May we introduce: Hartmut Giesen
Working in the fintech industry is like coming and going, requires a high level of professionalism in a relaxed work environment, and is driven by innovation, good, smart, and forward-thinking ideas, according to a widespread consensus. But who are the very heads and creators behind these creative thinking processes, at the interface between finance, digital technologies and entrepreneurship? This time, Hartmut Giesen answers our questions.
Who is Harmut Giesen?
Hartmut is a Business Developer at Sutor Bank and has developed and implemented a dedicated fintech strategy for and with Sutor Bank in recent years.
Who are you, what are you doing?
Hartmut Giesen, married, two children, on the road since 2012 for the Sutor Bank in Things Fintech. Since then, we have built a banking platform to which startups and other digital companies can dock to provide their own financial services. Our specialty is the development of individual solutions for partners such as Zinspilot, Fairr.de, Growney, Cashcape, Fintiba or Check24. We are currently growing very fast with our partners and currently have over 130,000 fintech customers.
What were your first contacts with the payment and banking industry?
More intense from 2012, when I started to develop and implement a marketing strategy for the Sutor Bank, which then over a few stations -. B. Development of own Robo Advisors – in the Fintech resp. Banking platform strategy for which we are known today. Previously, I was in technology marketing. There, banks and financial service providers were more frequently involved as users of software or development tools. The first points of contact were therefore already in the 90s. Photo by Samuel Zeller
When did you first hear the word FinTech?
Probably 2013. Internally, we first called the child Next Finance because the term fintech was not so present. Only when fintech established itself as the keyword, we have adapted to this terminology.
How do you define FinTech?
In the sense of fintech as an entrepreneurial movement: As a category term for startups that drive this transformation in competition with or in cooperation with traditional financial service providers and develop their own business models. The creative transformation of the value chain distinguishes it from traditional technology providers and service providers for financial companies, whose solutions have only made existing value chains more efficient, but have not changed significantly. In the technical sense: the technology-driven, digital transformation of value chains in the financial industry.
Overall, I see the trend that fintech in the technical sense is increasingly being used by established technology and digital companies, in addition to startups and banks, to increase their own value creation by offering financial services. These include not only the now-proverbial GAFAs, but also comparison platforms or e-commerce companies that offer financial services under their own label.
What do you think make established companies better than FinTechs?
As far as banks are concerned: the development of regulatory technical frameworks to implement fintech business models. What they do not do better in the strict sense, but where they have clear advantages: customer trust and customer base.
What can you learn from FinTechs?
The question understood in the sense of what one can learn from working with many fintechs: identifying the factors for success and the failure of fintechs. Understood in the sense of what one can deduce from Fintechs: the rapid development of business models including financing. Photo by Estée Janssens
What would you do for a living if you did not work in the payment and banking industry?
Always where it comes to building a business out of trends and innovations. Maybe entrepreneurial in youth tourism, where I am on a voluntary basis (there is a lot of digital disruption potential).
Which company would you like to work on for one day?
Andreessen Horowitz