FintekNews is pleased to offer the 10th installment of 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 Michael Carter, Chief Market Analyst with D3 Banking, a digital analytics and data services firm which helps banks design user experiences for their consumers and small business customers. 

Michael Carter
Chief  Market Analyst
D3 Bankiing
www.d3banking.com

How did you personally become involved in fintech?

My 25-year fintech career began at ACI where I held positions that involved managing product development,  marketing and customer support in our EMEA subsidiary.  I managed corporate communications and investor relations plus served as a managing director and COO for two of the companies we acquired. I’ve served as CMO for global operations at S1, and  co-founded  Prairie Cloudware, a digital payments company.

I came to work for D3 Banking when we were just  14 people with a common goal, sharing office space with three other companies.  Today we are over 100 employees strong with 1.5 million users on our product and are proud to serve leading financial instituions such as Arvest Bank, First Tennessee Bank and IBERIABANK, among  others.  Of all the areas of the industry I have worked in, digital banking services and solutions remains my favorite  because each day is exciting. You never quite know what consumers are going to want next, and they control the digital power.

What does your firm do/offer within the fintech sector?

D3 Banking reduces the cost and complexity of digital banking by providing a scalable single code base solution for consumers and small businesses that can be accessed via laptops, smartphones, tablets and wearables.  We were the first to use responsive web design in a scalable transactional environment to deliver a consistent user experience. With the power of data in mind, we pioneered a style of money movement/payment services  that enables financial institutions to control the user experience and data, rather than passing it off to third parties, ultimately better serving customers with a simplified and more functional experience.  Our solution leverages a powerful, proven analytics engine to deliver value-added financial management tools to consumers and small businesses while providing financial institutions with the ability to use this information to personalize their product and service offerings.

What area/s of fintech do you believe will grow the most in the coming 5 years?

There is a large replacement cycle underway in the U.S. banking sector that will stretch beyond the next five years.  Legacy online banking systems and first/second generation mobile banking solutions are being retired in favor of modern platform solutions that lower cost and complexity while providing a consistent, personalized user experience across all digital channels. To successfully compete, financial insitutions must take a risk and partner with these younger, more nimble fintech companies that can provide the digitally advanced experience consumers have come to expect.

(In fact), consumers using digital devices now compare all experiences, even interactions with their financial institutions, to the experiences they have with Amazon, Apple, Google and other tech giants. That means banks and credit unions are not just competing in the digital space, but rather with every company the consumer interacts with in their digital lives.

I anticipate the battle for these replacements (of legacy online banking and mobile banking system) to be fierce and to involve U.S.-based companies as well as challengers from the international scene.  D3 Banking has completed two of the largest replacements of legacy systems in recent history, involving migrating 600,000 users and 400,000 users, respectivley. 

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Michael Carter has more than two decades of executive technology leadership experience in the fintech industry, ranging from early-stage start-ups to international organizations. He now serves as chief market analyst of D3 Banking, a leading innovator in data driven digital™ banking, where he leads marketing and business development efforts for the company.