Wei-Shen Wong, Asia Editor, and Anthony Malakian, Editor-in-Chief of WatersTechnology, record a weekly podcast touching on the biggest stories in financial technology.

To hear the full interview, listen in the player above, or you can click on the download button in the player above.

You can also listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. 

This week, Benjamin Quinlan, CEO and managing partner at Quinlan & Associates, joins the podcast to talk with Wei-Shen about his new report Beyond The Buzz. They also talk about the value of "innovation labs".

3:00 – Benjamin joins the podcast. He and Wei-Shen discuss “innovation” as a buzzword and what separates a good innovation head from a bad one.

8:30 – Then, they talk about companies such as Kodak, Nokia, Blockbuster, Blackberry, and Myspace that seem to have dropped off the map after being some of the biggest names in technology. How does this compare to similar big-names in capital markets?

12:00 – Benjamin points out how the pressure to innovate can be a problem for some companies who are pouring money into things like “innovation labs” that are yet to yield much reward.

21:00 – As we are seeing more and more partnerships between cloud providers and financial services firms, Benjamin discusses what this means for cloud providers based in Asia.

26:30 – Innovation labs need to be more focused on one part of the business to add value across the whole business. You cannot simply use the word “innovation” as a remit.

35:00 – In the fintech space, sometimes the hype exceeds the returns. Benjamin talks through his cynicism about buzzwords like blockchain and AI.

38:00 – Each firm has a different set of needs. How should start-ups set their selling strategies to say, to investment banks, asset managers, and hedge funds?

43:30 – Lastly, Benjamin tells Wei-Shen how he is continuing to innovate in his day-to-day and business life during Covid-19.

Sponsored: AI Poised to Transform Reconciliations (SmartStream)

Contact Info: 

As is the case with everything we do, we'd love to get some feedback from our listeners.

Wei-Shen Wong: + 852 3411 4758;  [email protected]

Anthony Malakian: + 1 646 490 3973; [email protected]

Past 10 episodes:

Episode 187: Digital Asset on Blockchain Issues

Episode 188: OpenFin’s Mazy Dar Talks Interoperability

Episode 189: Coronavirus & the Asset Management Landscape

Episode 190: Itiviti’s Gefen on Covid Lessons & SSEOMS Migration

Episode 191: Vendor Due Diligence During the Pandemic

Episode 192: Security and BCP Challenges in a Pandemic

Episode 193: Refinitiv's John Walsh on Alt Data

Episode 194: ITRS Group’s Warren on Capacity Planning

Episode 195: The Challenges of Returning to the Office

Episode 196: Bloomberg’s Gerard Francis, Part 3