On this episode of Scouting for Growth, Sabine VdL interviews FinTech and Blockchain Advisor Efi Pylarinou about why sustainable investing is so important, her view on the state of FinTech (and what the insurance industry can learn from it), sustainability in the context of Digital Transformation, what the emerging risks are, and more.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Switzerland is one of the largest hubs for Blockchain in Finance, emerging from Crypto Valley. It’s an example of how an ecosystem works: You need the regulator, the private sector, the capital, and an international outreach for the recipe to work, and that’s what has happened in the crypto sector, but it hasn’t happened in FinTech. Having said that, the crypto sector in Switzerland is more in the RegTech sub-vertical, which is related to data analytics and so on. That’s the high level at which Switzerland stands.
- There’s something that worries me: an indicator that we’re early, with the insurance industry interested in climate, carbon footprint, and how companies and individuals can reduce their carbon footprint. But we’re seeing many businesses and startups offering services to trade for credits. We need to get over that. A company can get a high ESG ranking on the climate front, but that might be completely negated because they’re doing something on another front in terms of labour practices, for example.
- The ball has started rolling in the public markets, and BlackRock is leading and making big announcements. But in the public markets, this has to start from the seed, when the company is born: Is the company thinking sustainably, and what does it mean? How do you treat your team? Is your mission completely segregated from society and nature? No, it isn’t, but we don’t think like that yet.
- Going forward, we’ll see more incumbent banks partnering with sustainable FinTechs to integrate them into their lending practices, corporate finance, and commercial banking processes, for example.
BEST MOMENTS
‘Innovation gets adopted, but before that happens, there needs to be a shift in the narrative. This is what is currently happening with sustainability. Still, we’re early in the journey.’
‘In December 2020, ESG net inflows surpassed £ 1 billion, a record number.’
‘Corporates still operate and make decisions in silos. Think about your borrowing needs; they are still separate from your investing needs. We haven’t put the whole picture together. Yet, centralized financing has to be part of the new culture, which is why it needs to start from the startups.’
‘We’re seeing a trend where digital banking and finance apps take advantage of the lifestyle appeals, whether they’re giving rewards to people or gamifying their offerings due to the fact that people care more about the environment.’
ABOUT THE GUEST
- No.1 independent Global Woman Influencer in Finance & Data, a seasoned Wall Street professional with a Ph.D. in Finance, with over 200,000 followers across channels.
- Work at the intersections of Business Development, Marketing, and PR for Brands involved in Digital transformation in various industries. Thought leadership campaigns through strategic collaboration are one of my sweet spots as a B2B domain expert influencer with a passion for innovation.
- Domain expertise in financial services; Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence are two main disruptive technologies that I focus on.
- Efi's global audience (c. 200,000 across all platforms) values her multimedia daily curation. I am a prolific writer, a host of weekly audio and video content, a creator of weekly visual content, and a passionate speaker.
- Efi's passion is creating content that supports her clients' strategic business goals. You can connect with Efi on the platforms below
Medium: https://efipm.medium.com/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/EfiPylarinou
Twitter: https://twitter.com/efipm
Website: https://efipylarinou.com/
ABOUT THE HOST
Sabine VanderLinden is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur and the CEO of Alchemy Crew Ventures. She leads venture-client labs that help Fortune 500 companies adopt and scale cutting-edge technologies from global tech ventures. A builder of accelerators, investor, and co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, Sabine is known for asking the uncomfortable questions—about AI governance, risk, and trust. On Scouting for Growth, she decodes how real growth happens—where capital, collaboration, and courage meet.
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