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The rise of “The Embedders”

The rise of “The Embedders’ When Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue, announced earlier this year they are planning to launch their own fintech start-up and hired two Goldman Sachs veterans, it became clear this conglomerate is preparing to become a major force in the financial sector. In an industry like retail, where razor thin
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Retooling branches for the future

The scale and pace of bank branch closures over the past decade has been unprecedented. Once the heart of thriving communities, building societies and banks are rapidly becoming a thing of the past in hundreds of towns and villages. According to a Which analysis, almost 4,300 physical bank branches have closed since the beginning of
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The great impostor – Tackling tech impostor syndrome

When we were young, we relished the opportunity to pretend to be someone else. Perhaps you were a fan of playing astronaut. Or pretending you were a wizard at Halloween when you were wee. Or later when you pretended to be older and more grown up to sneak into an older rated film. Don’t worry,
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Embedded finance – Friend or foe for banks?

Innovative technology has been transforming the banking sector for decades. From humble beginnings in online banking to AI-enabled fraud detection and app-based banking; technology’s role as a driving force for transformation in financial services is unparalleled. Now, embedded finance promises to build on these advances to offer a truly revolutionary shift in the industry across
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Looking outside your network

In my day job, developing Fintech partnerships at a big bank, I meet and connect with many Fintechs on an ongoing basis. However, I often notice that only a small proportion of the Fintechs we meet are female-founded. If you are not part of the industry, you might be surprised to hear that a big
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CBDCs – A game changer

Are central bank digital currencies the future of money? Cryptocurrencies are increasingly becoming part of established economic systems around the world. Financial giant Goldman Sachs now officially views Bitcoin as an asset class and Morgan Stanley recently started offering this cryptocurrency to wealthy clients through its funds. The central banks of countries including England, Japan,
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Digital transformation in private equity: Beyond the trenches

In my previous blog, I tried to share some of our perspectives on digital transformation and its key components through the lens of our Private Equity experience. One important point I (consciously) didn’t elaborate on was the desired end state — what does a successful digital transformation process look like? Or simply put: what is
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Window with a sign saying “No Blind, No Elderly, No Disabled

Digital accessibility

I grew up in the ’70s. This was a time when it seemed to be socially acceptable to be overtly homophobic, sexist, and racist. Homosexuality had only recently been decriminalised and the Sex Discrimination Act was at the ‘back of a fag packet’ stage of development. Pubs had ‘No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish’ signs
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In the trenches of digital transformation

Over the last couple of years I have been involved in several digital transformation activities as part of the Pollen Street Hub support for portfolio companies, across Lending, Payments, FX, Insurance, Wealth Management and Business Services sectors. As a PE fund we (arguably) have the privilege to be much more focused on delivery and getting
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A relationship bank for the digital world

Jamie Broadbent, Head of Digital and Innovation at RBS International discusses learning from customers, choosing the best partner and how to engineer the bank to work as part of an interconnected ecosystem. Jamie will be speaking about communication and culture on Techies are from Mars – Business is from Venus at FTT Digital Builder on
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