Over the previous four episodes of our video series, A beginner’s guide for brands: What is embedded finance, powered by Finastra, we focussed on defining and exploring the opportunities for banks, brands and end-users when it comes to embedded finance.
For the fifth and final episode, I went back to where we started and caught up with Radha Survana, Head and Chief Product Officer, BaaS/Embedded Finance at Finastra. We revisited some of the key topics covered across the four episodes, and Radha shared his observations and reflections.
In episode one it was all about the BaaS. Radha articulated the difference between BaaS and embedded finance and, crucially, discussed the value it drives for end clients and Finastra’s role in the ecosystem. BaaS is a platform that enables embedded finance, making financial products and services available to end users in the context in which they are needed. Finastra is a key enabler of that provision and Radha shared some great examples of that in action.
We returned to episode two, where he sat down with Lars Markull, Embedded Finance Advisor to discuss the scale of the opportunity and focus in on some important use cases. Consumer lending, for example, encompasses a broad spectrum of lending solutions. Finastra has taken the position that addressing some specific pain points for customers, that aren’t well served by existing providers, will deliver results. Alternate point of sale solutions, as they view it, covering key verticals such as home improvement and the elective medical category, are examples of where they have seen some real success.
Keeping that emphasis on specific use cases, we reviewed episode three, in which I spoke to Jonathan McPhail, Lead Client Partner, Banking as a Service at Finastra about cross border payments. Consumers and businesses increasingly need to make payments to countries outside of their own. The need is huge but, as Radha notes, cross border payments are often complex and entail a number of necessary partners along the way, as well as access to what is costly but requisite infrastructure.
Finastra, working with key partners, have created alternative solutions that are faster, easier, and less expensive. That allows a greater number of smaller banks, in turn, to provide those services to their clients. Finastra, by working with banking partners, can support the democratisation of access to affordable cross border payments.
And, finally, for episode four, we kept the focus on cross border payments and, in particular, a very successful partnership between Finastra, IBIS Management Associates and Mastercard. Neil Macro, VP, Managing Director, Head of Sales, Financial Messaging Marketplaces, Finastra, Mark Corritori, Vice President, Strategy & Solution for Cross-Border Services, Mastercard and Clark Russel, CEO, IBIS Management Associates Inc. joined me to talk though the drivers of the partnership and the new cross border payment solution it brought to life.
Radha and I recapped the themes of that conversation and discussed the value of the Finastra marketplace. Finastra identifies fintechs with the best-in-class solutions and packages them up for their clients, making their product offering for end-users more valuable and compelling, taking away some of the heavy lifting.
The series is full of incredibly valuable observations and well worth a listen. I am delighted to conclude the series with a look to the future of embedded finance and an inspiring mission statement from Radha, which is to continue with a ‘maniacal focus on solving client pain points and adding value’.
If you are looking for more great embedded finance content and experiences, join us in San Francisco on December 6 & 7 for FTT Embedded Finance & Super Apps.
If Europe is your focus, you will find us in London, at the Fintech Talents Festival, on 13 & 14 November. Join us on the Embedded Finance & Super Apps/Customer Alpha stage.
