Neobanking Experience for SMEs & Entrepreneurs: Part 2

06/02/21 • 26 min

Continuing with our last conversation with Saad Ansari, we will discuss more on Neobanking services. As you all know, Saad is the co-founder and CEO of Xpence, a neobank streamlining the process of corporate banking for SMEs and freelancers.

In this episode, Saad discusses his vision for the future of Xpence, expanding far beyond the UAE, into other parts of the Middle East, he also touches on some of the struggles of doing so, coming in the form of coordinating with myriad regulatory bodies in the region. We move on to talking about the triumph of Xpence, and Saad’s “made it” moment, wherein he used the Card issued by his own company to make a purchase, and how this moment pushed forward his vision for the company.

We finish with Saad by discussing some of the inspirations behind Xpence, and global products which he admires in the neobanking space. To hear more about Saad’s journey, Xpence, and the fintech industry as it stands today, tune in to Business & UX Story!

In our next podcast we have a very special guest, so don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast to get notified.

In our next podcast we have a very special guest, so don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast to get notified.

Previous Episode

Neobanking Experience for SMBs & Entrepreneurs

On this edition of the podcast, we’re joined by the co-founder and CEO of Xpence; Saad Ansari. Xpence itself is a neobank that caters to SMBs and freelancers, in order to streamline the process of banking for business. We delve into the fintech space as a whole, what it feels like to work around myriad regulations, and how Xpence began its life as a consumer neobank, before shifting gears to cater to enterprise!

To broaden your understanding of the fintech space, and learn more about Saad’s journey, tune in now to listen to part 1!

Neobanking is a kind of bank that is completely digital, there are no branches and it is completely managed by a digital interface. The Neobanking industry as of 2020 was valued at around $34 billion dollars and it is expected to grow at a rate of about 48% CAGR going forward. So this is a huge industry and I think it’s a very interesting domain to kind of be in.

The most important piece of designing the UX for Xpence was onboarding. And the funny thing is that a customer will only go through it once. But onboarding is capturing information and its primary use is to assess the risk of a customer before you allow them into the platform. That's why we're asking for so much information. And each piece of information gets risk assessed. So you know, how old your company is, where it's registered, what your nationality is, these are all things that we are constantly assessing about a customer to determine what risks they pose on what risks they can possibly pose. So it is that in its own right, that onboarding is a huge, huge module of what we are doing.

Next Episode

Personalized Gaming Experience Through AI

In this edition of Business & UX Story, Divanshu is joined by Jakub and Matej, the co-founders of Assetario. The pair discuss the origins of Assetario and their partnership as a whole.

Having met at MIT, Jakub and Matej bonded over mobile gaming and noticed major flaws in the monetization models of the increasingly popular free mobile game genre, with micro-transactions. They figured that an AI could hold the key to unlocking smarter monetization in these games, laying the foundation of their new company, Assetario, with a vision to improve the gaming landscape as a whole.

Assetario develops a revenue optimization software engine for mobile gaming brands. The AI-driven model uses a deep-player understanding to create personalized gaming experiences for users, in turn, maximizing revenue yield. It achieves this by leveraging a predictive in-app-purchase model to make smart purchase recommendations to players, effectively boosting conversions through more realistic recommendations.

To learn more about the journey of Jakub and Matej, as well as Assetario, don’t miss this episode of Business & UX Story!

Thoughtcast - Neobanking Experience for SMEs & Entrepreneurs: Part 2

Transcript

Divanshu Thakral 0.00

Hey guys, welcome back to my conversation with Saad Ansari, taking our discussion ahead from where we left.

So Saad you know, since you're undergoing, you know, various regulation or regulatory compliance checks and all that. When do you, when do we kind of see this going live for you guys?

Saad Ansari 0:19

Okay, cool. So I'm just, I'm just gonna take a little bit of a step back and jus