Behind the Brand®

S02:E08: The Future of Global Banking with Miklós Dietz, Senior Partner, Managing Partner of Vancouver Office at McKinsey & Company

Miklós Dietz | Senior Partner, Managing Partner of Vancouver Office | The Future of Global Banking

“Winning business models are not stuck in one sector.”

—  Miklós Dietz

This time, on Behind the Brand, we sit down with Miklós Dietz. Miklós leads the Global Banking Strategy and Innovation team at McKinsey. He is also the managing partner of McKinsey’s Vancouver Office. Since joining McKinsey, Miklós has led more than 450 engagements across 40 countries and 100 financial institutions. It doesn’t stop at financial services.  Miklos has also served governments and regulators to support economic development, as well as helped telecom, technology, retail, consumer goods and energy companies in starting and scaling up digital businesses.

Miklos has written over 200 articles and reports that span topics such as banking, strategy, and digital transformation including “Springtime for Canada’s fintech industry?”, and is the author of the book ‘The Ecosystem Economy’. We talk about what banking systems look elsewhere in the world, how Canada’s banking system is at its largest inflection point, and why ecosystems are the business model of the future. 

Enjoy! 

Looking for more?

Discover more about Miklós Dietz here. Read ‘The Ecosystem Economy’ here.

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S02:E07: Modernizing Payments Infrastructure with Ron Morrow, Executive Director at the Bank of Canada

Ron Morrow | Executive Director at the Bank of Canada | Modernizing Payments Infrastructure

“You want a system that is stable and reliable, but not one that is so stable and reliable that it stifles innovation and competition. So it's a challenge to find [the] trade off.

I think a lot of what is going on in the world of payments right now is trying to ensure that we are striking that right balance.”

—  Ron Morrow

In this episode, we speak with Ron Morrow, the Executive Director of Payments, Supervision, and Oversight at the Bank of Canada. The Bank of Canada’s mandate is “to promote the economic and financial welfare of Canada.” In his role, Ron is responsible for the supervision of retail payment service providers and the oversight of financial market infrastructures. He also guides the Bank’s work to explore the potential design of a digital form of the Canadian dollar.

We cover everything from the modernization of money movement to the productivity crisis in Canada, and get an understanding of the new payment provider supervision under the new Retail Payment Activities Act which will come into effect in November 2024. 

Enjoy! 

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Discover more about Ron Morrow here.

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S02:E06, Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, Co-Founder and CEO at Flinks

Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf |  Co-Founder and CEO at Flinks | State of Entrepreneurship in Canada

“Having competitors is fine. It's actually good… It keeps you sharp... You gotta find ways to have the right product that fits in the market against your competitors.”

—  Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf

In this episode, we speak with Yves-Gabriel Leboeuf, or as we call him YG. YG is the Founder and CEO of Flinks, a company that develops tools that turn raw banking data into actionable insights. In 2021, National Bank took a managing share of Flinks with a $103M investment, including $30M in growth capital. 

YG is on a mission to accelerate innovation in the banking and financial services sectors. We have a great conversation about YG’s experience as an entrepreneur, his view on Open Banking legislation, and the competition landscape in Canada.

Enjoy! 

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Discover more about Yves-Gabriel here.

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S02:E05, Donna Kinoshita, Chief Payments Officer at Payments Canada

Donna Kinoshita | Chief Payments Officer at Payments Canada | Bringing Real-Time Payments to Canada with Donna Kinoshita, Chief Payments Officer at Payments Canada

“We call it… the three legged stool. You've got the Retail Payments Activities Act as the rules. The Canadian Payments Act is the who can be members and participants… Then the third leg of the stool is the infrastructure. And so we like to refer to the Real-Time Rails as that third leg…

The ambition is the stars align and all three happen concurrently. That's the ambition. ”

—  Donna Kinoshita

In this episode, we speak with Donna Kinoshita, Chief Payments Officer at Payments Canada. 

Payments Canada underpins the Canadian financial system and economy by owning and operating Canada’s payment clearing and settlement infrastructure. 

As the Chief Payments Officer, Donna is responsible for managing Payments Canada's relationships with its members, stakeholders and regulators, and Payments Canada's communications, policy and research functions. As payments continue to rapidly evolve, Donna and her teams work closely with industry stakeholders to ensure the Canadian payment ecosystem is inclusive, enables fair competition and supports a thriving Canadian economy.

Prior to Payments Canada, Donna led Symcor’s integrated sales, product and marketing strategy to support market expansion and revenue growth in the role of Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer. Previous to Symcor, Donna held the role of Senior Vice President and Group Head of Global Products and Solutions at Mastercard Canada.

In our conversation, we cover a wide variety of topics including the Retail Payments Activities Act, what that is, how it will impact the financial industry, and the progress of the Real-Time Rail. 

Enjoy! 

Looking for more?

Discover more about Donna here.

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S02:E04, Rob Khazzam, Co-Founder and CEO at Float
Rob Khazzam | Co-Founder and CEO at Float | Delivering Frictionless Financial Experiences for Canadian Enterprises with Rob Khazzam, Co-Founder and CEO at Float

"There's a million reasons for a company like Skip or Neo or Float or any business to not go anywhere. They get built by people who go 'I will go through every single rabbit hole, I will unearth every rock and I will prove that this business can exist or I will prove that it's impossible'"
– Rob Khazzam

On this episode of Behind the Brand, we speak with Rob Khazzam, Co-Founder and CEO of Float, an all-in-one corporate card & spend management solution that helps Canadian businesses control their spending. Float has raised a $37M Series A led by Tiger Capital and just announced $50M in Debt Financing in February of this year led by Silicon Valley Bank. Float enables businesses to eliminate employee reimbursements and expense reports, seamlessly pre-approve credit card expenses, and automatically collect receipts.

Prior to Float, Rob was the General Manager of Uber for Central and Eastern Europe, then Canada. In this episode we cover a lot of topics from how to go about defining a mission and vision for your team, how Float builds their products, and why you shouldn’t wait for Open Banking legislation.

Looking for more?

Discover more about Rob here, and Float here. 

You can learn more about Neo Financial here.

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S02:E03, William Keliehor, Former CCO at Interac

William Keliehor| Former CCO at Interac | Designing a Banking System for New Entrants with William Keliehor

“My philosophy in life is very agile, in that, I'd rather get something to market, and listen, learn, and then tweak, pivot, and then move.”

—  William Keliehor

In this episode, we speak with William Keliehor. William is the former Chief Commercial Officer at Interac, a Canadian interbank network that links financial institutions and other enterprises for the purpose of exchanging electronic financial transactions. Previous to Interac, William was the CEO of American Express Middle East & North Africa. William is currently an advisor and investor at KAI. 

We cover a variety of topics, from how the banking industry differs in Canada from the rest of the world, competition in the financial space in Canada, and the state of entrepreneurship. 

Enjoy! 

Looking for more?

Discover more about William here.

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"There is so much that technology can unlock in terms of giving small business owners back time... their most valuable resource in life. - Faye Pang 

We’re joined by Faye Pang, Country Manager at Xero, a new Zealand–based technology company that provides cloud-based accounting software for small businesses. Faye is an industry leader with a track record of successfully launching and scaling businesses from the ground up. 

Prior to Xero, Faye was the General Manager for Uber Eats Canada where she helped globally launch and scale the infamous car-share business into the successful ride app into what it is today. In this episode we talk about how Xero chooses talent, to how Canadian SME’s are struggling, and how open banking can revolutionize the way that Canadian businesses do their accounting. 

Looking for more?

Discover more about Xero here.

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S02E01: Abraham Tachjian, Director of Digital Banking, PwC

Episode Title: 

Abraham Tachjian | Former Open Banking Lead to the Government of Canada

“Consumers don’t care about open banking… It's an industry term… They care about the capabilities that come with it.”

—  Abraham Tachjian  

We’re speaking with Abraham Tachjian, Open Banking Lead to the Government of Canada and the self-described authority on Open Banking. In March 2022, the Government of Canada named him the country’s open banking lead. He was tasked with the mandate to empower Canadians and businesses with greater control over their financial data. Through a report that he provided to the Government of Canada, he established the foundation for Canada’s open banking system that will be implemented through legislation. 

Currently he is a Director at PwC where he heads the firm’s Canadian open banking practice. Before joining PwC, he has been involved in FinTech as a founder of a digital bank in Hong Kong and as a director at a digital banking in Singapore. 

In this episode we talk about Canada’s implementation of Open Banking, how it can help consumers, and how our system might look different then systems across the globe.

Enjoy!

Looking for more?

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“Our teens today will find themselves in five or more really quite different careers over the course of their lifetime... how we equip youth with the skills to be able to transfer and adapt through their different career journeys and environments is really, really key to our work.”

—  Erin Barton

Erin Barton is the Chief Development Officer for JA Canada and one of Canada's leading non-profit executives. She has been named as one of Canada's 100 Most Powerful Women by WXN. 

In this episode, Erin and Jeff deep dive into teaching entrepreneurship to Canada's youth, the importance of financial literacy education, and how critical mentorship is to empowering young people today.

Enjoy! 

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Discover more about Junior Achievement here.

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In this episode, Mike Murchison, the co-founder and CEO of Ada, shares insights on redefining success beyond external measures and embracing intrinsic motivation for personal growth. He emphasizes the founder's role in intimately understanding and solving problems, advocates for commitment to the problem while staying open to innovative solutions, and provides valuable perspectives on scaling as a leader, including the importance of embracing discomfort and establishing clear decision-making processes.

Here are some highlights from the episode:

• Defining success: Mike challenges the common notion of success tied to external measures like company valuation or financial success. He emphasizes the intrinsic motivation of learning and personal growth as more sustainable sources of fulfillment, rather than tying one's self-worth to the success of a company.
• Proximity to the problem: Mike highlights the significance of founders immersing themselves in the problems they aim to solve. He contends that a deep understanding of the problem is crucial for early company advancement. 
• Attachment vs. commitment: Mike advocates for founders to be committed to the problem they want to solve but not overly attached to a specific solution. This openness to alternative approaches fosters innovation and accelerates progress.
• Scaling as a founder and leader: Embracing discomfort as a pathway to learning, Mike emphasized the value of curiosity, drawing insights from experienced individuals, and establishing clear decision-making processes.

Enjoy!

Looking for more?

Discover more about Ada here.

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