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Meet Mambu, the SaaS cloud banking platform powering financial innovators everywhere.

Mambu

SaaS cloud banking platform

The digital conference centred on the important topic of how technology can be used to increase access and build new services for customers. Learn more about the takeaways in part one of the Q&A series below or 

 What are the big changes you’re seeing in the banking industry right now?

 There is a clear decline in the issuing of new banking licences. There is also less risk capital available for the whole fintech space due to the macroeconomic environment. Additionally, large incumbent banks are increasing interest rates and are in much better shape than before, so they’re often spinning up their own fintechs or spinoffs and stepping in that direction.

 Yes, we’re seeing this interconnected ecosystem of incumbent banks and new fintechs starting to grow together. You mentioned interest rates, what are some of the other specific changes that have happened in the past year?

 Banks came to the realisation that they must do something, meaning they must move much faster away from legacy systems to better serve the demands of their end customers. Demands from customers have changed, due to our situation in the past years with the pandemic. Banks see a need to accelerate to be more agile.

 When we talk about the acceleration caused by the pandemic, what is the measurement of that change? The banking and FI industry has experienced a lot of change in the past year, but how many years have we shaved off in the shift to digital?

Werner Knoblich

 People are more sensitive to what’s happening to their money. The time spent at home from the pandemic created much more demand, for instance we see this with wealth management. With zero interest on checking or deposit accounts, people realised they want to get smarter about their finances. This generates new demand, and banks and FIs need to find a way to serve this. As a result, there comes the acceleration of the need to deliver digital services much faster to end customers. The pressure is on, and also loyalty to incumbent banks is only decreasing.

 There are a lot of technological changes affecting people’s lives that come from other industries: online shopping, children’s schooling. How is the banking sector keeping pace with these new technologies in our lives?

: Very clearly, not fast enough. The reality is that the legacy core migrations are so difficult, and the situations the banks got themselves into makes it so they can’t move in an agile way. They’ve built up these monsters over decades with data centres that make it very hard to deliver something new and are inflexible. They’ve come to the realisation that they cannot easily migrate gigantic monoliths to a new system.

: Not too long ago, I had a conversation with a Fortune 100 bank, and they put the demand on us to state in their contract that they’re not allowed to customise the software. With Mambu, this is actually not necessary as we're SaaS-based, but the point is that they tried to protect themselves from falling into the trap of what they did in the past. The question is: how do they get out of it? A mass migration will take decades, so they need to see how they can chip away. Today's financial institutions need to provide new offerings without relying so heavily on IT resources. Product managers should be able to build something without needing developers to create these products. 

Learn more about Mambu's composable approach to banking and lending 

 or stay tuned for part two of the Q&A series.

Q&A with The Banker: Big scale migrations and the accelerated need to digitise

In the long term if there was any uncertainty to the need to be flexible, agile and customer-centric in the design of financial products: that has been clearly answered and the expectations for the future set.

The world is collectively grappling with what this global pandemic means for us — as humans first, but also as professionals. There is no playbook for times like these, but it’s very clear that the pressure on the banking system is growing and the pace of change is unlike one ever seen before. All institutions need to be ready to rapidly evolve to streamline their operations and be able to bring the right products to the right customers at unprecedented speed. Everyone must be able to act fast, because the financial market may look very different in six months. And they need to be ready.

The ability to move quickly and be agile is now a priority. We are more fortunate than most in being able to support both our employees and customers through this period as this is innately part of how Mambu was built. As a geographically dispersed team, lockdown measures in place in most countries in which we have employees, did not adversely impact the business as our teams are equipped to work from home without any interruption.

This ability to work from anywhere particularly in this period, lets us continue to help our customers. With millions unable to work, governments supported by banks and financial institutions are helping consumers cope with the financial impact by implementing measures like payment holidays and delayed interest payments.  This is where the ability to be agile and flexible, and work in a dynamic environment is vital. Working remotely but collaboratively, our developers and engineers have been able to 

brainstorm solutions and roll it out to customers quickly.

COVID-19 will have a transformative effect across societies, economics and offices. It is a health crisis first and foremost that has shaken the world but the tremors have been  felt in every aspect of life, highlighting the need to be able to adapt, rapidly.

As market dynamics keep on changing, both fintech and traditional financial institutions have a chance now to have a tremendous positive impact on the lives of their customers. In the long-term they can choose to embrace the new world based on rapid evolution, of partnership and of modern technology or modern ways of working, or continue on the old paths which will see them unable to adapt when needed most.

We have often commented that the true path to success for any venture is a combination of people, processes, culture and technology. We have lived and breathed this philosophy over the past few weeks and have proven its efficacy.  For other fintechs and financial institutions, the right decisions and adapting this mix will help guide their path and prepare them for the very different time that lies ahead of us.

Mambuvian on rooftop

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Embrace the new world and set a new standard

Wondering how Mambu can help you get products to market faster, improve your business agility and elevate your customer experience?

We have all that covered in our live demo session. Join us as we walk through the Mambu platform, tour the partner ecosystem and show you why Mambu is the only true SaaS platform trusted by hundreds of financial businesses around the world.

Join us as we walk through the Mambu platform, tour the partner ecosystem and we can show you why Mambu is the only true SaaS platform trusted by hundreds of financial businesses around the world.