10 Takeaways from Money20/20

I’ve spent over a week reading articles, watching back sessions, reviewing announcements and analyzing the overall content that came out of Money20/20 USA. And the results are in. I’ve compiled what I believe are the Top 10 Takeaways from the 2019 event.

1.    All Companies Will Be Fintech Companies - #UberMoney

It’s no surprise that a great way to retain customers and to generate more revenue is to layer on Financial Services. This is exactly what platforms like Uber, Amazon, and Facebook are focused on. Uber, the ride-sharing company, is looking more like a fintech company these days. They kicked off Money20/20 with a big, but not surprising, announcement of their new division called Uber Money. Services include a digital wallet and upgraded debit and credit cards that offer their 4million-plus drivers and couriers around the world access to a mobile bank account. Perks include $100 fee-free overdraft, no minimum balance, and cashback on things like gas, as well as instant payment after completing a ride. 

2.    “Alexa, pay my bill”

The e-commerce dragon has partnered with Paymentus to add a cool new feature which will allow customers to pay their bills with Alexa. Amazon Pay’s Patrick Gauthier mentioned that in the U.S. 68% of users receiving utility bills don’t enroll in auto-pay which underscored the opportunity for Alexa to not only facilitate bill pay but to also explain the bill to users and compare it to previous ones. This is a huge deal for not only utility companies but also for other types of recurring bills.

3.    A Global Credit History Breakthrough

American Express and Nova Credit have partnered to help immigrants get approved for credit cards in the U.S. The deal could open up credit lines to immigrants from Australia, Canada, India, Mexico, and the UK by using their global credit history to determine their creditworthiness. It’s a beautiful thing when fintech actually removes geographic barriers and allows more individuals to participate in the digital economy at scale. 

4.    LATAM Fintech’s Next Darling 

Investments by U.S. venture capital firms into Latin America are skyrocketing due to the region's unique technology leapfrog story. “Take for example Colombia, 14% have a credit card, now 80% have a smartphone. Are we going to wait for more bank branches or are we just going deliver financial services via the smartphone?” says Angela Strange from Andreesen Horowitz. The opportunity for innovative players like Nubank is huge. They grew to 15M users in just 6 years simply by word of mouth because so much of the population is underserved.

• According to Crowdfund “Roughly 70% of people in Latin America don’t have a bank account”
• According to GSMA by 2024 87% of the region’s population will have a mobile device.

5.    Financial Health is Everyone’s Priority

The industry has embraced tools and services that prioritize financial heath which ties back to the ultimate customer experience. This is a win-win for consumers everywhere because this trend will improve the lives of seniors, youth, gig economy workers, students and so on. Fintech innovators will follow this trend and continue to create solutions that cater to different demographics, industries and age groups to ultimately reach the end goal of improving everyone’s financial life. 

6.    Light Up Financial Services for the Cannabis Industry

The conflict between state and federal law related to the legal cannabis industry is ongoing, but this multi-billion dollar cash-only industry is challenging the banking and payments ecosystem in search of better financial services. There is a huge opportunity for financial institutions to help this community with safety and security concerns as well as help them grow.

7.    Rebundling of Financial Services

Before we witnessed the unbundling of the bank. With small players focusing on specific services such as lending, payments, remittances, investing etc. Now fintech has rebundled these offerings in an entirely new customer-centric way. For example, neobanks like Chime and Varo are centering the financial services experience around the customer bank account and doing it in a fee-free way their customers prefer. We see credit players launching savings accounts, savings companies offering credit, and let's not forget the insurtech industry!

8.    Cybersecurity is the Scariest Halloween Costume 

Mastercards’ Chris Reid expressed concern over the facts: We have over 20 billion connected devices right now and every minute of every day there are 127 new devices being connected and each one of these is an increased vulnerability to businesses and individuals. 3.2 billion records have been breached and 55% of us use the same password every time. Bottom line is that we have a duty of care and it is everybody’s responsibility to ensure security in the environment in both business and our homes. 

9.    The Season's Must-Have: AI 

We have yet to truly unlock the power of AI and some key players are hard at work on the case. From financial crime to reconciliation to self-driving vehicles, it’s clear the technology is developing quickly but the regulation, legal and ethical implications are just not clear yet. Regardless, AI is no longer an option or a nice-to-have it’s become critical to financial service providers who want to remain relevant and differentiate their products by making their data more actionable. 

10. The Inclusion Conclusion

Just do it, be it, support it. Thanks BYEE

If you agree, disagree or want to add to my list, please comment below. I would love to hear from you!