i3 - January/February 2017 - 101

start transacting, paying or charging - it
will require some pretty radical shifts in
the way both banks and regulators think
about payments and identity.

Amazon gave brick-and-mortars
a run for their money. Are fintech
companies doing the same to
brick-and-mortar banks?
I think there's a problem with looking
for the "Amazon" of banking, or the
Amazon of fintech. We're actually looking
for the emergence of about 20 Amazon
equivalents to give banks a run for their
money, and we're starting to see that. Ant
Financial, previously known as AliPay
(a subsidiary of Alibaba), is today valued
at about $60 billion - that's half what
Citibank is valued at today. Wechat and
Alipay account for more than 80 percent
of mobile payments in China today, a
staggering statistic. Alipay's Yu'e Bao took
in $90 billion in deposits in just eight
months, more than all the investment in
capital markets during the same period.
There are definitely signs that the likes of
Ant Financial are not only giving brickand-mortar banks a run for their money,
but are leaving them for dead. With more
than $100 billion of fintech investment in
the last five years, there's only one thing I
know for sure. Alipay/Ant Financial won't
be the only fintech to give banks a run for
their money over the next decade.

of the design process. Overall, however,
regulators also realize that fintechs and
startups are innovating at much faster
rates than incumbents. Thus, if you want
a competitive financial ecosystem in the
future, shutting out startups from the
playing field might actually hamper economic development and competitiveness.

Banking in 2020
will be about
embedded
banking experiences,
whether in an
AR headset, or in
your smartwatch or
smartphone.

Can old banks learn new tricks?

What's your advice to startups
looking to get into the financial
space?
There's never been a better time to
move into the space. Regulators are very
favorable towards startups right now with
U.S., UK, Singapore, Hong Kong and other
regulators creating regulatory "sandboxes"
specifically to allow experimentation
outside of traditional regulation. We
didn't have that flexibility when we started
Moven in 2011. So, in many ways it's easier
now than when we started.
One thing to recognize is that
startups are proving that they're actually
more open to dialog and cooperation
with regulators than incumbents are.
Incumbents are nervous about compliance
and disclosure, but startups see it as part

Yes, but it will still be cheaper and faster for
them to work with fintechs, in my mind.
That's why I'm bullish on the likes of BBVA
with their acquisition of Simple and Holvi,
CapitalOne's acquisition of Level Money
and Adaptive Path, and the investments
that the likes of DBS and Sberbank have
made in startups. Moven's success with TD
Bank in Canada, is honestly a template for
other banks and fintechs to look at also.

It's 2020 and we're at CES again.
What do you expect a bank
transaction might look like?
Frictionless, contextual and ubiquitous.
Banking in 2020 will be about embedded
banking experiences, whether in an AR
headset, or in your smartwatch or smartphone. Banking in 2020 will be something
you do, definitely not somewhere you go. n
The Digital Money Forum, presented by
MasterCard, will be held on January 5, in the
LVCC, North Hall, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM

CTA Events
CES® 2017

Winter Break

January 5-8,

March 9-12,

Las Vegas, NV

Viceroy Snowmass
Snowmass
Village, CO

CES Asia
June 7-9,
Shanghai, China

Digital Patriots
Dinner

CES on the Hill

April 4,

Washington, DC

April 5,

Technology &
Standards
Spring Forum
May 9-11,

Washington, DC

San Francisco, CA

CEO
Summit

Innovate! and
Celebrate

CES Unveiled
New York

CT Hall of
Fame Dinner

June 21-24,

October 9-11

November

November

Amalfi Coast, Italy

San Francisco, CA

New York, NY

New York, NY

CES® 2018
January 9-12,
Las Vegas, NV

For more information on CTA events, call 703-907-7600 or visit CTA.tech.
C TA . t e c h / i 3

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