Independent Banker - July 2021 - 60

Finosec
Based: Alpharetta, Ga.
Founder: Zach Duke, CEO
banks-not bankers, but banks-to get direct
feedback and to expand the number of customers
and prospects blew my expectations away.
Duke
Finosec's cybersecurity governance
solutions aim to help community
banks reduce the time required to
validate cybersecurity oversight.
What's one thing you took away from the
ThinkTECH Accelerator?
Zach Duke: My biggest takeaway has been the
power and impact of the accelerator. This has
been, by far, the best process I have been involved
with in my 20 years working with community
banks. Having the ability to meet with 100-plus
What fintech trend should community bankers
know about?
Duke: Integration and APIs [application
programming interfaces] have been and will
continue to be all the buzz. Understanding how
the communication rails or integration works-and
how it is secured-with your banking systems
is important. There is significant movement
in this area, and keeping up to speed on your
core processor and fintech innovation around
banking-as-a-service (BaaS) should be upfront in
your organization.
Harness
Based: Tampa, Fla.
Founders: Miraj Patel, CEO;
and Andrew Scarborough,
chief financial off icer
Shastic
Based: Berkeley, Calif.
Founder: Joseariel Gomez, CEO
Patel
Harness connects community
banks and their customers
to fundraising campaigns
of nonprofits in their
area to create long-term
funding vehicles.
Why should community banks be interested in
partnering with fintechs?
Miraj Patel: Take a look around. Change is no longer
coming; it has arrived. Fintechs should be viewed
as well-funded innovation circles that are pumping
millions into solving point solutions to help each
bank reach its goals. Bankers should explore new
opportunities with an open mind, as many fintechs
looking to provide services can directly move the
needle on business goals.
What did you learn about community banks during
the accelerator?
Patel: Community banks serve as the backbone of
America's financial system and overall economy.
Whereas most attention, interest and innovation
dollars are pointed toward the big four and upand-coming
neobanks, it's important that fintechs
continue driving products and innovation to
community banks and the hyperlocal communities
they serve.
Shastic off ers Elle, an artificial intelligenceassisted
automation platform that connects a
community bank's internal systems.
How did the accelerator aff ect your product?
Joseariel Gomez: It helped us realize that what
we considered a small piece of our solution
at the start of the program in fact can unleash
tremendous value for banks. It does this by
helping to connect their internal disparate
systems without relying on vendors or API
access to streamline their entire operation.
What fintech trend should community
bankers know about?
Gomez: We
believe that
open banking
will be the
most important
change in
how financial
services are
provided and
embedded into
every aspect of
our daily lives
moving forward.
Gomez
Independent Banker - July 2021

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