While individuals and firms throughout the financial sector continue to innovate at great speed, many still find services and accounts offered by traditional banks difficult to access. However, some entities are looking to change this and make financial services more accessible for all.
With this in mind, we spoke to Raman Korneu, co-founder and CEO of myTU, the neobank utilising cloud-only infrastructure and AI to make essential financial services easier to access, more secure and more cost-effective.
Here, Korneu breaks down his thoughts on the fintech industry, some of the biggest hurdles myTU has overcome, recent achievements
Raman Korneu, co-founder and CEO of myTU
Tell us more about your company and its purpose
myTU is a fintech company pioneering the use of cloud-only infrastructure and AI to transform consumer banking. It’s not tech for tech’s sake; we are leveraging these innovations to make essential financial services more accessible, secure, and cost-effective. It’s exactly what our purpose is. Our team aims to reshape banking services by harnessing the power of technology to provide innovative and practical solutions to our clients.
Our approach is tailored to the needs of underserved markets and clients. Initially, we targeted the travel industry and digital nomads, with the name TravelUnion reflecting that focus. Once COVID affected the travel sector, we successfully pivoted to serve individuals and families with a full-featured mobile banking app supporting accounts, cards, and payments in multiple languages. For business clients, the focus is on fully digital onboarding, instant SEPA payments, and easy integration with accounting systems.
What are some of your recent achievements you’d like to highlight?
We’re proud to have recently launched our cutting-edge ‘Payouts API’, which empowers businesses to streamline their financial operations and boost revenue through automated, real-time payment processing and loan management. This solution seamlessly integrates with our clients’ existing systems, enabling them to reduce operational costs and manual errors.
I’d particularly highlight the advanced security in this solution. We’ve achieved it through custom multi-factor authentication, which integrates multiple ECDSA keys with IP and DNS data verification and utilises secure timestamps alongside bidirectional out-of-band communication, ensuring the highest standard of security and compliance.
Additionally, we’ve successfully integrated artificial intelligence into our operations, achieving remarkable efficiency gains and maintaining a robust tech infrastructure with a lean IT department.
How did you get into the fintech industry?
I’ve spent 25 years in the banking industry, holding board member positions in conventional banks. I’ve also held consulting roles at Ernst & Young and PwC, working on over 100 projects for over 50 major banks and companies, including Merrill Lynch Securities and Raiffeisenbank.
While working in banks, I started considering the potential in fintech and joined a fintech company as a strategist. This experience, coupled with my EMBA at Judge Business School at Cambridge, inspired me to establish my own fintech startup. Together with my co-founder Tomas Navickas, expert software architect with over 20 years of experience, we’re focusing on leveraging new technologies to address pain points in the industry.
What’s the best thing about working in the fintech industry?
I believe it’s the opportunity to drive innovation and make a real impact on people’s lives. That’s why we are using our technology and strategy to increase people’s financial inclusion in the digital economy. Rather than chasing large, saturated markets, myTU is focused on becoming a leading digital bank in smaller countries often overlooked by incumbent banks and the larger European neobanks. Presently, we’re approaching 50,000 customers representing over 100 nationalities, with 40 per cent engaging actively on a weekly basis.
What frustrates you most about the fintech industry?
The pace at which traditional players adapt to new technologies and innovations is an area where I’d like to see change. While many established banks and financial institutions are making significant strides in embracing digital transformation, there is still room for improvement in terms of collaboration and knowledge sharing between traditional players and fintech companies. By working together more closely, we can create a more inclusive and innovative financial ecosystem that benefits all stakeholders.
Another challenge is navigating the regulatory landscape, which is essential for ensuring the stability and integrity of the financial system. While regulations may sometimes feel like they are playing catch-up with rapid advances in technology, it’s crucial to recognise the importance of a robust regulatory framework in protecting consumer interests and maintaining trust in the financial sector.
How have your previous roles influenced your career?
They have provided me with a deep understanding of the industry’s pain points and the potential for technology to address them. Occupying senior positions within the banking and finance sector has afforded me extensive exposure to leading banks and corporations, providing valuable insights into the challenges they face. These experiences have shaped my vision for myTU and driven our focus on leveraging technology to create innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our clients.
What’s the best mistake you’ve ever made?
Initially, we built our infrastructure on a third-party banking platform. While it seemed like a quick way to enter the market, we soon realised that it limited our ability to innovate and adapt to our clients’ needs. This experience led us to make the bold decision to develop our own core banking system from scratch, which has been a game-changer for myTU.
Now, our cost to acquire a customer is less than €10, compared to over €100 for some competitors. What else is that our team made the decision to build entirely on Google Cloud, making it one of the first digital banks to run fully on the public cloud. It allows myTU to stay nimble while delivering an exceptional user experience.
What has the future got in store for your company?
We’re focused on expanding our product offerings, including enabling international transactions, introducing travel loans, and enhancing our loyalty system. In particular, we see a major opportunity in ‘Travel Now, Pay Later’ (TNPL) services allowing travellers to book now and spread the cost over multiple instalments.
While BNPL giants like Klarna have partnered with some OTAs, myTU sees an untapped opportunity with more traditional tour operators and travel agents. By embedding TNPL into these operators’ booking flows, we can help them boost sales among budget-conscious consumers.
With the launch of our Payouts API, we expect to drive substantial growth and increase our business client base in the coming months. With a strong focus on embedded finance, we aim to become the preferred payment method on various platforms, from niche service providers to larger e-commerce sites. We’re also committed to further leveraging AI and automation to drive operational excellence and deliver even more value to our clients.
What are the next key talking points or challenges for your industry as a whole?
The fintech industry is at a critical juncture, with several key challenges and opportunities on the horizon. One of the main issues is the need to rethink the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) model as it stands today.
The recent bankruptcy of Synapse, a BaaS fintech, underscores the vulnerabilities in the often-interdependent fintech ecosystem. Similarly, Monese’s shift from a retail banking model to a B2B technology business highlights the difficulty of transforming retail banking into a profitable venture.
Fintech companies relying on third-party BaaS providers often find themselves in a homogenous landscape, struggling to differentiate due to the ‘heavy’ and inflexible technological infrastructure. Regulatory requirements further complicate this, with standardised processes that don’t fit the unique needs of individual fintechs. The core challenge is the lack of differentiation in compliance settings, which becomes costly to modify. I believe that differentiated compliance settings and products are essential for quick adaptation to market dynamics and regulatory changes.
Additionally, the continued adoption of AI and automation will be a key driver of change, enabling fintech companies to deliver more personalised and efficient services to their clients.
The post In Profile: Raman Korneu, CEO of myTU appeared first on The Fintech Times.
