In Profile: Raman Korneu, CEO of myTU

Whereas people and corporations all through the monetary sector proceed to innovate at nice velocity, many nonetheless discover companies and accounts supplied by conventional banks tough to entry. Nonetheless, some entities need to change this and make monetary companies extra accessible for all. 

With this in thoughts, we spoke to Raman Korneu, co-founder and CEO of myTU, the neobank utilising cloud-only infrastructure and AI to make important monetary companies simpler to entry, safer and more cost effective.

Right here, Korneu breaks down his ideas on the fintech business, a few of the largest hurdles myTU has overcome, latest achievements

Inform us extra about your organization and its objective

myTU is a fintech firm pioneering the usage of cloud-only infrastructure and AI to rework shopper banking. It’s not tech for tech’s sake; we’re leveraging these improvements to make important monetary companies extra accessible, safe, and cost-effective. It’s precisely what our objective is. Our group goals to reshape banking companies by harnessing the ability of know-how to supply revolutionary and sensible options to our shoppers.

Our method is tailor-made to the wants of underserved markets and shoppers. Initially, we focused the journey business and digital nomads, with the identify TravelUnion reflecting that focus. As soon as COVID affected the journey sector, we efficiently pivoted to serve people and households with a full-featured cell banking app supporting accounts, playing cards, and funds in a number of languages. For enterprise shoppers, the main target is on absolutely digital onboarding, on the spot SEPA funds, and straightforward integration with accounting techniques.

What are a few of your latest achievements you’d like to focus on?

We’re proud to have just lately launched our cutting-edge ‘Payouts API’, which empowers companies to streamline their monetary operations and increase income via automated, real-time fee processing and mortgage administration. This resolution seamlessly integrates with our shoppers’ present techniques, enabling them to cut back operational prices and handbook errors.

I’d notably spotlight the superior safety on this resolution. We’ve achieved it via customized multi-factor authentication, which integrates a number of ECDSA keys with IP and DNS information verification and utilises safe timestamps alongside bidirectional out-of-band communication, making certain the best normal of safety and compliance.

Moreover, we’ve efficiently built-in synthetic intelligence into our operations, attaining outstanding effectivity features and sustaining a strong tech infrastructure with a lean IT division.

How did you get into the fintech business?

I’ve spent 25 years within the banking business, holding board member positions in typical banks. I’ve additionally held consulting roles at Ernst & Younger and PwC, engaged on over 100 tasks for over 50 main banks and corporations, together with Merrill Lynch Securities and Raiffeisenbank.

Whereas working in banks, I began contemplating the potential in fintech and joined a fintech firm as a strategist. This expertise, coupled with my EMBA at Decide Enterprise Faculty at Cambridge, impressed me to ascertain my very own fintech startup. Along with my co-founder Tomas Navickas, professional software program architect with over 20 years of expertise, we’re specializing in leveraging new applied sciences to deal with ache factors within the business.

What’s the very best factor about working within the fintech business?

I consider it’s the chance to drive innovation and make an actual influence on individuals’s lives. That’s why we’re utilizing our know-how and technique to extend individuals’s monetary inclusion within the digital financial system. Quite than chasing giant, saturated markets, myTU is concentrated on changing into a number one digital financial institution in smaller nations typically missed by incumbent banks and the bigger European neobanks. Presently, we’re approaching 50,000 clients representing over 100 nationalities, with 40 per cent partaking actively on a weekly foundation.

What frustrates you most in regards to the fintech business?

The tempo at which conventional gamers adapt to new applied sciences and improvements is an space the place I’d prefer to see change. Whereas many established banks and monetary establishments are making important strides in embracing digital transformation, there’s nonetheless room for enchancment when it comes to collaboration and data sharing between conventional gamers and fintech firms. By working collectively extra carefully, we will create a extra inclusive and revolutionary monetary ecosystem that advantages all stakeholders.

One other problem is navigating the regulatory panorama, which is crucial for making certain the soundness and integrity of the monetary system. Whereas laws might generally really feel like they’re enjoying catch-up with fast advances in know-how, it’s essential to recognise the significance of a strong regulatory framework in defending shopper pursuits and sustaining belief within the monetary sector.

How have your earlier roles influenced your profession?

They’ve offered me with a deep understanding of the business’s ache factors and the potential for know-how to deal with them. Occupying senior positions throughout the banking and finance sector has afforded me in depth publicity to main banks and firms, offering useful insights into the challenges they face. These experiences have formed my imaginative and prescient for myTU and pushed our give attention to leveraging know-how to create revolutionary options that meet the evolving wants of our shoppers.

What’s the very best mistake you’ve ever made?

Initially, we constructed our infrastructure on a third-party banking platform. Whereas it appeared like a fast technique to enter the market, we quickly realised that it restricted our capacity to innovate and adapt to our shoppers’ wants. This expertise led us to make the daring determination to develop our personal core banking system from scratch, which has been a game-changer for myTU.

Now, our value to accumulate a buyer is lower than €10, in comparison with over €100 for some rivals. What else is that our group made the choice to construct solely on Google Cloud, making it one of many first digital banks to run absolutely on the general public cloud. It permits myTU to remain nimble whereas delivering an distinctive person expertise.

What has the long run received in retailer on your firm?

We’re centered on increasing our product choices, together with enabling worldwide transactions, introducing journey loans, and enhancing our loyalty system. Specifically, we see a significant alternative in ‘Journey Now, Pay Later’ (TNPL) companies permitting travellers to e book now and unfold the fee over a number of instalments.

Whereas BNPL giants like Klarna have partnered with some OTAs, myTU sees an untapped alternative with extra conventional tour operators and journey brokers. By embedding TNPL into these operators’ reserving flows, we may also help them increase gross sales amongst budget-conscious shoppers.

With the launch of our Payouts API, we anticipate to drive substantial progress and improve our enterprise shopper base within the coming months. With a robust give attention to embedded finance, we intention to change into the popular fee methodology on numerous platforms, from area of interest service suppliers to bigger e-commerce websites. We’re additionally dedicated to additional leveraging AI and automation to drive operational excellence and ship much more worth to our shoppers.

What are the subsequent key speaking factors or challenges on your business as an entire?

The fintech business is at a crucial juncture, with a number of key challenges and alternatives on the horizon. One of many foremost points is the necessity to rethink the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) mannequin because it stands as we speak.

The latest chapter of Synapse, a BaaS fintech, underscores the vulnerabilities within the often-interdependent fintech ecosystem. Equally, Monese’s shift from a retail banking mannequin to a B2B know-how enterprise highlights the issue of remodeling retail banking right into a worthwhile enterprise.

Fintech firms counting on third-party BaaS suppliers typically discover themselves in a homogenous panorama, struggling to distinguish because of the ‘heavy’ and rigid technological infrastructure. Regulatory necessities additional complicate this, with standardised processes that don’t match the distinctive wants of particular person fintechs. The core problem is the dearth of differentiation in compliance settings, which turns into expensive to switch. I consider that differentiated compliance settings and merchandise are important for fast adaptation to market dynamics and regulatory adjustments.

Moreover, the continued adoption of AI and automation will probably be a key driver of change, enabling fintech firms to ship extra personalised and environment friendly companies to their shoppers.