Today technology enthusiasts are emphasizing, with their knowledge and dedicated mindset, the technological revolution approaching the digital world. Alain Falys is one such European entrepreneur with these cohesive personality traits. He is the Co-founder and Chairman at Yoyo Wallet. He is a geek at heart, a technologist, a business executive, and an investor with a deep understanding of financial services and e-commerce.
Alain is also a Partner at Firestart.co and a founding LP at blockchain fund Fabric.vc. He is a member of RBS’ Technology Advisory Board and a Director at Fintech companies Pelican.ai and OneLinq.nl.
He previously co-founded the OB10 global e-invoicing network, which floated in London as Tungsten Corporation Plc. He was Senior Vice President at Visa International and co-founded Omnis Mundi, an e-commerce incubator with operations in Frankfurt, Berlin and Zurich, with successful startups such as BuyVip sold to Amazon in 2010.
Alain holds the Diplôme d’Etudes Supérieures Européennes de Management from the NEOMA Business School and a BA Honours degree in European Business Administration from the Middlesex University, London.
Delivering Seamless Payment Experience
Yoyo Wallet provides a combined and seamless payments and retailer loyalty experience, delivering personalised benefits to consumers at the point-of-sale. Initially delivering payment, as well as retailer-specific loyalty collection and voucher redemption to its users through a branded app experience, recent partnerships with Starling Bank and Visa has now seen the company embedding these functionalities into individual banking apps to create the levels of engagement that those in the financial services industry have been striving for.
Digitalizing Banking Technics
In the current digital world, bankers need to reconnect with what their customers now want, requiring them to constantly remain up-to-date with the ongoing technical revolution. The vast majority of consumers are now ‘digitally native’, and not only want a personalised instant banking experience, but also the ability to access the benefits that touch their daily consumer journey. At the same time, bankers are now having to consider what the expectations of the next generation of customers will be – the ability to adapt a platform quickly is only going to become more and more important.
Renovating Journey through Knowledge
During the early days of the internet, Alain created one of the first SaaS platforms that completely digitized supplier invoices by capturing the right data to optimize accounting functionality for corporate businesses. Dealing with the sheer volume and richness of the data that came out of such a platform re-enforced his view towards its power.
Extracting data and being able to quickly identify what is essential is key to maximizing the customer experience. This was something Alain had already identified in the early days of his career when he ran the commercial card division at Visa Europe. His time there helped shape his understanding about the power of payment data and the payment rails behind that payment data.
Continuously Evolving Banker’s Role
Bankers and banks have begun to recognise that in this day and age, even with the best in-house tech teams, they will not be able to win new consumers with higher demands on their own. There’s now an obvious need for partnerships between established banking and fintech innovation. Hence why banks are beginning to incorporate external functionality from the likes of Yoyo Wallet, either through the new Open Banking framework or individual banking initiatives. The company believes its partnership with Starling Bank will be seen as a pioneering moment for retail banking.
Employing Emerging Banking Enthusiasts for Better Future
Every bank is now setting goals to keep up with this growing market. Yoyo Wallet has already partnered with Starling Bank and Visa, and the company aims to integrate its functionality into more traditional banking apps – focusing attention on the personalisation of the payments experience to create retailer loyalty, regardless of payment method.
There are very few moments in any industry sector where visible transformations take place. In banking, these moments usually come about when you see a combination of tech evolution, enhanced consumer expectations, and regulatory change. And it’s a moment when creativity can blossom. The banking sector is now going through one of these rare moments.
“And it’s not about replacing “traditional” with “emerging” – it’s about transforming what’s already there to create a banking experience that adds real value for the customer in a digital age,” adds Alain.
URL: www.yoyowallet.com
