Engadin, Switzerland. Courtesy of Delia Ying Xing

In case you missed out on February episodes of Voice of FinTech podcast, here is the monthly recap. You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.

R3 — Enterprise blockchain solutions for corporates and start-ups!

with Yves Guillaume A. Messy in Zurich, Switzerland

Yves Guillaume A. Messy is a Blockchain architect and ecosystem builder at R3, an enterprise blockchain company behind Corda blockchain software. We talk to Yves about what enterprise blockchain means, its relevance for the Financial Services and R3’s recently announced co-operation with the F10 Incubator & Accelerator. In particular, we discuss the suitability of blockchain for enterprise, including privacy, regulation and scalability aspects. Yves explains what he means by the Blockchain 3.0 and outlines growth plans of R3 globally and for the DACH region.

Direct lending for SMEs in Switzerland

with Ghassen Benhadjsalah in Zurich, Switzerland

Ghassen Benhadjsalah, CEO and co-founder of Acredius, is already a serial entrepreneur, based in Switzerland. We talk about direct lending (or P2P lending) in general and then we focus on Swiss SMEs, why this market is an excellent opportunity for both SMEs needing financing and lenders/investors and how it all works and Accredius’ competitive edge vs. other platforms or banks! Ghassen also explains the difference between crowdfunding and crowdlending or direct (P2P) lending. We also talk about the importance of diversification, Ghassen’s team proprietary credit scoring, coverage of the entire Switzerland and strategic partnership helping to manage the risk of the start-up intermediary like Acredius.

The Danube Valley: Vacuum Labs example

with Matej Ftacnik in Bratislava, Slovakia

In this podcast, we talk to Matej Ftacnik, co-founder of Vacuum Labs, based in Bratislava, Slovakia. Vacuum Labs is a FinTech focused software engineering powerhouse with over 200 employees, taking innovations to the market around the world, building neobanks for incumbents in Asia, for example. Matej Ftacnik is the CXO & co-founder of Vacuumlabs, a team of 200+ experts in developing products & services with modern tech stacks. They also organize regular meetups, workshops, hackathons and conferences about advanced front-end technologies. Besides that, Matej loves to travel and see the world, enjoy good food and whiskey, spend time with his great family and meet new people with the wildest personal stories.

Paris FinTech Forum 2020

with Clara Durodie, Susanne Chishti, Emmalyn Shaw and Ian O’Sullivan in Paris, France

Paris FinTech Forum 2020 took place in January 2020. It was a great way to connect with FinTech leaders from over 70 countries, 250+ CEOs, 170+ FinTechs and 2,600+ attendees in Palais Brogniart. These are short interviews from Paris FinTech Forum with:

Clara Durodie, Chair of Cognitive Finance Group, London about the implications of the Artificial Intelligence for the Financial Services (especially the Wealth Management) and her book
Ian O’Sullivan, European Lead of Mastercard Start Path, who explains how Mastercard works with start-ups, helping them to get to market and gain scale, providing services to Mastercard customers and their support of female entrepreneurship
Susanne Chishti CEO of FINTECH Circle & FINTECH Circle Institute, London describes their business angel, education and digital transformation acceleration programs
Emmalyn Shaw, Managing Partner from Flourish Ventures, San Francisco, speaks about global scalability and financial inclusiveness.

You can get Clara Durodie’s book Decoding AI in Financial Services here. Check out also Paytech, the latest book from the FinTech Circle on Amazon.

If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make a podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com.