Any Company Can Offer Financial Services

“Now, we would expect this innovation to come from startups, to come from existing financial services institutions. But a great majority of it, I think, will come from companies that are adding financial services for the very first time,” says Angela Strange, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, a California-based major venture capital firm that has invested in multiple crypto-related companies, including Coinbase, and Maker, and is a founding member of the Libra Association.

The first wave of fintech companies a decade ago proved that we don’t need physical locations for banking. Now, the next wave is unlocking the remaining infrastructure for building better financial services: banking licenses, payment processors, regulatory compliance, and so on. Because startups (and incumbents) can now draw on these APIs and more, they can create better products that help many, many more people. It also means that any company could become a financial services company… imagine banking with your favorite brand!

Highlights
The fintech trends transforming the infrastructure of banking [0:59]
Where we are in banking today; the current state of financial services [1:44]
Angela outlines the problems with modern financial services [2:43]
Drawing parallels between the process of software development and the current problems in financial services [3:47]
Definition of “AWS phase” of financial services [4:30]
How Uber and Lyft are integrating banking services into their business model [6:17]
Why the “as a service” trend is reaching the banking industry now [7:24]
Angela analyzes the banking stack and shares what it takes to start a bank [7:41]
How to build a financial planning app [9:05]
Current on trend apps: Plaid as a case study [10:06]
Current on trend apps: Synapse as a case study [11:03]
Angela examines regulation in banking and our current approach to anti-money laundering [12:44]
Current on trend apps: Comply Advantage as a case study [14:29]
Current on trend apps: Sentilink as a case study [16:30]

(This video was published on January 21 of 2020).