Money20/20: Bheem Adavikolanu, Altimetrik

Fintech and payments providers must continuously adjust to a changing landscape

Ahead of Money20/20, FinTech Intel spoke to Bheem Adavikolanu, chief transformation officer at Altimetrik, on digital transformation for financial services, payments and fintech.

Can you tell me about your role at Altimetrik and what the company does?

I am the business unit head and chief transformation officer for Altimetrik in the EU, UK and Ireland.

Altimetrik is a pure play digital business and digital transformation company focused on financial services, payments and fintech.

Our unique digital business methodology enables global enterprises to drive growth, unlock opportunity with speed, scale and consistency.

What issues are fintech and payment providers facing on their journey to digital businesses?

The biggest issue for fintech and payment providers is to continuously adjust to a changing landscape where every layer faces the risk of disintermediation.

The stack is continuously evolving, and one must evolve to redefine one’s place in the stack. For example, banks are no longer able to control every aspect of their customer’s journey.

New fintechs are emerging that completely transform a layer in the stack such as payments, lending and onboarding.

Every player must accelerate their journey to become a digital business and must do so in the face of some clear headwinds in the form of slowing growth and the fear of recession.

Digital payment giants enjoyed huge growth during the pandemic and are now adjusting to the new realities.

Fintech players, particularly those running on startup money, must focus on getting to profitability as fast as possible before investor money runs out.

Overall, our view is that there is no time to stand still, no matter where in the stack you fit. The only option is to modernise continuously and keep at it.

What brings you to Money20/20?

We are a 10-year-old fintech focused on product development startup with a client list that includes the who’s who in payments and the fintech space, including Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union, Citi Bank, BNYM, and DBS among others.

These clients rely on us to modernise their platforms, build new products and experiences from scratch and accelerate their journey to a complete digital business.

We go where our clients go. Money20/20 is a great platform serving as the crossroads across all major trends in the industry.

We are here to learn from our clients and industry stalwarts and share our experiences building the fintechs of the future.

What are you looking forward to most at the event?

We are eager to explore how the industry is adapting to the rapid and profound changes witnessed since our last event in 2022.

Over the past 12 months, we have experienced a series of significant developments: crypto markets have seen a major downturn, Web 3.0 has taken a backseat, questions have been raised about the value of NFTs, small banks are grappling with closures and mounting pressure, and the emergence of generative AI has brought both excitement and apprehension.

Moreover, amid these transformations, the ongoing war in Ukraine and the looming threat of recession in major economies further amplify the urgency of the issues we are addressing.

Money20/20 Europe arrives at a pivotal moment to bring these larger-than-life challenges to the forefront.

Sign up to our weekly newsletter and receive our daily email round-up of all the biggest news from Money20/20 Europe: http://eepurl.com/dmQRgH

Image: Altimetrik

Josh Poyser Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.