and then become inactive. This set of

customers is extremely unprofitable for banks because they spend lots of money

to acquire customers, who eventually become inactive.

• Customers who take credit cards but never use them. These customers are

completely inactive.

Customers need to be approached differently, depending upon which of the above

buckets they belong to. A long standing customer who got tired of a product, for

instance, can be enticed to migrate back to the bank with a new product.

Hence, when we talk about inactive customers, identification of the source of that

inactivity is an extremely important metric to create an approach for that customer.

Banks need to focus more on

how to drive market share in

traditional asset side lending

and think less about external

competitors like Google,

Paypal, and Amazon.

43 percent of U.S. customers believe their primary bank does not understand

their needs; 31 percent feel their bank is not helping them reach their primary

financial goals. Why aren’t banks able to understand their customers?

Because understanding every individual customer has never been a part of a banks’

business model. The top five to six credit card players hold a ninety percent share of

the credit card industry in the U.S. These players operate on a very large scale. Citi and

JP Morgan each have active credit customers (customers who get a statement every

month) at well over sixty million. Shifting from an “actuarial” segmentation structure.

to a one-to-one relationship is an extremely complex endeavor. This is a problem for

all the main banks.

Banks sit on troves of big data and, according to Tresata, only 1 % of this data

is used for analytics. How can banks make better use of data, to understand

their customers better?

People say banks don’t use

transaction data efficiently.

This is not only true but is

a part of the bigger problem!

For them, using data analytics for

better customer satisfaction and

deeper engagement is like developing

a muscle that’s never been completely

used. It requires intense focus,

discipline, and persistence.

Further, transaction data provides

only limited insight into the mind

of a customer. It would be an

enormous mistake for banks to

leverage only their internal data.

They now have to rethink not

only their approach towards their

own data, but also account for the existence of massive and growing pools of

external data.

When we talk about

inactive customers,

identification of the

source of that

inactivity is an

extremely important

metric to create an

approach for that

customer.

19

Highlights

• If you compare banks to companies like

Google, it’s evident that banks are still at

the nascent stage of the digital and datarevolution.

• Banks are making efforts to go digital and

even employ big data analytics, but the

practical state of this migration, on a scale

of 1 to 100, is still in the teens.

• Companies like Paypal, Google and Apple

pay are stealing away a decent chunk of

revenue from banks.

• Understanding every individual customer

has never been a part of a banks’ business

model.

• Transaction data provides only limited

insight into the mind of a customer. It would

be an enormous mistake for banks to

leverage only their internal data.


Chapter Three

The challenge for banks

isn't becoming digital;

but providing

personalization

Interviewed by Bhaskar V

Crayon Data

Eric SchneiderAsia Pacific Head,

MasterCard Advisors

With the shift towards digital,

consumers are bombarded with

competing messages. Banks

have to truly understand their

customers to pinpoint how to

cut through the clutter and

convert customers.

ell us a little about yourself

I’ve been with MasterCard since 2001, and I am currently heading MasterCard

Advisors, the professional services arm of the company, in the Asia Pacific region.

The most exciting aspect of my job is to witness and be a part of the growth of our

data and analytics business.

We’ve been doing – and more importantly, applying – Big Data long before anyone

called it that way. We discovered early on that spending data – even when completely

stripped of all personal information, which, by design, MasterCard does not collect,

need or want – can be invaluable for a multitude of reasons. It helps us better

understand consumer behaviour, target marketing programs, design better-fitting

products, make smarter risk decisions and much more. You don’t have to be a techie

or data jock to love data.

You have extensive experience in customer acquisition. Can you tell us the

most important ingredient of a successful customer acquisition strategy?

With the shift towards digital, consumers are bombarded with competing messages.

Businesses have to truly understand their customers to pinpoint how to cut through

the clutter and convert customers. More than just mining more data, businesses need

the right, smart data that answers their questions and provides actionable insights.

T

22

MasterCard Advisors offers unparalleled insight into the retail spending trends,

drawing from 43 billion anonymized and aggregated transactions processed each year.

We pair this with rigorous data science, reinforced by strict data privacy and

confidentiality policies, to turn big data into smart data for our customers.

Many businesses have a solid understanding of their customers’ spend habits, but they

don’t have the line of sight into broader marketplace trends. For example – who are

their most valuable customers? What experiences are they seeking? What do they do

before and after they shop? What is our share of wallet? We have that knowledge, and

we put that to work for companies of all sizes to help them attract and retain

customers, and deliver better marketing campaigns to reach the right customers at the

right time with the right content.

How do you think financial institutions can understand their customers better,

and become a part of their customers’ lives?

With many customers forging life-long relationships that can involve cards,

mortgages, checking and other accounts, financial institutions are in a unique position

to truly get to know their customers’ needs, wants and desires. There are so many

incredible opportunities across a customer’s lifecycle to create enhanced experiences

that deliver real value to deepen the relationship.

Additionally, financial institutions can benefit greatly from understanding how their

customer segments engage across the marketplace. By building robust customer

segmentations, we help our clients understand their customers better, so they can

devise strategies that will drive their businesses.

Today, we see an increasing demand for mobile and digital capabilities. How

Financial institutions can benefit

greatly from understanding how

their customer segments

engage across the

marketplace.

are the expectations of MasterCard’s customers changing, and how is

MasterCard planning to meet these expectations?

As we transition into an increasingly digitally connected lifestyle, the payments

industry will see even greater demand for simple, convenient and secure solutions.

The team at MasterCard are

continuously working with our

partners in the payments ecosystem

to meet these growing demands for

mobile and digital capabilities, and

To deliver innovative, scalable

solutions to our customers.

A good example is MasterPass,

which was launched in early 2013.

Since then, it has been rolled out to

27 markets around the world. It is

our digital payments platform that

enables consumers to store all

their card, shipping and billing

information in one place for

a simpler, safer and more convenient

checkout experience when shopping

online or on their mobile device.

MasterPass is now available to

over 40 million consumers in

the Asia Pacific alone, and this

growth is expected to continue.

Looking forward, the unprecedented

convergence of the physical and

the digital world presents new

challenges. Just as consumers have

embraced more secure and convenient

ways to make payments; criminals are also adapting, using increasingly advanced

technology to commit cybercrime and fraud. There is no one solution to deal with

cybercrime, and it needs a multifaceted approach to combat it as best as we can. In

our view, collaboration is the key – a universal commitment between financial

The team at

MasterCard is

continuously

working with our

partners in the

payments

ecosystem to meet

these growing

demands for

mobile and digital

capabilities, and to

deliver innovative,

scalable solutions

to our customers.

24

institutions, retailers, payment networks, governments as well as greater vigilance

among consumers themselves, is required.

Collaboration is MasterCard’s motivation behind our annual Global Risk Leadership

Conference, which was recently hosted in Singapore, where we bring together

customers, merchants, issuers, banks, and legislators to share best practice, ideas, and

have robust discussions on how to continue our fight in the battle against fraud and

cybercrime.

In what ways do you see big data (potentially) making an impact on traditional

payments & card companies?

MasterCard is committed to expanding our services portfolio, delivering deeper

insights and broader capabilities to help our clients grow their businesses. Having the

right data is a critical part of how we evolve our business. Being in a position to help

clients make smart, sound decisions based on MasterCard Advisors insights is

incredible. And yet it’s astounding to see how many people still fly blind when it

comes to making decisions that should be based on solid data.

It was a challenge to make people see the value when the concept of Big Data

emerged. That has since come to pass. What matters now is making it clear to

customers that not all Big Data delivers value. All data is not created equal. You can

have the best data in the world but without smart people and precise, proven

analytics, what you end up deciding to do with that data may fall flat. And vice versa.

You need both, and we as an industry need to do a better job of educating people

You can have the best data in

the world but without smart

people and precise, proven

analytics, what you end up

deciding to do with that data

may fall flat.

25

about what that truly means.

Be it payments, funds transfer or even credit scoring, banking is being

unbundled by FinTech players. How do you think banking can respond?

Most consumers are looking for convenience, security and value. While some FinTech

players have identified and delivered innovative solutions that consumers use today,

banks still play a unique and integral role in money management. They ultimately

‘own’ customer deposit and lending relationships, and consumer surveys have shown

time and again that people trust their banks more than anyone with their money.

Also, consumers are increasingly going mobile, especially in Asia with India joining

China as the only two countries in the world to have over 1 billion smartphone users.

However, at the same time, banks also have a reputation for being slower to adapt

when it comes to innovation, and also bogged down in regulation that is often there

to keep our money safe in the first place. So the banks need to get past their historical

penchant for building everything themselves and instead embrace the explosion of

experimentation and innovation that the FinTech players breed including payments,

micro-lending, risk management and marketing. These provide opportunities for

partnerships and acquisitions that can help the banks innovate faster and stay

competitive.

By working with more players and developing in-house technologies, banks can

combine the newer services that consumers have found compelling with their

existing offerings to develop an even more robust offering in the future.

While some FinTech players

have identified and delivered

innovative solutions that

consumers use today, but banks

still play a unique and integral

role in money management.

Given the digital wave, how is the merchant network evolving? What role, if

any, do you see the merchant networks playing, to strengthen a bank’s

proposition?

If we go back to the beginning of card payments, MasterCard has connected millions

of consumers and their banks with millions of merchants and their banks – without

any of them necessarily having any direct relationship with one another. The

merchant doesn’t have to vet the customer’s creditworthiness nor is the merchant’s

sale dependent on how much cash the customer has in her wallet. We are there to

make the payment simple, convenient and safe for both parties. You don’t hear a lot

of people or merchants complain about how complicated, or inconvenient card

payments are. The days of long checkout processes are far behind us, and we are now

seeing people pay with their cards – often tapping rather than swiping or dipping –

and speeding through the checkout process.

Digital is changing the form factor,

but the goal remains the same:

a singular focus on making it even safer

and simpler. What was a plastic card

representing a bank account will

increasingly be a mobile wallet or

a virtual card number within an app,

such that payment is a tap away on

our mobile devices.

With our state-of-the-art tokenization

technology, MasterCard is at the cutting

edge of all of this, encrypting cardholder’s

actual card number behind the scenes for

every single digital transaction into

a one-time use number, called a ‘token’.

Even in the unlikely situation of a merchant

data breach, this token would be rendered

useless as it is insufficient to complete

the transaction.

And if that doesn’t already provide consumers with enough cause for peace of mind,

if cardholders notice the unauthorized use of their MasterCard card, they are

Digital is

changing the

form factor, but

the goal remains

the same: a

singular focus on

making it even

safer and

simpler.

27

More than just mining more

data, businesses need the right,

smart data that answers their

questions and provides

actionable insights.

protected from the cost of the unauthorized transaction as long as they have taken

reasonable steps to protect themselves from fraud.

What is the biggest change we are going to see in the financial services

industry in the next 5 years?

Throughout history, the middle and affluent classes have enjoyed easy access to

financial services. However, on the other end of the spectrum, the majority of less

affluent populations have kept their life savings under a mattress or worn on their

bodies. Just as they pay a premium for buying basic staples in small quantities, they

pay a premium for lack of access to conventional financial services. This leaves them

susceptible to theft, punitively high fees, and extortion.

On a recent trip to Myanmar, I listened to villagers sharing about having money

transmitted to them from relatives working in Yangon or abroad through multiple

middlemen all taking big cuts. But two big trends are changing that. One is the simple

fact that the banked middle class is growing very quickly – especially in Asia and

Africa. At the same time, technology is making financial services increasingly

accessible to the poor. Mobile phones, e-commerce, and electronic payments play a

big part of that, and MasterCard’s right in the center of it.

For example, we have partnered with the Unique Identification Authority of India

(UIDAI) to develop biometric authentication services for the Aadhaar program, the

largest biometric identity program in the world and the cornerstone for achieving

financial inclusion in India. Since its launch seven years ago, Aadhaar has enrolled

over 900 million Indians.

28

That’s just one step on our journey to our stated goal of making financial services

available to 500 million more people by 2020. Doing well and doing good need not be

mutually exclusive, and if we create the right model for the new equation, we can

bring those left behind into the formal economy.

Highlights

• There are so many incredible opportunities

across a customer’s lifecycle to create

enhanced experiences that deliver real

value to deepen the relationship.

• As we transition into an increasingly digitally

connected lifestyle, the payments industry

will see even greater demand for simple,

convenient and secure solutions.

• You can have the best data in the world

but without smart people and precise,

proven analytics, what you end up

deciding to do with that data may fall flat.

• Banks need to get past their historical

penchant for building everything

themselves and instead embrace the

explosion of experimentation and

innovation that the FinTech players breed.


Chapter Four

Both the physical and

digital worlds present

new challenges for

banks

Ron ShevlinDirector of Research,

Cornerstone Advisors



Too much of the big data hype

focuses on predicting what a

single consumer will buy. But a

better use of “big data” is to

understand consumers

purchase journey or decision-

making process.

ell us a little bit about yourself ? (something that we can’t find online)

It’s 2016. The age of Big Data, Google, and the NSA. Everything you could

possibly want to know about me could be found online. Sadly, things you wouldn’t

want to know about me can probably be found online.

Banks sit on troves of big data. How can banks realize greater value from their

Data?

By starting with a more granular definition of what problems they’re trying to

address, or business questions they’re trying to answer. That’s probably obvious to

professionals with strong quantitative marketing skills, but the press and pundits (and

unfortunately, many consultants) have led non-quantitatively oriented banking execs

to think that Big Data—in and of itself—will predict what consumers will buy, and

become some kind of magical competitive advantage.

Too much of the Big Data hype focuses on predicting what a single consumer will

buy. But a better use of “big data”—and by that I mean new types of data not

typically or historically used by banks, for example, mobile location or other digital

channel activity—is understanding the “macro” (vs. “micro”) environment, to identify

trends in the market regarding what consumers in general are buying, and

understanding their purchase journey or decision-making process.

I would, however, challenge your statement that “banks sit on troves of big data.”

T

31

Banks sit on troves of data. Distinguishing “big” data from other kinds of data—

some people now like to say that banks need to do a better job of using their “little”

data—is nonsense. Data is data.

How can banks become a part of everyday life of a customer and provide daily

value based on a consumer’s personal needs, habits, and preferences?

The key to this lies in the development and deployment of mobile apps that serve

very focused purposes, for example, tracking expenses against a budget, monitoring

the market to check prices for an intended purchase, guiding the wedding planning

process, or assisting with a home or auto purchase.

Mobile apps are key because of the role mobile devices play in our lives. Few people

want to come home from work, eat dinner, watch TV, then sit down and log on to

their bank account to analyze their financial lives or do research about investments or

purchases. Mobile apps enable people to do these things as they’re engaged in the

relevant processes during the day.

The other aspect that’s critical here is the provision of advice, guidance, and help in

the decision-making process. Even enabling a more-convenient process by tracking

activities and expenses could be helpful.

But overall, simply providing mobile access to bank accounts to check balances or

transfer funds isn’t enough to drive additional customer engagement.

The challenge for banks isn’t

becoming “digital”—it’s

providing value that is

perceived to be in line with the

cost—or better yet, providing

value that consumers are

comfortable paying for.

I recently had a conversation with Vikram Atal, Executive Vice president of

CITI bank. He said that banks have complex business models because of

which they are still in the nascent stage of the digital and data revolution. Can

you tell us what is wrong with banks’ business model?

Banks had complex business models

long before the digital and data

revolution. In the United States

at least, banks have had complex

business models because of regulatory

requirements, the conglomeration of

various lines of business providing very

different products and services to a wide

variety of customers, and the rapid

consolidation of the industry.

At the retail level, the business model is

flawed primarily because of the misalignment

of value and cost. With the advent of

free checking, what consumers ended up

paying for was overdraft fees, and then

ATM fees, and extraordinarily high fees

for services like stop payments or expedited

bill payments. The problem is that consumers

don’t perceive the value they get from

these services to be in line with the value

provided.

The challenge for banks isn’t becoming

“digital”—it’s providing value that is

perceived to be in line with the cost—

or better yet, providing value that consumers are comfortable paying for.

I read the following quote made by you in the Next Bank USA summit “Who

will rule banking in the future – Banks or Fintech’s?

“Don’t be a fool”

“Fintech won’t rule”

Banks had complex

business models

long before the

digital and data

revolution. In the

United States at

least, banks have

had complex

business models

because of

regulatory

requirements.

33

“No doubt that they’re cool”

“But they’re just a banks tool”

You said that Fintech won’t rule the financial industry. Can you tell us why Fintechs’

are just banks tool?

As Mr. Atal can attest to, banks are complex organizations with multiple lines of

business serving a multitude of customer segments (whether it’s retail, commercial, or

institutional investing). The overwhelming majority of fintech startups are focusing

on niches in the market—whether it’s by a narrow customer segment or by a narrow

set of products or services. Some of these startups will certainly survive, but scaling

beyond a narrow niche isn’t easy and it isn’t cheap. Established firms—whether it’s

existing banks or other types of companies—are better positioned to help startups

grow. In the end, the path to cashing out for many fintech startups will be selling off

to existing banks. Hence, banks win. Not that fintech startups lose. The premise of

the debate was pretty stupid since it’s not an either/or win/lose situation.

How can banks help their customers understand how to maximize

opportunities and build wealth?

This is too difficult a question to answer. Consumers’ attitudes, approaches, and

behaviors regarding financial management vary so widely that it’s impossible to boil it

down to a single easy answer. Banks have to: 1) segment consumers by their needs,

and 2) figure out which segments they (the banks) are best able to serve.

Consumers’ attitudes,

approaches, and behaviors

regarding financial

management vary so widely

that it’s impossible to boil it

down to a single easy answer.

34

Francisco Gonzales, chairman of BBVA, said that “BBVA will be a software

company in the future.” What is your view on his statement?

You really like to pit me against other people in the industry, don’t you?

With no intended disrespect to Mr. Gonzales, the statement makes little sense, and if

he really believes what he said, that could be really bad news for his bank. I would

assert that few software companies are known for their superior customer service, let

alone provide good customer service. Is superior software going to be the key to

competitive advantage in banking in the years ahead? Or will it be superior service

and a superior customer experience?

Now, one could argue that since that customer experience is likely to be even more

digital in the years ahead, that software is the key. But the key to a superior customer

experience isn’t superior software development—it’s superior understanding of

customer needs, design and a whole host of other capabilities. Software development

can be—and is—outsourced.

The title of your book is ‘Smarter Bank’. Who is the target audience for your

book and how will your book benefit them?

Target audience is bank/credit union executives, fintech executives, and consultants

serving the financial services industry. The book will primarily do two things for

them: 1) Help them understand how technology, consumers, and business model

trends will impact banks, and what they should do about it, and 2) Make them laugh.

Most business books are boring snoozefests. Not Smarter Bank!

The key to a superior customer

experience isn’t superior

software development—it’s

superior understanding of

customer needs.

There are a number of banks that are using cutting-edge innovative

technology. Can you give us some examples of banks that are doing well in

digital personalization and the big data space?

Interesting way to word the question. There are certainly examples—and good

ones at that—of banking using cutting-edge innovative technology. But “doing well in

digital personalization”? My take is that the whole “personalization” thing is

overblown.

The best examples of uses of technology

In banking are for providing real-time

advice/guidance, added convenience,

improved process execution, and

enhanced customer experience.

With apologies to everyone outside of

the U.S., my favorite examples come from

the U.S. because that’s the market I focus

on. I’m sure there are plenty of good

examples from outside the U.S., but here

two great examples of companies making

great use of “cutting-edge innovative”

technology are:

1) USAA. USAA’s use of mobile

technologies for home and auto buying —

not just the lending part of the process —is

redefining how their members buy homes

and cars.

2) Moven. Moven continues to lead

the industry in personal financial

management features to help its

customers better manage their financial lives.

The best

examples of uses

of technology in

banking are for

providing real-

time

advice/guidance,

added

convenience,

improved process

execution, and

enhanced

customer

experience.

36

Highlights

• Simply providing mobile access to bankaccounts to check balances or transfer

funds isn’t enough to drive additional

customer engagement.

• The challenge for banks isn’t becoming

“digital”—it’s providing value that is

perceived to be in line with the cost—or

better yet, providing value that consumers

are comfortable paying for.

• Banks have to: 1) segment consumers by

their needs, and 2) figure out which

segments they (the banks) are best able to

serve.

• The key to a superior customer experience

isn’t superior software development—it’s

superior understanding of customer needs.


Chapter Five

We’re witnessing the

creative destruction of

financial services

Arvind SankaranGlobal Business Leader, Retail,

Banking & Wealth Management



We’re witnessing the creative

destruction of financial services,

rearranging itself around the

consumer.

ell us a little about yourself

I am a chemical engineer by training from Bits Pilani. After graduation, I

spent a very interesting year as a trainee “grease monkey” at the ITC factory in

Bangalore! Then I went on to do an MBA in finance at IIM Calcutta. Not many folks

would know that I then spent a year at New York University pursuing a Ph.D. which I

then dropped out of!

As a banker, I was fortunate to have opportunities over two decades to build and run

businesses in branch banking, credit cards, lending and wealth management.

Stints at Citibank, Barclays and HSBC took me to five countries in Asia and EMEA

which were fantastic professional and cultural experiences for my family and me.

Arvind, I understand one of your areas of expertise is in wealth management;

you are a strategic advisor for banks in big data space. How did you get into

big data?

I actually spent time initially on the lending side of banking then I moved to wealth

management in the last 12-15 years.

Very early on at Citibank, I was immersed in the use of Analytics. In the early to late

90′s, there was no big data, and primarily the risk community used analytics to create

lending scorecards and strategies — I was very involved in that. Being an engineer by

training, I was fascinated by analytics, statistics, and models. In the early years of the

new millennium, when I moved to wealth management, I found that analytics in this

area was at a very rudimentary level to model the behaviour of the investor or the

markets. The tools that were being used were static model-based and with low

efficacy.

T

39

Big data and analytics have been intensively used in wealth management space only in

the last five years or so. Both at Citibank and HSBC, where we used data-driven

analytics, the modelling work done was largely driven off internal transaction data.

But since then, the big data space has gained rapid sophistication with players like

Crayon. The work Crayon Data does to bring external data sets to work for the

enterprises is amazing in terms of what it can do for the Banking industry.

Can you tell us more about your role at Crayon Data? What excites you most

about your work at Crayon?

Last year, Suresh and I got talking about the exciting landscape for consumer brands

in Asia, and in particular financial services which are being driven by growing

affluence of the middle class, expanding lifestyle choices, and discretionary spend.

Before I knew it, I was completely taken in by the Crayon story. Maya’s product

capability(product of Crayon) is something I had been searching high and low for

years as a retail bank marketing and sales leader. And so here I am now as a strategic.

advisor to Crayon. What it means is that I’m very interested in making Crayon even

more successful than it is today. What excites me very much?

Firstly, Crayon is operating at the cutting edge and is changing the way the

marketplace and brands engage with consumers. I really like the vision that Crayon

has set for itself – to solve the world’s problem of choice. That is BIG and BOLD!

Secondly, working with the young, smart, next generation of engineers and data

scientists- bright sparks who are at the forefront of creating and delivering Crayon’s

vision.

Thirdly, and I get a personal kick out of this! Now I am advising a venture that is

disrupting and revolutionizing the way financial services are marketed, the very

Big data and analytics have

been intensively used in wealth

management space only in the

last five year.

domain that I was a part of!

Your role at Crayon is that of a Strategic Advisor. Can you tell us more about

your role as a strategic advisor, can you be more specific about your role?

As a strategic advisor, there are a few things I bring to the table: The first is, of

course, subject matter expertise. For Crayon, winning in the banking vertical is critical;

this is where I bring my immediate value add. I work with product and client delivery

teams so that their product development work is laser-focused on client needs.

The second value I add is helping Crayon

with its client-facing activities and in its

effort to build a robust business pipeline.

In the immediate term, that means focusing

on as many wins for Maya Lifestyle

(product of Crayon) with payment

product businesses. I help open doors

and put Crayon in front of key industry

decision makers. Most of my banking

career was in client-facing roles, so I love

attending as many Crayon pitches as I can!

Third is to help Crayon with its fundraising

activities. As you know, Crayon successfully

closed CN2 and it has been a successful

funding round. Through my years and

network in the industry, I help bring

strategic investors to participate in

the future success of Crayon Data.

Now, let’s talk about changes in

the industry. How has the financial services and insurance sectors in the APAC

changed, with the advent of big data analytics?

Firstly, I’d like to clarify that insurance players are very much a part of the financial

services industry. The retail financial services industry is comprised of banking, asset

management, insurance and brokerage with large local and global players competing

in the Asian marketplace.

Banks are looking

for efficient ways

to deliver services

to clients and in

doing so, the

traditional physical

branch channels

are beginning to

be supplanted by

a digital strategy.

41

Coming to your question about how this sector is changing with the advent of big

data. Until recent years, financial services firms had very limited understanding of

their clients.

Big data was initially driven by internal data warehouse teams, who collected

transactional data within the enterprise, and the models that were used were largely

limited. As technology has advanced, memory became cheaper, the size of the data

repository increased, and computing power quadrupled, financial services companies

were able to deploy models and analytical capabilities that were massive.

With that, new insights were discovered that provided granular understanding of

prospects, their choices, the way they consumed the financial products. And that has

changed the way financial services companies create their market entry strategies, the

way they build consumer products and large marketing campaigns. This has been

simply transformational.

Yet, we are only scratching the surface, because where we are going with this, it is

going to completely change the way financial brands engage with consumers. From a

last-century approach of blunt segmentation, mass customisation of offers and

communication channels out of sync with customer time and context, the future is all

about ultra-personalisation of product offers, driven by sophisticated insights,

through multiple proprietary algorithms and models that work off massive internal

and external data sets, delivered through a device of choice in complete sync with

customer time and context.

Every bank now has or is

involved with a fintech

bootcamp, incubator or

accelerator- programmes that

help plug into startups to work

on ideas.

42

We’re witnessing the creative destruction of financial services, rearranging itself

around the consumer. Whoever does this in the most relevant, exciting way using data

and digital, wins!

Next, let’s talk Fintech. You know how Fintech start-ups are innovating more

easily and rapidly compared with big banks. How can banks keep pace? Yes,

their business models are complex, and they have very complicated systems –

is it even possible for banks to replicate the agile innovation mindset of the

Fintech startup?

This question is what is keeping many banking leaders awake at night! In recent times,

the economics of financial services industry has changed dramatically. Operational

margins are down, the cost of acquiring and retaining staff is up, the cost of

compliance is up, and technology is obsolete; as a result, profitability has significantly

declined.

Banks are looking for efficient ways to deliver services to clients and in doing so, the

traditional physical branch channels are beginning to be supplanted by a digital

strategy. But this new agenda is moving slowly because of rigid structures and

processes that don’t allow banks to act with agility. So what banks are doing is to

foster innovation within to break down internal barriers and drive this change.

Internal innovation is however always a hard thing to do for a large enterprise.

The other option is to look at external innovation, partnering with fintech startups,

who are small and agile. Every bank now has or is involved with a fintech bootcamp,

With big data analytics, new

insights were discovered that

provided granular

understanding of prospects,

their choices, the way they

consumed the financial

products.

incubator or accelerator- programmes that help plug into startups to work on ideas.

Who are able to provide widgets and APIs delivering value to the bank, which is

relatively low risk and of high impact in a short time.

As these startups- mobile payments,

robo advisors, authentication, social

lending etc..- begin to build things

that are valuable, the banks are likely

to take a stake, acquire them or get into

long-term strategic alliances. I think this is

the way the market is going to progress.

Next, there was an interesting study

conducted by Millenial Deception

Index. According to that, 53% of

millennials don’t think their bank is

any different from other banks. So,

what do you think the banks can do

to be more appealing to the next

generation millennials, in terms of

financial services, to be more attractive?

This is something that is obviously going to be a make-or-break for banks. If you

look at the skew of global demographics, you have many western societies ageing

rapidly and the profile of the customer base there is largely the middle to older age

set. They have a specific set of financial needs and they are probably not digital

natives.

On the other hand, you have the emerging markets where the demographics is skewed

towards the young. For example, if you take the Indian market, two-thirds of the

population are under the age of 35 and that’s the same case when you look at any

other emerging market like Indonesia. You’ll find that the millennials are a huge part

of the demographic.

Any financial services player that wants to win in this marketplace has to go digital. If

any bank wants to engage with this set, it needs to put a digital bank out there.

Therefore, you see a lot of traditional banks who are building a “bank within a

bank.” You have the larger bank, which is the traditional brick and mortar bank,

Any financial

services player

that wants to

attract the

millennials has to

go digital.

44

If any bank wants to engage

with millennials, it needs to put a

digital bank out there.

serving consumer who wants high human interaction, physical touch, the familiar

environment of a bank branch. The same bank is building a digi-bank within itself,

serving the millennials. As they build this digibank, banks will have to work with

partners and product providers who can dovetail into digibank platform. That’s where

fintech partners will come into play.

Definitely. The kind of personalisation I get from an app like Paytm, for

example, is not something I get from my bank. Apps like Oxygen Wallet make

it so easy for me to shop online and are more appealing than banks.

Absolutely. Some financial players like insurance companies have a bigger risk.

Insurance companies have traditionally been dis-intermediated. Their products have

always been delivered by an insurance agent or a bank sales representative.

As a result, they do not possess a deep level of understanding of their policyholders.

To compound the situation, insurance is not a high contact product- a typical client

meets the insurance agent or sales representative maybe once a year to talk about

insurance and renewal of the policy. So, there’s also the risk of sparse data that is at

the disposal of the insurance firm. They need to go digital very quickly to acquire

data-driven insights and build that conversation directly with their end consumer.

Otherwise, they are going to find themselves even more removed from the

marketplace.

In 2014, there were approximately 40 billion debit card transactions at an

average swipe fee of 31 cents each, equaling $12.4 billion in total.

How can financial institutions grow their share of this pie by winning more

account holders through advocacy, they stand to reap tremendous profits?

45

If you look at the traditional consumer wallet of payment products, credit cards have

generally been preferred over debit. Credit card companies offer more attractive

products propositions as well as promotions, on the back of relatively higher profit

margins available to deploy into campaigns and benefits. Credit card transactions are

also generally of a higher average ticket size, larger volume as compared to debit card

bill transactions.

At the same time, debit card transactions originate from the savings or checking

account of the banking customer. That pool of savings and checking balances is

significantly larger than credit card limits and spend globally. As more young adults

join the workforce, earn salaries and spend disposable income on discretionary

lifestyle-driven items, expenses, debit cards are very well-positioned to be a payment

product of choice. But the player that is going to capture a sizable share of this

particular pool will need to intensively harness data-driven insights to be able to offer

their debit card holders ultra-personalised choices that are time- and context-relevant.

Finally, to wrap things up, where do you see banking in the next 5 years? And

in the next 20?

There are many themes that are coming through. One is local vs. global. In the

previous era, the global banks ruled; in the new era, it is likely to be the local banks

that are going to rule. For example, in Asia from the 90′s till the first half of the new

millennium, foreign banks like Citibank, StanC, HSBC, etc. pretty much owned the

space of consumer banking innovation and service excellence. Whereas, if you see in

the last 5-7 years, local banks like DBS and OCBC in Singapore, BCA in Indonesia,

CIMB in Malaysia, HDFC and Yes Bank in India, they have all rapidly gained ground

and are now relatively in very good position. With relatively robust balance sheets that

were less affected by the GFC, global-standard infrastructure, and governance and

Banks need to go digital very

quickly to acquire data-driven

insights and build that

conversation directly with their

end consumer.

build up of the strong talent pool, they are in a very good position to win the market

going forward.

The second theme is that, physical vs. digital.

Previously, we had the traditional brick &

mortar, high human touch-centric delivery

model. We are entering a digital

omnichannel paradigm now.

Third is innovation – previously, innovation

was incremental, largely process-centred;

whereas, going forward, it is going to be

rapid innovation, which is going to be

partner-driven, where you have Fintech

players co-create new ideas. All these are

in the next 5 years.

In the coming 20 years, it is hard to

crystal-gaze. It appears that politicians want

to go back to where banking was at

the turn-of-the-century! Serving a societal

objective, serving the needs of

the everyday consumer, safeguarding

small savings.

We might see the industry morph into two ecosystems. One, which is a large utility-

oriented industry serving the small saver, highly regulated; and another a niche

industry not funded by the taxpayer, catering to the more sophisticated consumer. I

think that there will, however, be a few secular drivers: digital, omnichannel, global,

and big-data driven business actions.

If you look at

the traditional

consumer wallet

of payment

products, credit

cards have

generally been

preferred over

debit.

47

Highlights

• We’re witnessing the creative destruction of

financial services, rearranging itself around

the consumer. Whoever does this in the

most relevant, exciting way using data and

digital, wins!

• Every bank now has or is involved with a

fintech bootcamp, incubator or

accelerator- programmes that help plug

into startups to work on ideas.

• If any bank wants to engage with

millennials, it needs to put a digital bank out

there.

• Banks need to go digital very quickly to

acquire data-driven insights and build that

conversation directly with their end

consumer.


Big Data Made Simple (BDMS) is one of the fastest growing big

data content websites today. It is powered by Singapore based Big

Data start-up Crayon Data. BDMS was launched in 2014 with a

vision to build a global big data community, and to create a one-

stop comprehensive information resource on everything Big Data.

BDMS curates and generates content for almost 25 verticals. The

portal is built on two pillars – discover and exchange. It gives an

opportunity to writers, thought leaders, journalists, business

entities to come together under one roof.

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER

ABOUT BIG DATA MADE SIMPLE

Follow us

big data made simple ppp five experts talk

Data & Analytics