FinTech Strategy met with Stiven Muccioli, Founder & CEO at BKN301, to discuss digital payment services connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
BKN301 Group is a London based fintech provider that offers Banking-as-a-Service, connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. The company aims to address the financial inclusion gap in these regions. It provides digital payment and banking platforms to unbanked populations. BKN301 has successfully partnered with fintechs in Egypt and Qatar, serving millions of customers and providing access to financial services. They are also focused on expanding their market in Europe. The company aims to become a leader in the industry and bridge the gap between Europe and the Middle East.
At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with BKN301 Founder & CEO Stiven Muccioli to find out more…
Tell us about the genesis of BKN301…
“I launched the company in 2021 with the vision to create the biggest tech provider for a digital banking service connecting North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. We are looking at the demographic sheet of the world… In Europe, we are overserved by the banking system and it’s quite tough to create new projects in the FinTech space. It’s hard to scale past Europe, into the Middle East and North Africa. Ours is an operation in its early stages. There is a huge penetration with mobile devices in the Middle East and North Africa, but at the same time there are a huge amount of people unbanked.
So, we have created the platform to allow digital banks to start fast and with low cost. Basically, we are the ‘backbone’ for the new digital banking era in the Middle East and North Africa. We also work with many companies across Europe. However, we are very focused on the connection between the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Also, we are focused on the remittances business and cross-border payments because many working abroad in Europe don’t have access to the banking system in Europe. And there are many digital banks in Europe trying to fulfil this gap for new customers.”
Tell us about your career journey…
“I began 15 years ago in the startup business and founded two other companies. The first one, Tippest, was a copycat of Groupon in Italy. This was founded with a group of friends in 2011 and we were able to scale successfully, leading to its sale in 2015. Following that, I moved to the US where I spent some time as an angel investor. In 2016 I came back to Italy to start a new company. It was a corporate venture operation inside of the Iccrea Bank, one of the biggest banking groups in Italy. We created a company named Ventis. It delivered the first super application that merged e-commerce and the digital bank.
We created a platform capable of delivering an e-commerce service, and at the same time digital banking services, payment cards, accounts and more. We managed this part of the business for the Group and reached good numbers. In 2020, we sold the company and today it is the third biggest payment player in Italy.”
Tell us about some of the successful partnerships BKN301 has been involved in…
“We have seen great successes with key partners such as Damen. Damen is a e-payment company in Egypt serving 18 million customers. Thanks to our technology, they are able today to provide a digital payment application to millions of Egyptians. They are now connected and have access to a range of financial services to save money and receive remittances from Europe and across the Gulf. A very successful story in terms financial inclusion.
It’s the same in Qatar where we serve a partner that provides service to labourers and construction workers – there are around 700,000 such workers in Qatar. A good example of financial inclusion because we provide the platform for a low-cost digital banking platform connecting unbanked people to Europe.”
What are some of the key challenges financial institutions are facing that you can help them with? What problems are companies asking you to solve?
“At BKN301, we’re focused on our technology and building an ecosystem based on APIs so we’re able to provide those APIs to digital banks – with us, they save time and money. So, the integration cost is far less than a traditional integration cost. They’re able to work multi-market because we are in different markets and they won’t have any legacy agreement with big corporates. We provide APIs so they can develop and use them for core banking and processing.”
What trends are you seeing across the FinTech landscape? What opportunities do you see for BKN301?
“Every year there is a new wave of news, but we don’t know how long each trend will it last… A couple of years back blockchain was at the core and everyone want to add a feature, sometimes without any reason. Now it’s the same with AI. To build a concrete platform on AI or on blockchain, you need many years, and a lot of investment, to be focused. I don’t believe companies that come out after six months saying they are now AI based. It’s impossible to build a real platform based on AI that quickly. We need to define the real companies. So, which one has the mature technology. It’s a good wave and I think there is a huge need. For example, anti-money laundering controls driven by AI could be a game changer.”
And what’s next for BKN301? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?
“This year we want to get more established in the market in Europe, so we will be focused on expansion. The goal for us is to become the door, the access bridge, between Europe and the Middle East. We aim to become a backbone for the new financial ecosystem across the region.”
Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do?
“Every year there is a new wave of news… A couple of years ago blockchain was at the core and everyone wanted to add some feature on blockchain, sometimes without any reason. And now it’s the same with AI. To build a concrete platform on AI, or on blockchain, you need to be focused for years and have a lot of investment – it can’t be done in six months. So, as with blockchain, we need to define the companies making real progress with established technology based on AI, the same as we did with blockchain. It’s a good wave that can meet a huge need, for example with anti-money laundering controls, and Money20/20 is a great place to learn more about where the industry is at today.”
- Digital Payments
