How does embedded finance present better opportunities for financial service providers and what benefits does it unlock for end users? In this Global Fintech Interview, Jon Burrell, Deputy CEO at Weavr weighs in with his perspective:
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Hi Jon, tell us about yourself in finance and fintech, how has the journey been?
I started my career at NatWest Bank back in 2007 and, during my time there, I learned a lot about operating regulated business. I found the processes at NatWest back then to be very slow with little opportunity to innovate, as there was a lot of red tape. My experience of working in a legacy bank encouraged me to find a career within fintech startups and scale-ups, as I wanted to make an impact and innovate the sector where I could, which wasn’t an option within corporate and traditional financial-services businesses. I’ve spent over 10 years within the fintech startup and scale-up scene, applying my learnings from operating regulated businesses. My experience has enabled me to build various well-run financial services firms, all while balancing good control and governance with innovation and pace.
One of my most notable achievements prior to joining Weavr was helping to scale up Currencycloud and serving 300 clients before it was sold to VISA for $1bn. I was also part of the team at Codat that raised $140m to support the next stage of growth for the fintech.
What about today’s state of banking tech and fintech is most interesting for you, aspects that fintech enthusiasts should pay attention to?
The current state of banking is incredibly interesting, with a whole host of financial services businesses operating in different ways to serve their customers, whilst balancing regulation and control with innovation. At one end of the scale are the big banks, which largely succeed through traditional means. And, at the other end of the scale are neobanks, like Revolut, thriving on pushing the boundaries of innovation. In my opinion, the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle of all this. There is plenty of room to be sensible and responsible whilst dialling up existing financial services innovation.
Embedded finance technology presents a unique opportunity for financial services to be delivered at the point of need, whilst remaining completely compliant and regulation friendly. The need for quality B2B financial services has never been greater, and embedded finance will play a huge part in the future of providing these services effectively. Although many would argue that Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) was a failed experiment, the next iteration via embedded finance is emerging in a more positive light, thanks to new fintechs coming to the fore with exciting new technologies which change the face of the proposition.
What near-term plans do you have for Weavr that you’d like to highlight here?
Legacy banks have been known to serve their SME clients in a ‘one size fits all’ manner, which simply doesn’t suit the needs of innovative, forward-thinking, new businesses. When banking an SME, traditional legacy banks struggle to facilitate the complexities and overheads associated. For us at Weavr, navigating complexity is our friend, and we can shoulder much of the burden for our clients through automation and digitisation. This capability spans the whole process, from onboarding, security, payment execution, and regulatory compliance, showing clear value for our clients. By completing thorough onboarding processes ourselves, we’re also able to make much smarter risk decisions.
Read More:Â Global Fintech Interview with Beth McCoy, President of RewardOps
For banks and legacy firms in the process of upgrading their fintech and other systems, what best practices should be foremost?
As it stands, most large banks will almost certainly fail in making any meaningful upgrades to their systems. The infrastructure of a bank is geared to protect the bank first, which has left them lumbered with huge legacy systems – one of the downsides of banks being some of the first early adopters of tech at scale. Rather than look to upgrade their legacy systems all at once, banks should re-build incrementally – feature by feature, service by service. Although the chances of success even via this route are slim, total failure is less likely.
The best way for banks to maximise their chances of success when it comes to infrastructure upgrades is to work with a partner and give them the freedom to make the necessary changes. As it stands, too many banks will choose a partner to work with but will then impose all of the bank’s policy – sometimes even work culture – upon them, hampering the partners ability to complete the job .
As AI enhancements lead to a complete evolution within fintech: what trends and AI powered fintech should readers and fintech innovators stay ahead of?
Right now, I am skeptical of the position of AI within fintech. Some suggest that AI will be the solution to all the problems within the industry but anyone who knows me will know that I am much more interested in getting the basics right first. I believe that 80% of the value of any fintech proposition comes from getting 20% of basic things right, and there are a tonne of simple problems in financial services that don’t require anything nearly as complex as AI to solve.
I recently had a compliance software vendor pitch me on their ‘advanced AI capabilities’ but, when looking at the solution closer, I noticed that the software lacked some of the most basic decisioning capabilities. Of course, there are some areas within the financial services sector where AI seems like magic. At its current level, I’ve seen lots of value where it’s been used to supplement gap-filed data, for extracting specific data from large data pools and used for document review and summary. Personally speaking, the best use I’ve seen for AI in fintech so far is its use as a co-pilot leveraged by humans to lead more productive work days.
Five fintech innovators (companies / people) you’d like to shout-out to in this chat before we wrap up.
The first two I’d like to name drop are Dotfile and Ondorse. Both are doing great things in the KYB (Know Your Business) space, which continues to be one of the most painful and time-consuming parts of onboarding in financial services. What I like about both is that they’re not just digitising existing processes – they’re fundamentally rebuilding KYB to be real-time, contextual, and risk-based. That’s exactly the kind of innovation that helps unlock embedded finance at scale.
Dotfile, for example, is bringing a developer-first mindset to KYB, making it much easier to embed verification directly into digital products, which is essential for modern SaaS and platform businesses. Ondorse, on the other hand, is taking a smart orchestration approach, helping companies automate verification workflows and decisioning based on context and risk appetite. Both are helping reduce friction without compromising compliance – which is the holy grail.
Read More: Combatting Rising Check Fraud with Virtual Cards: A Secure Payment Solution
[To share your insights with us, please write to psen@itechseries.com ]
Weavr enables digital businesses to seamlessly embed financial products into their software. The fully formed financial solutions are designed for a range of B2B use cases, such as employee benefits, expenses management and accounts payable. They come with built-in control and compliance so digital businesses can launch easily and scale safely. The result is an improved user experience that builds deeper and more rewarding interactions with customers, plus new opportunities for monetisation.
Jon Burrell, is Deputy CEO at Weavr
