The Future of Banks Is the Fintech Supermarket

Berlin, October 7, 2016 – The Digital Finance Berlin conference was a complete success: Approximately 120 decision-makers from the banking and fintechs sector gathered in Berlin yesterday to discuss the topic of open banking platforms and models for cooperation between banks and fintechs. Speakers like André M. Bajorat (figo GmbH) and Dr. Jörg Sandrock (PwC Strategy&) made it plain that the future of banks is the fintech supermarket that integrates a large variety of digital financial products into one platform.

Digital Finance Berlin was organized by etventure subsidiary Berlin School of Digital Business and FinTechCube. The fintech company builder FinTechCube is a joint venture of FintechStars, also an etventure subsidiary, and FINANCE BASE AG. Among the participating firms were Commerzbank, UBS, DKB, Deutsche Bank, Linklaters and PwC as well as a total of 17 fintechs, including Barzahlen.de, companisto, vaamo, SumUp, True Wealth, ZenPension and Rentenhero.

From closed banking system to fintech supermarket

Fintechs are providing a challenge to the world of banking. Initially viewed with condescension by the Old Economy, fintechs have taken advantage of the digital backwardness of the banks and developed modern, customer-focused and transparent solutions. Banks have now recognized that working with the digital players can lead to a win-win situation. By incorporating products of fintechs into their portfolio and offering them through their own open banking platform, they enrich their product range with innovative offerings and obtain digital access to new target groups. The bank thus becomes a fintech supermarket in which customers can select appropriate financial products and services that are tailored to their needs.

But how is cooperation possible? This question was at the heart of Digital Finance Berlin. “No fintech or tech giant like Google or Amazon wants to completely replace the bank,” said André M. Bajorat, CEO of figo GmbH and fintech expert. It is crucial, however, that banks open up to fintechs both in regard to their mentality and their technical infrastructure. And although everyone is still talking about apps in the banking field, Bajorat made it clear that “apps are dead. Voice is the new front end,” referring to ‘voice assistants’ of the kind already being offered by Apple, Amazon and Google.

Showdown between fintechs and banks in the FinSlam

In the FinSlam, banks and fintechs competed with one another by making five-minute pitches in which they presented their digital solutions for the open banking platform, which were then rated by the audience. The participants on the bank side were DKB, Commerzbank and UBS. Swiss bank UBS presented its ‘YNOME’ platform, which has already been launched. The fintechs were represented by Guidants, moneymeets and treefin. In the end, moneymeets, the ‘social network for financial topics’ was easily named the winner of the FinSlam in recognition of its innovative solution for digitally managing deposits and insurance policies.

“Our objective is to build bridges between fintechs and banks,” says Gregor Puchalla, Managing Director of FinTechCube. “This is because the established institutes and the digital players are worlds apart as regards speed, mode of operation and mentality. With Digital Finance Berlin, we’ve created a platform that provides ‘translation assistance’ between these worlds. Compared with the first edition of the event in 2015, the number of participants has more than doubled. This great popularity shows that people recognize the opportunities for cooperation and the need for digitization in the sector.”

The participants of the FinSlam with winner Dieter Fromm of moneymeets (third from left).