Money 20/20 USA Meetups: The Opportunity in the Cloud with Avanade and Microsoft

Money20/20 USA took place in Las Vegas 2021. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the event. The Fintech Times caught up with several companies to discuss critical topics from the conference and the broader fintech industry during the show. 

In this video interview, live from Money20/20 in Las Vegas, Michelle Baxter, Global Financial Services Executive at Avanade, and Daragh Morrissey, Director of Worldwide Financial Services Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft, discuss how banking is going through a moment of transformation and the opportunities available.

The question on everyone’s mind is: Did traditional banks see the neobanks coming? While this question has no simple answer, it’s clear that, regardless of which side of the debate you sit on, the impact neobanks have had on traditional financial institutions is undeniable. 

Each year at Money20/20, key themes arise that shape the discussion at the conference. In 2019 the digital banking future was top of mind. Now, two years later, in 2021, the focus turned to how fintech’s are enabling brick and mortar banks to keep up with their newer counterparts, going digital with solutions born in the public cloud.

The shift seen in traditional banking has been fueled in part by fintech, with the newer innovative financial services companies acting as a catalyst for change within the industry.

“We certainly didn’t see the speed and agility that would come from these neobanks and other fintechs,” explained Baxter. “Certainly, the banks I was working with 3-5 years ago were seeing the advent of neobanks, but the fact that they were all born on the cloud-enabled them to move quickly, and it caused everyone to rethink speed to market.”

Morrissy agreed with this, adding, “What I’ve seen over the last couple of years is that fintechs are working more in partnership with traditional banks. They bring some great assets to traditional banks like innovative technologies and great customer experiences, and banks bring their traditional customer bases to those fintechs, so it is a win-win when they partner together.”

To learn more about this shift in traditional banking and customer experience begins with a better employee experience, watch the video in full now.