Financials

<h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q1. Could you start by giving us a brief overview of your professional background, particularly focusing on your expertise in the industry?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">I&rsquo;ve spent the last 15+ years at the intersection of technology, finance, and consulting &ndash; with a strong focus on sales-driven growth and company building. My background includes leading go-to-market strategies for SaaS and enterprise tech companies, particularly in regulated industries like banking and financial services.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Along the way, I&rsquo;ve held roles and delivered projects with companies such as Finanz Informatik, Temenos, and Aixigo, gaining deep insight into the core systems that power modern banking.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">My consulting work today focuses on core banking and wealth management platforms, particularly vendor selection and go-to-market strategy. In deep knowledge of major players in Europe is given.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">What drives me is translating complex technologies into clear commercial value &ndash; whether it&rsquo;s AI, payment infrastructure, or digital platforms. I&rsquo;ve also founded and built ventures, giving me a practical, execution-oriented approach to strategy and growth.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q2. What ROI have banks observed from these investments, particularly regarding revenue growth and cost reduction?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">The return on investment from the tech-driven transformation in banking varies depending on maturity and execution, but certain trends are becoming clear.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">On the cost side, banks/financial institutions which have modernized infrastructure or embraced automation (e.g. in onboarding, KYC, or customer service) are reporting 30&ndash;50% operational efficiency gains in specific processes. Cloud migrations and process redesigns often lead to long-term opex reductions, especially when paired.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In terms of revenue growth, personalization and faster time to market are the key drivers. Banks using data-driven models to tailor offers&mdash;especially in lending, wealth, and/or insurance&mdash;are seeing higher conversion rates, increased product penetration, and stronger NPS. Some institutions report double-digit uplifts in cross-sell revenue, particularly where digital channels are integrated with real-time analytics.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">But&hellip;true ROI only emerges when tech and business strategy are aligned. Banks that treat transformation as a checkbox project rarely outperform.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q3. What innovative AI-driven products or services have been recently launched in the BFSI sector?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">While AI and machine learning have been part of the BFSI sector for years, we&rsquo;re seeing a clear shift from experimentation to sharply defined, high-impact use cases&mdash;and there&rsquo;s more to come.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In addition to the well-known applications of Large Language Models (LLMs) in customer service, Personal Finance Management (PFM), and efficiency tooling, we&rsquo;re now seeing more specialized and operational use cases emerge. Examples include AI-driven support for core banking migrations (handling massive data volumes), the translation of legacy code bases, and intelligent assistance in high-frequency research tasks, such as analyzing financial markets or real-time pricing data.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Looking ahead, three major strategic shifts are gaining traction:</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Working with Global LLMs in Regulated Environments</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">For example, tools like GitHub Copilot offer tremendous efficiency, but data privacy constraints limit their adoption in many banks. This is driving the need for local, private &ldquo;vibe coding&rdquo; setups &ndash; enabling developers to benefit from AI without exposing sensitive code.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Task-specific AI agents across the Financial Value Chain</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Agents will automate increasingly complex processes from onboarding to risk scoring and compliance. However, data governance and domain specificity remain key challenges for secure, compliant deployment.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Rise of Agentic Payments</strong></p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the coming years, banks must fundamentally rethink how transactions are initiated. AI agents won&rsquo;t use traditional current accounts or credit cards to execute payments. Instead, we will likely see a shift toward purpose-bound, programmable, or embedded payment mechanisms &ndash; requiring new infrastructure, governance, and monetization models.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Beyond all that, the talent gap continues to grow. While AI will automate some workflows, the demand for hybrid talent&mdash;combining domain expertise with AI fluency&mdash;will only increase.</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</h2><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q4. What are the most notable collaborations between traditional BFSI institutions and fintech or insurtech startups?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">Over the past decade, the BFSI sector has seen countless collaborations between traditional institutions and fintech or insurtech startups &ndash; covering everything from infrastructure and compliance to product innovation and user experience. Significant collaborations were done in KYC, AML, onboarding, and loan origination. FinTechs have enabled banks to streamline identity verification and automate compliance processes at scale, which would have been nearly impossible to build in-house at the same speed.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Another critical enabler of banking innovation has been the virtualization of products. Without the rise of virtual credit cards, tokenization, and integrations like Apple Pay or Google Pay, today&rsquo;s mobile-first banking experience wouldn&rsquo;t exist. These solutions are the result of deep partnerships between banks, fintech, and global tech giants, making payments not only more flexible but also more secure and user-friendly.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and embedded finance have been built in recent years. Here, we see an interesting inversion of roles: traditional banks are positioning themselves as infrastructure providers, offering regulated services to fintechs, platforms, and even retailers. This shift allows them to monetize their licenses and infrastructure.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Looking ahead, AI and autonomous agents will likely shape the next wave of collaboration. Traditional frontends like branch counters or even classic online banking portals will be replaced &ndash; or at least augmented &ndash; by intelligent systems capable of initiating, managing, and optimizing financial tasks in real-time.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q5. How is the demand for personalized financial products and services expected to evolve in different regions and among various demographic segments?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">In Western Europe and North America, personalization is increasingly driven by digital-native consumers and small businesses expecting real-time, contextual experiences &ndash; from personalized lending to investment nudges. Wealth management, in particular, is now facing a generation of clients who grew up with digital interfaces. The old, non-technical advisory model is no longer relevant &ndash; and we&rsquo;re seeing a shift towards AI-driven, dynamic portfolio services tailored to behavior, preferences, and life stage.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Personalization is often about access and inclusion in emerging markets: mobile-first solutions, flexible credit models, and embedded finance that seamlessly integrates into everyday digital experiences.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Looking ahead, the next truly breakthrough financial product may not come from a traditional bank. Tech players, platforms, or even retailers are in a strong position to build personalized, embedded financial journeys &ndash; often with fewer legacy constraints and a clearer focus on user experience.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Personalization is no longer a feature &ndash; it&rsquo;s becoming the foundation of trust and differentiation in financial services.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q6. What untapped opportunities exist within the BFSI sector that could potentially yield high returns?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">From the viewpoint of banks selecting software providers, several untapped opportunities could yield significant returns&mdash;especially in improving end-customer experience, speeding up product innovation, and creating entirely new service models.<br>A major opportunity lies in moving beyond generic platform solutions and instead choosing vendors that enable AI-native, modular architectures. Banks that embrace providers offering flexible APIs, embedded AI services, and domain-specific intelligence can deliver highly personalized, responsive customer journeys &ndash; far beyond what traditional core systems allow.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Another key area is customer-facing automation beyond chatbots. There&rsquo;s still a gap in empowering customers with tools like real-time simulations, goal-based financial planning, or AI-driven insights tailored to their financial behavior. Most of this requires backend systems that can surface data meaningfully &ndash; which is where software selection becomes strategic.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Selecting software that allows banks to become ecosystem orchestrators has enormous potential. By embedding third-party services (e.g., insurance, legal, or lifestyle tools) into their channels, banks can become trusted platforms, not just transaction handlers.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In the past, providers that led with functionality were in high demand. Today, the winners are those who can intelligently connect technologies, such as with ready-to-use technology marketplaces and seamless ecosystem integration.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, the opportunity lies in choosing software not just for compliance or efficiency &ndash; but for differentiation. Banks that treat software vendors as innovation partners will have a clear advantage in a market where customer expectations evolve faster than product release cycles.<br>&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Q7. If you were an investor looking at companies within the space, what critical question would you pose to their senior management?</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">If I were an investor evaluating companies in the BFSI software space, the most critical question I&rsquo;d ask senior management is:</p><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>How do you ensure that you truly understand and manage the banking industry's specific regulatory, technical, and functional requirements &ndash; without turning every client engagement into a custom-built project?</li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;">This question goes to the heart of scalability. It&rsquo;s about whether the company has found a way to productize complexity &ndash; transforming deep domain needs into reusable, configurable solutions rather than bespoke implementations.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Other important angles would be:</p><ul style="text-align: justify;"><li>How do you ensure compliance and data sovereignty across regions?</li><li>Is your product strategy built on repeatable use cases or ad-hoc customer requests?</li><li>Are you building a scalable platform &ndash; or just stitching together features?</li></ul><p style="text-align: justify;">In this space, long-term value comes from mastering complexity without becoming a service company in disguise.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><h2 style="text-align: justify;"><br><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Expert Summary</span></h2><p style="text-align: justify;">Dirk Emminger is a seasoned BFSI growth and GTM expert with 20+ years of experience spanning core banking, SaaS, CRM, and private wealth management. At Temenos, he led business development across Germany and Austria, driving sales of complex banking solutions to Tier 1&ndash;3 institutions. With deep expertise in enterprise sales, B2B marketing, and automation, Dirk now focuses on rethinking consulting through a decision intelligence platform that empowers financial firms with actionable insights and strategic advisory.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p>