Jifiti

Ski & Banking I Took the fam to ski for the first time in their lives (I, of course, lorded over my wife and girls the fact I already did it once or twice, and am thus an-all knowing master. Normal dad routine). Before that I attended the European Digital Finance Conference, organized by The Banking 50's ??Elena Kriek ???? & Morten Kriek. Even though this was already almost 2 weeks ago, better late than never - and I believe credit should be given when and where it's due (I do work in embedded lending, after all!). A great event with on-point conversations - I recommend going! Some highlights I found interesting (this could have been a reaaaallly long post if I mentioned every single one!): - When Francesco Aghemio from Revolut asked how many people had a Revolt account in the crowd, it seemed like at least 50% of the people raised their hands. As much more than 50% of the crowd were bankers, I found that interesting (and a little amusing ??). - Volodymyr Mudryi's story of banking during a war, specifically providing banking services when telco companies aren't functioning and can't support customer identification, reminded me of the dangers with tech - when the servers are down everything goes south, fast - as we recently saw with some UK banks. It was also a reminder of how crucial a service banks provide, and how it's taken for granted as long as it works smoothly. - AI was of course mentioned in many talks, focusing mostly on customer communication, marketing and support, as well as fraud, credit scoring and analysis of which banking product a bank should focus on, for which customer segment. - Giorgi Shagidze, CFA's description of the evolution of digital banking, with consumers expecting banking services when, how and where they prefer. An interesting example mentioned was that the majority of opened bank accounts was between 10 PM and 1 AM! - At a recent event I heard Radovan Jelasity quote someone (I forget exactly who): "US innovates, China imitates, Europe regulates". Ulrich Loof's take resonated with me - regulation is necessary, but it really must be quality regulation - balancing consumer protections with a competitive landscape that drives growth. Easier said than done! This post is long enough, so I'll share about additional interesting tidbits in another post - more to come about AI & banking, quirky banking regulation, fintech-bank relationships and more! (I, like you, am still trying to figure out why the title of my post is what it is. Maybe my head still hasn't cleared up from that ski fall!). Stay tuned ??