Money 20/20 – Day 1 Summary

The highlight fintech industry’s year, Money 20/20, kicked off on Tuesday and with a speaker lineup that includes the former President of France, Francois Hollande, and former Liverpool FC striker Dirk Kuyt, there was excitement in the air.??

However, with the sector facing pressures especially when it comes to funding, the challenge for speakers (and more importantly their comms teams) this year is to be laser focussed on the value being created for consumers, businesses, and the wider world.??

Check out our highlights from day one below ???

Speaker of the Day: Jo Philips, Managing Director – Direct Wealth, Aviva??

Money 20/20 is the home of financial innovation and can be a somewhat intimidating environment for a traditional institution. You want to relate to the audience, but you don’t want to be seen as trying to be cool. Joanne Phillips , Managing Director of Direct Wealth at Aviva , tackled this head on during one of the most lively and entertaining panels of the day. She recognised the view of larger players as “stuffy” but was confident that her team are disrupting from within – “they are all wearing jeans and jumpers now” definitely rings true as you look around the conference. Even as fellow panellist, Ricky Knox pulled out an old Aviva letter to show just how stuffy the organisation had been in the past, she quickly responded with: “This is why we have to disrupt within, or someone else is going to do it!”. All in good humour and made for an engaging panel.??

AI takes centre stage?

If attendees were entering Money20/20 somewhat bleary-eyed after the previous day’s travel to Amsterdam, the panels on AI will have shaken off any jetlag and grabbed attention immediately. “If you’re not using AI, you’re probably going to be replaced by someone that is” – this was the warning delivered by Vidya Peters , CEO of Datasnipper, on the need to upskill yourself and your team to adapt to the AI revolution. Coupled with Peters’ sobering prediction that “AI is going to displace jobs at an astronomically faster rate [than deindustrialisation]”, the magnitude of the shift that AI will deliver in fintech was not lost on anyone.??

It was then the turn of Patrice Amann , EMEA Regional Business Leaser for Financial Services at 微软 , and Kevin Levitt , Director of Financial Services at 英伟达 , to discuss the latest trends in AI. Both spoke to the exponential growth in applications for generative AI, which have been driving adoption across financial services and beyond. A highlight of the discussion was Amann’s visualisation of current AI applications into ‘left brain’ (analytical) and ‘right brain’ (creative), making the case that marrying these two halves of the AI ‘brain’ together will deliver the next generation of AI. Reading the room, the panel extolled the need for guidance on transparency, accountability, bias prevention, and privacy when it comes to training AI models, with a need to rethink security and compliance “from the ground up”.??

Don’t listen to the noise, focus on the customer?

When fintechs transition from start up to established business, there is often a fear of losing agility, losing the innovative edge, and losing sight of the customer. As Revolut 's David Tirado Blanco demonstrated, his organisation refuses to run from these fears. Revolut’s “never settle” mindset is the engine behind its continued innovation and ability to roll out new products at pace, Blanco argued. He cautioned the room that comparing performance against the market is a trap; for long-term innovation and growth, focus on your own business and how it can best deliver for evolving customer need. He made Revolut’s ambitions to expand its product offerings clear in a standout statement: “Our target market is everyone”.??

Final thought on the day?

Clarity and focus are two things that are difficult to get across during a fireside chat or panel, but this is exactly what is needed now in the fintech industry. OKX President and CEO Hong F. summed this up perfectly during almost the very first panel of the day, “It’s really important to have the right mindset. The industry is going to go through cycles, and we need to understand the fundamentals and why we’re here.” This is acted as the perfect rallying cry for anybody representing their company at this year’s conference.??