How Money20/20 Mirrors Banking's Evolution

Jim Marous (00:12):

Hello and welcome to Banking Transformed, the top podcast in retail banking. I'm your host, Jim Marous, owner and CEO of the Digital Banking Report and co-publisher of The Financial Brand. In this episode of Banking Transformed, we sit down with Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer of Money20/20, who explored the remarkable journey of its unique fintech and financial services event.

Jim Marous (00:35):

Since its inception in 2012, Money20/20 has grown from a start-up conference to a global phenomenon, mirroring the rabid evolution of the bank industry itself. Scarlett shares insights and industry trends, the challenges facing traditional banks and innovation shaping our financial future.

Jim Marous (00:54):

Join us for this fascinating look at how Money20/20 has both witnessed and catalyzed the transformation of banking over the past decade. Money20/20 was founded in 2012 by payments and fintech veteran from Google, TYSY and Citi. They broke the stereotypes of traditional business conferences and designed, and experience built for banking by bankers.

Jim Marous (01:21):

Actually, as a little side note, I was actually involved in some of the early stages of building it for retail banks after the event had already started. It is certainly a massive undertaking that has reflected the changes that have occurred in the past decade in the financial services industry.

Jim Marous (01:37):

So, Scarlett, we have known each other for more than a decade, I believe, and with both of us steeped in the events business, both as presenters and creators. I remember sometimes at Finovate and other events where we'd crossed paths very quickly in most cases. For most listeners who may not know you, can you share a little bit about your personal journey?

Scarlett Sieber (01:58):

Absolutely. Well, first of all, Jim, as we were talking offline, it is crazy how long we have A, known each other and how not long it's been or how long it's been since we've actually had some nice time together.

Scarlett Sieber (02:10):

So, yes, so if I were to give the shortest version, I would say I started my career as a tech entrepreneur, kind of tripped … I'm very tall, so I'm going to make a joke about tripping into banking. Because I was also a basketball player and you and I both love sports.

Scarlett Sieber (02:22):

So, I did kind of trip into banking where I had a data visualization platform that made it easy to digest large amounts of content. Anyways, long story short was primarily a B2C platform, but also had a B2B offering and one of the people who were utilizing our technology was BBVA.

Scarlett Sieber (02:38):

And so, I got to know them, I became a finalist in their start-up competition open talent, and essentially the rest is history on that piece. So, I have since then gone on to be CIO of a public bank out on the west coast, did a bunch of other stints within banking and was also a consultant doing the strategy and innovation at scale with banks all over the world.

Scarlett Sieber (03:02):

But basically, I can say that I am proud to have worked at some of the leading institutions who really are forefront of the industry when it comes to innovation, highest MPS and I'm now at one of those, not at a bank, but one of those who is servicing the financial services industry here at Money20/20.

Jim Marous (03:21):

It's interesting, even though you ... how long have you been at Money20/20 by the way?

Scarlett Sieber (03:25):

So, I've been in this role as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer since May of 2021, but Money20/20 was also my client back in 2019. So, I ran the main stage for Vegas back in '19, so three and a half years, but kind of like five years with a little bit of pause during COVID.

Jim Marous (03:42):

So, how has the focus of Money20/20 evolved since its inception in 2012 and what does this tell us about the changing priorities in the banking industry?

Scarlett Sieber (03:55):

It's a great question. I'd say the focus has always been about community and having a place where the collective industry comes together to solve real problems. You gave a lovely introduction back to the start and inception back in 2012, not so long after a financial crisis, we now look here and we're sitting in 2024.

Scarlett Sieber (04:16):

We've had our own versions of that and all of the chaos and things that were happening, maybe a stabilization potentially, or a righting of the wrong, what was happening last year. So, with Money20/20, our focus is still the same, which is about bringing the collective ecosystem together to A, learn and grow from each other.

Scarlett Sieber (04:35):

We like to talk about what happens on our stages, that's the pace where the industry goes but then also for people to meet and get business done. Because as you know better than most, this industry is extremely complex and it's typically not one or two companies. There might be 6, 7, 8 people that need to get involved to make things happen and they're all there at Money20/20, which is pretty special.

Jim Marous (04:57):

It's interesting, if I was to take somebody in the industry off the street and say, "Give me one word that describes Money20/20, whether or not you've been there or not," I think the one word that almost everybody would pick would be big.

Jim Marous (05:12):

I mean, there's no doubt from the very beginning there was a secret sauce to getting a lot of people together. We're talking about over 10,000 people. And I remember the days when you had people doing aerial things in the lobby.

Jim Marous (05:25):

I remember the days when you couldn't even get by because the number of people that actually showed up to the event was almost too big to handle and it really limits in some cases where you can do these.

Jim Marous (05:37):

And now across the globe you have so many events that are so large and bring so many people together. But what's interesting is, during all this, in all the hubbub, it's interesting how many significant technological advancements have been introduced or showcased at Money20/20.

Jim Marous (05:56):

What do you remember over the past few years that is really, you go, "Wow, that's going to make it, or geez, can't believe we got them. It is the biggest thing in the industry right now."

Scarlett Sieber (06:08):

It’s like you asking me which one of my kids is my favorite, they all are. No, but I would say a few things that kind of stick out. So, I'll speak about myself as an attendee before I was here.

Scarlett Sieber (06:19):

I remember back in '15 when I was at BBVA 2015, and I was the head person for BBVA who brought the 30 or 40 of us together, put together notes and went and presented it to Carlos Torres, who was the CEO, at the time, still chairman.

Scarlett Sieber (06:35):

But in any case, what I remember about that, because obviously we were interested in what our competitors were doing, what the people were doing, that Bank of America came and introduced Erica, if you remember that, Jim. So, that was like their first AI chat bot, "Here's Erica." So, I remember that moment very well because I wrote about it.

Scarlett Sieber (06:51):

What I love is when you think about the next thing in financial services, you think about Money20/20, so of course they're the big bank examples. Mastercard has come and made a lot of really interesting announcements but then people who want to get into financial services, Uber.

Scarlett Sieber (07:05):

So, Uber Money introduced at Money20/20 that happened in 2019. You have Apple coming and talking about the identity and biometrics, things that they added into Apple Pay, so all of that happened on our stages. So, I think that's what's nice.

Scarlett Sieber (07:18):

Back to the original part is like it is the whole ecosystem. So, you got the banks, you got the fintechs. If we go back to 2015, there was a little start-up by the name of Stripe where Patrick Collison was on stage with Vinod Khosla talking about the future of payments.

Scarlett Sieber (07:33):

And we're now almost a decade later, Stripe is one of our big partners, we have a lot of great conversations with them, and that's true globally as well. Airwallex was an early start-up with us, and they now have over a hundred thousand customers and are valued at 5 billion plus.

Scarlett Sieber (07:48):

So, many, many examples but there's a lot. I mean, each one is special for different reasons, and I will say that there's going to be some quite exciting announcements coming up this year as well so we'll see what happens.

Jim Marous (08:01):

It is the place, kind of like the Consumer Electronic Show, where financial companies, if they can, try to schedule their announcements as part of your event, which is really what makes it one of the many reasons why it's so different.

Jim Marous (08:14):

What is also interesting, and I went to your event in Amsterdam, not this past year, but the year previous to that, is I think I'm kind of linked into what's going on in the industry, but I was above the floor.

Jim Marous (08:30):

I was in a room sponsored by IBM and I'm looking over the floor and I'm looking at all these booths and there were very, very few organizations that I even recognized. So, I think what's interesting is there's a lot of companies that are number one, entrance into the marketplace that want to get their exposure there.

Jim Marous (08:50):

Number two, some are looking for financing at the same time. Number three, it really shows, especially in Europe, how fast the change is happening and how we get kind of insulated in the United States as to what's hot, what's not, and what's going on in the marketplace.

Jim Marous (09:07):

I think one thing that made me very aware because I went to Vegas the same year was a completely different category and group of involved companies on the floor, the showcase people. But from your perspective, how have the participants, the people showing their wares changed and how have the people that attend changed?

Scarlett Sieber (09:33):

It's a really good question. Well, first of all, I love how you just casually put in there that you were sitting up in our premium balcony suites with some of the bigger companies and there's a lot of good names up there.

Scarlett Sieber (09:42):

So, just on your comment, I think it’s really interesting. So, a few things, each show is reflective of that specific geography. So, we have three primary shows, the Vegas one, which we have been spending most of our time talking about, the Europe one, and then the Asia one, which we just launched in Bangkok this year.

Scarlett Sieber (10:00):

We had done it in a different city in previous years, but we came back within our inaugural launch in Bangkok this year and each one, each of our shows has a bit of ... there's a few things that are similar.

Scarlett Sieber (10:11):

So, in terms of the composition of the attendees, doesn't matter if you're at 10,000 plus or 3000 like we had in Asia, but the composition is quite similar in terms of seniority. So, roughly 34, 35% C-suite, regardless of where you are.

Scarlett Sieber (10:28):

The start-ups are around a quarter, 25%. Now that does adjust depending on the year and depending on the location a bit. So, not surprisingly there's a lot of money. All of a sudden, there's a lot more start-ups or sometimes we've seen in fact the opposite where we'll get a lot more early-stage stuff. So, anyways, that's a really interesting point.

Scarlett Sieber (10:47):

I would say from Europe, what you said is actually a very spot on for a few reasons. So, even myself this year, and I walked that showroom floor probably more than most people, 20, 30,000 steps a day. Tried to wear tennis shoes at all times if I can except for on stage.

Scarlett Sieber (11:05):

One of the things that's really interesting about Europe is we have a lot of country pavilion. So, there was a space that was all Turkish, everything, all Latvia, all Estonia, all Asians it was awesome to see and there was companies that I haven't heard of and I feel like I'm quite well versed in what's happening in the world of fintech, but even I was like, "Who is this company? What do you do?" So, it's definitely true. So, it’s really exciting.

Scarlett Sieber (11:30):

But like I said, in terms of the composition of the attendees, it does shift based off of what's going on in the industry. So, if you think back to 2021, if you look at our Vegas show again, we had more of a representation both on our delegates and sponsors from crypto companies. Why? There was a lot of money in crypto at that time. Was that the same in 2022? No, it was not. But that was picked up by whatever else was next.

Scarlett Sieber (11:53):

So, insurance will come, regulation will come, things like that. So, we're a mirror of what's going on in the industry. But the thing that's really interesting is the seniority and that piece stays quite consistent regardless of all the other things around it.

Jim Marous (12:07):

It is interesting and as you said, the event itself, while right on the surface it feels like the same, it's big. I mean, I see both Vegas and Amsterdam very big, Asia is relatively new, but you look at it and you go, "There's just a lot going on here." And you try to pick up as much as you can, but really you use the entire space and you take for granted the people you meet there.

Jim Marous (12:33):

And that's the dynamic, the interaction with people, the seeing people you know, "Hey, we're going to be there. We're always there," things of this nature. And even though the faces may change over time, as you said, the level of seniority is still there.

Jim Marous (12:48):

And what's interesting too is you evolved based on what the marketplace is looking for. I was very impressed with the way you shifted and had what I would call the one-on-one moments. And when I was in the Amsterdam event, I remember that after the first day, you greatly increased the number of tables out there that people could sit at and have the one-on-one meetings, which are basically set up on a reservation basis and very limited time.

Jim Marous (13:18):

I think it was eight minutes, 12 minutes, I mean a very short amount of time but it's very active. It's like speed dating and it was very interesting to see the activity that went on to see the discussions that went on.

Jim Marous (13:31):

And it sometimes just gave you a chance to meet face-to-face with a human and say, "Before you leave, I want to at least let you know who I am." Share business cards in a real time face-to-face basis.

Jim Marous (13:43):

What other things are you looking at from the standpoint of activities and things that people can do? Because you used to be very much on the presentation, the stages and things of that nature but a whole lot more is going on now that that's different than it was before.

Scarlett Sieber (14:00):

Well, first of all, thank you for saying that. It was interesting because as you were talking, I don't think I've ever … I might have said this maybe once publicly ever, but maybe, maybe not. So, talking about meeting people that can surprise you.

Scarlett Sieber (14:13):

So, back to 2019 when I was contracting, it was my first Money20/20 Europe show, our friend David Birch introduced me to Sophie Guibaud then and she and I ended up co-authoring a book together.

Scarlett Sieber (14:25):

And so, that was one of those things where there wasn't a specific intention of you should meet this person for you guys to go do this. It was, "Hey, you both have a lot of similarities." But that time either of us had kids by the way. It was just like, "Hey, you guys, two women doing some really great things. You have a lot in common.” We stayed in touch, ended up co-authoring a book.

Scarlett Sieber (14:42):

So, to your point though, I'm not a great sleeper. Sleep is very important to me, but the things keep up at night and what I wake up every morning thinking about is people, it's an investment to be part of us, it's an investment. The, the flight, the hotel, I think it's worth it because you can get a lot done on that amount of time, the ticket, everything like that. It is an investment.

Scarlett Sieber (15:02):

So, I wake up every morning thinking about making sure that everyone who comes to our show and experiences our brand has the most impactful ROI as possible. So, as you said, there's ways that we do that.

Scarlett Sieber (15:15):

So, even for Vegas this year, you have the connections odds, which is the example that you were giving where you can look through our entire attendee list, pick who you want, they connect, they obviously have to say it's reciprocal because that's how things happen. You can get things done during the day.

Scarlett Sieber (15:29):

We have sessions, content sessions where people come together over similar experiences. So, one of our stages is off the record, no media is allowed because we want to have that real, genuine connection and people there get to be part of a moment that no one else saw and those are the special things.

Scarlett Sieber (15:45):

Again, you and I both love sports. You're at the Super Bowl, you saw that play and all of a sudden, you just connect with that person next to you for the rest of your life because you experienced that together. So, we do that from a content perspective.

Scarlett Sieber (15:55):

We also invest a lot in the activations and things we do at night. So, also humans are humans like, yes, we're about getting business done, but we both might like this type of food or whatever else and then all of a sudden, we feel like we have another level of connection.

Scarlett Sieber (16:09):

So, this year for Vegas, we have all of that. Plus, we do have a dedicated, curated meeting/program on Sunday that we actually just announced yesterday. And so, that was what I was doing for most of the month of August being a support system for the team on that one.

Scarlett Sieber (16:25):

But where we are looking at, "Okay, the way that people do business is shifting, how can we again, go back to giving as much ROI as possible?" So, before the show floor even opens on Monday morning, we'll have this curated dedicated meeting program on Sunday.

Scarlett Sieber (16:38):

So, wherever we can, however we can, whether it be we've had really crazy cool things in the past where you could be racing top drone together and there's a business thing there in Europe this year, you weren't there this year, Jim, but one of the things we did, we have these like beautiful merch coins.

Scarlett Sieber (16:53):

Anyways, long story short, they're quite rare and the way that you get them in Europe was two people had to come together. I had to tell you something about, so Jim's son plays lacrosse, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. You had to tell them something about my kids and then all of a sudden, it doesn't have to be about kids. It's just a good example because we know each other on social as well.

Scarlett Sieber (17:10):

But ignoring that, all of a sudden you do that, then the coin comes. So, it is really about fostering that business and connection in a human way and then I think that's the part that a lot of people miss, is the human element of it.

Jim Marous (17:22):

Well, and you referenced it, it's not just the show floor. Amsterdam, the time when I probably got to know the most unique people in the most unique way was you take over an entire street in Amsterdam for a party and you own the street, everybody's there. It's crowded, it's wall to wall people.

Jim Marous (17:44):

But you see people you know, and you see the David Birch or the Chris Skinner of the world, and then they introduce you to others and it's crazy, the interactions that take place. But what's interesting too is just what we're talking about has changed.

Jim Marous (18:01):

There's certainly the gen AI stuff and everything else, but even the relationship between traditional banks and fintech companies has evolved from competition to collaboration more than ever.

Jim Marous (18:13):

How has this shift been reflected in the discussions and what goes on at Money20/20 where at one point it was we're going against each other, but now in many cases you have fintech companies trying to be bought by traditional banks, maybe partner with traditional banks, or maybe go the other way and be buying a traditional bank.

Scarlett Sieber (18:36):

It's a question as old as time, and I was thinking, we were talking back to the Financial Brand back in 2018, and I think we were having this exact chat, like collaboration versus competition. So, what has been so interesting, and I would say refreshing is it feels like in the last decade, the fact that we can still have this exact conversation a decade later is a bit frustrating, but also really refreshing because there has been a lot of change.

Scarlett Sieber (19:05):

So, one of our key, we call them stories because I have a team of content experts who's very intentional about the words that we use. But basically, themes for this year is about fintech growing up and it really has moved on from — there is still competition, don't get me wrong.

Scarlett Sieber (19:20):

We are the U.S. in general, it's a capitalist economy like the competition is good, it's healthy, it pushes you to be better, but the collaboration piece is now more than ever true and we're seeing so many, so many examples of that coming to life where again, it could be a fintech with a bank, but then even collaboration, bringing in the regulators.

Scarlett Sieber (19:41):

So, in Asia we had a closed-door regulator session with a bunch of the big regulators over in Asia, and we had conversations with them and the banks, them and the fintech. So, the way that this industry collectively moves forward is by collaboration.

Scarlett Sieber (19:57):

And so, yes, we are seeing more and more of that where, and especially I know some of your background and mine, like we've sat in how many boardrooms, especially for some of the smaller institutions where it was very much competition.

Scarlett Sieber (20:10):

Either we don't know what's going on, or it doesn't impact us, or this is too much to now being really receptive and open to it, which I think is really exciting.

Scarlett Sieber (20:18):

So, we've seen some nice uptick in some of the smaller financial institutions who didn't have the crazy big budgets, who couldn't go and make all these investments to go and build this stuff themselves, now getting more excited and open to the idea of what the possibilities are.

Scarlett Sieber (20:32):

Obviously, still a bit cautious because we've seen some not good things happen and it's not everything … the way that progress happens, some things end up falling through the cracks and not everyone is the best of actors, but in general, there's a lot more optimism and positivity around the ability to work with these other companies who have strengths and assets that they don't.

Scarlett Sieber (20:53):

And so, to me it's like the best of both worlds. What do you have? What do we have? What's your key value add? What's our key value add? How do we work together to make something crazy, beautiful happen? And that's what we're looking at. And as you said, lots of acquisitions still.

Jim Marous (21:07):

Well, it's interesting because you talk about value add, you talk about ROI, you talk about the fact that these events are not cheap for the players or for the organizers. And one thing that we've seen in the last couple years is the fact that there's been a paring down of events and everyone has to find their niche.

Jim Marous (21:27):

We already know there's an event out there that focuses almost entirely on the meetup and obviously probably drove some of the changes that happen at Money20/20. Financial Brand Forum, the event that I'm certainly the closest to is very unique in that it really focuses pretty much on the retail banking sector, marketing, product development, innovation, things of this nature a subset of what Money20/20 does.

Jim Marous (21:52):

But again, it's fairly large. But at the same time, many organizations, many events from the past have either fallen by the wayside or repaired back significantly what they're doing.

Jim Marous (22:04):

As an organizer of Money20/20 and always having to stay aware of what's going on, what keeps you up at night from the standpoint of making sure that Money20/20 doesn't become a fatality, even though it has the numbers, you can still become irrelevant even with large numbers as we've seen in the past.

Scarlett Sieber (22:26):

I would say a few things. So, it's actually a perfect tie into the question you asked before because the good thing about competition is it always makes you a better version of yourself and anyone on my team knows this, I am a self-improvement junkie for myself and for us.

Scarlett Sieber (22:47):

So, I always see our biggest competition as ourselves, but clearly being aware of what else is going on around us. So, I think there's a few things. It's going back to the crystal-clear things of what is our unique value proposition and what do we bring to the table?

Scarlett Sieber (23:02):

And we have to use the word big, but I'm going to use it a different way maybe than you're thinking. We have the largest global platform of fintech and so how do we make sure that we foster that and use that to our advantage?

Scarlett Sieber (23:16):

So, the composition of each of our shows is roughly — so for the U.S. and Europe it's roughly 80% in region, 20% rest of the world. And then for Asia it's slightly shifted to 70/30. That composition is really important to us because then also the other thing that we ... we have three shows, how do we make sure we don't cannibalize ourselves and that each show is relevant for that specific geography.

Scarlett Sieber (23:39):

So, that's the type of stuff that we do. So, I'd say a few things. We really focus on making sure that the quality and caliber of our product, part of which is content, is the best that it can possibly be. We're highlighting new voices, interesting voices.

Scarlett Sieber (23:56):

The stuff on the big stages is the stuff that gets a lot of the attention because of the caliber and profile the speakers, which is very important. But it's the other 80% of the content, which still very important, special speakers having the real-world depth of conversation, that is the stuff that I think continues to drive us forward in the industry.

Scarlett Sieber (24:13):

And the other part is around allowing our customers, whether they be a delegate who's buying a single ticket or a sponsor who's investing a more significant amount of money with us, that we can help them accelerate their business and we do that in many, many ways and we quantify that.

Scarlett Sieber (24:31):

So, however we can do that faster, better, more — it's not just about being efficient, but it's about effective. So, you can have X amount of meetings or whatever else, but are they with the right people? Is it actually moving your pipeline forward? And that's what I think about every single day and making it as good as possible.

Jim Marous (24:49):

And it's interesting because I'm going to call it sub content, but one of the things I've seen at the event in Amsterdam and the one I went to in Vegas is we're seeing new layers of content being created.

Jim Marous (24:58):

For instance, my representation at Amsterdam was I was doing podcast interviews of representatives of the company. I was representing executives of those companies because they were all going to be there as well as with their clients. And we weren't the only place that was doing podcasts within the booth area. There's dozens and that's something relatively new.

Jim Marous (25:21):

But again, it gets back to the fact that because you have so many high-level representatives, it may be the most efficient way to get content created in an environment where the access to representatives, to insights, to leaders is unprecedented.

Jim Marous (25:40):

And that plays well to what's happened at your event, what certainly happened at our event at The Financial Brand Forum. But it's interesting because there are so many layers of involvement in content because of the size of Money20/20 but also the environment you create for thinking and for sharing, which is pretty cool.

[Music Playing]

Scarlett Sieber (26:01):

Yeah, no, I appreciate you saying that. It's true.

Jim Marous (26:04):

Let's take a short break here and recognize the sponsors of this podcast.

Jim Marous (26:12):

So, welcome back. I'm joined today by Scarlett Sieber, the Chief Strategy and Growth Officer for Money20/20. We've been discussing the evolution of Money20/20 over the years and the role events like Money20/20 play in the financial services industry.

Jim Marous (26:26):

So, Scarlett, before we broke, we talked a little bit about how different levels of engagement and content creation and collaboration happened at events like Money20/20. One thing I've also seen over the last few years is a greater specialization of the industry and the way that it serves others.

Jim Marous (26:48):

So, the solution providers have gotten much more fine-tuned on what they're going to be best at and they don't try to grab for the entire pie. You can get in an elevator speech and hear a differentiation between company A and B. How have you seen it happen within Money20/20?

Jim Marous (27:03):

And maybe in some ways the reason why I see so many companies I may not recognize is it's not the FISs and visas as much as it is the ABC fintech or the DEE fintech. So, what do you see there from the standpoint of really microspecialization and excellence?

Scarlett Sieber (27:28):

So, yes, I think it's another great question. Microspecialization has definitely been on the rise. So, I'd say the first place that we see that is during our call for content process. So, we get thousands of submissions and that of course is free to apply to, you don't need to be a sponsor, you can just submit so anyone can submit.

Scarlett Sieber (27:49):

Because we want to make sure that we have the highest caliber and quality of ideas and obviously people who are submitting those ideas. And so, what's interesting on that side is that at the surface level there are a lot of companies’ kind of submitting the same thing.

Scarlett Sieber (28:08):

So, then our job is to go to what you just talked about, which is what is it about you, company Z versus company Y that makes you the right one to tell this story? Do you have a really interesting partner? Do you have a specific data point? Are you addressing the problem in a different way? So, that's where we spend a lot of time.

Scarlett Sieber (28:30):

And so, you talked about the composition of the Europe show, the same is actually true through all of them where you do have the visas, the FISs, all of the big institutions there. And they still have a lot that they're trying to contribute, whether it be new product launches or getting a more exposure to things that they've been having for a long time, but people don't really recognize them.

Scarlett Sieber (28:52):

They think about them as the traditional bank versus a big payments’ player as an example. Not those ones we talked about, but some of our other financial institution partners. So, they're really thinking about new ways to showcase what they're doing but it's the same thing that the start-ups are doing.

Scarlett Sieber (29:08):

And so, at times we try to help facilitate them because sometimes they actually are competing and that's okay. So, they can utilize their presence on site to say what makes them unique, what makes them special and other times they actually are competing, they're both looking at KYC but from a totally different angle and we can actually facilitate an introduction.

Scarlett Sieber (29:27):

They may or may not know each other, especially when you talk about the global nature of our show, "Hey, here's a company over in Brazil who's thinking about it this way. They have really strong penetration here. Let's talk to them who's looking at it over in the UK as an example." So, we do a lot of that to try to help facilitate conversations.

Scarlett Sieber (29:45):

And one of the things is, and we're quite adamant about this, when you think about the content, like as an example, AI, you're going to see it throughout the entire show, but we will also have a dedicated track to AI and in this case, we're doing that in partnership with Nvidia but that one will be specifically looking at many different applications of it.

Scarlett Sieber (30:05):

Again, open banking, it'll be smothered throughout or sprinkled throughout the whole show but on Sunday specifically, we're going to have open banking 101, 201, 301. So, in that example, we won't have one company, we might have two companies who think of themselves as competitors, and they probably are on the stage together talking about what they're doing. So, it’s not a one lens, but it’s here is the collective of open banking.

Scarlett Sieber (30:29):

And like I said, the reason of one, two, and three, back to what we were talking about earlier is some people may be novices and they truly need to be educated on the basics and other ones are experts and those people shouldn't be sitting in the same room hearing the same thing sometimes. So, we want to make sure we give the right content for the right people.

Jim Marous (30:47):

So, speaking of content, your event is obviously an ocean of content going on on the days and the weeks that you're doing the events. You have select events throughout the year in different parts of the world.

Jim Marous (31:02):

How do you work to keep the content coming the other months of the year? How do you make it so that Money20/20 is top of mind in your key target audience's mind on the month that you don't have an event?

Scarlett Sieber (31:20):

So, a few things. So, we've had a podcast, the MoneyPot for over five years now or right around the five-year mark, which when you think about some of the earlier fintech podcasts, probably not one of the earliest, but for events, definitely we were an earlier day of that. So, we do that all the time.

Scarlett Sieber (31:38):

Our team is out there as well because one of the things that's unique about our content team is all of them, except for one, actually comes directly from the industry as operators, analysts, VCs, you name it, so they're out there in the ecosystem spending time with the ecosystem.

Scarlett Sieber (31:55):

So, we will release white papers, we obviously do a lot of social posting but it is a very obvious thing that we think about and there is more to come on that in the next few weeks because we see that as a real area of opportunity.

Scarlett Sieber (32:10):

Quite frankly, our customers are asking for more of it, but we do some things, the things that I talked about, but we have a lot more that we can do, and we'll be doing in short order.

Jim Marous (32:20):

A lot of moving parts. One thing that's interesting, and I know that for me it's something that happens without even knowing it is. Because you're so involved in the event, because you're so involved in the industry, you get an interesting perspective from a 30,000-foot view of what's going on almost before the marketplace itself knows that.

Jim Marous (32:42):

From your perspective, Scarlett, what do you see as the biggest challenges facing the banking industry in the next one to two years?

Scarlett Sieber (32:51):

That's a really good question and we do see things ahead of time and let me give you the way of where I'm getting to my answer. I talked about the call for content, which gives us a lot of information because it tells us what the collective is and the call for content is quite different depending on the shows.

Scarlett Sieber (33:10):

I then also get the opportunity to sit alongside very senior people from some of the largest financial institutions in the world talking about the problems that they're trying to solve and see how we can obviously help facilitate solutions for those problems.

Scarlett Sieber (33:25):

But I would say if I were to think about some of the biggest things facing banking in the next one or two years, there's still a lot with the macro economy, what's going on? Are we in a recession? Are we not? How are we going to get out of this? Is top of mind.

Scarlett Sieber (33:41):

What worries me about that is making sure that there's continuous investment in technology and innovation and then the other part, I'd say, especially in the next one or two years, now this is with the bias answer. So, I will give you a caveat.

Scarlett Sieber (33:54):

I was sitting at … which is our sister-brand listening to Elon Musk. So, I'll give you a little bit of a caveat there. But I do think the importance of AI for us every single day is going to change fundamentally in the next few years.

Scarlett Sieber (34:08):

And then to your point on the banking questions, how are banks, not just AI, but how are banks integrating technology and how can they start doing it in a more, fast way that's obviously still compliant and all of that stuff. I’d say that’s probably the biggest thing is the world is moving pretty quickly, what are banks doing to keep up.

Scarlett Sieber (34:28):

And then the other side of that, which is not what you asked but another really important part is around the regulatory environment next to that and how are these pieces working together to make sure that we're protecting consumers, whether they be individuals like you and me or businesses. So, how are we protecting the end customer but moving forward at the pace that the world is moving forward. That's where I see is the biggest issue in the next one to two years.

Jim Marous (34:53):

You brought up my next issue, which is really how does Money20/20 address things like regulatory challenges, cyber threats, economic uncertainties, the compliance issues? Because it's not just about the flash and deaths, the next best thing, the shiny object down the road, you really talk about the hard issues that may not draw the biggest crowds, but probably are on everybody's mind every day.

Scarlett Sieber (35:23):

Yes. So, I smiled when you said that because when I was contracted with Money20/20, I mean, you always want to do a good job, but especially when you're contracting and this is your client. I spent a lot of time talking to the industry about what they wanted. So, this is back five years ago, and they wanted the regulators.

Scarlett Sieber (35:39):

So, we got the OCC, the FDIC and the CFPB director, chairman, commissioner, all there, put them on a big stage and some of them especially were super engaging, but the crowd was not packed, let's say to your point.

Scarlett Sieber (35:56):

So, what we have seen though is there's more of a desire for that now. So since then, the CFPB director Chopra came to 2020 back in '22 and first announced the CFPB'S intentions around 10:33. So, I guess the long story short is we've been bringing more and more of that in and as you know, this is literally politics in definition.

Scarlett Sieber (36:18):

So, these relationships take a long time to build, but Michael Suess was there last year. We had Hester Pierce there last year, Randy Quarles, the former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve. So, we really invest time and energy into bringing those people there because as you say, they're not necessarily going to have the whole world sitting there watching.

Scarlett Sieber (36:38):

But what we have seen in the last five years is more of the whole world is actually sitting there watching because I think to these original questions we've been talking about, collaboration, competition, regulation is very important in this whole thing working.

Scarlett Sieber (36:53):

And so, their role is more important than ever, and technology's moving fast, and they need to be active participants in it. So, we're trying to help facilitate that by bringing them there. So, behind some of these closed doors, these things can happen, and we can start making real progress in a way, hopefully that is a bit faster than it has been in the past.

Jim Marous (37:11):

So, finally looking ahead and without divulging any big secrets, but maybe divulging a few big secrets, that'd be kind of nice too. How do you make an event like Money20/20 better? What are the gaps that you say, “Geez, you know what, we've got to make this part of this event better, more accessible.”

Jim Marous (37:32):

You've already talked about the expansion of content over time, the ability to make it so that Money20/20, while it's not a live event, every month of the year becomes alive every month of the year.

Jim Marous (37:45):

I mean, it's a challenge that we have a Financial Brand Forum. How do you make it so that it's relevant on the months that you're not doing the event? What is on your mind about, "Geez, you know what, this is where we're trying to go."

Scarlett Sieber (37:59):

So, I'm not going to start with content, but I do have another answer for that. I would say, if I'm reflecting on the feedback that you've given during this interview, which is the word that you used, which was big, I would say that, exactly that.

Scarlett Sieber (38:12):

So, as we continue to scale, because we are a public company, the way that we grow is by scaling, how do we make sure that ... and as I mentioned, we've already seen as we've scaled from a couple thousand to 10,000 plus, that the composition of the seniority is the same.

Scarlett Sieber (38:30):

But for me, if I think about that next start-up founder, if I think about that CEO of a credit union who's never been before or a community bank or whatever else, making the show feel accessible and attainable, and that I get the ROI back for me, because how do I use that scale to my advantage?

Scarlett Sieber (38:48):

That's what's next for us, is getting all of the benefits of the big and the collective ecosystem, but also making it feel small and personalized and there for you. I want Jim to show up and think that this entire show was made for Jim. That's what I want to do. So, how is the combination of human and tech to make that happen, that's what we're looking at.

Jim Marous (39:12):

That is a great answer, and it prompted a thought. Sometimes when people are talking, it's not like I'm not listening, but I combine it to something real world. And I'm in Ohio, I'm in Cleveland, we have one of the biggest universities in the world located in Ohio, Ohio State University.

Jim Marous (39:28):

Their biggest challenge was how do we make this school as big as it is but make it so it's small for the person that wants to be in liberal arts, the person that wants to be in business, the person that wants to be in engineering.

Jim Marous (39:43):

And what I tell people, and they've done a really good job of this, is they make it extraordinarily manageable when you don't take the entire context of what it is.

Jim Marous (39:55):

So, again, and you've done it in a lot of different ways, but how do you make it so that when I go to Money20/20, if my focus is all about payments or security or identity, there's a spot, there's a way for me to easily manage the space to be able to do that.

Jim Marous (40:13):

Now, that's really difficult because all these elements overlap in a way that you go, "Geez, yes, this guy's interested in security and identity, but he also wants to know the new products." You go, "Wow, that just blew up the whole thing."

Jim Marous (40:27):

But maybe it's the products set, maybe it's something else. But it is interesting because that's the dynamic I tell people about Money20/20, you have to plan to attend to make sure you make the most of your time and your space and your footsteps.

Jim Marous (40:44):

I'm the person who's going to walk the entire floor and keep on opening new doors going, "Oh, my God, I didn't know this was here." That's what happened in Amsterdam. It was the last day. I go, "I didn't even know this part existed." And I go, "Note to myself, you got to plan."

Jim Marous (40:59):

Because it's not a space I was used to compared to your space in Las Vegas where I kind of know where to look without knowing what I'm going to see there. But that's an extraordinarily good answer Scarlett because I think that that is the big question is how do you make it so that it's big, but it's small and that's a puzzle and where you get the right speakers for each one of these.

Jim Marous (41:26):

Scarlett, it is really great to talk to you. I laugh because I was thinking about it. One of our early conversations about an event, and it wasn't either one of our events was, "Oh, my God, they're not used to having women on stage. They cannot use that kind of chair."

Jim Marous (41:44):

And I remember where we were when we set up, we were staged right, if you're looking at the stage, we were on an elevated area and it was so funny because it was, "Oh, my gosh, this event is not used to dealing with women speakers." And the women aren't used to being on a stage where all they have is a tall boy chair. And you go, "This just doesn't work." So, it’s great to be together.

Jim Marous (42:11):

And I also will say that my biggest event I've ever spoken at was Money20/20 and my guest at that main stage event was Derek White, who's become a very good friend. He was, I believe, at BBVA at that time when I interviewed with him.

Jim Marous (42:27):

And we talked about the fact that we had two guests on that stage and sometimes it doesn't always work out the best way, but we had one guest that really didn't want to emote, and Derek is the exact opposite. He pretty much jumps off the stage.

Jim Marous (42:41):

And we went from having a really nice, everybody takes their turn to, it's going to be Derek and I talking to each other, and we survived. It was 7,000 people in the room at that time and it was a lot of fun. I think we were right before Branson was on stage, so we had a good lead in.

Scarlett Sieber (42:59):

Thank you. The moderator job is the most unappreciated job in any event, in any content thing. So, what you just sort of talked about it's so true. It's so hard to do and when you have a good moderator, it makes or breaks everything.

[Music Playing]

Jim Marous (43:13):

Well, it's fun because I learned and that event is one, I speak to all the time, the fact that you learn very quickly how to pivot for the entertainment value and not for the content. Because at the end of the day, the content takes a subservient position to entertain. Because if they're not entertained, they're not going to hear the content.

Jim Marous (43:33):

If they are entertained, they'll take in everything that's said and I'll speak to Derek's capability of bringing an audience together every time. And you know well to know that he's your ultimate speaker because he'll always get the audience involved even if they don't want to be. So, again, thank you Scarlett, I appreciate it so much.

Scarlett Sieber (43:53):

Thank you, Jim.

Jim Marous (43:55):

Thanks for listening to Banking Transformed, the winner of three international awards for podcast excellence. If you enjoy what we're doing, please be sure to give Banking Transformed a positive review. Finally, be sure to catch my recent articles on The Financial Brand and check out the amazing research you're doing for the Digital Banking Report.

Jim Marous (44:12):

This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts. A special thank you to our senior producer, Leah Haslage, audio engineer Chris Fafalios and video producer Will Pritts. I'm your host, Jim Marous. Until next time, remember, one of the keys to advanced education and banking has to do with attending major events and expanding your existing paradigms and building new relationships.