Fintech startups on partnering with banks, internal fraud, innovation
NEW YORK–How is disruptive technology changing the world’s oldest business? Last March 2, the MIT Enterprise Forum featured a panel of financial experts to share their thoughts on the topic at the Betterment offices in Chelsea.
The panelists consisted of Jon Stein, CEO and founder of Betterment; Eran Barak, business operations point man at Symphony; Phil DeGisi, chief marketing officer of CommonBond and Lowell Putnam, CEO and founder of Quovo.
Betterment is an automated investing service that provides optimized investment returns for individual, IRA, Roth IRA & rollover 401(k) accounts. Symphony is a cloud-based communications service that delivers organizational productivity where markets and individuals come together to create vibrant communities in which to share content, insights and opinions.
CommonBond refinances student loans, while Quova empowers sophisticated investors with Big Data tools ranging from portfolio aggregation to sophisticated analytics.
Below are some of their thoughts on a host of things, including consumer data
- Why is there no Amazon of financial services? Partly (because of) regulations
- Services are balancing privacy and comfort use
- Encryption technology helps keep consumer data (secure)
- Seeking a more advised world to offload burden from consumes
- There is need for better access to data
- Looking for more transparency to consumer data
- Complexity of the system is rearing its ugly head
- The industry we’re in is being disrupted. Over time, the hope is to be disrupted (to improve financial services) as the endgame
- Is there always going to be a need for choice? In a driverless world, we still need to know where to go, which restaurant to go to. So it’s the same with financial services
- We can partner with a lot of companies. Banks are taking mini-entrepreneurship routes. They’re trying to beat startups at their own game
- People love the diversity of choices now
- People will adapt new technologies to protect their valuables—from Apple and FBI
- 3 things where technology is headed: finance, education, healthcare
- International courts have not resolved regulation (If an American is in the United Kingdom talking to someone in Hong Kong, which regulation needs to be followed—US, UK or HK?
- Open innovation in fintech as it comes back as value because people create value
- On security, internal fraud is more worrisome
- Security nowadays is like Mission Impossible territory with chemicals used for protection
- Banks like partnering because they can buy the asset
