Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies: Contextual and Conscious Banking (The Wiley Finance Series) 1st Edition

This book will not change your business model or help you create a breakthrough product and service. Unless you start following the recommendations of Paolo Sironi, who is the author of "Banks and Fintech on Platform Economies. Contextual and Conscious Banking" a combination of practical and theoretical insights into the future of the financial sector. I have already once written about the "amazonization" of financial services (click1; click2 - in Polish), which has great potential and is in line with the direction of changes that are taking place in the context of doing business (not only eCommerce) and customer expectations. However, the author of this post went much further and not only inspire but also show the path to contextual and conscious banking.While reading, I wrote down about 100 quotes that seem to be key to understanding Paolo Sironi's message. The author does not make a clear thesis about the future of the banking sector (and certainly does not claim that banks will pass away, as some proponents of decentralized finance claim - click - in Polish). He is rather of the opinion that changes are necessary, not only in the area of infrastructure (legacy systems) but most of all in the area of business models, which should transform from being based on the product (output economy) to focusing on the result (outcome economy). This leads to another observation - in the "new" reality we should focus on people and the value we generate for them. Not only in the context of his experience (user experience), but also in terms of support in everyday life. A human should be in the very center - at every stage of the development of financial products and services.There also appears the notion of the so-called HUMANTECH, which puts a human being at each stage of using technology. Everything that we create using, for example, artificial intelligence or blockchain is just for us.Well, exactly. Should we create products and services here or rather experiences? Paolo Sironi believes that something like hyper-personalization is the only direction. The results of business development should use "artificial intelligence" to learn about customers' expectations (big support here will be the oft-cited concept of open finance, which should start to be realized in the European Union this year) to generate added value. What does this mean? The customer does not want to "buy" a loan for an apartment. He needs support in buying an apartment. The role of the sector is to streamline this process and make it as frictionless as possible. This does not mean that the financial institution should not make money on it.No alt text provided for this imageThis brings us to the concepts of contextual and conscious banking, the meaning of which can be reduced to two issues - the "invisibility" of financial services and the conscious use of finance (and understanding the added value it provides). All of this, however, requires great effort and a real digital transformation, which is not just a technological change, but above all a cultural and competence change. There is also a need for greater openness, both internally (organizations) and externally - for example, regarding openness with the use of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that allow for the creation of truly digital platforms that generate value for basically everyone.Paolo Sironi also draws attention to - for me extremely important - the topic of so-called Financial Markets Transparency, i.e. transparency (for the customer). The author rightly pointed out that the financial services market (especially the investment market) is not predictable and the element of surprise is natural. What does it mean? Any prediction, even the most "accurate" and based on the "best" historical data, will not prepare us for the unexpected. This is why it is so important to show this fact to clients and to do so in the most accessible way possible. Clients need to be aware of the risks but also be aware that they are taking risks that are not always 100% predictable.We also find a clear emphasis on the role of ethics. Paolo Sironi even points out that the involvement of ethics specialists (new technologies) could be a good direction - this postulate I completely support. The use of information (data analytics, big data) and communication (to customers and internally) will be the core of the "new" finance based on hyper-personalization, so ethics will be extremely important. It is a pity that "in our country" there is not yet an approach that takes into account the changing environment, including technology.The recommendations in the book can be used both to create "new" banking, whose innovation is not based on changing the "skin" of a mobile application, but also fintech solutions of a non-banking nature. The advice is universal, although a lot of space is devoted to the transformation of the banking sector, which will have to change in the face of change and the "lurking" of BigTechs. The product-based approach will start to lose its importance, while personalization and the use of different sources of information will become natural.In this context, it is worth noting that the (EU) Digital Strategy for Finance assumes that the tenets of open finance will emerge as early as this year. The European Banking Authority is increasingly looking at the platformization of the sector, and supervisors and regulators see changes on the side of banks and their models. The book sums it up perfectly. Everything contained therein is close to my "professional" heart. If you want to talk about transformation, I encourage you to join the discussion.

The author expertly explains the shift from traditional banking outputs to client-centered outcomes, illustrating how platforms from outside the industry can redefine financial services.Whether you’re a CEO, regulator, fintech entrepreneur, IT, or just interested in the future of finance, this book is packed with actionable insights and strategic foresight. Highly recommended for anyone who wants a comprehensive understanding of the outcome economy and the changing landscape of banking.

I’ve read a lot of books on fintech, banking, technology & leadership over the years ( a lot of good ones) but the one that has had the most impact and challenged me intellectually recently has been Banks And Fintech on Platform Economies by Paolo Sironi. You won’t just read it once that’s for sure. You can’t have my copy, you won’t want it because of all my messy notes on the pages. Tks Paolo

This book provides an interesting view about the evolution of banking and the introduction of concepts like Contextual Banking and Conscious Banking.It brings good practical examples from banks and big techs, and it also has a lot of theoretical thoughts.

We are far from the future of banking. Today's banks are still organized by product and overlapping client sets, generating multiplication of data architectures, product silos, and customer friction.I agree with the author that banks need to reinvent themselves to compete in this world. Great read!

Digitization doesn’t mean putting old wine into new bottles. Beyond simply digitizing products and reducing friction, to succeed in the outcome economies, fintechs must learn to build trust through transparency and engagement, and unlock hidden value in banking.Paolo's new book details the lessons learned from fintech innovation, and a path towards the future of banks and fintechs in the fast-changing digital world. It is a must-read for anyone in financial services and technology.

I hated every second of my life I spent reading this book. I work in the fintech industry and had no idea what the author was talking about half the time. If you are reading books about fintech, chances are it's not for fun, you're trying to learn something. I've been in the industry for years, however I've been more on the client side so I didn't have a lot of knowledge going into the book and the author had no regard for those who consider themselves novice or intermediate when it comes to fintech. Too much technical language, too many examples within a point when one would do, and a lot of start/stopping to look up what he's even talking about. This is for someone who has very in-depth knowledge of the industry and I am not that audience.

The world of Fintech is moving very, very fast. Banks are disrupted by software on all corners: payments, lending, customer service. The experience with any bank is terrible. Without the support of the government they would die of a slow death. Yet the government supports them (somebody has to sell those treasury bonds governments are issuing) and reinsures the mortgages they issue (Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae). No government = their days would be numbered.But you don't get a feel of that existentialist threat throughout the book. The book overall feels like the product of a consulting company. No great idea. Maybe the target reader works at a bank.I was disappointed that the author does not even discuss the changes around DeFi (decentralized finance), crypto and the massive technology advances we have seen in the past 5 years. Yet this is probably the biggest threat to banks and older Fintechs.