The future of fintech millennials

Last week, we welcomed 80 audience members into our offices for a discussion on fintech and millennials, as part of our partnership with Fintech for Good.

The audience was treated to a spirited discussion on the future of financial services, with our panel chaired by Max Kalis, Senior Strategist at Start Design.

We kicked off with Max Rofagha, CEO of Finimize, who focused on his company’s mission to help millennials navigate the world of finance. He explained how Finimize’s community-first approach has enabled its rapid growth, and discussed its overall ambition of empowering people to take control of their finances. PR was an essential tool in growing their audience-led product.

Gibran Registe-Charles, founder and CEO of Cap:Ratio, brought a very different angle. He began his presentation with some harsh reminders of the stark wealth disparity in London and questioned what the changing face of fintech means in a modern world. He reminded us that lower income groups generate £854 billion for HMRC, and spoke about his goals to ‘relate, communicate, and educate’ to that audience.

Victor Trokoudes, CEO of Plum, told the story of Plum’s journey from a product meant to encourage saving at its most simple, to a wider service of investment opportunities and money management. Questions from the audience revealed that Plum has over 100,000 users, who save anywhere from £10 to £500 a month.

Finally, Simon Heawood from Bricklane focused on a key issue for millennials – home ownership. In a world where houses earn more than people, Bricklane was launched with the goal of helping millennials save for their future home without their money losing value relative to the housing market. It does this by offering accessible investment into the property sector itself.

The presentations were greeted with a flood of questions. Open banking and GDPR featured heavily, as did thoughts on what financial advice will look like in the future and whether ethical investment is on the rise.

Judging by the animated discussions that followed the panel, the topics raised are more relevant than ever. And in a world that’s changing at unprecedented pace, it seems clear that engaging a new generation of consumers is essential if we are to transform the world of finance for the better.