grow advisors - introducing our firm
TRANSCRIPT
Introduction to Grow Advisors
A leading, global fintech advisory firm
WHAT’S INSIDE?
/ Introducing Grow Advisors
/ Fintech is at the heart of our ecosystem
/ What drives us and makes us different
/ A selection of our recent work
/ Our growing global presence
/ An example of how we support digital transformation
INTRODUCING OUR FIRM
We believe capital flows between people and between financial organisations are inefficient and a heightened focus on customer experience will result in superior financial services.
Our experience acquired over 8 years, has shown us that platform based services will underpin tomorrow’s leading financial services and investment organisations.
This will result in far more efficient capital markets and investing services, benefiting all participants.
And through greater trust and efficiency, customers and collaborators are more likely to join your journey and help you grow business long term.
We are an agile, global advisory firm focusing on alternative finance markets.
Our clients are progressive companies and governments positioned for leadership in the evolving world of alternative finance.
We believe fintech must add tangible business value, and be positioned to solve problems or address market opportunities.
We avoid seeking change for the sake of change.
We fast track fintech ®
ALTERNATIVE FINANCE IS AT THE HEART OF OUR GROUP’S ECOSYSTEM
US export finance service
Global donations and rewards crowdfunding
platform
Digital back office for online investing and lending
Platform & metrics to evaluate startups and ecosystems
Data services for alternative finance market
Services to manage real estate investing portfolio
Fund management for crowd investing and p2p lending
Global digital investing aggregator
Finance, hedging and risk management instruments
Trading platform for real, physical commodities
Global leader in fintech innovation and digital finance services
SELECTED GROUP PARTNERS & CLIENT NETWORK
WHY PARTNER WITH GROW ADVISORS?
Inside-out view of alternative finance
(product and capability)
Agile API ecosystem alignment
Large end-to-end
system vendor alignment
Big 4 Advisory
Firms
Our baseline
Our operating philosophy is shaped on the belief that delivering valuable insights and outcomes for clients requires a team of experienced consultants that have hands-on experience at building and launching new business models as well as exposure to different operating environments, opportunities and challenges.
Our differentiators
In order to truly deliver value we excel at thinking differently about our client challenges and the advice we provide. Specifically, we position ourselves around two different perspectives:
• Be entrepreneurial – our starting point when assessing and designing new alternative finance business models is to imagine fintech startups focusing on market opportunities, business threats and customer pain points, and not preserving the status quo. We call this an outside-in view of alternative finance. We challenge clients’ internal thinking to deliver stronger solutions.
We extend the challenge by asking ‘How can traditional finance disrupt itself?’, which leads to our view on solution capabilities:
• Agile API ecosystem solution – we believe world class financial services will be served by harnessing technology via a fast growing and global API ecosystem.
Our end to end approach provides flexibility while lowering integration risks versus in-house initiatives. Significantly, it increases speed, and delivers future-proof solutions, as elements can be adapted or replaced. We fast track fintech ®
Outside-in view of alternative finance
(customer and partner)
We fast track fintech ®
Financial institutions
Large
Growth stage fintech startups to
mid-size organizations
Support Internal Change
Empowering executive teams
Fintech Coach
Fintech Academy
OUR CAPABILITIES AND WHO WE SERVE
Our offerings
Our clients
Equip our clients with relevant and actionable insight on which to plan and execute platform based fintech innovation.
Discovery and decisions
The changing environment
Best practice & learning from others’
mis-steps
Trends and the future of financial services
Strategy development
Address business problems and opportunities
Where to play?
How to win?
How to implement?
Implementation
Develop blueprints
Technology partner selection and coordination
Short-term capability support
Program management
Enable External Change
Support Startup Communities
Economic value
Leading practice legislation
Public Sector Agencies
Government Working Groups
Regulators
Industry Associations and
Media
Financial publications
Seminars, events and round tables
Leading mature markets (e.g. UK, Scandinavia)
Lagging mature markets(e.g. Australia, Japan)
Emerging markets(e.g. India, Turkey, SE Asia)
Our mission
OUR VIEW ON DEVELOPMENTS IN FINTECH TODAY
The growth of alternative finance and marketplaces
At the heart of the change is the efficient flow of capital.Crowdfunding and online lending have shown exponential growth since the first platforms were launched in 2009.
The combined annual capital raised through crowdfunding (including lending) reached US$34 billion in 2015 and is on track to exceed traditional venture capital (VC) fundraising in 2016.
Over the next two to three years, wealth management will undergo transformational change.
Brought about by the growth of total managed assets, online platforms will cater to new and current investor segments. They present tangible business opportunities to organisations investing in relevant solutions today.
An unprecedented increase in middle income investors and HNWI, a growing population is seeking wealth management services for the first time. Technology and platforms will deliver reach, enhanced user experience and value. A rapidly evolving regulatory landscape, aimed at empowering individuals, will support global growth.
Fintech startups pioneered the sector are now being joined by an increasing number of banks and traditional firms. This disruption is driving leaner, more efficient business models that are taking their lead from an ever more discerning public, demanding online services with reduced fees and greater transparency.
APIs - A new approach to sustainable innovation
Fintech goes beyond leveraging technology to transform banking services.
It strikes at banking’s very innovation core & delivery model.In today’s traditional approach, incumbent financial services organisations have built end-to-end capabilities in-house, under one roof. Everything from front-of-house services, such as customer on-boarding, account management and customer advisory, through back-of-house services ranging from risk management, payments, transactions and settlements.
In stark contrast to the traditional approach, tech startups and others are re-creating core financial services from the ground up via licensed APIs (automated programing interface), where features can be scaled, switched on, switched off - and replaced.
The increasingly advanced range of APIs now on offer begs the question - why develop stand alone in-house solutions? From a pure innovation cycle point of view, they offer a credible alternative to acquiring or buying out companies seen as threats to incumbents.
We believe technology and API ecosystems developed around features and services will be the driver for a new wave of financial services.
SUPPORTING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION - STRONG FOUNDATIONS
1. Establishing a baseline
Through interviews with management:
• Understand attitudes toward digital transformation and evaluate current stage
• Gauge appetite for change and attitude towards risk
• Review current business problems and opportunities that could be addressed through fintech
• Set expectations, create a tailored approach
• Frame scope of work
2. Exploring the range of possibilities
Through an interactive workshop:
• Overview of digital transformation, including main drivers and trends
• Introduction to key service areas and possible approaches by banks
• Shallow dives, identifying preliminary opportunity clusters
• Prioritise areas, leading to deep dive session for selected areas
3. Deep dives into prioritised areas
Through an interactive workshop:
• Set objectives
• Prioritising drivers of change, business models - focusing on why banks are and should develop different models vs. fintech startups
• Best practice, trends and examine critical areas.
• Review technology providers and explore collaborative approaches
• Translate features into technology requirements
• Blueprints for future services
Support internal change
Fintech Academy & Fintech Coach
• Develop a series of activities aimed at quick immersions in critical areas, in parallel to overall project development
A SELECTION OF OUR 2016 SUCCESSES
Launch a new crowdfunding service sponsored by the W.E.F.
and Government of Canada
• Launched by WEF at Davos in January 2016, Convergence Finance is a new alternative finance platform which brings together both public and private projects.
• It also caters to institutional investors. The platform runs on technology developed by Grow VC Group companies.
Evaluate a new p2p business for one of northern europe’s largest
banks
• Deep dive sessions with business and technology teams to examine how strategies in online lending and marketplaces could support the bank’s long term business objectives.
• Starting with a long term view on the future of online lending, we continued to execution strategy. This included defining blueprints and evaluating technology partners.
Develop strategies & plans to launch an automated wealth
platform in Japan
• Starting with an extensive review of the client’s digital innovation strategy, we looked at ways platforms could increase transactional volume for the client’s existing payments gateway and e-wallet services.
• Our work resulted in a 5 year roadmap, covering not only automated wealth but also online lending to business. This was validated as a viable long term opportunity that also supported business goals.
Create a series of supporting activities to accelerate digital
transformation in a bank
• We advised our client, a European bank, on a series of fintech immersion activities aimed at senior executives.
• These covered fintech areas including online lending platforms, blockchain, artificial intelligence, automated KYC & AML checks, and others. The objective was to gain buy-in from senior management, in parallel to developing the innovation funnel covering online lending and wealth management.
RECENT THOUGHT PIECES IN FINANCE JOURNALS, BLOGS & EVENTS
Finance Monthly, February 2016Fintech Underpins 4th Industrial Revolution
Keynote Speaker, Finnovasia, Dec 2015API Ecosystem: App Store 2.0 for Enterprise
Finance Monthly, August 2015The rise and rise of fintech
Finance Monthly, May 2016Café Fintech: Serving Up Financial Services
Environmental news, May 2016Brexit threatens UK’s fintech growth
Finance Monthly, November 2015Fintech’s Answer to the Credit Squeeze
OUR GROWING GLOBAL OFFICE NETWORK
James ChristiePartnerBrisbane, [email protected]
Saeed HassanManaging PartnerHong Kong, [email protected]
Jouko AhvenainenAdvisor, Chairman GVC GroupLondon, [email protected]
Michael McDowellBelfast, UK & Ireland
ConsultantMichael McDowell
Suzanne EvansConsultant
New York, New [email protected]
Thibault DanjouPartnerBrussels, [email protected]
Evandro dos Reis Jr.Consultant
Austin, [email protected]
Markus Lampinen[Certified] PartnerSilicon Valley, S.F.
Contact us and find out how we can accelerate your [email protected]
Winner Fintech Firm of the Year 2015 and 2016 by readers and staff at Finance Monthly Magazine.