Fintech Firms Putting
Pressure on Banks
Following NextBank Barcelona, Devie Monhan wrote a great piece about how banks are investing in FinTech, part of which jumped out at me:
“The FinTech firms are putting more pressure on banks to innovate and launch customer-centric offerings, and investing in FinTechs to build these offerings is another way banks have responded to the increased pressure.”
With Devie’s idea as a point of departure, this post explores the nitty gritty of how banks and FinTechs actually work together once the deal is signed & sealed.
Do the worlds of finance and tech collide or gel when it comes to getting things delivered? Are there certain aspects of FinTech at which banks are more adept? And when should FIs watch and learn, letting their tech partners do the groundwork?
From Your Problem
to Great Solution
Good project management practices can also speed up iteration and decrease time-to-market. Be realistic in planning an achievable project by making sure it’s properly phased. Instead of pushing dates into a million-row Excel spreadsheet, classic project management techniques like critical path calculations, capacity-based scheduling, risk analysis, etc. can help even when developing agile FinTech projects.
1. Project Definition
This can take the form of bank-led workshops with FinTech vendors, focus groups, product reviews and market research campaigns. The key takeaway here is to resist the pressure to start running toward the idea of launching and do the big dreaming and out-of-the-box thinking at the beginning, not the end when launch is imminent!
2. Project Scope
For example, thanks to the agile scrum methodology, Deutsche Bank was able to implement its PFM (FinanzPlaner) in just four months: an unprecedented speed for PFM deployment.
Most of the time, some kind of hybrid approach ends up happening. In a few weeks, another European bank will release its new PFM service also only 4 months after kick-off, following an agile-waterfall model, but with a clear definition of scope upfront.
But working together with a FinTech partner can help banks shift to agile, and enable them to lead the digital transformation that's happening in finance.
3. Multi-Skilled
4. Prototyping
When it comes to critical path identification, project managers will be familiar with what's known as the Iron Triangle of project management: balancing scope, schedule and cost. But another central element must be present, and that is ensuring that efforts in all 3 points culiminate to satisfy the customer journey you defined earlier on.
5. Solution Testing
What usually happens (again) is some kind of hybrid approach. Banks will say: "OK, we want to buy, but we also need you to build X, Y and Z features from scratch." We all know how important it is to try before you buy, but remember to try before you decide to make!
Sometimes the latter can't be avoided, which leads us to the 6th key...
6. Accelerate
Good project management practices can also speed up iteration and decrease time-to-market. Be realistic in planning an achievable project by making sure it's properly phased. Instead of pushing dates into a million-row Excel spreadsheet, classic project management techniques like critical path calculations, capacity-based scheduling, risk analysis, etc. can help even when developing agile FinTech projects.
6. Moving Along
The main message here is that as banks shift to agile, good project management practices are not only compatible with but essential to the agile approach. These 7 keys summarize my experience as a manager of FinTech projects, especially within the core banking sector, over more than 15 years. As COO at Woohoo Pay I am actively involved in a growing number of implementations across the globe. What I see is that these recommendations are applicable to any financial institution no matter its size, geographical location or budget.
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