Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

8 August 2025

Estimated Read time

7Mins

Read in brochure format

FinTech Strategy spoke with Veritran’s CMO, Jorge Sanchez Barcelo, at Money20/20 Europe to find out more about the tech firm’s partnership with Manchester City reimagining CX to create a frictionless digital experience for fans

Money20/20 Europe Exclusive

In an era where technology defines the customer journey, Jorge Sanchez Barcelo, Chief Marketing Officer at Veritran, is leading a bold charge into a new frontier: one where financial technology fuses with fandom, and CX becomes both frictionless and deeply personal.

Jorge’s professional journey has always followed the arc of digital transformation. From his earlier roles at AT&T and Banorte to now helming marketing at Veritran, a global technology company, his mission is clear: make life easier, better, and more secure for end users – whether they’re banking customers or football fans.

“Our technology without a purpose is nothing. It’s just code,” Jorge says. “We build for people. And that purpose has taken us far beyond banking.”

From Buenos Aires to Global Ambitions

Founded in Buenos Aires almost 20 years ago, Veritran started building mobile applications before the iPhone even existed – when, as Jorge jokes, “phones were just for calls, texts, and the occasional game of Snake”.

“Our guys were visionaries,” he continues. “They were talking about applications when we didn’t even have smartphones. Back then, you had to build a separate app for every phone model because we didn’t have iOS or Android,” he recalls.

Despite those early technical hurdles, the company maintained a singular focus: democratising access to financial services. “Once a person starts managing their own finances, they gain control,” reasons Jorge. “And control is the first step toward growth.”

That mission has proven timeless, and borderless. Today, Veritran has a solid footprint across Latin America and has expanded into the US and Europe.

Why Experience Matters More Than Ever

Jorge is acutely aware that in financial services, trust is everything. A slick PowerPoint is not enough to win over banks.

“When I meet with a financial institution, they don’t want theory. They want proof. They want to see our tech working in the real world. But many banks are reluctant to share their strategies, even with non-competitors.”

This desire to demonstrate capability led Veritran to seek a bold new marketing approach – one that would provide a visible, secure, and non-competitive environment to showcase its tech.

Enter Manchester City: A Blueprint for CX Innovation

The solution arrived via the pitch, not the boardroom. Veritran entered into a partnership with Manchester City, one of the best football teams in the world.

“Manchester City is digitally five to seven years ahead of most clubs,” says Jorge.

Veritran’s technology now supports key digital operations at Manchester City, helping the Club streamline processes such as user registration, membership management, and ticketing. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to innovation and operational excellence.

What began as a strategic partnership has evolved into a strong example of how financial technology can reinforce digital infrastructure in the sports sector. As more organisations seek reliable and scalable solutions, the model developed with Manchester City demonstrates the value of secure, efficient platforms designed to support long-term digital growth.

Breaking the Sponsorship Mold

Unlike traditional sports sponsorships, which often come with hefty price tags and limited strategic collaboration, Veritran’s deal with City was rooted in partnership.

“Our partnership is beneficial for both companies, we share value,” explains Jorge.  “With the brand reach of Manchester City’s clubs we have been able to promote our company worldwide.”

This model has opened the door to future collaborations, not only with sports clubs, but also with entertainment companies in the US who are eyeing similar digital transformations.

Applying FinTech Learnings in New Territories

As Veritran enters new markets, they carry the lessons of regulated finance into less restricted sectors.

“In banking, every innovation has to pass through layers of regulation,” notes Jorge. “But in entertainment or sports, you can think outside the box and start with the experience, not the compliance checklist.”

That freedom has allowed Veritran to experiment with new ideas, such as smile-based stadium access or face-based payments.

“We call it ‘mouthful access’ – just smile, and you’re in. You can’t do that in banking… yet.”

Blending Brand and Utility: A New Era for Embedded Finance

What sets Veritran apart isn’t just its technology stack – it’s the way it applies that stack to create emotional resonance and operational value in new settings. For Jorge and his team, the convergence of financial services and lifestyle touchpoints is the most exciting, and underexplored, frontier.

“When we embed finance into a stadium or a music festival, we’re not just processing payments,” he explains. “We’re creating seamless, branded experiences that extend customer relationships beyond the bank branch or app.”

This philosophy echoes a wider FinTech trend: the shift from siloed services to contextual, embedded finance – delivered where customers already are, not where institutions want them to be.

As financial brands seek new ways to engage digitally-native consumers, Jorge believes partnerships with lifestyle, sports, and entertainment brands offer huge untapped potential.

Jorge notes that younger generations expect everything to be digital, instant, and intuitive. They don’t separate banking from shopping or attending an event, it’s all part of one journey. “If we can integrate services invisibly into those moments, that’s where the magic happens.”

He’s quick to add that the financial industry still has work to do in aligning with this shift – both culturally and technologically.

“It’s not just about APIs or infrastructure. It’s about mindset. The organisations that embrace this new way of thinking – who see CX as a shared responsibility across ecosystems – will lead the next decade.”

With Veritran’s cross-industry collaborations accelerating, Jorge is confident they’re not just shaping financial journeys – they’re reshaping everyday experiences.

Embedding Finance in the Fan Journey

Jorge sees a massive opportunity to embed financial services into sports and entertainment ecosystems, particularly in underbanked regions like Latin America.

“In the UK, stadiums are already cashless. In Latin America, we still have guys walking around selling Coca-Cola for cash from their pockets. We want to change that.”

By introducing digital wallets, biometric payments, and embedded insurance services (e.g., ticket protection at the point of sale), Veritran enables clubs to become financial service providers.

“Imagine buying a match ticket and adding travel insurance in one click. That’s the level of seamless we’re aiming for.”

Pain Points Driving Demand

So what are clients asking for?

Jorge says it comes down to three priorities:

  1. Integrated Payments Ecosystems
    Clients want unified platforms that support seamless payments across channels and partners
  2. Digital Onboarding & Identity
    Reducing friction while enhancing security is top of mind – especially in customer acquisition
  3. End-to-End Security Suites
    With AI-driven fraud and evolving regulations, security isn’t optional; it’s a strategic asset

Veritran’s flexibility as a tech partner, not just a vendor, allows it to co-create with clients. This often means integrating with their existing partners, such as banks, card networks, or insurers.

What’s Next for Veritran?

According to Jorge, the company is at a pivotal moment. Its technology is gaining traction in new verticals with strong investment appetite – such as entertainment and live events.

“These sectors have the budget and the ambition. No one’s serving them with the kind of Fintech-grade CX we provide.”

The company is also exploring opportunities in public transportation and other infrastructure-heavy sectors where transactions are frequent and still inefficient.

“Everywhere there’s a transaction, there’s an opportunity to simplify.”

FinTech is set to play an expanding role in everyday life whereJorge believes the very definition of FinTech is evolving.

“It’s not just about banks anymore. If you buy a coffee, book a train, or enter a concert – those are all transactions. And if we can simplify them, that’s FinTech too.”

That’s why Veritran sees future growth in collaborative ecosystems where banks, brands, and non-traditional players converge to serve the customer journey holistically.

Why Money20/20?

Jorge credits the annual Money20/20 Europe conference with helping shape Veritran’s partnerships – including the initial connection with Manchester City.

“It’s one of our top five global trade shows. We don’t just send a team – we send our top execs, including our CEO. It’s where deals happen.”

Building with Purpose for the Future

In an industry flooded with features and hype Veritran differentiates by staying grounded in user value.

“Tech for tech’s sake is meaningless. But tech that improves how someone lives, spends, or connects – that’s everything,” says Jorge.

From its Argentine roots to a global stage, Veritran’s journey underscores one enduring truth: In customer experience, the future belongs to those who build it with purpose.

Veritran: A CX FinTech Trailblazer

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 August 2025

Estimated Read time

8Mins

Read in brochure format

FinTech Strategy met with Standard Chartered’s Head of Digital Assets – Financing & Securities Services, Waqar Chaudry, at Money20/20 Europe to discuss how the bank is connecting traditional with digital, collaborating with FinTechs directly and via SC Ventures, and taking a measured approach to entering the crypto market

Money20/20 Europe Exclusive

There is a buzz in the air at Money20/20 Europe. Waqar Chaudry, Head of Digital Assets – Financing & Securities Services at Standard Chartered, has just spoken on Mastercard’s Horizon Stage about the great digital assets opportunity. We meet up with him at his bank’s stand in the heart of the action at the Amsterdam RAI Arena.

Waqar works in custody to secure digital assets at Standard Chartered. It also has a fund accounting business and offers transfer agent services. “The financing in the Financing & Securities Services elements are in our FX Prime offering,” he explains. “At the moment my sole focus is on crypto custody, tokenisation and building an ecosystem around those products.”

The Rise of Digital Assets

It’s an exciting time for Standard Chartered with crypto custody and the rise of stablecoins and tokenisation… Whether the asset is Bitcoin, a tokenised money market, or anything tokenisable, there have been a lot of conversations with the bank’s partners in terms of the technology quest.

“Most of the conversations historically have been led by the fact that technology does give you the capability to do 24/7 trading and settlement. Risk management from the technology side is much better. The blockchain dream is sold to everyone, which remains true,” notes Waqar. “The issue has been that on the business side, tackling the areas that actually can work with this technology. You have your near instant settlement availability on blockchains. On the other side you have a T+1 or T+3 cash settlement time – that doesn’t gel very well.

“Entrenched in the day-to-day business of these really large institutions is to be able to inject a new piece of technology. And then suddenly say, hey, all these things are solved. For all the inefficiencies in the system it doesn’t work that quickly. We’re actually taking one step at a time. That’s why it’s exciting that we can see in five or ten years from now what the world will look like. Basically, in our vernacular that means we have near instant settlements and near instant international transfer of value. So, that’s the kind of stuff that we are really interested in for the future.”

Meeting the Blockchain Challenge

Waqar explains that when something like a blockchain comes into a traditional bank, and especially blockchains like the ones that support an asset like Bitcoin, you don’t know who the counterparties are (which are clear on the SWIFT network).

“You have to build capability from a technology side, operations side, risk management side,” he continues. “You need to develop the governance of all those functions to be able to get the value of the asset in the ecosystem. And then be able to add value to that to transact on it. We don’t yet have those ingredients, so it becomes very challenging for us to accept the assets. A lot of the work that the bank has done over the past five years has been around embedding those elements into our day-to-day operations. It’s about understanding the risk profile of the coins and understanding the risk profile of the blockchains.”

Waqar’s team works on how to protect the ecosystem from risks from both an AML and KYC point of view. “We’re also making sure that by doing that we don’t create such a burden to the client that the service becomes useless,” he adds. “We’re trying to balance that out and that’s where the challenges lie at the moment. The next stage is to also be able to integrate all of our traditional cash and assets rails into this. And that’s where the next level of risks will come in… Where people are not used to seeing things on the blockchain… They are used to seeing things on the SWIFT network or a CSD. But when the blockchains come in, profiles will change and that’s where we have to meet the challenges.”

Traditional Meets Digital

For an asset manager with a variety of equities and bonds, but keen to start in crypto and other digital assets, the rails are very different… “The liquidity venues and the way you settle the instrument are very different. And they don’t naturally talk to each other,” confirms Waqar. “It’s a big challenge. But to be able to go with the provider that has all the capabilities, which includes the cash side, the asset side, the crypto side and the blockchain side, is something people are looking for now. Without having the end-to-end picture, it would be very difficult for our clients to have an equitable strategy for their clients. We need to be able to service them appropriately based on the rails they operate in.”

For Standard Chartered’s clients it’s increasingly important for payments to facilitate activity on-chain regardless of the use case of digital assets. “There is a key challenge with payments at the moment. If you do transfer value across geographies or between B2B and B2C, what do you do with that value afterwards?” asks Waqar.

“Are you going to keep it on the books for your treasury or account purposes or are you going to find a way to liquidate the position to pay your employees or pay your service provider? Without the capability to store the asset appropriately and then convert it into a usable form, you can’t do much with it. The only thing you can do is actually transfer value. So, for us what’s important in payments is that we get the transfer value happening immediately. Or as quickly as possible. And then also connect our payment infrastructure and the banking behind. We aim to support the transfer of value from a digital asset into an actual cash asset.”

Building on Success

Standard Chartered’s work with OKX in Dubai has spurred demand the bank didn’t expect. “The key ingredient is that a really large crypto exchange has come together with a really large bank,” reasons Waqar. “When you combine the product features of a large bank like ours with the liquidity of OKX it creates a unique proposition in the market. The traditional players have started to show interest in that because now they can buy diverse assets, pledge them as collateral and start trading while the assets remain safe in a genuine large institutional bank. And at the same time, they also have access to a highly regarded institutional exchange. That story is for us quite important and we’re fostering these relationships more and more…”

It’s been a real success story for Standard Chartered on the money market fund side which is also connected to what the bank is doing on the collateral side. “Money market funds are used to gain value and have an asset that does generate yield on the one side, but also the capability to use the asset as collateral is important,” adds Waqar.

“The money market fund that we launched for China Asset Management in Hong Kong, albeit it’s a retail use case for a start, but then the ambitions are big. The next thing is how do we start using that same asset for pledging for trading purposes and then how do we inject that into a portfolio basket of assets that people buy? At Standard Chartered, we aim to create a supermarket of tokens in a centralised ecosystem. So, our collateral story and the tokenised money market funds is connected, and we want to continue building around it. We’re thinking about other assets now too… We’re looking at equities, bonds and enabling more cryptocurrencies in the same ecosystem as well. It’s just the start of all the things we need to build in the future.”

Why Money20/20?

“This is my first time coming to Money20/20 Europe. Digital asset companies are here alongside financial services and related FinTechs. It’s great that they’re able to talk to each other and it’s quite evident there are lots of great meetings happening. There are many companies here we are either supporting or we’re working with. We’ve also had meetings with UK government representatives geared to attracting talent into the country. They’re trying to make sure that their FinTech ecosystem grows quite significantly for us in the UK and for other footprint markets in Asia; Middle East and Africa are also quite important in how we do that and continue to grow.”

The Evolution of Collaboration between Banks and FinTechs

Standard Chartered is also working in harmony with its ventures partner SC Ventures. The bank is working closely with Libeara for tokenisation and with Zodia Custody as Saas. “Our core institutional bank and our Ventures business are quite tightly coupled from that point of view,” says Waqar. “And it’s quite obvious that the reason for that is how we’ve made significant investments into them. We’ve given part of our DNA into this ecosystem and now, at the bank, they’re building the ecosystem around these capabilities, so we’re keen to bring them in and use their solutions for our services as well.”

Standard Chartered may be a traditional bank but it is a seasoned collaborator with innovative FinTechs. “They need traditional services too,” reasons Waqar. “Once they get to a critical mass, a FinTech may not have the bandwidth to manage certain client sizes. By partnering with some of the FinTechs, we’re seeing that once a certain size of a client comes in, they prefer to work with a large institution like ours. So, that partnership is proactively managed as well from our side. From our ventures side, bringing their innovative approach to product development and technology into the bank, building the ecosystem around risk management and governance from the bank side and then connecting into the FinTechs outside of that ecosystem is something I think is quite an interesting proposition for us. We’re going to keep building on top of that.”

Standard Chartered – Financing & Securities Services

Promoting your future in global securities

We’re ready to help you flourish in emerging and frontier securities services markets

In today’s fast-moving markets, especially  across Asia, Africa and Middle East, success isn’t just about the solutions you choose – it’s about the partnerships you build.

Standard Chartered has been committed to these regions for decades. We understand both the promise and challenges. That’s why we go beyond delivering end-to-end custody, fund, and fiduciary  solutions – we actively help shape the markets themselves.

By working with local governments and industry associations, we bring you early insights and access to new opportunities. Partnering with leading asset managers, fintechs, and infrastructure providers, we connect you to the best of the industry, via a single partner. Because in a world of complexity, collaboration is your greatest advantage.

Learn more at sc.com/en/corporate-investment-banking/financial-markets/financing-and-securities-services/

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

5 June 2025

Estimated Read time

3Mins

The final day at Money20/20 Europe 2025 was packed with more insights on the future of FinTech, from banks to borderless innovation.

Money20/20 Conference Themes & Tracks

Money20/20 Europe 2025 is structured around four thematic content tracks:

  • Digital DNA – Exploring core infrastructure, platform strategies, and foundational technologies.
  • Embedded Intelligence – AI, machine learning, data strategies, and real-time analytics.
  • Beyond Fintech – Partnerships between fintechs and other sectors like retail, health, and climate.
  • Governance 2.0 – Regulation, digital identity, privacy, and ESG compliance.

Day three featured more impactful sessions across all four pillars, offering attendees more valuable insights and strategies for innovation.

Highlights from Key Sessions at Money20/20 Europe:

How to Create and Leverage FinBank Partnerships

The discussion focused on the evolution and success of FinTech partnerships with banks. Key points included the shift from transactional partnerships to more collaborative, value-driven relationships, emphasizing joint KPIs and product creation. 

Alex Johnson, Chief Payments Officer, Nium

“You really have to differentiate. You really have to stand out for a bank to say, ‘Yeah, I like what you offer enough to go through, six months of onboarding.’ Dare I say, maybe more.”

John Power, SVP, Head of JVs & AQaaS, Fiserv

“The legacy system, it’s a fact of life. They’re there. They’re pervasive. They’re going to be here for a long time, and banks historically have made huge investments in those platforms and systems. So I think both the challenge for the for the bank and the opportunity for the FinTech is, how do you at the front end of those legacy systems develop new products that can scale and that you can bring cross border easily and readily.”

Cecilia Tamez, Chief Strategy Officer, Dandelion Payments

 “It really is cutting the line to be able to deliver opportunity for customers and to be able to expand propositions for new customers.”

“The economic development supply chains shifting to low to middle income countries are incredibly important right now, and cross border payment rails have not been good in low middle income countries.”

Where Fintech goes Next: Tapping into Platforms and Verticals 

The discussion centred on the democratisation of financial services through embedded finance. The panel emphasised the importance of data quality, personalisation, and strategic partnerships in delivering seamless financial experiences – ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction and improving business efficiency.

Hiba Chamas, Growth Strategy Consultant – Independent

“Embedded finance is going to be defined by region and use cases.”

Amy Loh, Chief Marketing Officer – Pipe

“Small businesses don’t want to manage their business through a bunch of different tools that are stitched together. They’re looking to platforms to do everything for them and keep high end services.”

Zack Powers, VP Commercial & Operations – Mangopay

“Most platforms or merchants out there trying to diversify revenue, and they will get auxiliary revenue, or maybe get primary revenue through FinTech activity.”

The Neobanks Strike Back

​​In a dynamic exploration of neobanking’s evolution, Ali Niknam revealed bunq’s remarkable journey from a tech-driven startup to a sustainably profitable digital bank. By leveraging AI across every aspect of their operations, bunq has transformed traditional banking, reducing support times to mere seconds and creating a hyper-personalised user experience. Niknam emphasised the power of user-centricity, showing how innovative features like simple stock trading and multi-language support can democratise financial services.

The bank’s strategic approach – focusing on user needs rather than investor expectations – has enabled them to expand thoughtfully, with plans to enter the UK and US markets. By embracing technological change and maintaining a relentless commitment to solving real customer problems, bunq exemplifies the next generation of banking.

Ali Niknam, Founder & CEO, bunq


“Somewhere in the 70s, we let go of the gold standard, and now currencies are basically floating. The only reason why a dollar or a euro is worth what it’s worth is because of trust and perception. Philosophically, it’s very logical that we have found another abstraction layer by introducing stablecoin, which is not much else than a byte number that has a denomination currency as a backing asset that itself doesn’t have anything as a backing asset. A lot of people might ask, ‘Why would you need a stablecoin? We have euros. I go get a coffee, pay with Apple Pay or cash.’ But there are many countries on this planet where the local currency is not stable. If your country has an inflation rate of 30,000% like Zimbabwe, you would really love to use a different currency. The US dollar has been the currency of choice, but as a normal person, you cannot access the US dollar. A US dollar stablecoin that you can access by simply having a mobile phone – that’s going to be transformational for large groups of people.”

Innovating When Regulation Can’t Keep Up: Lessons from NASA 

Lisa Valencia covered an array of topics, from her 35 year career at NASA and Guinness World Record to the rise of private entities like SpaceX, which has launched 180 missions this year, and the increasing role of public-private partnerships in space exploration. The speaker also touched on international collaborations, particularly with the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, and the potential for space tourism and colonization of the moon.

Lisa Valencia, Programme Manager/Electrical Engineer – Pioneering Space, LC (ex NASA)

“Back in the day, NASA got 4% of the national budget. Now it’s down to just 0.1%, so we’ve had to get creative with private partnerships. SpaceX is the perfect success story. They came to us in 2007 needing money after some rocket mishaps, and look at them now! From my balcony, I see their launches every other day. They’re planning 180 launches this year alone.Talk about a return on investment!” 

“We’re planning to colonise the South Pole on the moon. The idea is to extract water and hydrogen from the regolith—both for living there and for fuel.”

Scaling Internationally in 2025: Funding, Innovating, and Breaking into New Markets

The conversation focused on the growth and strategy of fintech companies, particularly those with a strong presence in Europe and the US. The panel featured Ingo Uytdehaage, CEO and co-founder of Adyen, and Alexandre Prot, CEO of Qonto. Both leaders expressed a preference for organic growth over acquisitions, emphasizing the importance of scaling efficiently before pursuing an IPO.

Ingo Uytdehaage, CEO and co-founder of Adyen

“I think an important part of scaling a company is not just thinking about your product, but also considering the markets you want to address, and how you ensure you become local in each country.”

“We realised over time that if we really want to bring the customers, we need to have the best licenses to operate. A banking license gives you a lot of flexibility.” 

“Being independent from other companies, other financial institutions, that gives you flexibility to build what your customers really want.”

“I think it’s very important, also in Europe, that we continue to be competitive. If you think about regulations and AI, we shouldn’t try to do things completely differently compared to the US.”

Alexandre Prot, CEO of Qonto

“We need to be very strict about tech integration and avoiding legacy which slows us down.”

“We still need to scale a lot before we have a successful IPO. A few team members are working on it and getting the company ready for it. But, the most important thing is just scaling efficiently in the business, and maybe an IPO would be welcome in a couple of years.”

Putting The F in Fintech

The panel discussion focused on the role of women in FinTech based on personal experiences.

Iana Dimitrova, CEO, OpenPayd

“At times, being underestimated is helpful, because if you’re seen as the competition, driving an agenda is becoming more difficult. So what I found, actually, over a period, is that bringing your emotional intelligence, leaving the ego outside of the outside of the room, and just focusing on execution is is incredibly helpful.” 

Megan Cooper, CEO & Founder, Caywood

“The moment we start defining ourselves as like a female leader or a female entrepreneur, you almost kind of put yourself in a bit of a box. And so I think just seeing yourself on an equal playing field and then operating it on an equal playing field and interacting in that way is quite advantageous.”

“We can’t just want diversity and hope it happens. We actually have to be intentional about creating it.”

Valerie Kontor, Founder, Black in Fintech

“Black women make up 1.6% over the FinTech workforce, but when we look at the financial reality of black women by the age of 60, only 53% of black women have enough money in their bank account to retire. We need to start marrying people in FinTech and the people that we need to serve.”

Money20/20 Europe 2025 closed its doors but the next edition of the conference will return to Amsterdam from June 2–4, 2026, promising to continue the tradition of shaping the future of financial services…

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Blockchain & Crypto
  • Cybersecurity in FinTech
  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance
  • Host Perspectives
  • InsurTech
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 June 2025

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Day two of Money20/20 Europe 2025 at RAI Amsterdam continued the momentum with a focus on digital assets, stablecoins, and…

Day two of Money20/20 Europe 2025 at RAI Amsterdam continued the momentum with a focus on digital assets, stablecoins, and the evolving regulatory landscape. The event attracts over 8,000 attendees, including FinTech leaders, investors, and policymakers, all eager to explore the future of finance.

Money20/20 Conference Themes & Tracks

Money20/20 Europe 2025 is structured around four thematic content tracks:

  • Digital DNA – Exploring core infrastructure, platform strategies, and foundational technologies.
  • Embedded Intelligence – AI, machine learning, data strategies, and real-time analytics.
  • Beyond Fintech – Partnerships between fintechs and other sectors like retail, health, and climate.
  • Governance 2.0 – Regulation, digital identity, privacy, and ESG compliance.

Day two featured more impactful sessions across all four pillars, offering attendees further valuable insights and strategies for innovation.

Highlights from Key Sessions at Money20/20 Europe:

Digital Wallets and Co-opetition

A standout session featured industry leaders from Fluency, Curve, PayPal, and BLIK discussing the competitive yet collaborative nature of Europe’s digital wallet ecosystem. The panel delved into how traditional financial institutions and FinTech startups are navigating partnerships and competition to enhance user experiences and expand market reach.

Africa’s Fintech Innovation

Another significant discussion spotlighted Africa’s role in global fintech innovation. Representatives from 500 Global, Tech Safari, and Moniepoint highlighted how African startups are leveraging technology to drive financial inclusion and create scalable solutions that could influence global markets.

Digital Assets

A standout session featured Waqar Chaudry, Head of Digital Assets for Financing & Securities Services at Standard Chartered. In a fireside chat titled “The Digital Assets Opportunity: How Banks Can Win at Web3,” Chaudry, alongside Sygnum Bank’s Aliya Das Gupta, delved into the evolving landscape of digital assets.

Chaudry highlighted Standard Chartered’s initiatives in digital asset custody, tokenisation, and the launch of tokenised money market funds. Furthermore, he discussed the development of stablecoin solutions aimed at improving liquidity and settlement times. Chaudry underscored the importance of banks adopting robust digital asset strategies to meet growing client demands and navigate the complex regulatory environment. Drawing from his regulatory background at the Abu Dhabi Global Market, Chaudry provided a unique perspective on balancing innovation with compliance.

WealthTech Evolution

Leaders from Raisin, Upvest, and PensionBee explored the transformation of wealth management through AI and APIs. The panel emphasised the importance of personalised financial services and the integration of technology to meet the evolving needs of consumers.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)

A fireside chat with officials from the European Central Bank and the Bank of England provided insights into the development of the digital euro and pound. The discussion covered technical challenges, regulatory considerations, and the potential impact of CBDCs on the financial ecosystem.

Navigating the Evolving Cyber Threat Landscape

The financial services sector faces an unprecedented convergence of threats with sophisticated cyber attacks and the rise of new technologies… Recorded Future CEO Christopher Ahlberg assessed the evolving threat landscape and strategies for building secure digital ecosytems. He was joined by In Security CEO Jane Frankland and Mastercard EVP Johan Gerber

Networking, Partnerships, and Brand Activations at Money20/20

Notable Announcements:

  • Money20/20 and FXC Intelligence Report: A collaborative report titled “How Will Europe’s Money Move in the Future?” was released, offering insights into the future of European cross-border payments and the impact of emerging technologies.
  • Policy Exchange Roundtables: Money20/20 introduced focused roundtable discussions involving central banks, regulators, and industry leaders to address critical regulatory challenges in the digital financial landscape

Day two of Money20/20 Europe 2025 underscored the dynamic interplay between traditional financial institutions and emerging FinTech innovations. Discussions on digital assets, stablecoins, and regulatory frameworks highlighted the industry’s commitment to embracing change while ensuring stability and compliance. The second day underscored the event’s role as a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and growth within the fintech industry. As the conference progresses, stakeholders remain focused on shaping a resilient and inclusive financial future.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance
  • Host Perspectives
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

3 June 2025

Estimated Read time

6Mins

Money20/20 Europe 2025 opened its doors to a full-capacity audience at the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam. Bringing together the…

Money20/20 Europe 2025 opened its doors to a full-capacity audience at the RAI Convention Centre in Amsterdam. Bringing together the world’s leading innovators, institutions, investors, and influencers from across the fintech and financial services spectrum. With more than 8,000 delegates from over 2,300 companies in attendance, the opening day set a high-energy, insight-rich tone for the rest of the week.

“Money Morning Live”

The day kicked off with “Money Morning Live”. A signature fast-paced keynote session hosted by Tracey Davies (President of Money20/20), Scarlett Sieber, and Zachary Anderson Pettet. The morning show served as a pulse check for the industry. Combining thought leadership with entertainment to engage both newcomers and veterans.

Rahul Patil, CTO of Stripe, delivered a keynote on AI’s role in payments infrastructure. Highlighting how machine learning is now essential for fraud detection, customer service, and onboarding. He emphasised AI should not merely be viewed as an efficiency tool, but as a strategic pillar to create personalised user experiences. And deliver scalable innovation across markets.

David Sandstrom, CMO at Klarna, reflected on the Swedish FinTech giant’s evolution, particularly its use of generative AI for customer engagement and internal operations. Sandstrom noted Klarna’s AI assistant, which now handles two-thirds of its customer queries globally, has dramatically improved both customer satisfaction and cost efficiency.

Money20/20 Conference Themes & Tracks

Money20/20 Europe 2025 is structured around four thematic content tracks:

  • Digital DNA – Exploring core infrastructure, platform strategies, and foundational technologies.
  • Embedded Intelligence – AI, machine learning, data strategies, and real-time analytics.
  • Beyond Fintech – Partnerships between fintechs and other sectors like retail, health, and climate.
  • Governance 2.0 – Regulation, digital identity, privacy, and ESG compliance.

Day one featured impactful sessions across all four pillars, offering attendees valuable insights and strategic foresight.

Highlights from Key Sessions at Money20/20 Europe:

Open Banking & Payment Rails

“Putting the Bank Back in Open Banking Payments”, saw speakers from Token.io, Santander, and BNP Paribas examine how banks are reclaiming relevance in the open banking conversation. While FinTechs initially led the charge, the panel noted banks now play a crucial role in building trusted, interoperability, and high-volume “pay by bank” solutions. The debate touched on customer adoption hurdles, PSD3’s role in shaping future APIs, and the monetisation challenges still plaguing the open banking model.

Card Issuance at Scale

In a fireside chat led by Thredd’s President Jim McCarthy, representatives from Railsr, Worldpay, Flagship Advisory, and Caxton discussed the complexities of issuing card programs globally. The group addressed fragmentation across regulatory environments. Especially in regions like LATAM and Asia-Pacific. They urged the need for programmatic flexibility, local compliance, and better BIN management. The panel agreed that the future of card issuing lies in seamless orchestration between platforms, banks, and third-party fintechs.

Agentic AI: Ready for Prime Time?

A standout session focused on the concept of Agentic AI — autonomous agents capable of completing financial tasks without manual prompts. Industry leaders from NVIDIA, bunq, and Visa debated how ready the financial services sector truly is for deploying such systems. While the technology is progressing rapidly, concerns around regulatory clarity, model interpretability, and risk frameworks remain.

NVIDIA’s Head of Financia Technology, Jochen Papenbrock, stressed the need to democratise access to compute infrastructure. And bunq’s AI evangelist, Ali El Hassouni, showcased how the challenger bank is testing semi-autonomous agents in customer support workflows. Meanwhile, Visa SVP for Products & Solutions, Mathieu Altwegg, emphasised the importance of embedding guardrails in agentic systems to ensure ethical AI practices. Especially in credit scoring and wealth advisory roles.

Scaling AI Across the Enterprise

A collaborative session featuring leaders from Stripe, Starling Bank, AWS, and Swift delved into the challenges of scaling AI initiatives beyond prototypes. The discussion spotlighted the importance of clean, real-time data pipelines, strong governance structures, and cross-functional collaboration between engineering, data science, and compliance teams.

Networking, Partnerships, and Brand Activations at Money20/20

Notable announcements:

Beyond the conference rooms, the exhibition floors buzzed with product demos, startup pitches, and impromptu huddles among VC firms, banks, and emerging FinTechs. Exhibitors such as Plaid, Adyen, Marqeta, and Fireblocks showcased new tools for embedded finance, real-time treasury management, and blockchain settlement.

  • Wise teased a new enterprise FX tool tailored for SMEs.
  • Checkout.com introduced an AI-enhanced fraud prevention dashboard.
  • Avalanche Foundation launched an initiative to bring blockchain-based micro-insurance products to underserved markets in Eastern Europe.

Stablecoin News: Institutional Interest Accelerates

A particularly significant development emerged around stablecoins, with clear signals that regulated, bank-issued digital currencies are entering a new phase of maturity:

  • U.S. Megabanks Signal Joint Stablecoin Initiative
    Executives from JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup confirmed that initial groundwork has begun on a joint U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoin, subject to the passage of the pending GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins).
    The stablecoin aims to offer faster, cheaper cross-border settlement and programmable liquidity for enterprise clients. Bank leaders emphasized that this would complement, not replace, traditional banking rails.
  • Ripple Expands in the UAE
    In a regional announcement, Zand Bank and fintech firm Mamo revealed a partnership with Ripple, using its blockchain infrastructure to enable real-time, low-cost cross-border remittances. This move, anchored in the UAE’s pro-digital asset stance, aligns with broader ambitions to make the country a hub for regulated digital currencies.
  • Institutional Stablecoin Custody
    Panels featuring speakers from Fireblocks, Anchorage Digital, and Circle addressed the evolving role of stablecoins in treasury operations and FX management. There was widespread agreement that tokenised cash equivalents, including USDC and EURC, are increasingly being used for short-term settlement and yield farming, particularly in Asia and Europe.

These discussions signalled a broader institutional acceptance of stablecoins, with an emphasis on compliance, transparency, and integration into traditional finance rather than bypassing it.

Day one of Money20/20 Europe 2025 delivered on its promise of convening the brightest minds to create the future of finance. From headline-grabbing keynotes and deep-dive panels to global product launches and off-stage networking, the conference created a rich mix of thought leadership, practical innovation, and human connection.

Whether it was the evolution of AI in banking, the future of programmable money, or the balance between innovation and regulation, the discussions revealed a clear consensus: collaboration will define the next chapter of FinTech. Day two at Money20/20 promises even more, with upcoming sessions on decentralised finance, digital identity, and CBDCs.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Digital Payments
  • Embedded Finance
  • Host Perspectives
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

15 May 2025

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Join FinTech’s greatest event when Money20/20 Europe returns to Amsterdam’s RAI Arena June 3-5

FinTech Strategy is proud to be a media partner for Money20/20 Europe 2025.

Launched by industry insiders in 2011, Money20/20 is the heartbeat of the global FinTech ecosystem. Some of the most innovative, fast-moving ideas and companies have found their feet (and funding) on its show floor. From J.P. Morgan, Stripe, and Airwallex to HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Checkout.com.

Furthermore, this is where you’ll find new connections, business-critical insights from inspirational speakers, innovation, and partnerships you need to ensure your business succeeds for whatever comes next in money.

The Agenda for 2025

Come and create the future for financial services at Money20/20 Europe… This year’s agenda tracks cover Beyond FinTech, Digital DNA, Embedded Intelligence and Governance 2.0. Expert speakers include leaders from Mastercard, Monzo, Bank of England, Visa, IBM, Starling Bank, Revolut and more offering key insights on everything from agentic AI and cross-border payments to open banking and embedded finance.

Why Money20/20?

FinTech Strategy spoke with a host of leaders from across the FinTech spectrum. They all agreed on one thing, Money20/20 Europe is ‘the’ place to make connections and build your business.

Gurdeep Singh Kohli, Founder, SC Ventures

“It’s the first time I’ve attended Money 20/20 and, we’ve had some fascinating impromptu conversations that will lead to great opportunities. All the big names are here and it’s clearly a popular event from a thematic perspective – payments is a big theme this year. I have a very high regard for the quality of what’s on offer and the way the event has been organised – it’s a great customer experience, the way it’s all been structured, at scale, is actually one of the best I’ve ever seen. The response has been fantastic…”

Stephen Everett, MD Payables & Receivables, Lloyds Banking Group

“The majority of people at Money20/20 genuinely get up in the morning with a growth and innovation mindset. Therefore, you have to balance and recognise that when you walk into this big venue that there will be some wacky ideas. From my experience, I have seen many infant ideas turn into successful ventures, whereas I have also seen some ventures becoming unsuccessful despite having great innovation ideas. Fintechs will fail. Innovation will fail. Experiments will fail. And that’s fine. That’s what Money20/20 is all about.”

Michelle Prance, CEO, Mettle (NatWest Group)

“It’s good for Mettle to come here because we are a fintech that was incubated inside a large bank (NatWest) for fintechs. Quite often their route to market, route to capitalisation, is by going into a main bank being acquired. So, it’s that marriage between a big organisation and the small nimble fintech. People are really interested in what we’re doing because big incumbents want to be fast and nimble. They don’t always have the capital to invest in something like we’ve been able to do with Mettle. So, they’re interested to know the right route to go down. Do they incubate in house? Or do they buy it in? And what’s the right way to do that without killing the culture? These are the types of interesting conversations we’ve been having here.”

Ryan O’Holleran, Head of Sales, AirWallex

“The great thing about Money20/20, here in Europe, and in Asia and the US, is the good division between buyers and sellers. So, you have all these service providers like AirWallex, Amex, Stripe… And then you have the Heads of Payments from companies like Booking.com, Minted and Summit who are coming here with their team to meet with providers. If you think about that from a sales perspective, those meetings are very hard to get outside of this environment. But over a week you get 15 different meetings each day with that would normally take months to arrange. So, the ROI from this week is really powerful just from being able to have these conversations.”

Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Payments, Paymentology

“Paymentology is homegrown out of the UK so it’s important for us to make sure we’re representing the business across Europe. This is the centre of the world for banking innovation. We have customers here from Singapore, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Ghana and beyond. People look to this event to really learn about what’s happening in the industry globally and discover what trends are going to come up. What should we be doing? How can we innovate together and learn from each other? That’s one of the things I really love about Money20/20; the talks in all of the panels are so interesting and I always leave knowing more. Being in the payments industry, and especially being an issue processor, it’s important for us to learn from the industry and understand where we need to move so that we can stay at the forefront of developments.”

Zak Lambert, Product Lead & Europe Lead, Plaid                                                                            

“This is my sixth straight Money20/20 and it gets busier every year! It’s great to learn more about the ecosystem at large. You can see developing trends each year, and it’s always a little bit different. You build relationships at Money20/20 that stay with you for the rest of your life. And it’s a perfect opportunity to meet people in the flesh that you might normally only see on screen. You can get a pretty direct read on what they’re working on and it’s exciting to be here making new connections.”

Book Your Money20/20 Europe Pass Now

To get a flavour of what you can expect from next year’s conference check out our review of Money20/20 Europe 2024.

Book your pass now and save €200 with the code FTS200.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Digital Payments
  • Event Newsroom
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

10 December 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Join FinTech’s greatest event when Money20/20 Europe returns to Amsterdam’s RAI Arena June 3-5 2025

FinTech Strategy is proud to be a media partner for Money20/20 Europe 2025.

Launched by industry insiders in 2011, Money20/20 is the heartbeat of the global fintech ecosystem. Some of the most innovative, fast-moving ideas and companies have found their feet (and funding) on its show floor. From J.P. Morgan, Stripe, and Airwallex to HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Checkout.com.

Furthermore, this is where you’ll find new connections, business-critical insights from inspirational speakers, innovation, and partnerships you need to ensure your business succeeds for whatever comes next in money.

Why Money20/20?

FinTech Strategy spoke with a host of leaders from across the FinTech spectrum. They all agreed on one thing, Money20/20 Europe is ‘the’ place to make connections and build your business.

Gurdeep Singh Kohli, Founder, SC Ventures

“It’s the first time I’ve attended Money 20/20 and, we’ve had some fascinating impromptu conversations that will lead to great opportunities. All the big names are here and it’s clearly a popular event from a thematic perspective – payments is a big theme this year. I have a very high regard for the quality of what’s on offer and the way the event has been organised – it’s a great customer experience, the way it’s all been structured, at scale, is actually one of the best I’ve ever seen. The response has been fantastic…”

Stephen Everett, MD Payables & Receivables, Lloyds Banking Group

“The majority of people at Money20/20 genuinely get up in the morning with a growth and innovation mindset. Therefore, you have to balance and recognise that when you walk into this big venue that there will be some wacky ideas. From my experience, I have seen many infant ideas turn into successful ventures, whereas I have also seen some ventures becoming unsuccessful despite having great innovation ideas. Fintechs will fail. Innovation will fail. Experiments will fail. And that’s fine. That’s what Money20/20 is all about.”

Michelle Prance, CEO, Mettle (NatWest Group)

“It’s good for Mettle to come here because we are a fintech that was incubated inside a large bank (NatWest) for fintechs. Quite often their route to market, route to capitalisation, is by going into a main bank being acquired. So, it’s that marriage between a big organisation and the small nimble fintech. People are really interested in what we’re doing because big incumbents want to be fast and nimble. They don’t always have the capital to invest in something like we’ve been able to do with Mettle. So, they’re interested to know the right route to go down. Do they incubate in house? Or do they buy it in? And what’s the right way to do that without killing the culture? These are the types of interesting conversations we’ve been having here.”

Ryan O’Holleran, Head of Sales, AirWallex

“The great thing about Money20/20, here in Europe, and in Asia and the US, is the good division between buyers and sellers. So, you have all these service providers like AirWallex, Amex, Stripe… And then you have the Heads of Payments from companies like Booking.com, Minted and Summit who are coming here with their team to meet with providers. If you think about that from a sales perspective, those meetings are very hard to get outside of this environment. But over a week you get 15 different meetings each day with that would normally take months to arrange. So, the ROI from this week is really powerful just from being able to have these conversations.”

Merusha Naidu, Global Head of Payments, Paymentology

“Paymentology is homegrown out of the UK so it’s important for us to make sure we’re representing the business across Europe. This is the centre of the world for banking innovation. We have customers here from Singapore, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Ghana and beyond. People look to this event to really learn about what’s happening in the industry globally and discover what trends are going to come up. What should we be doing? How can we innovate together and learn from each other? That’s one of the things I really love about Money20/20; the talks in all of the panels are so interesting and I always leave knowing more. Being in the payments industry, and especially being an issue processor, it’s important for us to learn from the industry and understand where we need to move so that we can stay at the forefront of developments.”

Zak Lambert, Product Lead & Europe Lead, Plaid                                                                            

“This is my sixth straight Money20/20 and it gets busier every year! It’s great to learn more about the ecosystem at large. You can see developing trends each year, and it’s always a little bit different. You build relationships at Money20/20 that stay with you for the rest of your life. And it’s a perfect opportunity to meet people in the flesh that you might normally only see on screen. You can get a pretty direct read on what they’re working on and it’s exciting to be here making new connections.”

Book Your Money20/20 Europe Pass Now

To get a flavour of what you can expect from next year’s conference check out our review of Money20/20 Europe 2024.

Book your pass now and save €200 with the code FTS200.

  • Artificial Intelligence in FinTech
  • Digital Payments
  • Event Newsroom
  • InsurTech
  • Neobanking

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

1 November 2024

Estimated Read time

5Mins

Money20/20, operates the world’s leading fintech events in Europe, Asia and USA and is “the place where money does business”….

Money20/20, operates the world’s leading fintech events in Europe, Asia and USA and is “the place where money does business”. Money20/20 USA has unveiled seven startups poised to transform the financial sector. The selected startups are Brightwave, Casap, Eisen, Footprint, NALA, Ntropy, and Zumma. They were revealed during the Startup Media Session on October 29th in Las Vegas. The Startup Media Session was designed as part of the event’s goal to support startups at the intersection of finance and business.

“Money20/20 USA is focused on what drives the conversations most relevant to the FinTech industry. From economic and regulatory uncertainty to the future of payments and the impact AI will have on money moving forward. We are proud to highlight the work these startups are doing to move this industry forward.”

Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at Money20/20

Brightwave

Brightwave is the leading AI platform for financial services. It delivers accurate and insightful financial research enabling finance professionals to make better decisions faster. Its purpose-built AI systems synthesize insights across thousands of pages of primary sources. It can automate the most tedious parts of investing workflows and help users spot opportunities others have missed.

“Being named one of the Top 7 Startups at Money20/20 is a strong acknowledgment of the strides we’ve made in transforming how investment research is done. We’re also excited to announce our $15 million Series A funding at the world’s premier show for financial innovation. At Brightwave, we’re tackling one of the hardest problems in finance. We’re making sense of vast amounts of data to uncover deeper insights and relationships that others miss,” said Mike Conover, Founder and CEO at Brightwave.

Casap

Casap is an AI-powered disputes automation and fraud prevention platform. With built-in regulatory expertise and network integrations, Casap’s intelligent automation identifies fraudulent claims early. It delivers fast, frictionless dispute and chargeback resolution at a fraction of today’s cost.

“Money20/20 was the first conference I attended after starting Casap last year and it played a pivotal role in validating our vision. The connections, conversations, and insights I gained were invaluable. Exactly a year later, we’re back and launching out of stealth with live customers. We’re addressing some of the most pressing challenges in scaling payments. We’re starting with automating chargebacks and combating first-party fraud. We’re deeply grateful to Money20/20 for this opportunity to reach so many in the industry and help drive meaningful change in how payments are operated at scale,” said Saisi Peter, Co-founder of Casap.

Eisen

Eisen is the first escheatment automation solution that proactively manages the offboarding of dormant accounts, stale checks, wind-downs, and more. Financial institutions rely on Eisen to simplify the complex landscape of regulatory outreach, disbursement, and escheatment requirements. It ensures compliance while reducing operational risk.

“Money20/20 has been a cornerstone for Eisen since 2021, where the very idea for our company first sparked in the halls of the Venetian. It all started with conversations about the hardest challenges in FinTech. Each year, it’s helped us refine our vision and better serve our customers. For us, Money20/20 isn’t just about growth — it’s where Eisen began,” said Allen Osgood, CEO of Eisen.

Footprint

Footprint is a Series A identity company that has raised $20M from funds such as QED and Index Ventures. The company provides a single SDK that automates onboarding – KYC/KYB, fraud, security, and authentication – into an easy-to-integrate solution. Footprint works with leading companies across the Banking, Auto, and Real Estate sectors. Its technology portabalises identity, creating a centralised database of de-duplicated authentic identities.

“Money20/20 is at the vanguard of innovation. We’ve tried to be different at Footprint. Whether that be through our recent fraud indemnification program or our approach to labeling good actors. Some may think these are crazy ideas. But it is great to see Money20/20 continue to be where crazy can get a spotlight. That is how I would like to think true innovation happens,” said Eli Wachs, Co-founder and CEO of Footprint.

NALA

NALA is a global cross-border payments fintech company based in the US doing cross-border payments to emerging markets like Africa and Asia. It has two products, a consumer FinTech product enabling migrants to send money home and an infrastructure business called Rafiki, building payment rails for Africa. NALA recently became profitable and raised a $40m series A after achieving 10x revenue growth in 12 months.

“At NALA, we are on a mission to build payments for the next billion. Emerging markets are often overlooked but shouldn’t be underestimated as these regions have seen the fastest economic growth in the world. We have big ambitions for what we would like to achieve and have exciting plans in the pipeline in the coming years,“ said Benjamin Fernandes, Founder and CEO of NALA.

Ntropy

Ntropy is on a mission to organise the world’s financial data. 80% of the world’s financial data is unstructured and locked in transactions, documents, PDFs, and images. This means it is under-leveraged and cannot be used by models at scale. Ntropy was founded to solve this problem for any type of financial data, in any language, any geography, powering humans and more recently agents and agentic workflows in finance.

“Ntropy is processing hundreds of millions of transactions and documents weekly with over 98% accuracy, in under 100ms, 1000x faster, and cheaper than any other provider on the market. You can access Ntropy via our API-s directly, and more recently via NVIDIA NIM-s. This collaboration enables flexibility in deployment and allows our customers to scale immediately. This year’s Money20/20 has been about demonstrating the real value of GenAI and we have been very fortunate to have this exposure together with our partners at NVIDIA, Oracle, and AWS, who are accelerating Ntropy’s mission,” said Naré Vardanyan, Co-founder and CEO of Ntropy.

Zumma

Zumma is a financial copilot that automates and simplifies financial processes for Latin American businesses by leveraging existing tools they already use such as WhatsApp to save them time and money. The company is starting with automating expense management and expense invoicing processes, saving their customers more than $4,000 per employee per year in tax deductions.

“Being part of Money20/20’s Startup Media Session helps us spread the word about our product to the fintech community. The Money20/20 team has been key in our growth by connecting us to key players in the industry,” said Daniela Lascurain, COO and Co-founder of Zumma.

Launched by industry insiders in 2012, Money20/20 is the heartbeat of the global fintech ecosystem. Moreover, some of the most innovative, fast-moving ideas and companies have found their feet (and funding) on its show floor. From J.P. Morgan, Stripe, and Airwallex to HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Checkout.com, Money20/20 is the place where money does business.

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

4 October 2024

Estimated Read time

7Mins

FinTech Strategy spoke with Ryan O’Holleran, Head of Sales, Enterprise, EMEA at Airwallex, to learn about the global payments and financial infrastructure provider

Airwallex, a financial infrastructure provider, offers a range of services. Including multicurrency accounts, payment acceptance card issuing, foreign exchange (FX) payouts, treasury and expense management. In addition to supporting small and medium-sized businesses, the company also provides APIs and a software layer for direct access to enterprise businesses. As well as an enterprise platform product called Scale. Airwallex has found success working across various industries. It works with the likes of Bird (formerly MessageBird) to handle global accounts and backend treasury, and partners with Qantas to offer financial tools for their business partners.

The company also enables faster and more efficient payments through its patchwork network of financial partnerships and licenses. Airwallex has experienced significant growth even during economic downturns. As of August this year, Airwallex globally processed transactions worth more than $100 billion annually and saw a 73 percent year-on-year increase. It is now focused on embedded finance solutions and global expansion.

At Money20/20 Europe, FinTech Strategy spoke with Airwallex’s Head of Sales, Enterprise, EMEA, Ryan O’Holleran, to find out more…

Tell us about the genesis of Airwallex?

“Our co-founder, Jack Zhang, started a coffee company in Melbourne, Australia, which is still around today, with a few friends from university. And while they were building out this coffee shop, they were buying beans from abroad, along with supplies and packaging. They found how hard it was to actually pay for services, send funds abroad and deal with multiple currencies. So, they saw an opportunity to help streamline the financial infrastructure for small businesses. That’s when Jack and his co-founders put Airwallex together and built out an initial SME’s use case to allow multicurrency accounts and FX payouts. Since then, the business has really expanded…

Today, Airwallex provides a set of APIs – we’re really providing financial infrastructure to move money globally. On those APIs, we also have a layer of software that we can offer direct access to enterprise businesses. The third part of this, which is kind of the new product over the last three years, is our enterprise platform product called Scale. Scale allows you to embed those financial services into a product as well as a platform or marketplace. So, you kind of think about it as a direct treasury product, APIs and a platform product.”

Tell us about your role at Airwallex?

“I’m originally from San Francisco, grew up in the Bay area, started in tech, did a couple of startups, and I actually got into payments via Stripe. I joined Stripe back when there were about 200 employees in San Francisco. Spent some time in Chicago and then moved to the UK initially with Stripe. I was there for about five and a half years, as we went from 200 staff to 6,000. At that point, I wanted to get back to something a little bit different. To help more cross-functioning with product and help scale businesses. The opportunity with Airwallex came along where I saw the company addressing many things my customers at Stripe were asking for.

So, the FX piece, mass payouts, treasury, all complimented what Stripe is doing with acquiring. Since I joined the team three years ago, we’ve been scaling across EMEA. We now have offices in London, Amsterdam, Vilnius and just last year launched our office in Tel Aviv to cover Israel. And we have teams in the Americas and APAC where Airwallex was founded.”

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? In doing so, what are the challenges for Airwallex?

“We work in different areas. This is where I think we have differentiated the business and also where I see the industry moving. If you look back over the last five, 10 years, there was this approach where you had Stripe and all the major players coming in and saying, we can do things and we can do it really well and you only need to use us, you don’t need to use a patchwork of providers. I think that is starting to shift. You see this with orchestration layers like Primer or Gravy, allowing people to be agnostic on PSPs. And then you’re seeing people think about redundancy. So, the heads of payments we’re talking to this week are looking at two or three providers because they need redundancy or want to use the best provider in each region. They don’t want to be siloed.

Airwallex can be used in a segmented approach. So, if you just need us for payouts, you can do that. If you just need us for FX, you can do that. If you just need us for acquiring, you can do that. Or we could do that globally and you can adjust as you see fit. So, the flexibility of Airwallex I think is one of our superpowers.”

Tell us about some of the successful partnerships Airwallex has been involved in…

“The interesting thing about Airwallex is that since we’re providing financial infrastructure, there’s a huge variety of customers we work with. One of the local ones is Bird (a cloud communications platform that connects enterprises to their global customers). Using our software product they are creating global accounts, handling backend treasury, payroll, suppliers and more. We’ve also worked with Qantas to build out an SMB solution embedding all of the Airwallex financial services and they call it Qantas Business Money.          

Elsewhere, Brex in the US were looking for a provider to help with their payout rails. One of the things Airwallex has done is rebuilt the Swift network via local rails. So, we have a patchwork network of financial partnerships and licences where if you are located, let’s say in the US, but you want to pay somebody out in the UK, you get access to faster payment rails having never set foot in the UK or separate rails via Europe having never set foot in the EU. So, you get this mass payoff solution of local rails, which is faster, cheaper, and more efficient than using something like Swift.”

“I think where we’re seeing a lot of opportunities, in EMEA specifically, in B2B, vertical, SaaS, travel and marketplaces, is this embedded finance solution. It was kind of a buzzword a few years ago and now we’re actually starting to see it develop. I view it as actually embedding all of these financial services – whether it be a wallet, issued cards, or local multi-currency accounts – and being able to monetize that. So, we’re seeing this with a lot of our customers actually wanting to white label our products, embed that and bring payments on platform.”

And what’s next for Airwallex? What future launches and initiatives are you particularly excited about?

“The growth of Airwallex, specifically on a global scale, over the last few years is one thing I’m very proud of because it’s happened during one of the worst economic downturns we’ve experienced. FinTech was almost retracting in terms of budgets and investments. You’re starting to see the tide turn, but we were able to grow over 100 percent year on year, through some of the toughest times for business. And now we’re really starting to see that pick up because the businesses, who actually decided this is going to be a building year for us now, they’re going live, they’re accelerating, they’re growing.

And so we’re seeing the ROI of that investment. It’s a testament to the global financial infrastructure we’ve built. Meanwhile, Airwallex became cash flow positive in 2023. It now processes more than $100 billion in annualised transaction volume. The company now employs over 1,500 people worldwide working across 23 international offices.”

Why Money20/20? What is it about this particular event that makes it the perfect place to showcase what you do? How has the response been to Airwallex?

“The great thing about Money20/20, here in Europe, and in Asia and the US, is the good division between buyers and sellers. So, you have all these service providers like Airwallex, Amex, etc… And then you have the Heads of Payments from companies like Booking.com, Vinted and SumUp who are coming here with their teams to meet with providers. If you think about that from a sales perspective, those meetings are very hard to get outside of this environment. But over a week you get 15 different meetings each day that would normally take months to arrange. So, the ROI from this week is really powerful just from being able to have these conversations. Three years ago, we first came to suss out the event and as we’ve grown the response has grown. People are being proactive and keen to engage with us which is exciting to see.”

Author

Dan Brightmore

Published

3 July 2024

Estimated Read time

4Mins

Read in brochure format

This month’s cover story sees our sister brand Fintech Strategy reporting from Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam – a pivotal event…

This month’s cover story sees our sister brand Fintech Strategy reporting from Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam – a pivotal event in the fintech calendar, drawing over 8,000 participants from 2,300 companies worldwide.

Welcome to the latest issue of Interface magazine!

Read the latest issue here!

In this month’s issue…

Money20/20 Europe Review

The RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre was the location for the world’s leading fintech conference. Money20/20 Europe offered a unique blend of insightful keynotes, panel discussions, and networking opportunities that underscored the transformative power of emerging technologies in financial services. We met with SC Ventures, Lloyds Banking Group, OSB Group, AirWallex, Plaid, Paymentology, Episode Six, Mettle (Nat West Group) and more to take the pulse of the latest trends across the fintech landscape.

Under the theme of ‘Human X Machine’, Money20/20 Europe explored the relationship between humans and intelligent machines, focusing on how the partnership between artificial and human intelligence will forge a new era in finance…

Publicis Sapient: Global Banking Benchmark Study

Interface was also proud to partner with Publicis Sapient at Money20/20 Europe for the launch of its third annual Global Banking Benchmark Survey. The survey draws on the insight of over 1000 senior executives in financial services across various global markets and focuses on the goals, obstacles, and drivers of digital transformation.

We spoke with Head of Financial Services Dave Murphy about its findings. “The survey focuses on how to think about solving problems end-to-end. Banks are dealing with legacy issues and taking a customer first view into solving the challenges. The practical application of AI across the banks is a significant theme as they look to automate decision-making and deliver better credit risk models.”

At the launch event for the study, Eoghan Sheehy, Associate MD, and Grace Ge, Senior Principal, highlighted that banks are primarily focused on improving existing processes rather than introducing new ones. Data Analytics and AI are identified as key priorities for digital transformation, with a focus on internal use cases and efficiency.

Eoghan and Grace also discussed the challenges faced by banks, including regulation, competition from companies like Amazon, and the need to attract talent. They emphasised the importance for financial institutions of modernising core infrastructure and building cloud infrastructure to support ongoing digital transformation. The study also notes the prevalence of the development of custom-made tools and the prioritising of internal use cases for AI implementation. Eoghan and Grace also provided examples of repeatable use cases and discussed the success factors for Data Analytics and AI.

STO Building Group: Enabling and Empowering People

Claudia Healey, Chief Human Resources Officer at STO Building Group, spoke to Interface about the HR platform empowering its people in pursuit of a strategic vision… “Culture is the number one priority in a people business like STO Building Group (STOBG). If you’re not nurturing and inspiring your folks, well, they can just vote with their feet. They don’t have to stay. Or they could do worse, they could quit and stay. And that’s something we would never want. Meeting your people where they’re at, understanding their goals and aspirations, and how you can help them reach their potential is vital. Realising how you can really see your people and truly understand what matters to them, is an incredible priority.”

Also in this issue, AI hype has previously been followed by an AI winter, we hear from Scott Zoldi, Chief Analytics Officer at FICO who asks, ‘Is the AI bubble set to burst?’ Elsewhere, we round up the top events in tech and learn how businesses can ensure their cloud storage is more sustainable in an age of rising demand for data and AI. Cloud storage without the climate cost is possible explains Fasthosts CEO Simon Yeoman.

Enjoy the issue!

Dan Brightmore, Editor

  • Digital Strategy