In this episode Yana speaks with Varun Mittal, head of EY FinTech practice and a co-founder of the Singapore FinTech Association, about what happened in 2019 and what he sees happening in 2020. Varun is the Global FinTech leader at EY, covering technology and business models in financial services across ASEAN.

Yana and Varun discuss the most important trends that shifted the FinTech industry in 2019, the difference between the US, Asian and European markets and the impact of trade wars. How FinTech moves from mania to maturity and takes blockchain along for the ride is another fascinating topic Varun covers. So plugin, sit back, and be sure to share your comments.

Today’s Episode:

• [00:47] Welcome to the show!
• [02:28] Varun shares a little of his background and credentials.
• [03:26] What is something that happened in 2019 that was very important?
• [05:01] Varun speaks about business models he has seen lately and what they are showing.
• [06:32] What geographic differences stand out in geographical markets?
• [07:48] Varun discusses digital market innovations and fragmented asset management and wealth management in Asia.
• [11:01] Do you believe that WealthTech will be able to provide better returns?
• [14:34] Is market growth happening in other parts of the world?
• [16:00] Varun believes that retirement planning and pension tech will grow in 2020. Because there are more people close to retirement because they are living longer.
• [19:24] Are the regulators seeing what is happening? Are they preparing?
• [20:33] Varun says that there are a lot of areas that are running inefficiently.
• [22:59] What factors make it challenging to expand and grow geographically?
• [26:46] Varun says that the unit economy is starting to make sense in some areas.
• [28:45] One of the critical things for short alliances is what is your end game, are you in it for a quick flip?
• [29:56] Varun talks about what he sees happening with Blockchain in 2020.
• [32:56] Thank you so much for coming to the show Varun!

Show links:

• How to get in touch with us, if you’d like to tell your startup story: Yana on Instagram, Tom on LinkedIn , Varun MIttal on LinkedIn