Siobhan Byron, EVP of Universal Banking at Finastra, discusses how her passion for innovation and technology has fuelled her career and influenced advancements in the sector.
You’ve demonstrated a remarkable passion for innovating to drive growth throughout your career. Could you share a pivotal moment or project that fuelled this passion, and how your journey in the technology industry, spanning various sectors, contributed to your role as EVP of Universal Banking at Finastra today?
I began my career in technology, excited to be part of such a rapidly changing, growing industry. One of the early projects I worked on allowed me to see first-hand the impact of technology and how it could change customer experience significantly. Curiosity and a genuine passion for innovation have spurred me on. I am always looking to learn, seek new experiences and try new things.
Every project, and every role, has contributed to helping me reach where I am today. Some of the riskier opportunities I’ve taken have helped accelerate my career. For example, I once left a role I’d worked hard to achieve to step into a special project within the same company. The step into the unknown turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, leading to my next promotion and the path I’m on today.
I’ve always been open to new opportunities. In addition, travelling for work has afforded me the opportunity to visit places that I may not have seen otherwise. It’s also provided me with diverse experiences through the projects, countries, industries, technologies and people I’ve interacted with.
FinTech is rapidly evolving, with technological advancements shaping the landscape. How do you see the role of Universal Banking evolving in the next five years, particularly with the integration of cutting-edge technologies?
As both retail banking and commercial banking customers embrace digital technology, it’s creating untold opportunities for banks. At the same time, customer demands and expectations have never been greater. Everyone wants access to much more personalised services, and they want it 24/7, on-demand and at a low cost.
As a result, banks and financial institutions need to be nimble and agile. They need to be able to respond quickly, manage disruption rapidly and take advantage of opportunities fast.
Agility requires systems that are designed to be open and that can easily integrate with the outside world. This takes a combination of broad banking functionality and open, cloud-based technology because banking is evolving and becoming more flexible. They need to be able to tap into Banking as a Service offerings which can help to orchestrate and compose new banking experiences. These services should delight customers – from nudge-based savings tools to crypto dealing services.
This brave new world of banking can seem daunting – especially when the solution to an uncertain landscape is to do more, for more customers. But evolution in technology and ways of working is making this possible at scale and with greater operational efficiency. The combination of sophisticated functionality and advanced technology – incorporating increased automation, data analytics and generative AI – is creating unimaginable potential. The only limit is the imagination of the financial institution. Those that thrive in this environment will be the institutions that can foster and harness agility in the years ahead.
Finastra is known for its market-leading core banking and digital solutions. Could you share some key innovations or advancements within these areas that you believe will have a significant impact on the financial services industry?
Digital transformation and a cloud-first approach are essential for banks seeking greater agility and flexibility. This means evolving away from legacy code and adopting open APIs that unlock the potential to quickly onboard technology advancements and collaborate with partners through an open, cloud-based ecosystem.
Other innovations that will have a key impact on financial services over the coming years include open platforms, data and analytics and Generative AI.
An open development platform, such as Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud, gives financial institutions faster access to FinTech innovation, enabling them to extend their core banking capabilities and layer services that add increased value to customers. The value of the platform is that everything comes pre-tested and fully integrated, dramatically speeding up the time to market.
Technology advances are also helping banks unlock the power of their data, using advanced analytics to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour, preferences and market trends. Now more than ever, banks can leverage data analytics and automated workflows to make better and more informed credit decisions and deliver increasingly personalised services to customers.
The use of Generative AI, meanwhile, offers huge potential across the board. As well as enabling financial institutions to personalise customer experiences at the front end of their services, it can also support efforts to streamline the customer onboarding process and to reduce financial crime; for example, in relation to Know Your Customer (KYC) or Anti-Money Laundering (AML) purposes. These are just two examples, but the opportunities will be far-reaching.
As a transformative leader, how do you balance the need for innovation with the inherent challenges and risks associated with introducing new technologies, especially in the dynamic and regulated environment of financial services?
No organisation can afford to stand still. Innovation and the ability to adapt to changing customer needs are crucial to long-term success. This is especially true in the fast-moving world of financial services. By its very nature, innovation involves taking risks – but such risks can be managed. I’d argue that the failure to innovate and evolve with new technological developments presents a larger existential threat to banks and businesses today.
One of the things I love about technology is the pace of change. At Finastra we constantly challenge ourselves to innovate and to continually learn and improve. We do this by testing everything thoroughly, adapting and re-testing before finalising and releasing new functionality into the public domain. Taking such a thorough approach helps to reduce the risks associated with innovation while enabling our clients to benefit from the latest technologies. At the same time, we ensure that all innovation in technology and processes complies with both existing and upcoming regulatory standards. After all, regulations evolve and adapt in response to a changing world.
Open banking has become a pivotal trend in the financial industry. How is Finastra embracing the concept of open culture and what benefits do you believe it brings to both the company and its clients?
Finastra firmly believes in the principle of Open. Our open innovation platform, FusionFabric.cloud supports developers, customers and FinTechs. We encourage collaboration, creativity and integration – enabling our clients to drive their business forward. FinTechs can leverage APIs to help them achieve their goals and do so in a way that allows them to keep up with the rapid pace of change in today’s world.
Culturally, Finastra is also Open. We are open to diverse cultures, religions, thoughts and perspectives. We foster a culture of inclusivity, supporting our employees wherever they are and whatever their circumstances.
Examples of Finastra’s Open approach include the flexible dress code and work-from-home policies. We give our employees the flexibility to collaborate in the office but also reap the benefits of working from home. During the pandemic, we also created out-of-office days, where the entire company is off work. We encourage employees to get out and be active, spend time with their families, and enjoy the day in a way they normally would not. We continuously review our employee value proposition, looking at how we improve and evolve – the true definition of Open.
Could you elaborate on how fostering diversity and inclusion within Finastra influences the company’s approach to product development and client engagement in the financial technology sector?
As the executive sponsor for Proud@Finastra initiatives and supporting Women@Finastra, I actively encourage diversity at our company. At school, computer science was perceived as a subject for boys. Today, women remain underrepresented in IT and finance more broadly, so it’s great to be an advocate for other women in the company and industry, especially as we approach International Women’s Day in March where the theme is Inspire Inclusion. I’m proud to say that this topic is a focus for us at Finastra for everyone, not just based on gender.
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