Name: Better banking for the future
Uploaded: 2022-09-28T17:10:45.690Z
Duration: 595.3
Description: In less than a decade banking has changed beyond recognition. For many, the local branch has been replaced by an app and neo banks now compete with the big, high street names for customer loyalty. Theodora Lau's work focuses on developing financial ecosystems to better meet the needs of all customers. So what does she see as the opportunities and challenges facing banking in the next 10 years?

theo teaser2.mp4

Theo Lau last version.vtt

English

{{00:00:00}}
Theodora Lau: I would love a little
bit more focus on helping people to

{{00:00:03}}
get to financial security and whatever
aspirations they have in the future.

{{00:00:16}}
Jordan Thorne: I'd love to know sort
of from you, what are some of the

{{00:00:18}}
challenges and the opportunities for
banks in the next maybe two, five and 10.

{{00:00:23}}
Theodora Lau: Wow, I need a crystal ball.

{{00:00:24}}
Right.

{{00:00:25}}
As we always say, there is never a dull
moment in the la la land of FinTech.

{{00:00:30}}
I think as much as there are a lot
of new things around the market,

{{00:00:35}}
there is still a lot of opportunities
that we still need to address.

{{00:00:39}}
So a lot of things I get very, very
excited about is around financial

{{00:00:44}}
inclusion, for example, how do we expand
services to more in our society, the

{{00:00:50}}
immigrants, women, small businesses,
entrepreneurs, as well as people who

{{00:00:55}}
are recently released from prisons.

{{00:00:58}}
There are a lot of different
assets that we don't think about.

{{00:01:02}}
LGBTQ communities, for example needs that
they have beyond just movement of money.

{{00:01:08}}
So I'm excited with a lot of the
development that's been happening in

{{00:01:12}}
our spaces,  start to address those.

{{00:01:14}}
And then the other area I get really
happy about is the focus on ESG.

{{00:01:19}}
It's still a fairly new space.

{{00:01:22}}
We're trying to figure out, you know, what
data we need, what data we can even trust,

{{00:01:25}}
and how do we compare apple to apple.

{{00:01:28}}
But I like that there is more
awareness that financial services

{{00:01:32}}
has a role to play in terms of
creating a more sustainable society.

{{00:01:36}}
Now the question is: what do we need
and what can we provide to consumers to

{{00:01:42}}
empower them to make a better choice?

{{00:01:44}}
Jordan Thorne: What are some
of the technologies and maybe

{{00:01:45}}
some of the solutions that
banks should be considering?

{{00:01:49}}
Theodora Lau: So my passion area is AI.

{{00:01:51}}
There is a lot of things we can do
with artificial intelligence with just

{{00:01:55}}
starting to explore what can be done.

{{00:01:57}}
So in the last few years, we
see a lot of applications of

{{00:02:01}}
AI in terms of conversational.

{{00:02:04}}
Or helping bankers do their work a
little bit better and faster, but

{{00:02:08}}
there's a whole lot more we can do.

{{00:02:10}}
One of the examples I love to give
is around how we live and how we work

{{00:02:16}}
has changed and how we are living
much longer than how we used to.

{{00:02:20}}
So I'll give you a couple
of interesting facts.

{{00:02:22}}
Since the early 1900, we are
living in extra 30 years.

{{00:02:27}}
When people start thinking
about that, Oh my God, what

{{00:02:30}}
am I doing for extra 30 years?

{{00:02:33}}
If we pause for a second, that
means that we have extra time

{{00:02:36}}
to explore what we wanna do.

{{00:02:39}}
We are not confined to going to
school, starting a job, starting

{{00:02:45}}
a family, and now we can do.

{{00:02:48}}
More multi-stage.

{{00:02:50}}
We see more people starting companies
later in their, in the year.

{{00:02:55}}
You know, one of the fastest
growing group of entrepreneurs

{{00:02:58}}
are those in their forties.

{{00:03:00}}
And same with me.

{{00:03:01}}
And then when you start thinking
about, well, I'm doing different

{{00:03:05}}
things differently, I'm working
differently, my parents are also

{{00:03:09}}
living longer, I'm having kids later.

{{00:03:12}}
So that means, my financial life is also
getting more complex because every single

{{00:03:17}}
thing that I do impact the other choices.

{{00:03:21}}
When we are no longer doing
things in silo, then we need help.

{{00:03:24}}
We need help figuring out what is the best
course of action, what do we need to do?

{{00:03:28}}
I like to link link it to a financial gps.

{{00:03:32}}
Back a long time ago, we
used to have paper maps.

{{00:03:34}}
You print it out and you have to figure
out going from A to B as one route.

{{00:03:38}}
But now we get into the
car, we don't even think.

{{00:03:41}}
You punch in the destination and you trust
the algorithm giving you the best choice,

{{00:03:47}}
alternative choices, or making your own
choice based on the data that you get.

{{00:03:52}}
I would love for us to get
there with financial services.

{{00:03:55}}
Jordan Thorne: What are the ways that
banks can become more agile and flexible

{{00:03:58}}
like startups when it comes to decision
making and the implementation cycles?

{{00:04:03}}
Theodora Lau: Culture, culture, culture.

{{00:04:05}}
I always say that word a lot.

{{00:04:08}}
It's a lot to do with culture and mindset.

{{00:04:12}}
At the end of the day,
financial institutions are an

{{00:04:14}}
important role in our society.

{{00:04:16}}
It has a big role of money, making
sure that we are safe and sound.

{{00:04:21}}
So I get that.

{{00:04:22}}
We need processes, we need to be careful.

{{00:04:24}}
We need to check who we're serving
and there who they say they are.

{{00:04:29}}
Things are also changing around us, right?

{{00:04:30}}
With or without us, things
are going to keep moving.

{{00:04:33}}
So I, I think first and
foremost is understanding that

{{00:04:37}}
innovation is everyone's job.

{{00:04:40}}
It's not a chief innovation officer
is not CEOs, it's not CTO is everyone.

{{00:04:44}}
So we need that mindset to embrace
change in a way that we don't

{{00:04:49}}
punish people who wanna change.

{{00:04:51}}
And we allow ourselves a little
bit of wiggle room to try and

{{00:04:57}}
change and feel and then try again.

{{00:04:59}}
I think that that is important.

{{00:05:01}}
Jordan Thorne: That's, I
think, incredibly true.

{{00:05:03}}
And you know, within the involving
with the evolving digital environment,

{{00:05:08}}
criminals are adopting sort of more
complex strategies and financial

{{00:05:13}}
crime has become very sophisticated.

{{00:05:15}}
So how are banks detecting fraud
effectively, and what should their

{{00:05:20}}
first priority be in terms of
cyber crime detection investment?

{{00:05:24}}
Theodora Lau: You're going to that.

{{00:05:26}}
We think about digital, we
think about cyber security.

{{00:05:28}}
I would say the first thing is humans.

{{00:05:30}}
That is the first thing.

{{00:05:32}}
I think we need to, we need to
make sure we train the people

{{00:05:35}}
who work with the systems.

{{00:05:36}}
Cuz if you think about how a lot
of fosters they gain access to

{{00:05:41}}
systems is through manipulating the
humans that are behind the machines.

{{00:05:44}}
So I think first and
foremost is make sure that.

{{00:05:47}}
We know and we get the tools in
the hands of people who are doing

{{00:05:51}}
the critical jobs that this is
what we need to watch out for.

{{00:05:54}}
That was an interesting
sta I saw the other day.

{{00:05:56}}
I literally just just saw that it
says for every dollar in fraud laws,

{{00:06:01}}
it costs us financial firms $4.

{{00:06:05}}
Imagine that.

{{00:06:06}}
So I think upfront
investment is important.

{{00:06:09}}
There was a keynote session that I heard
this morning  with Rupesh from AT&T  . He

{{00:06:14}}
said that you cannot do digitization
without thinking about security.

{{00:06:19}}
Otherwise, it's a nightmare.

{{00:06:20}}
And that is very, very true.

{{00:06:22}}
It cannot be an afterthought.

{{00:06:23}}
It needs to be built  into the first day
of whatever we are doing and whatever

{{00:06:28}}
systems we're designing and implementing.

{{00:06:30}}
Jordan Thorne: Yeah, that makes sense.

{{00:06:31}}
And for the smaller, more local banks
and the smaller fintechs, how can they

{{00:06:36}}
catch and compete with some of the larger
banks that are more security mature?

{{00:06:40}}
Theodora Lau: You know, that's
a very interesting question.

{{00:06:42}}
There are so many ways you can look at it.

{{00:06:44}}
I like to say that when you are
smaller, you actually serving

{{00:06:48}}
a very specific community.

{{00:06:50}}
Your needs also very different and
you know, sometimes a little more

{{00:06:53}}
specialized in niche, it makes it
a little bit easier in that sense.

{{00:06:57}}
And what I love about local and
communities is, There's a sense of you

{{00:07:03}}
are closer to the people that you serve,
You understand their needs much better.

{{00:07:08}}
And I'm hopeful that that actually
sets them up for a better way to not

{{00:07:13}}
only address all of the challenges
comes, but also create better

{{00:07:17}}
opportunities to serve the communities.

{{00:07:19}}
Jordan Thorne: So, you know, the amount
of data that is kind of being acquired

{{00:07:24}}
and built up will continue to over the
coming years and the integrity of data.

{{00:07:28}}
We'll continue to sort of
be a potential problem.

{{00:07:31}}
So what do you think about the virtual
experience of banks and will they

{{00:07:35}}
operate in the metaverse or totally
go digital in the coming years?

{{00:07:40}}
Theodora Lau: That is the
question of the year, isn't it?

{{00:07:42}}
Isn't everywhere you go people
are asking about metaverse?

{{00:07:47}}
I don't have a crystal ball
to see what the future would

{{00:07:49}}
be with regards to Metaverse.

{{00:07:51}}
I think we are so early in, in the
journey, think about early 1990s,

{{00:07:58}}
when we think about internet, nobody
could imagine how the internet would

{{00:08:02}}
evolve to the internet we have today,
and it's the same with Metaverse.

{{00:08:06}}
There are a lot of different building
blocks that we need to have in place.

{{00:08:11}}
First and foremost is
think about value prop.

{{00:08:14}}
What are we delivering to
people and what attract them

{{00:08:16}}
to the quote unquote metaverse?

{{00:08:19}}
Right now, Metaverses is very
focused on gaming aspects

{{00:08:22}}
and social aspects of things.

{{00:08:24}}
Even when banks are trying to
play in the space, so to speak.

{{00:08:29}}
I think more just feeling to
see, you know, if we put this in

{{00:08:32}}
there, how would people react?

{{00:08:34}}
And at the end of day take, I always
tell people, take a step back and

{{00:08:38}}
look at what are the needs, what
are people looking for, right?

{{00:08:41}}
Are we going, is that going to be
a way for us to march The digital

{{00:08:45}}
and the physical,  I would like

{{00:08:47}}
for that to be like that.

{{00:08:48}}
But to get there, we have to give
them something more than, Hey,

{{00:08:52}}
here's just an other means to bank.

{{00:08:54}}
Cause I don't think that will
be interesting for people.

{{00:08:57}}
So I think first and foremost is
to spend the next two, three years.

{{00:09:01}}
Looking at what it is that people
looking for, Not just experience

{{00:09:04}}
perspective, but services.

{{00:09:06}}
What do we lack?

{{00:09:07}}
What do we need?

{{00:09:08}}
Right now there's a lot of NFTs
so you know, you can look at it

{{00:09:11}}
from a, from a arts perspective,
a lot of the drill arts potential.

{{00:09:15}}
But can we transact from
one metaverse to the other?

{{00:09:19}}
Right now it's closed.

{{00:09:20}}
If it's open, perhaps it can
deliver more value props.

{{00:09:23}}
So a lot more questions
than we need to answer.

{{00:09:25}}
Jordan Thorne: Great.

{{00:09:26}}
That's really, really interesting.

{{00:09:28}}
I'm excited to sort of see if some
of the things you've talked about and

{{00:09:30}}
predicted we will see in the future.

{{00:09:33}}
So thank you the so much
for sitting down with us.

{{00:09:35}}
It's been an absolute pleasure.

{{00:09:36}}
Theodora Lau: Thank you
so much for having me.

{{00:09:37}}
Thank you.

Theodora Lau: I would love a little
bit more focus on helping people to

get to financial security and whatever
aspirations they have in the future.

Jordan Thorne: I'd love to know sort
of from you, what are some of the

challenges and the opportunities for
banks in the next maybe two, five and 10.

Theodora Lau: Wow, I need a crystal ball.

As we always say, there is never a dull
moment in the la la land of FinTech.

I think as much as there are a lot
of new things around the market,

there is still a lot of opportunities
that we still need to address.

So a lot of things I get very, very
excited about is around financial

inclusion, for example, how do we expand
services to more in our society, the

immigrants, women, small businesses,
entrepreneurs, as well as people who

There are a lot of different
assets that we don't think about.

LGBTQ communities, for example needs that
they have beyond just movement of money.

So I'm excited with a lot of the
development that's been happening in

And then the other area I get really
happy about is the focus on ESG.

We're trying to figure out, you know, what
data we need, what data we can even trust,

But I like that there is more
awareness that financial services

has a role to play in terms of
creating a more sustainable society.

Now the question is: what do we need
and what can we provide to consumers to

Jordan Thorne: What are some
of the technologies and maybe

some of the solutions that
banks should be considering?

There is a lot of things we can do
with artificial intelligence with just

So in the last few years, we
see a lot of applications of

Or helping bankers do their work a
little bit better and faster, but

One of the examples I love to give
is around how we live and how we work

has changed and how we are living
much longer than how we used to.

So I'll give you a couple
of interesting facts.

Since the early 1900, we are
living in extra 30 years.

When people start thinking
about that, Oh my God, what

If we pause for a second, that
means that we have extra time

We are not confined to going to
school, starting a job, starting

We see more people starting companies
later in their, in the year.

You know, one of the fastest
growing group of entrepreneurs

And then when you start thinking
about, well, I'm doing different

things differently, I'm working
differently, my parents are also

So that means, my financial life is also
getting more complex because every single

thing that I do impact the other choices.

When we are no longer doing
things in silo, then we need help.

We need help figuring out what is the best
course of action, what do we need to do?

I like to link link it to a financial gps.

Back a long time ago, we
used to have paper maps.

You print it out and you have to figure
out going from A to B as one route.

But now we get into the
car, we don't even think.

You punch in the destination and you trust
the algorithm giving you the best choice,

alternative choices, or making your own
choice based on the data that you get.

I would love for us to get
there with financial services.

Jordan Thorne: What are the ways that
banks can become more agile and flexible

like startups when it comes to decision
making and the implementation cycles?

It's a lot to do with culture and mindset.

At the end of the day,
financial institutions are an

It has a big role of money, making
sure that we are safe and sound.

We need processes, we need to be careful.

We need to check who we're serving
and there who they say they are.

Things are also changing around us, right?

With or without us, things
are going to keep moving.

So I, I think first and
foremost is understanding that

It's not a chief innovation officer
is not CEOs, it's not CTO is everyone.

So we need that mindset to embrace
change in a way that we don't

And we allow ourselves a little
bit of wiggle room to try and

Jordan Thorne: That's, I
think, incredibly true.

And you know, within the involving
with the evolving digital environment,

criminals are adopting sort of more
complex strategies and financial

So how are banks detecting fraud
effectively, and what should their

first priority be in terms of
cyber crime detection investment?

We think about digital, we
think about cyber security.

I think we need to, we need to
make sure we train the people

Cuz if you think about how a lot
of fosters they gain access to

systems is through manipulating the
humans that are behind the machines.

So I think first and
foremost is make sure that.

We know and we get the tools in
the hands of people who are doing

Trend

In less than a decade banking has changed beyond recognition. For many, the local branch has been replaced by an app and neo banks now compete with the big, high street names for customer loyalty. Theodora Lau's work focuses on developing financial ecosystems to better meet the needs of all customers. So what does she see as the opportunities and challenges facing banking in the next 10 years?

Innovation

Banking

Banking innovation

AI fintech

thumbnail_Theo-Lau-2--iVBORw0KGg-f2b2d4f05053541705b09d29709b40b9-f2b2d4f05053541705b09d29709b40b9.png

xsmall_Theo-Lau-2--iVBORw0KGg-f2b2d4f05053541705b09d29709b40b9-f2b2d4f05053541705b09d29709b40b9.png

Theo-Lau-2--iVBORw0KGg-f2b2d4f05053541705b09d29709b40b9-f2b2d4f05053541705b09d29709b40b9.png

Theodora Lau

Founder  

Lau talks about the role of financial services in creating a more sustainable society, in particular in terms of financial inclusion and ESG.


Opportunities in the next decade

Lau explains how living longer means people's financial lives are more complex than ever. New technology can help create strategies to live better.

The role of AI 

If banks want to be truly agile Lau says they need to understand that innovation is everyone's job. 

Innovation culture

Lau discuss the importance of training in cyber security. An awareness of the issue needs to be built into every step of the process.

Getting ahead of cyber criminals

It's unclear what role the metaverse will have in banking - it shouldn't be just another way to bank. Lau argues that the first step should be trying to understand what people are looking for, but failing to find in the way they bank.