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’d like to introduce you to Tony Battista of tastytrade - a real financial network, producing 8 hours of live programming every weekday, Monday - Friday. Their experts navigate the markets, provide actionable trading insights, and help people take their trading to the next level, whether you are new to trading or a seasoned veteran.

NAME:

Tony Battista

TITLE:

Co-host

COMPANY:

tastytrade

WEB ADDRESS:

https://www.tastytrade.com/

How did you personally get involved in fintech?

After 20 plus years on the trading floor, I could see certain developments in the industry where the emphasis on technology was becoming bigger and more widespread. Fintech isn’t just about the back end trade processing and complex order routing. It’s also about client-facing interface development and content creation. My knowledge base in derivatives trading rather than computers or IT was still applicable to the latter. I first got involved with thinkorswim, the top-rated trading platform for the individual investor, on the software development side. Then made the jump to content on the fastest-growing online financial media platform, tastytrade. Both jobs rely on my experience as a trader.

What do you believe the next innovation in fintech will be and why?

Fintech is ultimately driven by customer demand. And the democratization of finance is placing more of the decision-making process about investment accounts, savings accounts, credit accounts, insurance accounts, etc directly in the hands of individuals without traditional intermediaries like bankers and brokers. That customer demand will express itself first in client-centric financial products taking the place of institutional products sold to individuals. Those products will be smaller sized accounts, highly divisible contract sizes, and tools that seamlessly integrate the various parts of the individual’s financial picture into one, powerful but friendly interface.

What are the biggest problems facing the fintech industry in the future?

The biggest problems in fintech in the future will be the same ones in the past. Large financial institutions where the decision makers and technologists are separated by many layers from the client do not satisfy customer demand. The result is that customers get fintech that isn’t as advanced as the other pieces of technology in their life. The solution is to collapse and eliminate the layers between decision-makers and individual customers. That’s what we do at tastytrade, where we interact with our clients as we deliver ground-breaking content, and at tastyworks, where client ideas for the trading platform are turned into software in one or two release cycles.

Tony Host is Co-host of tastytrade LIVE, 25 year CBOE Market Maker