THE FINTECH INTERVIEW
P ublicis Sapient was formed in the early 1990s and originally positioned itself to be a major technology consultant to businesses everywhere. Its experience translates simply knowing about technology into how to best utilise it not only for businesses but also how to serve customers. It currently operates in 72 countries, employing more than 20,000 people worldwide. Dave Murphy, Head of Financial Services – EMEA & APAC at Publicis Sapient, joined the company at a crucial time for technology development in 1997. The early‘ 90s were ripe for opportunity as the introduction of the World Wide Web( WWW) began to fundamentally transform businesses and the way they communicate forever. Dave describes the dramatic change as an opportunity to reflect on wider business operations during this time.“ It wasn’ t just the introduction of the World Wide Web itself but the moment companies and corporations started to adopt it that fundamentally changed the way they engaged their customers and thought about their operations,” he says,“ because you could no longer hide the rest of your company behind a human, especially in the case of banks or similar industries. People wanted direct interaction, all the way to the back office, in order to serve themselves.
“ The first introduction of the World Wide Web forced a fundamental rethink of how companies operated, how they engaged their customers and how they did their work.”
“ Fintechs that get that context right for whatever problem they’ re solving … will be able to offer real added value”
Dave Murphy Head of Financial Services – EMEA & APAC Publicis Sapient
After just shy of 30 years’ experience at Sapient and advising clients, Dave notices a“ similar” shift with agentic and gen AI happening in financial services to one he has seen before.“ We’ ve had a lot of changes over the years, but this is the first one that feels similarly fundamental,” Dave explains, however“ the Web coming online and banks and institutions engaging customers through new channels actually took a long time to become material”.
The big banking shift As digital services expanded, so too did their availability to wider, papernative businesses. Accessible services, made possible through“ true” tech behemoths like Google, according to Dave, ensured that the uptake in digital adoption was notable in the wider business sphere – banks included.
“ Now, if you look at any high street bank or financial institution, they are fundamentally digital businesses,” Dave says.“ If you go back to 2014 or 2015,
26 September 2026