One Vision Podcast — Fintech, Banking, and AI with Theodora Lau

Several emerging economies have most of their population depending on Agriculture for their livelihoods. However, across the world, loss of food in the supply chain is still a major issue. Over $270 Billion worth of food supplies across the world could be saved by using technology. The other challenge with the food supply chain is that in most economies, farmers are often exploited by the other parties in the food supply chain.

In this episode of Rhetoriq's Red Envelope, we have Genevieve Leveille joining Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau. Genevieve is the CEO of Agriledger, that is focused on delivering an efficient and transparent food supply chain to major emerging markets of the world. Agriledger are using Blockchain technologies to not just bring transparency, but also keep the ownership of the food with the farmers as much as possible.

Genevieve is also a known figure in the Blockchain industry and travels the world as an ambassador for the Agritech community. She shares her experiences in working with China, and the cultural and on the ground differences in doing business there.

Listen into Genevieve's vision for the food industry, and the projects she is working on across the world.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With Great Power come Great Responsibility. Especially when a business is dealing with a market with 1.3 billion people. The country has made massive strives towards financial inclusion: According to the Global Findex Database, over 80 percent of the adult population now has bank accounts. A series of efforts has helped drive such progress, including Aadhaar, a verifiable 12-digit identification number issued by UIDAI to all residents of India. The Aadhaar identity platform is one of the key pillars of the ‘Digital India,’ and the Aadhaar program is now the largest biometrics based identification system in the world.

In this episode of Rhetoriq's "Red Envelope", a series focused on innovation in Asia, Theodora Lau and Arun Krishnakumar talk to Lizzie Chapman, the CEO of Zestmoney. It is a B2B2C fintech company that extends consumer credit through merchants using a proprietary AI-based machine learning decision engine, leveraging data points from the consumers’ digital footprint. The solution provides dynamic credit limit based on affordability, and it is tailored for households instead of individuals - taking into account the social dynamics and needs of the Indian market. It is this kind of solution which makes Indian fintech stand out.

Along with a progressive government, consumers in India are tech savvy and fast adopters of digital technologies. Mobile penetration is expected to reach 90% by 2020, which will help drive further adoption of fintech tools, increasing the potential to uplift local communities via entrepreneurship and new job opportunities.

There is an untapped market for consumers who don’t have a credit card or other formal financing options. This includes the need for affordable solutions to help consumers “buy now, pay later” and help build long term credit. Zestmoney also educates consumers about their credit score through its platform - so that they can better maintain a long-term financial relationship rather than being penalized for being consistently transactional alone.

Hear from Lizzie on how good the ecosystem in India is for Fintech startups.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a world of algorithms and hashtags, true human connectivity is too often replaced by clicks. Our interactions and conversations are interrupted by digital notifications that long for our attention. Phone calls are replaced by messages on our friends’ digital walls and feeds; face-to-face coffee breaks yield to likes and retweets.

In this episode of our podcast, Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer continue the discussion about China, advancements of data analytics, and exchange of value in a data economy. With GDPR and the recent backlash against Facebook related to data privacy, businesses that rely on "You are the product" models may have to reconsider their strategy. In a world where every single action and conversation that a customer has, is being tracked, it is critical that they realise the importance of data protection.

How often are we looking up, instead of looking down – at our phones, our laptops, our feeds? What happens to our dreams when technology envelopes all of our time? How much can we really enjoy the moment and be one with our surroundings when we are busy snapping photos for Instagram? Just observe how eager a little child tries to get their parents’ phone - the very device that competes for their parents’ focus.

Listen in to hear more from Theo and Brad on data sharing and privacy and the importance of human touch.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to CB Insights, there are 41 fintech unicorns valued in aggregate at US $154.1 billion. This includes 25 US-based startups, 8 based in Asian, and the remaining 8 split between Europe, Australia, and South America. Chinese big tech giants including Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com, and Baidu are regarded to be highly innovative and successful companies. So what drives innovation success in China? 

In this episode of Judge me by my cover, Richard Turrin joins Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau. Richard is the author of No. 1 international best seller “Innovation Lab Excellence,” and lives in Shanghai, China. He is a Fintech expert with over 20 years of experience in leveraging new technology to drive revenue growth for market-leading companies.

In this episode, Richard shares his journeys from AIG in the US, to his career in Australia, South East Asia and China. He witnessed the express growth of cashless payments in China. We discuss how the Chinese techfins are stealthily expanding globally through investments and acquisitions.

We discuss Richard's recent bestselling book on Innovation labs and what inspired him to write the book. Richard shares some of the key takeaways from his book, and gives us a sneak peak of his second book on China.

Listen in for more insights from Richard Turrin.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first three months of 2019, VC-backed fintech companies raised US $6.3 billion across 445 deals globally. Challenger banks continue to spread globally, with N26 (a newly minted unicorn) and Monzo both imminently launching in the U.S.

In this episode of the Red Envelope focused on Asia Innovation, Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer host Daniel Murphy and Jackson Meuller from the Milken Institute. The Milken Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that helps people build meaningful lives, in which they can experience health and well-being, pursue effective education and gainful employment, and access the resources required to create ever-expanding opportunities for themselves and their broader communities.

The discussion touches upon opportunities in Asia, Financial Inclusion and the influence of BAT in the Asian innovation ecosystem. Hong Kong, one of the top five financial centers in the world with 159 banks (including 70 of the world’s 100 top banks) also joined in the open banking efforts with earnest. Recently, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has granted eight virtual banking licenses to a mix of big tech and incumbents: Ant SME, Insight FinTech, Infinium, Livi VB, SC Digital, Pingan One Connect, WebLab, and Zhong An Virtual Finance.

Whether Alibaba and Tencent could extend their success outside of China, or whether big tech such as Amazon will succeed in disrupting the financial services industry will likely be more a question of political tug-of-war – rather than a technical one. Inequality is not inevitable. We must learn how to cultivate the best ideas from every part of the globe to ensure that ideas don't die, but flourish by turning those ideas into action.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to the State of the Global Islamic Economy Report, the Islamic Finance sector is fast becoming a force to be reckoned with, especially in the Islamic financial hubs of the GCC, Malaysia and London, along with formidable new players such as Indonesia and Pakistan. The Islamic finance industry is forecasted to grow by 7.7 percent CAGR to reach US $3.8 trillion by 2023.

With 1.8 billion Muslims across 58 Muslim-majority countries of the world (approximately one-quarter of entire population), what are the challenges and opportunities in these markets?

In this new podcast episode of Red Envelope, Rafi-uddin Shikoh joins Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau for an inspirational discussion of the momentum of the Islamic economy, its global ethical impact, and what the future holds. Rafi has spent the last few years in marketing strategy, e-business strategy, and technology management experience with small to Fortune 500 ranked companies. He had been a Vice President with Marsh Inc, a global risk-brokerage firm, where he led and successfully delivered multi-million dollar knowledge management.

Rafi stuck gold when he started Dinar Standard, a research company focused on Islamic finance. The firm has since grown from strength to strength, and has become a global standard in Islamic finance research. Rafi shares his journeys that led to him starting the firm, and provides insights on the global shariah market.

Listen in for more from the discussion with Rafi.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If the US is where technology innovation was born, Europe is where it is regulated best, and Asia (led by China) is where it reaches the masses and creates impact at scale. Digital innovation makes the time to market for financial services shorter than they have ever been in the past. China has created new fundamental lifestyle business models and have integrated Fintech services into them. They have rethought these business models from first principles to achieve large scale financial inclusion.

In this episode Paolo Sironi joins Theodora Lau and Arun Krishnakumar for an exciting discussion on Financial Services, Digital innovation, regulations and Global Fintech landscapes. Paolo is an elected member of IBM Industry Academy, Watson Financial Services and represent IBM worldwide. He advises C-level financial institutions and mentor entrepreneurs on a host of issues related to business model transformation in the age of digital banking.

He is a Global thought leader in the Fintech space, and has written four books in Financial Services and Fintech. His fourth and latest book, Financial Markets Transparency, explores the biological underpinnings of financial markets and explores how to bolster the global economy’s immune system in today’s volatile times. 

From the $40 Trillion payments market in China, to several business model innovations that are creating ripples across the Fintech industry. Listen into hear from one of the world renowned leaders in the industry, Paolo Sironi

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sharia-compliant banking assets make up 6% of the world’s banking assets. With Muslims accounting for a quarter of the world’s population and 80% of Muslims are not financially included , there are considerable opportunities to explore.

The industry is projected to grow at 7.7% CAGR to reach $3.8 trillion in 2022. Interestingly, Sharia-compliant retail banks have been attracting quite a following from non-Muslims as well. 55 percent of all UK's Al Rayan’s new customers since 2014 and 90 percent of its fixed-term deposit customers last year were non-Muslim. Maybank Islamic, Malaysia’s largest high street bank that offers both Shariah-compliant and conventional accounts, reported having "close to half” and almost two-thirds of their affluent customers as non-Muslim. 

In today's episode of Red Envelope, we have Umar Munshi joining Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau. Umar is the Co-Founder of Ethis Ventures and a Managing Director at Ethis Crowd. Both firms focus on Islamic Finance/Fintech businesses in South East Asia - one of the largest Shariah Finance markets in the world.

Umar shares with us his journeys from being a humble salesman in a healthcare business, to an Islamic Fintech Influencer and thought leader. The discussion covers opportunities in South East Asia for businesses focusing on sustainable innovation. Thanks to the huge consumer base, Malaysia and Indonesia are Asia's hub for Shariah finance. Umar discusses his plans for global expansion and his thoughts on the European and the UK market in particular.

Listen in for more information from Asia's hub of Islamic fintech.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When we think about fintech development in the East, our attention will likely go towards China, India, and southeast Asia (ASEAN) regions. But what about the rest of the Asian countries, such as Pakistan? Where do the opportunities lie in these emerging markets?

In this episode of Red Envelope, a podcast series focused on innovation in Asia, Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau talk to Rabeel Warraich, the first VC from Pakistan. Rabeel is an Oxford and MIT alum, and after identifying the immense opportunity that Pakistani ecosystem offered for seed and early stage startups, he moved to his home turf.

In this episode, Rabeel provides his views on how Pakistan is positioned to make the most of its "lack of legacy". Pakistan is a greenfield project for Fintech and offers a consumer base of 200 Million people. The Pakistani government recently presented its National Financial Inclusion Strategy through a five-year plan that focuses on the enhancing the use of digital payments, deposit base, promotion of SMEs and agricultural finance, and Islamic banking. The opportunities are immense.

Rabeel also highlights the similarities that the Pakistani ecosystem shares with India, Indonesia and Malaysia. Perhaps Ant Financial’s foray into Pakistan through its $184.5 million investment in Telenor Bank will serve to help the country transition into a new era of cashless payments, lower the cost of financial services, and stimulate the digital ecosystem.

To understand more about opportunities in Pakistan, listen into this episode of Rhetoriq's podcast.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Theo: If we were to go cashless, the tooth fairy would not be able to give you money anymore.

Theo's Kiddo: Well, the tooth fairy could always put money in a prepaid card.

The world is definitely ramping up to go cashless.

As technology continues to reduce friction, banking will become more embedded in our day-to-day life. A bank as we know it might look very different than what it does today – and we may no longer need a physical branch to service most of our needs. Recent market entries such as T-

Mobile Money illustrates this point: a telecom wireless provider leveraging technology to enable consumers to conduct financial transactions. But this is just the beginning.

In this episode of Judge me by my Cover, Theodora Lau and Arun Krishnakumar talk to Brett King, an international best selling author, futurist and the Founder and Chairman at Moven. Brett shares his views on the future of banking, how China is leading the world in Fintech with 22 Trillion of digital payments done vs 10+ Billion in the west, and what his next book is focused on. In his book he writes,

“The bank account you have today will have long disappeared in favor of something that’s a lot smarter and a lot better for your day-to-day use of money, saving for the future and providing for your family.”

However digitisation and going cashless may not be the green shores we dream of. We may be becoming exclusionary in the name of digital and the debate around cash has been heating up lately. The city of Philadelphia and the state of New Jersey have recently passed bills that

ban stores from going cashless, arguing that the concept marginalize consumers who are unbanked and don’t have access to credit, including low income and immigrants. Amazon just opened its first Amazon Go store in New York City, accepting cash.

While banking is starting to be omnipresent, cash may linger in its current state for longer than we think. Listen in for more insights.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.