The future of lending: Small is beautiful

Geezeo CEO Shawn Ward is heading to Nashville, TN to the NAFCU Strategic Growth Conference where he’ll be presenting as well as moderating a panel discussion with Adele Glenn from Credit Human on March 6. Before he left, we had a chance to ask him a few questions on what he sees as the next phase of mobile-first and data enrichment as they start to make real inroads into the digital financial management space.

Here’s what he had to say:

Geezeo: Traditionally, lending was the sole dominion of financial institutions. But that seems to be shifting in a significant way from traditional FIs to fintech firms. Is this the primary danger fintech represent to FIs?

SW: I don’t see this as a danger as much as an opportunity. Fintech may have taken swifter advantage of the technology that is available to them in the short term, but FIs, especially community banks and credit unions, still have important qualities they can use technology to enhance.

The relationship between FIs and fintech can be very synergistic, rather than parasitic.

My point is, fintech is not the enemy of FIs. At Geezeo, for example, we see our role as facilitator, not competitor. As a tech partner, not a challenger. We use our tech strengths to help our partners leverage their fundamental strengths, so they can build a better experience for their customers. We’re not about stealing market share, but growing it for our partners.

 

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