Alex Jimenez of EPAM Systems On The Future of Money and Banking

An Interview With Jason Hartman

Be kind: A lot of my success through the years has been due to very kind leaders who always made time to help me with whatever issue I had. In one case, I followed a leader to three different organizations — not because it was the best move for me, but because of her leadership.

The way we bank has changed dramatically over the last decade. It was not too long ago when you had to wait in line in a bank to deposit money. Today things are totally different. You can do your banking without ever walking into a bank. In addition, the whole concept of money has changed. In the recent past, money usually meant bills and coins. But today, the concept of money has expanded to include digital currency and NFTs. What other innovations should we expect to see in banking in the short and medium term?

To address this, we are talking to leaders in the banking, finance, and fintech worlds, to discuss the future of banking and money over the next few years. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Alex Jimenez.

Alex Jimenez is a Managing Principal, Financial Service Consulting for EPAM Systems, Inc., where he helps financial service companies plan and execute their digital strategy and transformation.

With more than 25 years of experience in banking, Alex is one of the top thought leaders and influencers in Fintech, RegTech, blockchain, InsurTech, innovation and digital marketing. He has worked for Fleet Bank, Bank of America, Rockland Trust, and Zions Bancorp where he held roles in managing operations, project management and marketing. For the past 15 years, he has focused on digital and payments strategy and innovation. Prior to joining EPAM, he worked at Finalytics.ai, a fintech AI personalization platform.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started in this industry?

I never set out to be in financial services. I graduated from college with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. Unfortunately, the year I graduated was in the middle of a bad economy that worsened soon after graduation. I took a job at an insurance company hiring industrial engineers since most engineering firms froze hiring. I was there for ten years and in the meantime, I went to business school. After business school, I joined Fleet Bank with a focus on strategy. I have had roles in and around strategy and change management ever since then.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

I led digital and payments strategy and innovation at a bank where I had terrific success. Unfortunately, I was too successful because the CEO felt I had completed all that could be accomplished in the role and eliminated my whole team. I was devasted after that happened. Looking back, I still don’t understand how anyone thought the bank had “finished digital transformation.” This unforeseen change propelled me to a better experience with a bigger bank where I was able to help define a much larger transformation. Eventually, this led me to consulting and valuable experiences where I could help more organizations define their digital strategy and roadmaps.

Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. Can you tell our readers about the most interesting projects you are working on now?

In general terms, I’m working with legacy financial service companies and startups in developing new and more engaging experiences for their clients. Given my role as a consultant for financial services organizations, I’m not at liberty to give great detail about existing projects.

How do you think this might change the world?

Consumers and businesses are in dire need of advice on how to handle their finances. Financial service organizations should be where most of them turn to for advice. However, as more and more people engage with financial services companies through digital or self-service channels, opportunities to receive accurate and appropriate advice have diminished. At EPAM, we are working to help organizations with the tools needed to provide our financial services customers with actionable advice to help them improve their clients’ financial affairs.

What most excites you about the banking or payments industry as it is today? Can you explain what you mean?

When we survey or talk to consumers directly, they say they trust financial services companies. However, there is a great opportunity to improve the trust given by consumers and businesses. The technology available today — from form factors (smartphones, voice assistants, smart watches, etc.) to data capabilities and artificial intelligence — will allow financial services organizations to improve people’s financial lives at all levels of society.

When I worked at a private bank years ago, it always bothered me that people with the most money were the ones who were getting the best advice. Technology can help by democratizing access to financial advice.

What most concerns you about the banking or payments industry as it is today? What would you suggest needs to be done to address that?

The banking and payments industry is not moving quickly enough to transform business models that meet the expectations and needs of clients. There are many obstacles, such as resources, old technology, etc. However, the main issue is a need for more leadership within many organizations. If the C-suite at a financial service organization isn’t actively working to transform its business model, they need to step aside and let someone else do it.

How would you articulate how the concept of money has changed in recent times? Is it really a change? How is it still the same? Can you explain what you mean?

I don’t believe that the concept of money has changed in over 5,000 years. While we began with bartering, the introduction of a store of value, whether it is coins, paper money, checks, Bitcoin or any other accepted vehicle of value, remains the same in their basic function. In the past decade, we have debated whether digital assets, like Bitcoin or any other crypto token, are a form of money. Ultimately, anything that can be exchanged for something else of value is a form of currency. However, the discussion around digital assets confuses the issue as we have already had virtual ledger entries as some form of electronic or digital currency going as far back as Western Union’s introduction of metal money in 1914. Digital assets, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are an evolution of the same concept.

Based on your vantage point as an insider in the finance industry, what innovations should we expect to see in banking in the short and medium term?

In 2022, the conversation about AI was very heated. The introduction of popular generative AI forms has fueled the fire around AI. This might be the tipping point for more organizations to become serious about applying AI throughout financial services processes. The obvious applications for risk management, such as underwriting and fraud prevention, will continue to see great evolution. I’m concerned, however, that many AI tools are “black boxes” where no one can truly explain how underwriting decisions were made, for example. We might need regulators to step in to ensure that we have explainable AI (XAI) where transparency and any form of bias can be eradicated. As it is right now, bias in AI data sets used to train machine learning is a significant problem.

We will also start seeing more AI applications around the customer experience. The promise I believe will be fulfilled is that AI will allow financial services organizations to serve customers better, as I noted earlier.

How has the pandemic changed the way banks interact and engage with their customers?

The immediate impact of the pandemic has been how consumers expect to engage with financial services companies and any brand. We have seen huge jumps in the adoption of digital banking, particularly through mobile devices. This is true for both consumers and businesses. Unfortunately, as we have learned to live with COVID-19 and have gone back to “normal,” I see many financial organizations revert to their old ways. For example, when organizations had very limited time to stand up paycheck protection programs, we saw significant energy in developing digital-only experiences for businesses. Many smaller organizations seemed to have forgotten their learnings and have abandoned any digital business loan application processes, despite many small businesses desiring to use digital means to apply for loans.

In your particular experience, how has the pandemic changed the way you interact with, and engage your customers?

The pandemic affected how work is done throughout many industries. Obviously, we saw many financial service organizations adopt work-from-home (WFH) policies. While many jobs have returned to the office, some organizations have maintained WFH programs or hybrid arrangements. This has translated to an expectation that, as a consultant, I can do most things remotely. In fact, on a recent project with a fintech company, we completed the whole project remotely. We offered to have a few in-person meetings, but they pushed back as they have reduced their physical footprint and most of their employees worked remotely in various cities across North America. For my role, I am “Remote by Design” which is EPAM’s WFH program. My nearest office is more than a four-hour drive from my home.

I’m very interested in the importance of user experience. How much of your interactions have moved to digital such as chatbots, encrypted messaging apps, phone, or video calls? How has this shift impacted the user and customer experience? What challenges do these apps present when used as a customer engagement tool?

All my interactions are through video calls and messaging apps. Initially, I was concerned about using digital tools for some of our consultants’ activities, like leading brainstorming sessions or other group exercises. However, I found that in some ways those kinds of activities are more efficient using digital tools. One specific example is the ability to get everyone in a group to contribute. It can be easier to elicit feedback from everyone without some in-person behaviors you might find when you have a group of people together. It does take a different kind of approach, of course.

Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career In The Modern Finance, Banking and Fintech industries? (Please share a story or example for each.)

1. Be kind: A lot of my success through the years has been due to very kind leaders who always made time to help me with whatever issue I had. In one case, I followed a leader to three different organizations — not because it was the best move for me, but because of her leadership.
2. Say yes: Sometimes, people are given an opportunity that seems intimidating but offers significant growth potential. Do it. You’ll never know what will come from it. Years ago, I led a deposit operations team. My work was divided into two major functions, running the day-to-day operations and planning for the future. As mobile banking became a big factor in the future of banking and the industry began to change towards digital banking, I had an opportunity to choose. I could either continue managing the day-to-day functions — a job that would be steady and comfortable — or lead digital strategy and innovation in a role that wasn’t well defined and could be a win or not. I chose to take the new role. It launched me into the future of banking, which is what I continue to do over a decade later.
3. Learn wherever and however you can: I’m a dabbler. I read a lot but not what is expected. I rarely read business books. Usually, business books are already obsolete by the time they are published. I set aside at least an hour a day to read news, reports, white papers or anything else that strikes my fancy. Generally, I then reshare on social media what I find useful. My followers can see where my mind is every day (yes, even on weekends and most vacations).
4. Stray away from finance: Most insights I find aren’t in banking or financial services publications. Bringing ideas from other industries, disciplines or whatever I find interesting keeps me excited about what we can do in financial services. Our industry needs to learn from others.
5. Build a network: I’m naturally an introvert. I’m not one to mingle at parties. However, I am intentional about building a network of people I like. Social media has been very helpful in keeping that network going. Tapping into my network when I need help or giving time to others is an extremely valuable endeavor.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’m a big proponent of people-centered design or design thinking. I would love for financial services organizations to stop saying they are customer-centric and become customer-centric. The start of that is building true empathy for clients. You cannot empathize with the client if you don’t know who they are and what they are all about. Organizations say they understand their customers because they have quarterly, semi-annual or annual surveys with questions the bank wants answered. This doesn’t tell you who your customers are and what they want or need. I’d love to see financial institutions spend time understanding what their customers are all about. This includes knowing how satisfied they are with their bank on a scale of 1 through 5 or if they would recommend the bank to a friend. What if they sat with customers and understood how they manage their money, not who they bank with or any other preconceived notion?

For example, a few years ago, I worked with a bank that had gone through its whole customer list and bucketed customers into three categories: core, most valuable and other. Most valuable customers had more than a set number of active accounts and were primarily profitable. Core customers had checking and savings accounts and actively used those accounts but didn’t have any other products. The other category included the rest, which were made up of customers with auto loans, home equity, CDs or accounts that were rarely active.

When we visited one-on-one with their customers, the behaviors that the bank expected didn’t match reality. Many of the most valuable customers we talked to didn’t see the bank as their main bank. They banked with many other banks and didn’t feel very valued. Core customers had a significantly more positive view of the bank. Our discussions allowed the bank to think differently about its customers.

We developed personas and customer journeys, so they could build products and services that matched their customer needs better.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

I can be followed on LinkedIn, Mastodon and Twitter. I write blogs for EPAM on our Financial Services page. Also, I host a series of banking-related discussions for EPAM Continuum’s podcast network under the hashtag #TakeItToTheBank.

Thank you so much for the time you spent doing this interview. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success.