Ahead of the Brazilian Open Banking Virtual Summit, we talked to Co-founder of Franq Openbank, Daniel Ferretti about adapting to the new normal, Fintech collaboration and the future of Open Banking in Brazil.
CGG: How has Franq OpenBank pivoted to deal with customer challenges during the Covid-19 crisis?
DF: It was challenging, especially since we were about to ramp up and accelerate growth. We knew the crisis would be very demanding and revenue consuming, especially since 80% of the revenue pool for Fintechs and Banks are bound to credit products, which virtually disappeared overnight. But we didn't pivot, we just adapted our pace to slow down the rate of growth, we reduced costs and reorganized to operate from home. It worked well.
CGG: In your presentation you will be talking about the “New Era of Fintech Collaboration”, what are the top 3 benefits of fintech collaboration and how is Franq Open Bank spearheading this movement in the region?
DF: Collaboration is key to startups, but it can get in your way if you over do it. The main benefit is to gather insights and different views on problems and hypothesis. The second benefit is actually not broadly known, but having to pitch, discuss and present your business makes you improve and organize ideas. It trims your pitch, and makes you always ready for an upcoming opportunity.
The third benefit is to watch people and other businesses grow. People often guard secrets of their startup business, afraid of competition, that most of them don't realize that competition, even if it takes a bite at your solution, is necessary to create new markets, needs and customers. No solution can prevail without a market on its own.
CGG: What’s the next 3-5 years look like for Open Banking in Brazil?
DF: It looks very, very promising. In Brazil we have a closed architecture environment in place, not only because of the presence of 5 major players that withholds 85% of the market, but because customer origination, risk management and onboarding are very demanding and costly. Without shared services, such as a good and reliable credit bureau, open for all players, customers looking for specific products often have to go through a very strict and demanding onboarding process. Open banking will certainly ease this process since you can share and cross check information faster and easier.
So I'm looking forward to traditional banks shifting from a 'one stop shop' architecture to participating in a 'best product wins' architecture. Everybody wins.
CGG: Which session/s are you looking forward to attending at the Brazilian Open Banking Forum and why?
DF: I'm looking forward to attending most of the sessions, but specifically I'm curious about the regulator's point of view. I think Banco Central is prioritizing Open Banking and I would like to see how they see Open Banking in Brazil taking place in the next 6 to 12 months.
For more information about Brazil Open Banking Virtual Forum, to register and to download the agenda: Click Here
About Daniel:
Daniel has more than 15 years of experience working in Marketing, CRM, Channels and Sales for Retail Banks such as Citibank, BNP Paribas, Sicredi and Santander.
In Sicredi, as CMO and Head of Online Channels he led the expansion of the brand to become a national retail banking operation, and kickstarted the digitization process by launching the Digital Banking App. After that he joined Santander as Head of CRM, Digital Channels & Big Data to promote use of data and analytics for real time digital iterations with customers, digital acquisition for current accounts and credit cards.
He co-founded Franq Openbank with 3 partners in 2019, a two-sided marketplace that connects banks, fintechs and financial institutions with agents and former bank branch staff to distribute products and services in a digital way using open banking.
About Franq Openbank:
There are already more than 500 fintechs in Brazil, while traditional banks are still migrating to digital service at a slow pace. This revolution is great for the consumer, but it also creates new barriers. If before choosing financial products was a complex task, now, with so many options and without technical and independent recommendations, it is practically impossible.
In addition, bank branches are full of talented, experienced professionals with extensive knowledge in the financial market, but who are being reduced to a mere calculating machine, performing repetitive tasks on a daily basis and with their vast wasted technical knowledge. All this knowledge could be applied in a more profitable way, in solving problems and structuring financial operations that are advantageous for your client.
In this context, Franq Openbank was born, with the objective of taking advantage of all the experience of these professionals and allowing them to return to work independently, helping people to make better and better choices.