Earlier today, our CEO
Gal Krubiner
participated in an esteemed panel of experts at the Milken Institute MEA Summit in Abu Dhabi, discussing "Harnessing the Rising Tide of Digital Finance."?
The conversation touched on the importance of making an impact through innovation, opportunities for growth, and 'telling our fintech story.' Here are a few takeaways from the panel, which you can watch in full here: https://milkeninstitute.org/content-hub/event-panels/harnessing-rising-tide-digital-finance
The panel was asked 'how would you write your fintech story?':?
- "Chapter one is 'money never sleeps' - from the ATM to 24/7 financial services. The second chapter is 'embedded' - where fintech maximalists are in action. Fintech is in everything that we do. If you're at a coffee shop - you're at a fintech. If you're buying a BMW - you're at a fintech. And chapter three is 'impact matters' - all this innovation is happening but if it doesn't reach the masses, then why are we here? Fintech should deliver economic mobility for everyone." -
Nicole Valentine
,
Milken Institute
- "'Impact' is also the first chapter of Pagaya's story. We want to be relevant and helpful for every person in the US. 'Banks' is our second chapter because of their ability to be so impactful and embedded in the financial ecosystem. It is important to work with them rather than disrupting them. 'Scale' will be our third chapter. And private?credit, on the consumer side, is going to make that happen." -
Gal Krubiner
,
Pagaya
- "My fintech story would be about cities. Chapter one would be Washington with a vibe of skepticism. Tech and fintech is thought of as lax and reckless. Chapter two is New York, Singapore and all the other financial capitals of the world, with a vibe of confidence. The final chapter would be the new financial capitals of the world. The vibe is energy and opportunity. The resources and talent needed to create?and put new ideas together exist here. We are thinking about how the digital economy is permeating every aspect of our lives." - Commissioner Caroline D. Pham, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- "'The ripple effect' is our first chapter. We tried to for solve for how money moves through the continent of Africa. How can we define payments for a connecting continent? The second chapter is 'builder to banker to builder.' We attempt to connect every payment app to work together. The third chapter would be 'Africa redefined.' We want it to be easy for companies to come to Africa and exist seamlessly and for Africa companies to exist beyond Africa. It might seem very simple but it requires a lot of infrastructure to make it happen. The last chapter would be about 'creating value and scale.'" -
Olugbenga Agboola
,
Flutterwave
- "Chapter one would be doubters. The second chapter would be curiosity and the third would be believers. Our vision is to add bitcoin to every balance sheet. I'm very excited to move into the third chapter." -
Melvin Deng
,
QCP
?
Gal Krubiner explains how we are going to see evolution in the private credit space
- "The best way to describe private credit is in two parts: 1) the?origination engine - where different?consumers are asking for money. And 2) the?balance sheet. A bank had two purposes - to be a 'safe' and to use that money (in that safe) to drive growth."?
- "Regulators in the 2000s were concerned and wanted to limit banks' ability to do the second. So they sought to distinguish between being a 'safe' and the potential risk of growing that money."
- "Because of this, many companies saw an opportunity to try to bridge this new gap. The logic was "let's take the banks' infrastructure and change the balance sheet that they are lending from." So instead of?the 'safe's' money, they'll use other forms of funds to?lend from. That was the birth of private credit."?
- "This shift already exists for corporates. It has only just started for the consumer side. The underwriting that is involved here is being done by sophisticated AI to help assess the risk of borrowers and the asset-based lending that provides liquidity for this newly formed business model will allow people to get consumer credit."
- "Pagaya's technology connects via an API to many banks in the US AND has relationships with the private credit institutions that provide the funds."
The panelists were asked 'what are you obsessed with right now?':
- "The evolution of technology's impact. It used to be 'it's my meal or your meal.' It could never be both. But with technology and the current revolution we are going through, there is a win-win-win for all parties, including the regulators. And this is going to be reachable very quickly if we can rethink the fundamental way we do this business." - Gal Krubiner of Pagaya
- "I'm obsessed with excellence. We should not settle. I want to be at the same level of service in my governmental?work as when I was working at a bank. It should be the same standard of excellence. That's the small piece of transformation I'm trying to bring to my agency and to Washington." - Commissioner?Caroline D. Pham?of the?US Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- "My obsession is about transformation in Africa. Seeing the transformative power of how technology can drive growth very quickly." -?Olugbenga Agboola?(GB),?Flutterwave
- "I'm obsessed with people. People who are interested in how digital assets can make life better. it's going to speed up work. Specifically, people who are interested in mining bitcoin in a synthetic way. I'm obsessed with helping people move from a stage of curiosity into believers." -?Melvin Deng?of?QCP?
