10Forward is our future-gazing trend report that explores potential scenarios across various industries. In this report, we dive deep into how financial services can evolve and impact society in the next decade. An integral part of the creation of 10Forward was interviewing leaders and changemakers in each of the industries anatomized in 10Forward’s worlds.
We’re kicking off a series of articles sharing insights we gathered from these thought leaders, with the first piece featuring Fabian Vandenreydt, owner of FabianVDR advisory and Head of Products and Partnerships at NowCM. We spoke to Fabian to get his perspectives on how financial services can shape societal outcomes through innovation and evolution.
Fabian Vandenreydt
Fabian Vandenreydt is a seasoned expert in fintech and financial services, with over 30 years of experience spanning strategy, innovation, market and product management within international capital markets. Currently, Fabian serves as Chief Product Officer and Head of Partnerships at NowCM, a European B2B platform for digitalizing debt capital markets. He sits on the advisory board of several European and US fintechs. Fabian’s extensive experience also includes roles as an Industry Partner at Motive Partners, and as a Senior Advisor at the Abu Dhabi Global Market. His career is marked by positions at SWIFT, where he was a Managing Director in charge of Securities markets, Capco and Euroclear. A recognized thought leader, Fabian contributes to various industry bodies and is frequently sought after for his insights on community-level innovation and digital finance transformation.
Fabian believes that financial institutions actively shape societal outcomes. This concept is mirrored in 10Forward, where we explore how the financial sector's influence can lead to both positive and negative societal shifts in our interactive report. Like Fabian, we at Star believe in the power of innovation to drive positive societal change, and we recognize how visionary leadership in the finance sector can help create equitable and prosperous futures.
10Forward worlds
The 10Forward report explores the future of technology through four world scenarios: Ecolysium, Bloomfield, Wastelandia and Neotropia. Each world offers a unique and exaggerated perspective on how technological advancements could shape the future, examining the potential consequences across a range of areas, including the environment, business landscape, consumer behavior and broader societal structures. The methodology behind constructing these worlds relies on analyzing the interplay between two critical axes: levels of technological innovation and prosperity. By using these dimensions as our axes, we can explore a range of futures, from optimistic scenarios where technology and prosperity lift all boats, to cautionary tales where it deepens divides or fails to address fundamental challenges. We used these worlds as a basis for our conversation with Fabian, aiming to connect the present to the future.
Neotropia: The role of financial services in a divided world
In Neotropia, high-tech advancement contrasts starkly with low societal prosperity. This world serves as a cautionary tale about the potential for technology to exacerbate social divides when not guided by principles of equity and inclusivity. Financial services focus on accessible digital banking to bridge economic divides, but battle with risks in data ownership and security.
Fabian argues that the corporate-dominated lending landscape needs to be democratized to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in this scenario. He proposes alternative funding models like private equity and bonds, which offer more tailored support and potential for growth.
Private equity firms can provide not only capital but also active guidance, helping companies navigate the complex business environment. Bonds also represent an untapped opportunity, as investors could find attractive returns in SME debt financing. To further enhance access to capital, Fabian envisions a more inclusive Capital Markets Union that dismantles barriers for SMEs entering the bond market. By embracing these innovative funding models, Neotropia can empower its SMEs and foster a more dynamic and inclusive economy.
AI-driven personal finance assistants are the norm in Neotropia. They aim to tailor advice to individual needs, embedding finance management into daily life. Fabian envisions AI leveraged with customer data and peer benchmarking to offer tailored ideas and proposals, addressing needs customers may not even be aware of. This proactive approach is already emerging today, encompassing cross-selling, upselling and platform banking. By sharing information, bots will be able to communicate with each other, not just with the clients, to create deeper personalization opportunities. However, this transformative potential comes with a crucial caveat: the paramount importance of responsible AI deployment. Customers might not need to see the exact algorithms or specific data used, though they should be able to trust that there are assessments and safeguards in place, enforced by bank regulators, to ensure these AI systems are reliable and secure. While AI offers unparalleled opportunities for personalization and proactive financial management, its integration into financial services must be accompanied by rigorous ethical standards and regulatory oversight to protect consumer confidence and data security.
Ecolysium: Financial services in a green future
Ecolysium paints a utopian future, where technology, the environment and prosperity excel. There is a vibrant tapestry of ecological balance, post-capitalist enthusiasm and a flourishing sense of community. Financial services innovate rapidly while remaining environmentally and socially conscious, with ethical investments and green tech funding.
Fabian opened the discussion with purpose-driven banking, suggesting that banks should focus on micro-segmenting customers based on their life goals rather than traditional metrics like spending habits or demographics. This approach, especially appealing to younger generations, involves understanding what individuals aim to achieve for themselves and those around them. Just like in Ecolysium, green financing can give rise to communal investment collectives, and alliances of individuals and companies could pool their resources, not for mere profit, but to catalyze change. Fabian’s outlook is clear as he states, “I'm an optimist. I think the bigger goal of everyone is to do good. To do good for themselves and to do good for the people. So purpose is important.”
To effectively implement purpose-based segmentation, Fabian explained that banks would need to enrich customer data with sentiment analysis and deeper insights into customer motivations. While current advertising already employs micro-segmentation, applying this strategy to banking with a focus on positive goals could enhance customer loyalty programs. However, achieving a comprehensive view of a customer's wealth is challenging, as individuals often spread their assets across multiple banks and accounts. Open banking and AI could potentially solve this by providing a holistic dashboard of a customer's entire financial landscape, thus helping them optimize their resources for personal and societal benefits.
Fabian’s vision for the financial sector
For a better future, we must embrace differences in user and client preferences in developed and emerging markets. Fabian believes that innovation can and will become more localized, creating opportunities for smaller companies to serve niche markets effectively. Overall, the financial services sector should increasingly align with individuals’ life goals and societal well-being, moving beyond mere wealth management towards a greater good. As Fabian noted, companies are not neutral in how the future pans out – “They create those worlds. It's not as if they inherit those worlds. They are part of the fabric that creates those things, right?”.
At Star, we envision a future where technology, innovation work together to drive personal and societal progress, fostering prosperity and fulfillment for all. As we explore these potential futures, it's essential for financial leaders to consider their organization's impact on shaping a world that benefits society. We invite you to delve into both cautionary scenarios and opportunities for positive change in 10Forward.
