Before we go into winter, first a few hot stories on banking!
By: Rik Coeckelbergs
Tags: Financial Services, Fintech, Innovation, Open Banking, Banking

Our apologies for neglecting the newsletter a little bit. For two months you didn’t get a Medium update. We were too busy setting up our website. I know, this should not be an excuse.

On the other hand, this occasion does allow us to provide you with lots of new items to share! And it includes two pieces of Brad Van Leeuwen, Head of Partnerships at Railsbank! Hooray!

So here we go:

Frictionless Payments and its 5 levels of intrusiveness

By Rik Coeckelbergs, November 21, 5min. read

“ With technology and its endless possibilities, the human factor remains the crucial element to make an innovative project a success or not. With a society that is increasingly conscious of privacy issues, and the new business models are getting closer to your inner circle every, it is crucial to properly understand how far you can go.” [read more]

Thoughts on the Copernican Revolution in Banking

By Brad Van Leeuwen, November 13, 4min. read

“If it costs several orders of magnitude less to launch a financial product, then financial products no longer have to be designed like the one-size-fits-nobody mass-market products we have today. The total addressable market needed to make these new financial products viable, sustainable and profitable is a lot smaller.

This will create an environment where financial products can target niches. Niche products tend to have stronger Product Market Fit, making for greater Net Promoter Score and products that for the first time genuinely help the customer.” [read more]

Uber Money and the Fintechification of Everything

By Brad Van Leeuwen, November 13, 3 min. read

“ Putting banking inside the Uber driver app is just the beginning. Eventually, banking and payments will be embedded in everything because companies that are not banks will want to give a great experience on that part of the journey as well.” [read more]

The Open Banking Interviews: Marc Lauwers (CEO) and Inge Ampe (CCO), Argenta

By Rik Coeckelbergs, November 12, 11 min. read

“ I don’t agree with that, I have built over 60 years of systems to lock in, to understand the data of my customers and to deliver appropriate services related to that. So if I have to share these data, I would like a quid pro quo.” [read more]

Why the mortgage business is so hard to disrupt

By Rik Coeckelbergs, October 28, 4 min. read

“Banks must find the right position IN the customer journey of finding a house. That comes with a lot of possible scenarios.

The journey is more than just selling mortgages. It also includes a reflection on insurance products, maybe even additional services like moving services, providing a network of handyman services, reflect on possibilities to ‘green up’ your house solar energy etc…” [read more]

Bye-bye Instant Payments, welcome Instant Mortgages

By Rik Coeckelbergs, October 15, 5 min. read

“Suddenly this nearly instant loan approval is a highly valued USP for the bank, and a key differentiator for consumers, for sure in the coming weeks, but probably also in the years to come.” [read more]

Open Banking Interviews: Karel Van Eetvelt, CEO, Febelfin

By Rik Coeckelbergs, October 4, 12 min. read

“Before moving as an industry to the next phase, from PSD2 to Open Banking beyond payments, we need some time for reflection. Focus is needed on properly managing the risks that come with a more open banking environment.” [read more]

Open Banking: An open door to a new way of banking (part 2)

By Rik Coeckelbergs, October 7, 12 min. read

“That makes Open Banking so interesting: no one really knows the future, everyone has an idea and at the end… the future will be determined by the customer. He decides how to do banking in the near future.

Well… near future… already today you can find many examples of how new companies and new services are providing superior financial services.” [read more]

The Open Banking Interviews: Jasper Nienhuijs, Head of Market Management, de Volksbank

By Rik Coeckelbergs, September 29, 9 min. read

“PSD2 is just the starting point. I think more products will follow, whether that is pushed by the regulator or by the market. Customers will be getting used to new (non-banking) features that are created by the rules and regulations of PSD2. That will likely create a similar demand with savings accounts etcetera.” [read more]

The rise of the Dragon… or is it a lizard? PSD2 got into force last week

By Rik Coeckelbergs, September 24, 4 min. read

10 days after the entry into force of PSD2, we made an evaluation. The first impression was not really impressive… perhaps the time is right to re-evaluate (more on that soon ;)) [read more]