FISERV
colleagues and bosses-gone-by – one of them being Ken Chenault , long-time CEO of American Express , where Sachdev worked for more than a decade . But then he admits to being a long-suffering New York Knicks supporter and a fan of the Rocky movie franchise .
“ I guess I enjoy the underdog story ,” he says . “ There ’ s something about those types of stories that really highlights the excellence of people , whether they ’ re athletes or in other walks of life .”
This sentiment is pertinent to the role Fiserv plays in facilitating financial inclusion and increasing access to financial services through its products . Sachdev has an extensive background in banking and payments , working for fintechs both in the US and overseas . His travels have seen him put down roots in the UK , South Asia and India before returning to New York five years ago . This experience has given him a much richer insight into the challenges and obstacles that face consumers in other parts of the world .
“ Living overseas and working in emerging markets really makes it personal for me to develop services
“ FISERV IS ALL ABOUT TAKING SOMETHING FROM THE WHITEBOARD AND BRINGING IT TO LIFE . FOR ME , THAT ’ S THE BEST PART OF IT ”
SUNIL SACHDEV HEAD OF FINTECH & GROWTH , FISERV
and capabilities that can lift people ,” Sachdev states . “ I feel like I draw on that quite a bit to help deliver some of the services that we ’ re thinking about delivering today .”
According to the World Bank , more than 1.4bn people worldwide remain unbanked , while the Federal Reserve reports that 22 % of American adults ( 63mn ) are either unbanked or underbanked – cut off from vital financial services . Financial technology has a real power to elevate people , particularly underserved communities , and this is one of the reasons that Sachdev calls it a ‘ privilege ’ to show up for work each day .
“ Fiserv is all about taking something from the whiteboard and bringing it to life ,” he explains . “ For me , that ’ s the best part of it – it ’ s about having an idea or identifying a problem , having a conversation with our clients and other market participants , being able to bring different subject matter experts together . Then we combine the technical pieces , commercial pieces and the go-to-market pieces to build a successful product or service to address that opportunity . That ’ s why I enjoy it . I don ’ t really think of it as work at all .”
Whether it ’ s a community bank leveraging fintech tools to better support the financial wellness of its customers , or a fintech leveraging Fiserv technology to bring these capabilities directly to market , Fiserv is bridging the gap to bring these scenariosto life at scale .
Ramping up in the fintech scene The business unit that Sachdev heads up – the fintech-focused team – was founded little more than a year ago . Before that , Fiserv was servicing fintechs in a siloed way , more often at a product level rather than a strategic one . Now , clients across a range of sectors that want to tailor financial services products for their various customer segments have a single entry point and are guided through their journey .
In turn , as the business unit matures , it is transforming to meet the needs of those clients . On any given day , Sachdev finds himself working closely with the varied talent that Fiserv boasts within its vast workforce . The goal is to integrate Fiserv services and capabilities and bring them to market in a more cohesive way , while modernising the tech stack to increase agility and accelerate time to market .
34 fintechmagazine . com | June 2023