Digital disruption is surging ahead and bringing in new business models, technology, and players into the market, charging a renewed focus on consumer experience. Leveraging key data points has become crucial to maximizing customer value and meeting expectations in this new age.
TechNode Global invited a diverse panel of subject experts at its second episode of the Tech Insights Webinar Series on May 27 to discuss the future of fintech and the new wave of collaborations and crossovers.
Payments are just the starting point
“The fintech evolution journey has always been witnessing digital payments as the starting point but it’s really not the end,” said Caecilia Chu, co-founder and CEO of YouTrip, a multi-currency digital wallet. One of the most prominent applications of fintech is digital payments. Payments are dynamic and fast-paced, with high frequency use cases, creating stickiness in the product. This allows companies to understand their customers better to more effectively create new products that are most relevant to the customers, she said.
Adding on, Yang Kan, regional manager of Data Intelligence Business at Alibaba Cloud, explained that digital payments are so popular as they are mostly used in consumer-facing businesses. On the other hand, the B2B fintech solutions such as regtech and capital markets are slower to take off as they serve a diverse group of unique needs. He believes that the B2B fintech solutions have huge potential for growth despite starting out slower.
Chu also revealed that since travel bans were implemented, YouTrip has seen users shift to making transactions on both foreign and domestic shopping sites. “Lately, a large majority of our users are spending on Taobao and Aliexpress, seeing a 111% and 41% growth in transaction volume growth respectively,” she added.
The great convergence
Fintech firms are tapping into cloud computing as they harness benefits such as scalability, elasticity, and pay-as-you-go payment methods, said Yang. Fintech companies can get a jumpstart by leveraging the cloud data intelligence platforms which are essential for accumulating data assets to create meaningful data products. “The big data platform is important for fintech applications such as credit scoring, e-KYC, and fraud management,” he added.
Integrating healthcare financing into a well-established microfinance organization helps mitigate the financial risks associated with costs of hospitalizations and medicines as affordability still remains as one of the challenges. “The microfinance model is an innovative tool that can be used to improve the delivery of healthcare to the poor, particularly those in remote rural areas,” said Anil Argilla, president director for Indonesia and cluster lead for Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore at Pfizer, a biopharmaceutical giant.
Fintech companies are increasingly venturing beyond offering financial solutions, with many of them getting into numerous ecommerce sectors, Yang said. “It is also observed that credit scoring has now swayed toward alternative data and real-time scoring,” he added. “While eKYC in the consumer space is maturing, the eKYC in the business space has more to do in ensuring seamless and compliant experience.”
From threats to opportunities
Acknowledging the importance of building on collective expertise through collaborations with healthtech and fintech startups to strengthen healthcare ecosystems, Pfizer Indonesia has launched a platform aimed at streamlining the consultation experience. Bringing together all the different parties participating in delivering healthcare on an end-to-end basis, spanning from digital partner, healthcare partner, delivery partner, and payment partner.
Chu also noted a new wave of partnership opportunities between fintech firms and non-financial industries. “As many of the fintech firms grow and scale, they have the power to innovate and develop new products for the consumers,” she added. There is potential for fintech companies to partner with corporates from various industries. Likewise, corporates will be on the hunt for fintech solutions that offer product innovation, streamlined infrastructure, or provide access to new customers.
Fintech companies will emerge stronger after the Covid crisis
How will Covid-19 change the fintech industry?
“We will expect to see more focused efforts, more concentrated and consolidated potential market share”, Chu noted, as startups become more financially disciplined in the current climate. Companies that emerge from the crisis will be stronger than before.
She further posited that millennials and Gen Z will emerge as the most important customer segment for financial institutions in the following five to ten years. “Fintech players who are capturing this customer segment now will become widely successful in years to come when Millennials and Gen Z require more financial products as they enter into a different life stage,” she added.
Similarly, Yang is positive about the post-Covid era. As companies are starting to view online channels as a need rather than an innovation, this opens up many doors of opportunities for them to explore omnichannel marketing and more, which can bring about a unified and holistic customer experience.
Covid-19 has provided an unprecedented opportunity for the adoption of telemedicine and has increased the speed of healthcare digitization, said Argilla. This is where fintech players such as digital payment, microfinancing, credit scoring, and blockchain come into play. “Telemedicine is no longer a futuristic concept, but an area that has the potential to revolutionize care access and delivery. It meets patients via multiple convenient channels and delivers care to where they are,” he added.
The next webinar on the future of shopping is happening on June 24, 2020. For more information, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tech-insights-the-future-of-shopping-tickets-108649471494.
About the panellists:
Anil Argilla, president director for Indonesia and cluster lead for Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Singapore, Pfizer
Anil Argilla is the President Director of Pfizer Indonesia and Pfizer’s Cluster Lead for Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan and Singapore. He has been managing country operations in Indonesia since early 2014.
Anil has over 10 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry all of it with Pfizer and has handled roles of increasing complexity since he joined Pfizer and has worked in both Country and Regional roles.
He joined Pfizer India in 2016 as Director of Organizational Effectiveness, driving capability building and organizational transformation. In 2010, he was assigned as the Regional Director, Talent and Organizational Capability (Asia). Anil moved to Shanghai as Regional Business Operations Director of Emerging Markets Asia in 2011 and was promoted to Senior Director, Strategy and Business Operations the following year. In this capacity, he was instrumental in developing the strategic priorities for the region, as well as leading key initiatives such as optimizing cost base and organization restructuring in the region. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Regional Commercial Lead for EM Asia (based in Hong Kong)
Anil has diverse cross-cultural and cross industry experience of over 22 years across various functions – including Strategy, HR, Manufacturing and Sales. Prior to joining Pfizer, he worked across different industries – Automobile, IT/ ITES, Banking, Petrochemicals and other process industries. He has spent a significant part of his career in management consulting, focusing on change management and organizational transformation.
Anil holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Osmania University. He received his Master’s Degree in Personnel Management from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management.
Caecilia Chu, co-founder & CEO, YouTrip
Caecilia is the Co-Founder and CEO of YouTrip, a regional financial technology company dedicated to creating a next-generation digital banking experience in Asia.
Prior to founding YouTrip, Caecilia worked at Citibank overseeing growth investments in the consumer and technology sectors in the Southeast Asian and China regions. Additionally, Caecilia worked as a consultant at McKinsey, advising financial institutions across Asia on market entry, customer segmentation, and retail product strategies.
Caecilia’s fintech experiences prior to YouTrip include positions at Lufax, China’s leading online wealth management platform, and QF Pay, Beijing based payments company backed by Sequoia China.
Caecilia has a MBA from Harvard Business School, and a bachelor degree (summa cum laude) from The Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania.
Yang Kan, regional manager, Data Intelligence Business, Alibaba Cloud
As regional manager of data intelligence business, Yang Kan leads Alibaba Cloud’s regional big data and AI business strategy and solutions. He and his team are dedicated to crafting solutions under ET Brain framework to various industries including smart city, new retail, smart manufacturing etc. Prior to joining Alibaba Cloud, he spent 10 years in managing enterprises’ global big data strategy and programs. He was responsible for transforming traditional businesses into data-driven organisations in oil & gas, and manufacturing industries.
Steven Millward, senior editor, TechNode Global (moderator)
Steven Millward covers the SEA tech startup market for TechNode Global. He is interested in ecommerce, social media, gadgets, transportation, and cars.