Digital Ecosystems Development

During the ascent of #fintech as a disruption driver in #finance, digital banks have been the first and most impactful use case. Let’s take a look at their playbook. The term itself – alternatives include challenger banks or neobanks – characterizes players (usually new entrants) challenging the traditional banking model with a #technology-first approach that involves flexible, branchless, digital-native (mobile) banking, often focusing on or starting from niche segments and customers. An increasingly digital arena, a shift in consumer behaviour and a gap in product and customer focus by incumbents have enabled these new players to challenge the status quo. Their success and proliferation around the globe is a clear sign of agile, digital-first, product-niche strategies prevailing over traditional, monolithic, vertical banking #business models. Whereas different patterns can be identified in their evolutionary path, the successful models can be aggregated to two broad categories: — Greenfield players starting completely from scratch by means of identifying a niche market or segment, often neglected by incumbents, and focusing on seamless customer experience, attractive design, competitive pricing and a digital or mobile only set-up. In terms of strategy two elements clearly stand-out: 1) hyper-growth and scale as the core - sometimes only - metrics (which explains why so many have been unprofitable) 2) an ecosystem play, driven by horizontal partnerships (vs the vertical traditional model). N26, Revolut and Nubank are typical examples of this model. — Large, closed-loop ecosystem players with a non-finance business geared on technology and an anchor in #ecommerce launching (digital) #banking spin-offs as a means of converting (and monetizing) their existing client-base. Most (or almost all) of the examples here come from Asia (i.e. Webank, Kakaobank), mainly due to the set-up of the #economy (lacking a robust, finance architecture and, in effect, benefiting private, BigTech players covering the gap). Webank, for example, is owned by Tencent, China’s largest social-media BigTech company (owner of WeChat, China’s equivalent of Facebook). It has managed to reach a value of $33 billion and a base of more than 320 million active users by focusing on building a modern IT stack (as a competitive edge to traditional banks) and leveraging on the data generated by the Tencent ecosystem (i.e. retail lending credit scoring built on Tencent data, resulted in a non-performing loan ratio of just 1.2%, about half (or less) of the industry average for such non-secured loans). Irrespective of their origins, both models have been (fast) converging to what has become the new holy grail of modern finance: platform #economics and ecosystem plays. These are the concepts that will be defining the boundaries in an increasingly network and technology driven field. Opinions: my own, Graphic source: Momentum Works, Decoding digital banks

#FinTech | #DPI :  "Foundations of Digital Public Infrastructure," explores the concept and implementation of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), with a particular focus on #India 's successful model. It details India's state-led yet market-friendly approach to digital transformation, exemplified by platforms like Aadhaar and #UPI, which prioritize accessibility, interoperability, and public interest. The report distinguishes DPI from "public tech" and "Digital Public Goods (DPGs)," explaining how DPI encompasses foundational technology, robust governance, legal frameworks, and an enabling ecosystem. Furthermore, it outlines a four-layered DPI ecosystem (Public Tech, DPI, DPI Network, and Digital Economy) and discusses the crucial role of "techno-legal regulation" in embedding #compliance and safeguards directly into the digital infrastructure, offering this as a blueprint for responsible #AI governance. The report concludes by introducing five "DPI Sutras" as guiding principles for building sustainable and inclusive digital ecosystems globally.

Prior decade: data modeling, pipelines and DAGs, empowering data producers Next decade: metrics modeling, metric trees, empowering operators The past decade has been defined by the growth of a comprehensive ecosystem to enable data producers. - Technologies like elastic cloud storage and compute have revolutionized how data is ingested, stored and processed. - Tools like dbt Labs for modeling have empowered data teams to model and manage complex data transformations efficiently. - Abstractions like data pipelines and DAGs are now table stakes. - Frameworks and tools for monitoring ensure smooth operations. This ecosystem has allowed data producers to collect, clean, transform, and manage data at scale, enabling organizations to establish a strong data foundation. Looking ahead to the next decade, the focus is on super-charging data consumers and business operators. This will see the rise and adoption of: - Standardized metrics for various business models and variants. - New abstractions like metric trees. - Advanced algorithms and deeper understanding of causality. - Frameworks and tools for automated monitoring and analytics. - The rise of AI agents to enable seamless data-driven workflows. Excited to work at this frontier!

Digital assets: from experiment to infrastructure I am proud to share with you a report which captures the state of the Digital Assets ecosystem globally - a collaboration between Global Finance & Technology Network (GFTN) & Arthur D. Little (special acknowledgment to WhiteSight) ——— What started in 2009 as a curiosity about peer-to-peer money has split into two very different roads. One chased quick wins and speculation. The other put its head down and built “use-case by use-case” for the real economy. That second road is now a network: digital money, tokenized assets, exchanges, custodians, wallets, and protocols that serve consumers and enterprises every day. Digital assets are no longer a side show. They’re becoming part of the operating system of modern finance. So the question isn’t if digital assets matter? It’s how we integrate them responsibly into the financial system to strengthen trust, resilience, and inclusion? The job now is disciplined integration, where innovation serves people, not the other way around ——— This report that cuts through the noise and focuses on fundamentals: rules, rails, risks, and results. The report draws on voices across the public and private sectors: 🔘 Richard Teng - Binance 🔘 Star Xu - OKX 🔘 Pradyumna Agrawal — Temasek 🔘 Maha Al-Saadi Al-Saadi — Qatar Financial Centre 🔘 Niki Ariyasinghe — Chainlink Labs 🔘 Isadora Arredondo — Hedera 🔘 Bruno Batavia — Valor Capital 🔘 Lee Brenner — Goldman Sachs 🔘 Arnaud Caudoux — Bpifrance 🔘 Clinton C. — Visa 🔘 Joseph Cleetus — LuLu Financial Holdings 🔘 Ezechiel Copic — Visa 🔘 Lex Fisun — Global Ledger 🔘 Frederik Gregaard — Cardano Foundation 🔘 Walter Hessert — Paxos 🔘 David Hui — DBS Digital Exchange 🔘 Kah Kit Yip — UOB 🔘 Sungyong Kang — INTERPOL 🔘 Peter Kerstens — European Commission 🔘 Yam Ki Chan — Circle 🔘 Joe Kohler — Nethermind 🔘 Bjørn Krog Andersen — Banking Circle 🔘 Kwan Hoon Park — OCBC 🔘 Chao Deng — HashKey Capital 🔘 Rosemary Lim — Monetary Authority of Singapore 🔘 Fernando Luis Vázquez Cao 🔘 Robert MacDonald - ByBit 🔘 Naveen Mallela — Kinexys by J.P. Morgan 🔘 R. Jesse McWaters — Mastercard 🔘 Audrey Metzger — Banque de France 🔘 Terk Ming Kwong — Goldman Sachs 🔘 Katie Mitchell — Coinbase 🔘 Fiona Murray — Ripple 🔘 Tom Mutton — Bank of England 🔘 Matthias Obrecht — FINMA 🔘 Karen Ottoni — Linux Foundation 🔘 Haseeb Qureshi — Dragonfly 🔘 Ari Redbord — TRM Labs 🔘Jason Rozovsky — InterOp Labs 🔘 Dr. Daranee Saeju — Bank of Thailand 🔘 Pucktada Treeratpituk — Bank of Thailand 🔘 Ryosuke Ushida — Financial Services Agency, Japan (JFSA) 🔘 Roeland Van Der Stappen — Coinbase 🔘 Masashi Watanabe — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) 🔘 Tang Wei — Stripe 🔘 Lu Yin — Solana Foundation ——— On behalf of Arthur D. Little and personally, I would like to thank 🙏🏽 Sopnendu for asking us to collaborate on this report. Yet another example of how GFTN and ADL are working together

💳 𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 Every digital payment starts from a simple user interaction — a tap, a scan, or a click. And behind that moment stands an entire ecosystem of technologies, platforms, and institutions that make modern finance possible. This visual captures the end-to-end journey of how money moves through today’s financial infrastructure: 📱 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 – where the customer experience begins. 🏪 𝗔𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 – connecting merchants and payment networks. 🔁 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 – routing and authorizing transactions in milliseconds. ⚡ 𝗥𝗧𝗣 – instant payments that settle 24/7/365, across domestic and regional rails. 🏦 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 – managing accounts, deposits, and loans in real time. 🌐 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗕𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 & 𝗗𝗖𝗖 – powering global transfers and currency conversions. 🔓 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗛𝘂𝗯𝘀 – enabling connectivity between banks, APIs, and partners. 🛡 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗱 & 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 – securing every transaction in real time. 📊 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 & 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘀 – turning payments into actionable insights. 🚀 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘂𝗱 & 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – where modernization and scalability redefine the next decade of finance. Each layer plays a vital role in keeping the modern payment ecosystem alive. 🤝 Together, these layers illustrate just one example of a living ecosystem — a complex, interconnected architecture that quietly powers how the world pays, moves, saves, and grows. 🧩 Every platform, every integration, every API plays its part — making global finance not just possible, but seamless. Yet what you see here is only a fraction of the story. 🌍 Across every region and country, countless unique fintech solutions and innovators contribute to this infrastructure — each adapting to local needs, regulations, and ways of doing business. 🤏 The progress we see is only the surface — the real innovation continues quietly beneath, redefining the foundations of modern finance.