Highlights: First Day of FinTech Connect at ExCeL London

Key highlights from Day One noted by Torus

On December 4th and 5th, FinTech Connect is taking place in London. In the course of the event, attended by representatives of major banks and fintech leaders, the first day set the tone with inspiring insights on fintech's role in the net-zero agenda, the importance of the various communities in the UK fintech ecosystem, and the vibrant energy of exciting startups.

Description: FinTech Connect opens its doors this week at ExCeL in London. Photo by FTC LI.

We are sharing key insights from the panel discussion “How is Connected Finance driving the future of consumer payments?” The speakers include Lee McNabb from NatWest, Bhavna Saraf from Santander, Abraham Georgakarakos from Virgin Media O2, and Lukas Hora from Tapix. The moderator was Andrew Vorster from The Banking Scene

Connected Finance is a financial management concept that utilizes technology and data analytics in conjunction with advanced financial tools.

Key takeaways from the speakers were as follows:

The future direction is multi-channel payments that adapt to consumer behavior.
Superapps are expected to emerge soon in Europe. Yes, there are already Monzo and Revolut, but they are still not fully integrated superapps.
Banks need to better understand payment behavior → improve fraud detection + extract value from data → provide higher quality services, as consumers want banks to prioritize banking first.
“The goal is to keep users within the ecosystem” — the most important point made by Lee McNabb. Still, customer behavior is not fully analyzed and predicted, even though it's been a hot topic for more than five years.
Open banking is fragmenting customer relationships with banks. How to differentiate? As another speaker, Bhavna Saraf, noted: “Use core technology to enhance and add value, focusing on capability and creating value.” For example, save costs on acquiring by using open banking to pay credit card balances.
The goal of scaling up as a super app is to launch new features quickly, e.g., live updates, as Revolut is doing.

The Torus team is also at this event, discussing the power of analytics in the economics of card transactions.

Our main insight is that payment systems are highly profitable. Issuers and acquirers often struggle to analyze and optimize scheme fees effectively. Torus provides a clear understanding of card transaction intricacies, helping companies save money. FinTech Connect 2024 promotes initiatives to simplify complex processes and drive industry growth.

See you at MPE — Merchant Payments Ecosystem — March 18-20, 2025. Torus will also be lighting up the stage as the reigning winner of MPE 2024. Join thought leaders and an active community in improving the payments market!

2024-12-05 14:34