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By Louise Veitch, Head of SE Asia
At the end of April, Money20/20 finally made its debut in Asia at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre in Bangkok.
The city’s strategic location, coupled with its rapidly growing economy and supportive regulatory environment, made it a perfect place for the fintech community to congregate on this side of the world. Bangkok’s 40-degree April heat and gridlocked traffic also did an excellent job of keeping attendees and sponsors inside the convention centre at all times.
If you’re wondering whether to go in 2025, I have shared insights after attending in April that will either get you registering for next year’s event or deleting it from your calendar entirely.
For those who have been to Money2020’s alternative regional events, or the latest Singapore Fintech Festival & Token 2049, like us, you might have been searching for another exhibition hall when you first arrived at the centre.
The event was much smaller, but arguably no less mighty. From speaking with clients and other sponsors, many felt that what it lacked in footfall, it made up for in the quality of attendees. It’s also important to understand that what works for one region, may not work for another, so comparing the money2020 events like for like will never be a useful exercise.
A contributing factor to the size, was the cost of the event. It cost thousands to attend the event and much, much more to be an exhibitor. While this ensured that attendees were serious sellers or buyers, companies looking for an immediate return on investment will have struggled to get back in the green.
Over the last 12 months for better or worse the fintech industry has been in the spotlight and while it can sometimes be a lucrative field, it is always innovating at a rapid pace. Money2020 Bangkok showcased the ideas and current thinking of the most influential people in this sector.
Ultimately, our team will be recommending that some of our clients in Asia (and globally) attend and/or sponsor next year’s event while others should probably sit it out. Considering your business objectives and how this fits into your wider marcoms strategy is a huge factor.
For example, if you are looking to build brand awareness in front of a really relevant community, you can register for next year here. But, if lead generation is the watchword for 2025 and you have specific conversion targets to hit, we might recommend investing in alternative strategies to better support these objectives.
Louise Veitch heads up operations for Aspectus’ Singapore office, leading the expert team on the ground there as well as Aspectus’ network of consultants across Southeast Asia. She has spent the last decade helping clients in the fintech and traditional finance space to successfully grow their brand awareness globally. Louise was named PR Week’s 30 Under 30 in 2020 in recognition for her work in this space.
Q1: How does Money20/20 Asia compare to other fintech events in the region?
A1: Though smaller in size than events like the Singapore Fintech Festival, Money20/20 Asia’s high-quality attendee base offered substantial networking and business opportunities.
Q2: What are the costs and ROI considerations for attending Money20/20 Asia?
A2: High participation costs mean companies should weigh the potential for immediate returns against the quality of interactions and long-term strategic benefits.
Q3: Should businesses attend Money20/20 Asia in 2025?
A3: Decision to attend should align with specific marketing and commercial objectives, considering factors like brand visibility and lead generation needs.
By Astrid French, Senior Director based in UAE
With world-class infrastructure, business-friendly taxation policies, and significant industry expertise, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is continuing to show itself as a ripe destination for business – able to withstand economic downturns while many other regions around the world face an uphill battle.
We turn our attention to fintech to see a clear example of this in action. Despite dwindling global investment in fintech, the UAE bucks this trend with total investment soaring 92 per cent in 2023. Pro-fintech regulations and a high adoption rate of digital banking tools are creating an ideal habitat for the sector to thrive. As a result, firms are increasingly looking to the UAE as an essential market for growth.
But with great opportunity, comes great competition, and firms are vying to stand out against the growing crowd. Those who cut through this noise with smart, strategic marketing and communications will ‘own the night’ and fast put distance between themselves and others.
So, what is the size of the opportunity, and how can UAE fintech firms make the most of it?
The UAE is deeply rooted in its commitment to digital transformation, championing technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) to foster entrepreneurship and innovation. Predictions indicate that by 2030, AI will contribute US$97 billion to the UAE’s economy, constituting nearly 14 per cent of GDP.
With the next wave of digitisation already in full swing, the UAE offers an optimal location for businesses to explore these possibilities and boost their brand visibility in a growing digital ecosystem.
For instance, the open banking market in the region is booming, projected to reach $1.17bn in 2024. By enabling financial and non-financial institutions to partner and share financial data with regulated fintechs, open banking is dismantling the walls that traditionally limited financial services, creating a connected financial community in the UAE. Opening up secure access to financial data offers firms a treasure trove of information, enabling firms to develop a rich array of personalised products and services and cater to evolving customer needs. Many firms in the region are leveraging strategic communications to showcase the UAE’s open banking prowess, helping to attract attention from investors and stakeholders worldwide.
Collaboration extends beyond the four walls of the UAE’s fintech community, too. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) has created an Innovation Hub, home to more than 700 tech firms, regulators, venture capital firms, and educational bodies, working to share knowledge and collaborate. Its FinTech Accelerator Programme offers networking and mentorship opportunities for fintech startups, concentrating on areas like open banking, AI, and automation in effort to enhance financial literacy. By communicating how these advancements are driving the UAE forward as a budding fintech hub, fintech firms can position themselves as key players shaping the future of finance.
The region is also building a growing voice on sustainable finance, and communications are playing a key role in spotlighting this progress. Policymakers and regulators in the UAE are using their platforms to stress the importance of technology to achieve sustainable finance goals, encouraging active engagement from fintech firms to materialise sustainability promises. Fintech organisations in the region are already harnessing AI and blockchain to enhance ESG reporting and transparency, as well as integrating sustainability into investment decisions. Events such as Fintech Abu Dhabi, hosted in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), showcase the advancements being made in sustainable fintech, attracting attention from media and key stakeholders. The ADGM has garnered worldwide recognition for its progressive regulatory frameworks and support for cross-border business activity – bolstering the region’s reputation as a trailblazer in using technology for positive societal impact.
So, fintech downturn? It doesn’t look like it in the UAE. It is a fertile ground for fintech innovation, attracting major players in the scene, best-in-class talent, and hefty funding rounds.
But competition will only grow fiercer. A strategic communications and marketing strategy is critical for firms to stand out in all the right ways. If you want to elevate your brand in the UAE, then talk to us at Aspectus where our Middle East specialists can guide you through your next stage of growth.
Q: What sets the UAE apart in terms of fintech investment despite global trends?
A: The UAE benefits from pro-fintech regulations, as well as a healthy domestic economy and growing consumer appetite for digital financial services. Consumers are increasingly seeking seamless, sophisticated banking tools, leaving many entry points for fintech firms in the region.
Q: How does the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) support fintech innovation?
A: The DIFC’s Innovation Hub serves as a collaborative space for over 700 tech firms, venture capital firms, and regulators. Through initiatives like the FinTech Accelerator Programme, it provides networking, mentorship, and support in key areas to enhance financial literacy and drive fintech growth.
Q: What is open banking?
A: Open banking is a process through which banks and financial institutions can allow third parties to access customer data, with their permission, through the use of application programming interfaces (APIs). This helps to create more personalised offerings, such as tailored budgeting tips.
Q: What fintech events are hosted in the UAE?
A: Some of the biggest events in the industry are hosted in the UAE. Fintech Abu Dhabi is held in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), attracting global attention. The Dubai FinTech Summit is another event pioneering the next wave of digitalisation in financial services.
By Will Brook, Capital Markets
With investment houses under growing pressure to innovate, this blog provides fintech attendees of this year’s TSAM (The Summit for Asset Management) event with a host of tips and tricks to ensure they can capture the attention of the various asset management firms in attendance. These include suggestions around fintech marketing, merchandising, branding, social media, tech savviness and staff selection.
It is no secret that asset managers – particularly those operating in the UK – have had a difficult couple of years. A barrage of headwinds, including a slowdown in global economic growth, elevated interest rates, bouts of pronounced market volatility and increasing competition from ETFs, saw the UK fund industry suffer ‘record’ net outflows[1] in 2023. And so far, this year hasn’t offered much in the way of hope. Funds domiciled in the UK witnessed £3.34bn in net outflows[2] in February – and for the second time in 12 months, not a single asset class managed to attract net inflows.
But as the old adage goes, from adversity comes opportunity. As asset managers grapple with growing competition and squeezed margins, the deployment of sophisticated financial technology has perhaps never been so essential. After all, the integration of effective fintech can unearth a host of advantages for investment houses, not least reduced costs, stronger investment returns, and ultimately a healthier bottom line. Take the potential posed by robo-advisors, for instance. A recent study by PwC[3] suggests assets managed by these algorithm-driven and increasingly AI-enabled digital platforms will surge to almost $6tn by 2027 – nearly double the figure for 2022.
And this is just one aspect of their strategy asset managers will be looking to bolster with cutting-edge fintech over the coming months. Against this backdrop, The Summit for Asset Management (TSAM) in London on 1 May – which brings together leaders from the back and middle office departments of some of the world’s most prominent asset management firms – offers a tremendous opportunity for financial technology providers to capture the attention of fund houses.
Given the number of vendors set to attend and the hectic nature of these events, capitalizing on this opportunity requires careful thought and preparation from a fintech marketing and public relations perspective. Trust me, I’ve been to enough events to know that the unprepared will struggle to make a splash, even if they have an excellent piece of tech to demo. With this in mind, we’ve put together a list of four key considerations fintech firms must take into account to give themselves the best chance of capturing asset managers’ eyes at TSAM.
Your booth and any merchandise you intend to give away are two of the most essential elements of large trade events like TSAM. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure your booth and merch stands out from the crowd. To do so, incorporate unique branding elements[1] and visually appealing displays that reflect your company’s identity and message.
Use bold colors, innovative design elements, and eye-catching visuals to captivate the attention of asset managers. Ensure that your booth reflects the essence of your fintech solution, if possible, conveying its value proposition at a glance. As for merchandise, this too should reflect the company’s brand identity, culture and values, while also being useful to attendees.
Utilize technology to enhance the visitor experience at your stand. Incorporate QR codes that lead to relevant resources, such as whitepapers, case studies, or demo videos. Implement interactive displays or augmented reality experiences to demonstrate the functionality of your solution in an engaging manner. Leveraging digital tools for lead capture and follow-ups is another aspect that shouldn’t be overlooked, helping to streamline the process for both parties and turn prospects into new business relationships swiftly.
While technology is important, it is imperative not to overlook the power of personal connections. Select subject matter experts that are approachable, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic about your fintech offering. These individuals can foster meaningful interactions with asset managers by initiating conversations, asking probing questions, and actively listening to their needs.
Incorporating interactive elements like games or quizzes to break the ice and encourage engagement is also worthwhile, but the success of these will depend on the spriteliness of those in charge of leading them.
Harness the power of social media[1] to amplify your presence before, during, and after the event. Create buzz[2] leading up to TSAM by sharing teasers, announcements, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of your preparations.
Then, during the event, post live updates, share photos/videos of your booth, and engage with attendees using event hashtags. It is then much easier to continue the conversation after the event, by sharing key takeaways, insights, and follow-up content to stay front-of-mind with the asset managers in attendance.
Only by thinking carefully about your fintech brand from a marketing and PR perspective can you be confident in transforming the bustling environment of TSAM into a fertile ground teeming with potential business prospects. See here[3] for three further top tips for developing an effective technology event communications plan.
Will is a content specialist in the Capital Markets team and joined Aspectus having spent nearly three years writing content for a wide array of global asset management firms. Since starting in his role in May 2023, Will has become ever more curious about the ways in which effective marketing and public relations can help innovative financial technology firms capture the attention of their target audience and transform capital markets for the better.
By Mary Neale-Smith, Financial Services
Explore Monzo’s popularity among Gen Z, from its innovative mobile banking features, vibrant branding, and a strong social media presence, making financial management both trendy and accessible
Monzo has my friends and me exactly where it wants us. From university houses bill sharing, to spilling the cost of groceries on holiday, to requesting a mate for the pint they owe from last week, the phrase “I’ll Monzo you” is firmly cemented in our vocabulary.
According to GlobalData’s 2023 Financial Services Consumer Survey, 52% of Monzo’s customers belong to Generation Z (<27 years old) and two thirds are under 30 years old. So, what’s the key to Monzo’s popularity among Generation Z?
Colours can have a huge impact on consumers’ perceptions and emotions towards a brand. Since the introduction of bank cards, companies have battled to balance staying true to their brand identity, whilst simultaneously trying to catch the eye of consumers. Historically bank cards have been blue, grey and green – colours that we regard as stable, calming, neutral and trustworthy. All the emotions banks want to evoke in customers.
So, when Monzo launched into the banking sector in 2015 it was among the first to challenge traditional high street banks, not only with its offering to consumers, but with its coral pink card breaking the norm.
The eye-catching colour of the cards make them a clever marketing tool. Before the brand was well known, taking the card out of your wallet would immediately get people to ask you what it is, leading to an inevitable conversation about how useful the app is, that not only helped word spread about the startup, but let customers back in the early days signal to others that they were early adopters of a trendy new startup.
And the bright coral cards were initially intended to only be a prototype, like how a car maker might show off their future design in bright colour. However, an unexpected wave of community support for the coral card convinced Monzo to keep it around, turning a marketing move into an iconic symbol for the brand.
They also used to run a smart referral bonus that gave £5 to both the customer and to the new friend who they managed to sign up for an account. This cash boost scheme was what originally drew me to Monzo. As a student, you’d do anything for free money – like signing up for 4 different student bank accounts to get various free rewards – and Monzo spread like a wildfire via referral codes and friendship groups.
Monzo has nine million retail customers in the U.K. In 2023 alone, the company added two million customers. There are also 400,000 companies using Monzo for their business banking needs. It’s a fast-moving market and Monzo’s popularity among Gen Z isn’t all down to the flashy pink card and old referral scheme.
The ‘verb-ification’ of Monzo – where the name of a product is perceived as a performed action and becomes synonymous with it – has become a way for young people to describe sending money and is a symptom of the fintech’s success.
How did Monzo do it? By embracing its position as a modern mobile bank, Monzo hammered home its convenient and proactive tools to managing money. From easy account setup, to saving pots that automatically receive money from rounding up transition, immediate spending notifications and frictionless peer-to-peer transactions via phone numbers, Monzo capitalised on being at the forefront of mobile banking.
In 2015, the idea of banking solely through an app would have made many skeptical. Now, according to Which’s 2024 guide, four of the five top banks are digital and every major bank, from traditional to challenger, has skin in the mobile banking game.
Since Monzo started in 2015, banks and building societies have closed 5,908 branches. That’s roughly 54 each month as the sector has seen a rapid decline in the use of physical branches. This significant change highlights how the banking industry is moving towards a digital-first approach, signaling a future where physical branches may become the exception rather than the norm. It’s important to acknowledge, however, that this digital shift is controversial, particularly for elderly and vulnerable populations who may find digital services less accessible.
But beyond the smooth user experience and handy tools to manage money, Monzo has also successfully tapped into the most effective way to connect with Gen Z – social media.
We’ve all cringed at attempts from businesses social media account trying too hard to be cool.
Monzo seems to have struck the right balance. Its jargon-free, inclusive tone of voice translates from the app to its social media presence, contrasting with the formal corporate speak expected of traditional banks.
Monzo embraces Gen Z and millennials’ self-deprecating tendencies. From resharing viral tweets from users bemoaning the app for telling them how much they’ve spent in a particularly expensive month to LinkedIn posts offering apologies for mistaken excitement over a notification from Monzo about a £0.10 TFL charge, thinking it was a message from a crush.
This approach not only showcases Monzo’s understanding of its audience but highlights the impact of digital marketing on success. It reinforces that when digital marketing is used effectively, it can strengthen and enhance consumer perceptions of a brand.
Monzo’s current popularity with Gen Z is undeniable, but can it last? I recently read an article that labeled Monzo as “trendy,” using the term in the same mildly disparaging manner a grandparent might describe ripped jeans. The article argued that the platform’s abundant use of emojis made it resemble a bank for children.
While the criticisms in the article didn’t hit as hard as the author might have hoped – because really, who doesn’t love a good emoji? – it did raise a compelling question. As Monzo’s Gen Z users grow up, will they stick with the bank, or will it just be a steppingstone to a more ‘adult’ account? Will those students who were drawn to the digital bank for its notifications and spending pots decide to trust Monzo with their first paycheck, their credit card, and perhaps even their first home savings?
Monzo has been a key player in influencing the mobile banking landscape, making it easy and hassle free. The instant notification of transactions, spreading the cost of payments over time, separating money into pots to pay bills, shared tabs and virtual cards are all features that I never knew I needed, but now I can’t imagine going without them.
Through a combination of smart marketing, relatable ethos, and useful products, Monzo’s popularity among Generation Z is indisputable. Not only has it secured its place as indispensable in managing my finances, but Monzo is now absolutely necessary to ensuring my friends’ holiday plans make it out of group chat.
By Oliver Wells, SEO Director
Estimated read time: 12 minutes
Blog summary: In this blog I breakdown the importance of Google’s EEAT framework to modern SEO and business growth. I’ll focus on how to implement experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness on your website. Read on to learn how utilizing EEAT strategies not only enhances your organic search performance but also builds long lasting customer loyalty and trust; positioning your business for success in a digital-first world.
In this dynamic and now AI-influenced landscape of digital content production, Google’s E-E-A-T framework stands as a beacon of unwavering credibility. Born into the 2014 edition of the Quality Rater Guidelines as 3 simple letters: “E-A-T” (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness) they have since been incorporated into updates both core and micro for as long as I can remember, and now also include a further “E” for “Experience”. We can now see and track the direct and wholly positive impacts of EEAT strategies in organic campaigns, but why is this the case?
“E-A-T is a template for how we rate an individual site. We do it to every single query and every single result. It’s pervasive throughout every single thing we do.”
Hyung-Jin Kim, Vice President of Search at Google, speaking at SMX Next
EAT was introduced as a quality concept in response to the growing need for authoritative and trustworthy online information. Fast forward to 2022, and the concept expanded to include ‘Experience’. This represents the value of firsthand, lived experience(s). This evolution wasn’t just an update; it was a statement. Google was championing content not just rich in expertise but also steeped in honest, genuine input. For users, it meant a more relatable, trustworthy and reliable online world, where information comes from those who don’t just know but truly understand the industry because they have lived it – and they aren’t simply writing content in order to sell you a dream. They want to help or guide you towards something, they’re willing to prove themselves to you, and they are happy to be patient.
As goes modern SEO, Google’s E-E-A-T has emerged as a powerhouse. Its utilization in the March 2024 update is telling. It’s not just a framework; it’s how you connect with potential customers and website users. It’s how you show them why you’re the best option in a noisy and incoherent grey space of endless choice. By blending experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness Google is able to nudge content creators, business owners and marketing directors (sometimes forcefully and with some degree of resistance) towards excellence. Engaging with EEAT frameworks as they become even more essential, is now a case of when, not if; and there is some degree of urgency.
The focus revolves around rewarding those who know their stuff with resonance that is achieved through genuine experience and transparency – honesty with a dash of true and forthright passion for a craft and a business that wants to thrive. For SEO strategists, myself included, mastering E-E-A-T is not just about playing by the rules; it’s about crafting content that connects with audiences and converts because it is a natural full stop rather than a wrestling match.
So why should you care about SEO and EEAT and what does success look like for your business following continued engagement with these frameworks? The short answer is: online trust = increased business but garnered the right way, consistently and honestly, over time. In our challenging digital world it can seem like every blog and every site is designed to splice attention into consumable chunks, robbing businesses of feeling and websites of humanity.
Therefore, SEOs and Google know and understand that those who genuinely want to engage and talk about a topic are the ones who cultivate the greatest loyalties. Customer loyalty and brand trust being possibly the two greatest pillars upon which strong businesses are built. EEAT is a big thing. I won’t pretend like I am able to discuss it all in one blog post. It encompasses a lot of SEO with crossover into design, digital marketing generally, as well as brand positioning and content creation. But we are passionate about this. We believe strongly that EEAT is the best way to improve organic presence, but we also have an extremely strong feeling that these frameworks are formative to AI and LLM performance. Google may rely heavily on how trustworthy you are, how much authority you have; therefore success in EEAT may very well mean success in AI when AI becomes a major, dominant player in SEO and search.
So, lofty goals we may set, but attainable they are. We have compiled for you below, our top 21 EEAT elements that you must engage with as soon as you can if you want to become a trustworthy organic performance powerhouse.
As I said, EEAT is BIG. But it is worth getting your head around. It represents for me, and for Aspectus, the evolution of SEO and the future of AI and LLM performance. Businesses that fail at EEAT, will fail as we transition. But that ought not be a negative. EEAT means building connections with your audience. It represents a freedom and creativity to engage and to be exciting. It’s a celebration of authenticity and expertise; a showcase of your experience. It’s about showing the world who you are, what you do, why you do it and what drives you forward. EEAT isn’t just the next big thing; it’s the foundation for enduring success on search engines. It’s an invitation to create content that’s as real as it is relevant, as personal as it is powerful. Get in touch with me today to discuss how we can help you achieve SEO success through EEAT implementation.
Google’s E-E-A-T stands for Experience, Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness, a framework crucial for SEO success, emphasizing credible and quality content.
E-E-A-T directly influences organic search rankings by rewarding content that demonstrates genuine expertise, authoritative sources, and trustworthiness, along with the author’s personal experience in the subject matter.
Focusing on E-E-A-T ensures that businesses create content that truly resonates with their audience, establishing a strong, trustworthy online presence that drives organic growth and customer loyalty.
Incorporating E-E-A-T into a content strategy significantly boosts a business’s online credibility and authority, leading to better search rankings, increased trust among users, and ultimately, higher conversion rates.
The addition of ‘Experience’ to the E-E-A-T framework highlights the importance of personal anecdotes and firsthand knowledge in creating relatable, authentic content that resonates with audiences and demonstrates genuine understanding.
E-E-A-T is foundational because it aligns SEO practices with the evolving capabilities of AI and machine learning, ensuring that content not only meets current standards of relevance and quality but is also prepared for future technological advancements in search algorithms.
I have been working in SEO and strategic marketing services for over 8 years now. My experience is an even split between in-house roles at start-ups and agency roles at some of the UK’s biggest PR and digital agencies. I am based in East London having moved down from Essex 5 years ago. Professionally, I am a proud advocate for EEAT and SEO and the genuine business benefits of integrated service adoption. Personally, my heart is in the Lake District and nature. Podcasts are my jam and coffee is my addiction.
By Arthur Instone, Financial Services
Regulatory technology – or ‘regtech’ – is one of the fastest growing areas of fintech. The global size of the regtech market is projected to increase from $9 billion in 2022 to $70 billion by 2032, with annual spending on regtech solutions expected to reach £200 billion by 2028. KPMG has highlighted regtech as a “particularly hot sector”, driven by impending regulatory changes which are set to make 2024 one of the most significant regulatory years in recent history.
The regtech movement is well and truly underway, promising to disrupt the regulatory landscape through innovative solutions to the ever-increasing demands of compliance.
As the value of regtech crystallises around the globe, now is the time to assess the forces driving sector growth and how a carefully thought-out compliance PR strategy can help regtechs communicate their value in an increasingly saturated market.
For those of us that follow the world of financial services regulation, we know that things don’t exactly move at lightning speed.
However, 2024 is set to hold a uniquely busy regulatory calendar. The next 12-18 months will be a period of sea change, with several landmark regulations coming into effect across a range of different financial sectors. These include:
Banking – In 2024 banks will need to step up their preparations for the remaining Basel reforms, with implementation set for January 2025 and July 2025 in the EU and UK respectively. UK banks also have until May 2024 to implement the Prudential Regulation Authority’s principles for model risk management.
Insurance – In addition to the phased implementation of Solvency UK which fully takes effect from December 31 2024, insurers will also need to navigate the final policy decisions on the global Insurance Capital Standard (ICS) before it kicks in as a Prescribed Capital Standard (PCS) from 2025.
Regulatory reporting – There are changes to global regulatory reporting regimes this year, including modifications to version 3.2 of the CFTC Rewrite and final implementation of EMIR Refit in April 2024.
Payments – By 7 October 2024, payment service providers must comply with the Payment System Regulator’s (PSR) new mandatory reimbursement requirements for APP fraud and scams, meaning firms will be against the clock to meet the deadline.
Operational Resilience – There is now just under a year left until the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) comes into effect. From January 2025, firms must follow new rules for the protection, recovery and repair of ICT-related incidents.
Collectively, these changes have pushed regulatory compliance to the top of the agenda. According to Grant Thornton, 65% of regulated firms anticipate more regulatory obligations in 2024. With institutions under pressure to meet fast-approaching deadlines, the appetite for regtech solutions is growing.
It’s estimated that regtech will account for over 50% of global compliance budgets by 2026, whilst a 2023 survey by Finastra found that the need to align more closely with compliance needs was the third biggest motivator amongst banks to integrate third-party tech solutions.
Regtech is set to play a central role in compliance strategies over the year ahead, but the sector still needs to overcome several challenges: none more so than communication.
One of the key challenges that regtechs face is getting their voices and value heard. The 2021 Global City RegTech report found that a huge 67% of financial institutions cite lack of awareness regarding the available solutions as the biggest barrier to regtech adoption. The same Grant Thornton report found that 13% of regtechs cite promotion and marketing as the single most important factor that would help them expand internationally.
In an increasingly crowded market, how can regtechs cut through the noise to communicate their offering when selling into the regulatory space?
Aspectus has been building regtech reputations for over a decade. Our regtech PR team has the perfect blend of regulatory, financial services and capital markets expertise, with a laser sharp focus on making sure we’re one step ahead of the regulatory news cycle. We know which regulations are on the horizon, what they mean for regulated entities and have long-standing relationships with journalists who trust us to collaboratively work with them in shaping their stories.
The demand for regtech solutions will grow significantly throughout 2024 and beyond. As regulation and technology become more closely integrated, it is vital that regtechs are on the front foot when it comes to building brand trust and credibility. To find out more how Aspectus can support you on this journey, get in touch here.
By Tamsin Jackson, People and Experience Director
Every Friday at Aspectus we have a group called ‘Hi-Jack’ whereby anyone and everyone is encouraged to nominate a colleague that has inspired them during the week.
Nominations often follow themes, asking for comparisons to famous figures to show how brilliant our own heroes are.
As we recognise International Women’s Day to celebrate all those that make such a huge contribution to our business (70% of Aspectees are women and – critically – so is our senior management team), we wanted to use our famous Friday ‘format’ to shout about some of the women that work here.
All have been nominated and compared to other famous women by their teammates.
Our fearless Head of Technology – Sofie reminds me of the former Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin. She’s here to get the job done and have fun while doing it!
Sophie Rivas inspires me every day and her progress over the past year and a half at The Aspectus Academy has been huge. When Sophie spoke at Company Day, I was blown away – what an impressive and scary thing to do at just 19 years old. Sophie reminds me of Clare Smyth. The only woman to run a three-star Michelin restaurant, Clare was an apprentice before working for Gordon Ramsey and becoming a head chef at the age of just 29. I see Sophie’s career soaring in a similar way and she is proof of the power of apprenticeships.
Megain is endlessly curious and reminds me of Jeanne Baret with her willingness to go the extra mile in search of an opportunity to learn and grow her knowledge and skillset. She’s a real example to us all.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Astrid since she joined at Aspectus and seeing her journey since she stepped foot into the business has been so inspiring.
She’s the glue to our Energy and Industrials team, consistently driving us forward with her positive energy and dedication.
Whether handling client requests or leading company initiatives, she does it all with grace and care. Her ability to jump in and out of testing calls alongside a busy schedule and have a constant smile on her face, while providing direction and support, even in the busiest times, is truly inspiring.
But what sets her apart is her infectious positivity and sense of humour. Astrid brings joy to every interaction and has an admirable ability to lift team spirits. She’s resilient, charismatic, and compassionate.
Rowann reminds us of Amelia Earhart with her strength, grit, and determination. She always shows real resilience under pressure and the sort of perseverance that makes success seem inevitable, no matter the odds.
At Aspectus, we celebrate and value difference – whether that’s difference in gender, background, religion, race or ethnicity. Different people bring diverse opinions and skills, all which should be recognised equally.
As a business that is overwhelmingly female in an industry where female leadership doesn’t always reflect the wider make-up of the sector, we are proud to celebrate the inspiring, and trail blazing women that makes us who we are. Find out more about our culture and people here.
By Ellie Jackson, Chief Client Strategy Officer
‘I Want It All’ – that’s what Freddie Mercury proclaimed, and his words echo a universal truth. It’s human nature to push for more. It’s certainly true for marketing managers, trying as they are to get the most return from budgets that are rarely as big as they’d like.
But this entirely laudable aim of wanting more can sometimes lead to overextension in marketing strategy: allocating resources too thinly across too many areas, rather than concentrating on a few key areas where they can make a significant difference.
As Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter astutely observed, the essence of strategy is choosing what not to do. For marketing managers, this means making tough choices. Yes, there might be a multitude of aims and objectives across multiple products and multiple segments, but attempting to tackle all of them within a single year is rarely smart. Far better to prioritize certain goals, give them the attention they deserve for a year, and then gradually broaden the focus. This is not about limiting ambition but about channelling it effectively.
In theory it’s simple: focus your investment where your efforts will add the most value. After all, the reality is that even if you did absolutely no proactive marketing, you would still make some sales. Some level of business will continue as usual. But in other areas, a marketing boost will make a major difference.
Without a time machine, it’s impossible to predict this with absolute accuracy, but it is possible to make an educated assessment when you’re trying to prioritise different products or segments.
Key questions to explore will include:
This last one is obviously especially important. For many of our clients (mostly technical B2B), we’re talking about complex sales processes, infrequent purchase cycles, lengthy decision-making periods, and buying committees. Our clients’ clients have a significant potential lifetime value, and a high cost of acquisition is a reflection of that.
In the high-value B2B space, the journey to conversion involves multiple touchpoints, essential for building trust and cementing reputation – especially when significant financial decisions are at stake. Better to hit a more targeted audience several times over with tailored content that’s appropriate for where they are at in the buying cycle. This is likely to be far more effective than reaching a broader audience just once.
So the next time you’re in a planning meeting and a question about target audience prompts the response, ‘oh, everyone’, I challenge you not to simply smile and let it go. Make the case for focus and the value it can bring. The (fat)-bottom(ed) line will thank you.
If you’d like help to sharpen your marketing focus, you can get in touch with our strategists here.