FinTech Magazine September 2019 | Page 42

LEADERSHIP

“ I TALKED TO A LOT OF BANKS THAT WERE SUFFERING FROM LEGACY SYSTEMS . I WANTED TO BUILD A COMPANY TO CONNECT THE SILOS USING NEW TECHNOLOGY ”

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Andy Li , Founder and CEO , Silot . AI
companies that don ’ t even have a bank account because of the cost and the KYC ( know your customer ) procedures involved . This is why Southeast Asia especially became a cashless society .
“ Today , governments are recognising this as a point for improvement , and are pushing for new innovations with cashless society initiatives . From technology to infrastructure to society – everyone is working together to push for this to become a reality . For example , in China , nobody wants to accept cash anymore ; they prefer to do bank transfers or use QR codes . In Southeast Asia , a major challenge for those big corporates and small companies is that they need to be able to make payment transfers – so a lot of financial institutions are trying to offer diversity and different strategies to enter this market .”
Disparate or fragmented markets common to Southeast Asia present another challenge for banks – but also an opportunity for fintechs .
SEPTEMBER 2019