Independent Banker - July 2021 - 61

Zogo
Based: Durham, N.C.
Founders: Bolun Li, CEO; Simran Singh, president;
and Simon Komlos, chief design off icer
Norenko
upSWOT
Based: Charlotte, N.C.
Founders: Dmitry Norenko,
CEO; Andrey Davydchuk,
chief technology off icer;
and Dmitry Syvolap, chief
operations off icer
UpSWOT pulls data about
small and medium-sized
businesses from more than
120 sources, including
business software tools, to
give community bankers
business and risk insights
they can use.
What fintech trend should
community bankers
know about?
Dmitry Norenko: Everything
is moving online, and though
I don't believe that personal
relationships between the
banker and the client will
disappear, they will and
should definitely change.
The world is becoming more
and more connected, making
data-sharing more and more
of an opportunity, and it's
a power that community
banks should use. Nowadays,
fintechs like Plaid cost
billions of dollars, because
businesses are ready to share
their data. Community banks
should lead these changes to
get the most out of it. Data
will help [community banks]
perform better. Data will help
their clients perform better.
UpSWOT knows how to make
this happen, and we already
do this with dozens of banks.
Li
Zogo has gamified financial literacy education for
young people through phone games that can earn
users gift cards and checking account bonuses
through financial institutions.
How'd you recommend a community bank to begin leveraging
fintech solutions?
Bolun Li: Look for solutions that quickly add value to your
community bank and do not require significant internal resources
from your team to launch. That is a great way to test the waters and
understand how leveraging fintechs can advance your initiatives.
What's a growing type of financial technology?
Li: Financial education. Younger generations have continually
expressed their interest in learning about personal finance, and
community banks are well-suited to provide this education. It
will help gain the trust of this younger generation and ultimately
attract-and retain-young adults to your bank.
ZSuite Technologies
Based: Burlington, Mass.
Founders: Jay Tuli, founder (Tuli is also
president of Leader Bank); and Nathan
Baumeister, CEO
The company's commercial escrow
products digitize manual, often
resource-intensive escrow and subaccounting
services.
What did you take away from the
ThinkTECH Accelerator?
Nathan Baumeister: The most
important thing we learned through
this process is that community bankers
across America are heavily interested
in and invested in making serious
changes in their digital off erings. They
are hungry to know what they can do
to have an immediate impact for the
benefit of their clients.
What would you tell a community
bank that's new to fintech?
Baumeister: I would tell them not
to look at all fintech companies as
the same. Many community bankers
have been fearful of partnering
with fintechs because they see
fintechs as a competitive threat.
While it is true that some fintech
companies out there are creating
products that will make them
direct competitors with community
banks, there are a lot of fintechs
in the marketplace that were
organized to
directly help
community
banks. It's
crucial
to know
which type
of fintech
they're
talking to.
The best
way to
do so is
Baumeister
to dig deep into how the fintech
company makes money and would
like to make money.
Eric Best is deputy editor of
Independent Banker.
independentbanker.org Q 61
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - July 2021

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