This DLD24 session revolves around the future of banking and financial services, the role of traditional banks and fintechs, and the impact of these services on society.
The discussion, moderated by moderated by Heike Bangert (FOCUS-Money), brings together Marion Höllinger (HypoVereinsbank), Miriam Wohlfarth (Banxware) and Georg Steiger (BillEase).
Traditional banks are adapting to remain relevant by becoming more digital and technological to meet customer needs and demands, Marion Höllinger notes. “And in this context, technology plays a very important role because technology is the enabler for all of these things.”
But banks cannot do everything alone, Miriam Wohlfarth says, so it makes sense for them to cooperate with fintechs. Companies like Banxware provide digital services that traditional banks may not be able to offer, such as quick loans for small businesses and embedded finance.
This is particularly important in emerging markets, as Georg Steiger illustrates with regard to the Philippines. “For banks to provide credit, they have to do a lot of manual checking”, which makes the process very expensive, he says. “It just becomes economically not viable to go after really the broad market for banks with a traditional process. And that’s where we come in.”
To make small loans feasible, his company BillEase uses “AI, machine learning, automation to bring down the process cost” and therefore enable BillEase “to make high-frequency, short-term, small-ticket loans available to customers who before basically wouldn’t have the option to borrow from a bank.”
Watch the video to get more insights about the social impact of established credit institutions and fintech startups reinventing banking for a better tomorrow.