Exploring Branding, Innovation and Modernisation in Banking with Plumery’s Founder Ben Goldin

Our guest for this episode is Ben Goldin, a seasoned Digital Banking and Financial Technology entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience. He has a proven track record of developing innovative technology for banks and other financial services companies and managing teams in start-ups and companies with hyper-scale and multi-billion dollar valuations.

Short overview

Ben Goldin has more than 20 years of experience in Digital Banking and Financial Technology. He shares what sparked his interest in pursuing a career in the field. We discuss the origin of the brand name Plumery and how Ben acquired the Exact Brand Match (EBM) domain Plumery.com.

Discussing innovation and modernisation, Ben highlights the necessity for banks to continually adapt customer-facing features quickly due to fast-changing customer expectations and technological advancements, emphasising that modernisation in banking is an ongoing process, not a one-time transformation.

Touching on common mistakes made in the field, Ben shares that banks often need to catch up in adopting modern product management practices, focusing insufficiently on truly understanding and personalising user experiences from the outset.

Discussing the power of branding, Ben explains that brands communicate essential qualities about a business-such as its professionalism and attitude towards risk and innovation-through elements like name, colours, and language, which is why he prioritised strong branding from the very start.

Ben acknowledges that while AI has been present in banking for some time, its use has been limited to advisory roles rather than decision-making due to heavy regulation and recent stricter rules, especially in Europe, that prevent AI from making autonomous financial decisions. He notes emerging opportunities in generative AI, such as conversational banking and personalised customer advice, indicating a cautious yet evolving adoption in the sector.

Looking ahead, Plumery is set to launch new SME banking capabilities, addressing the needs of the sector that received less attention compared to consumer one.

Listen to the full podcast at https://smartbranding.com