Watching how financial technology is evolving and the manner in which fintechs are changing the market is engaging. The rate of change, along with the number of companies challenging the old guard for business, has made the past few years some of the most significant for customers and the industry. Customers are getting more choice, better experiences and faster services while institutions not providing these essentials are searching for ways to rapidly evolve in the market. So when approached to join the Mambu board, I was keen to get involved.

I have always been interested in startups and young businesses which is why Mambu captured my attention. It is growing quickly but it’s Mambu’s cloud native technology and focus on a single proposition - delivering a SaaS banking engine that makes the company stand out.

SaaS as a concept has been promoted for more than a decade. Meanwhile it has reached industrial maturity and prompted the emergence of an entirely new market. Financial institutions are actively seeking out cloud-first and API-driven solutions, looking to take advantage of the speed of execution and time to realising value. Years to market has become months to go-live. It has made complex technology accessible to institutions of any size. APIs opens up the market to a host of partners resulting in faster innovation, comprehensive solutions and more choice for the customer.

This is a fundamentally different approach to the market than traditional players. It fascinated me and I wanted to support a company breaking new ground in a fresh way and understand the dynamics of the market transformation.

SaaS is having a distinct impact on the market. Many institutions, especially banks, realise they have to change. Yet change has historically been both expensive and a burden for them. The road to digital transformation and operational efficiency is paved with heavy regulatory and compliance responsibility, legacy technology, processes and thinking.

These traditional institutions won't disappear but the question is how much of the base business they are doing today, will they continue to do in the future? Challengers have entered their markets and by having one or just a few specialist areas they are slow eroding market share of these institutions.

Small and challenger banks can change quickly and keep iterating but traditional banks don't have that luxury but a new path has emerged - transforming in parallel to current operations. By launching a spin-off or hybrid, they can attract new and young customers with a digital and cheaper offering with limited impact on their traditional business.

This makes Mambu’s cloud native solution even more attractive. They are in the unique position to be able to work with challengers and traditional financial institutions, continuing to grow their SaaS model. This innovative approach is at the core of what they do, and that has ignited my imagination.