FintekNews is pleased to offer our weekly feature column "3 Questions". Each week, we feature a thought leader within a unique sector of fintech and ask them to answer just 3 questions for our audience in their vernacular. This week, we are pleased to introduce you to Robb Gaynor, Founder & Chief Product Officer for Malauzai, which was incorporated in 2009 in response to the growing demand for a technology company that could provide innovative mobile solutions for community financial organizations. Malauzai provides Consumer, Small Business, Employee SmartApps, SmartwebApps and SmartwearApps that enhance the customer experience for mobile and Internet banking, ultimately resulting in increased value for financial institutions.
NAME: Robb Gaynor
TITLE: Founder & Chief Product Officer
COMPANY: Malauzai
WEB ADDRESS: www.malauzai.com
How did you personally become involved in fintech?
I have split my career between Banking and Technology, first working for banks and broker-dealers on the customer technology side as an analyst and product manager. So I am a financial service guy by training who focused on technology. Then I decided I needed to see how the other half lived, figured software companies MUST be great at developing software, and I could learn a ton so I made the transition to work for software companies selling solutions to banks. Well, in the end software companies are NOT better at development but it was great to make the jump. Being able to represent and understand both sides, the bank and the vendor, has been invaluable for me...
What do you believe the next major innovation in financial technology will be and why?
A focus on and renewed commitment to Customer Experience. Banks need to be as good as the best in customer experience like Apple and Amazon. New FinTech start ups, those companies trying to compete with Banks, are much better at design. They know their competition is the best in class vendors outside of financial services. Banks must be customer experience focused. Not just design or user experience but customer experience, which is a broader view which includes all these elements combining them in to a single consolidated view of the customers entire or TOTAL experience. Banks and the vendors who support them MUST take a lead and make X the focus in the coming 2-3 years. The end result is that customers and members win.
What are the biggest problems facing the fintech industry in the future?
First, I only talk about the FinTech segment of tech companies that SELL to financial services companies NOT the ones who want to become banks and deal directly with consumers. For FinTech players looking to get in to Banking good luck, it ain't easy. As a first wave, it was easy for these players to shave off the profitable niche business of a bank. But this is NOT sustainable.
For true FinTech players who sell software, the big issue is fair competition. It is very difficult for small companies to exist in this business. The large tech companies have onerous practices that make it hard to get into the business. They make it extremely challenging for banks to buy from small innovative companies. This artificial "lock" on the market, makes it hard to compete and innovate. But there is the angle. Big tech companies fail to innovate which is why companies like Malauzai exist and thrive. We innovate where other big companies fail.
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Robb Gaynor heads up the product development and marketing of Malauzai, focused on ensuring the company has solutions at the cutting-edge of mobile innovation. Robb has over 23 years of experience in the financial services industry, having previously served in leadership roles at Union Bank of California, Digital Insight/Intuit, and other large global financial organizations including Swiss Bank Corp, Charles Schwab and Wells Fargo Bank.