NCFA Fintech Confidential December 2020 (Issue 3)

How can we create the support systems for
growth stage fintechs, who are often left out
of the current ecosystem?
The government must lead by example
and act as the first customer to particular
homegrown fintechs (e.g., PPP program in
the US). They must also develop a system
of incentives for these incumbents to work
with fintechs and modernize themselves,
improving venture investing liquidity ratios.
Furthermore, stakeholders within Canadian
fintech need to be included at the table when
these new rules are being drawn up. These
discussions need to be transparent and have
to result in tangible action items with a set
timeline.
Corporate incentives and security are not
mutually exclusive.
Stifling innovation means it will eventually die
off. Consequently, our financial institutions will
be reliant on financial technologies from the
US, Europe, or elsewhere as they struggle to
catch up with the rest of the world.
Financial institutions play a huge role here.
They must look into improving outcomes
of innovation objectives, with data-driven
marketing being an activity of said objectives
but not the primary aim. For instance, setting
goals and then optimizing processes to
achieve these results and leverage. From
here, diversifying your tactics to achieve
these results (i.e., CVC, hackathons) are all
welcomed as long as there’s alignment to
the ultimate objective.
Security is and should always remain a
top priority. While it’s fair game to make
sure system vendors (i.e., fintechs) are well
compliant here, there should be budgets for
fintechs to help them deliver their solution
securely to the banks’ standards. Additionally,
there are many opportunities around data
processing and several secure methods to
analyze a Financial Institution’s data without
jeopardizing its customers’ privacy and
security.
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