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Fintech Predictions 2025 with Danny Levy – Money 20/20.

January 29, 2025 · Hosted by Dexter Cousins

About this Episode

Dexter Cousins calls in the experts for the annual Fintech Predictions 2025! Joining him on this special episode is Danny Levy Managing Director, Asia & ANZ for Money 20/20.

Dexter and Dany discuss the evolution and significance of Money 2020, a premier FinTech event. Danny chats about the unique experience it offers and the rigorous selection process undertaken for speakers, to ensure they have the world’s experts.

Danny shares insights from a recent report on trends for 2025, highlighting the rapid changes in the banking scene, the rise of digital payments, and the opportunities in embedded finance.

They also explore the role of AI in FinTech and the importance of maintaining energy and focus while travelling for business. Danny concludes by discussing his podcast and the upcoming Money 2020 event in April 2025.

About Money 20/20

At Money20/20, Danny has spearheaded the company’s strategic expansion into Asia, building the Asia headquarters and team from the ground up, orchestrating the landmark launch of Money20/20’s inaugural Bangkok event that attracted over 3,000 industry leaders and decision-makers from 80+ countries, and creating a strong regional presence for the world’s leading fintech and financial services brand.

Key Takeaways

  • Money 2020 is designed to create a unique festival-like experience.
  • The event focuses on quality networking and content over quantity.
  • Health and wellness initiatives are now integral to event planning.
  • Speaker selection is based on editorial integrity and industry relevance.
  • The banking landscape in Asia is rapidly evolving with digital innovations.
  • Digital payments are leading the way in cross-border transactions.
  • Embedded finance presents significant growth opportunities in FinTech.
  • AI is transforming customer service and operational efficiency in financial services.
  • FinTech innovations can significantly improve financial inclusion.
  • Maintaining personal health and wellness is crucial for high performance in business.

About Danny

With 15 years of senior leadership experience in Singapore, Danny is an accomplished business leader with a proven track record of scaling businesses and driving record-breaking profits.

As the founder and host of “Digital Transformation & Leadership,” a top 100 Business podcast, Danny regularly engages with industry leaders from major companies like Facebook, Google, DBS and Stripe to explore cutting-edge trends and insights. He is also a guest host on the South China Morning Post podcast, focusing on digital transformation.

Danny serves as an Ambassador for the Emerging Payments Association Asia (EPAA) – A vibrant network of payments professionals dedicated to advancing the payments industry across the Asia-Pacific.

Danny spent a decade as Managing Director at Worldwide Business Research, where he delivered consecutive record-breaking profit results, led market expansion across Asia and ANZ, and successfully launched and scaled several new business verticals.

Danny’s leadership philosophy centres on creating empowering environments where teams can excel. He is passionate about strategic business growth and innovation, recruiting and developing high-potential talent, building inclusive, high-performing teams, and driving innovation and digital transformation.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Money2020 and Its Impact

03:36 The Evolution of Money2020

06:28 Wellness and Networking at Events

09:22 Speaker Selection and Content Integrity

12:18 Trends and Insights from the 2025 Report

15:05 Digital Payments and Cross-Border Innovations

17:56 The Role of Regulators and Collaboration in FinTech

20:47 Opportunities in Emerging Markets

23:49 Innovations and Challenges in FinTech

26:50 The Evolution of AI in FinTech

29:39 Identifying Opportunities in FinTech

33:20 Game-Changing Innovations in FinTech

39:12 Health, Wellbeing, and High Performance

43:03 Danny’s Podcast and Insights

45:43 Money 2020 Asia Event Overview

Links & Resources:

Links from this episode.

Fintech predictions on Fintech Chatter.

More on fintech in Asia.

Full transcript.

Lightly edited for readability — filler words removed, wording otherwise unchanged.

Dexter Cousins
Fintech Chatter Podcast, brought to you by Tier One People, the leaders in executive search for fintech ventures.

Hello and welcome to Fintech Chatter, the podcast where I connect with fintech leaders to chat about their secrets to success. I’m Dexter Cousins, your host and the founder of Tier One People, the executive search firm dedicated to finding exceptional leaders for high-growth fintech ventures. Tier One People is the trusted partner to some of the world’s most recognisable fintech brands. You can find out more at tieronepeople.com. Now on to today’s show. Danny, welcome to your Fintech Chatter debut.

Danny Levy
Hey Dexter, thanks for having me on the show. Really excited to be here. Was delighted when you got in touch and invited me on.

Dexter Cousins
Well, I’ve invited you on for a purely selfish reason. I always get my yearly predictions wrong, and I thought this year I’m not going to do it. I’m going to bring along the experts, who’ve invested a lot of money and time and research to really look at the trends of 2025 in fintech. So we’re going to cover the report in just a little while, but I thought before we did that, maybe this would be a good idea for you to share with our listeners a bit about Money20/20, for the few that might not know who you are.

Danny Levy
Sure. Yeah, well, Money20/20 has been around now for over a decade, and was launched initially in the US, in Las Vegas, and the show still continues to run there. And really why it came about was that two industry insiders had a problem. They wanted to go to an event where the whole ecosystem came together: banks, payments, fintechs, startups, VCs. But nothing like that existed. And I think if you look across some of the best events or shows globally, they’re not actually normally started by event professionals. They’re normally started by people that are working within the industry, really passionate for the industry, and then they spot a problem. They think, oh, well, maybe we could do something better here. And that’s really how Money20/20 came about.

So they launched the show, a fairly modest launch in the beginning, but the whole industry came together, and then it’s really had very strong organic growth since then. We now have a European edition. It was in Copenhagen originally, but now it takes place in Amsterdam each year. We have an Asia edition, which is what I do. I run the Asia edition of the show. So we were in Singapore in 2018 and 2019. The global health pandemic happened, we were forced to go away and rethink a few things, and when we came back we relaunched the show in Bangkok.

And the reason we did that was that some of the magic of the show, and there’s a lot of magic at Money20/20, which we can get into, is that it’s a destination location. So we get people away from the financial hub. It’s not in New York, it’s in Las Vegas. It’s not in London, it’s in Amsterdam. Similar in Asia: Singapore is an amazing location, a serious fintech hub, but it’s a financial centre, and there’s always that pull to go back to the office or do other business in and around the event. Whereas when you’re in Bangkok, or a destination location, you’ve got a really captive audience for those three days of the event, and that just adds to the on-site experience for sponsors, for delegates. And it’s a premium show. It’s a ticketed show. So again, when people are buying tickets, what do they want to get out of the show? Well, it’s amazing content, but also the networking, and people are serious about doing business at the event when they fly into a destination location.

And then the newest addition to our line-up is coming this year, in the Middle East.

Dexter Cousins
Brilliant.

Danny Levy
We’ve got an event happening in Saudi Arabia later in the year, in September. So yeah, we’re really a global event brand now, and I think that is also part of the uniqueness and the power of Money20/20: that we’re a truly global brand. And we’ve got our eyes set on the future as well, looking at maybe new markets, exciting markets, as we move forward. So I would describe Money20/20 as a festival more than…

Dexter Cousins
I was going to say, it’s kind of like the Ministry of Sound of fintech, right?

Danny Levy
That’s it. Yeah, we want people to feel like rock stars when they’re at the show. We want them to feel really good and really happy about what they’re doing, where they are. We want people to do a lot of business, so we say you can get 12 months of business done in a few days. We power everything at the show through our meeting apps. We launched new meeting programs in the US last year, more of a speed-dating type format, so you can get hundreds of meetings done in those few days. But we want people to feel good. We want them to have a good time. And you don’t have to do a meeting sitting in a formal area, right? You could be doing a meeting at a party in the evening, a networking evening, or you could be doing a meeting sitting outside, enjoying a lovely view from our Money Beach Club that we have in Amsterdam. So you think about the formal and informal, and if people are having a good time, they’re much more likely to have great meetings as well. So I think that’s what makes it special. The social element is one thing.

Dexter Cousins
And it’s been interesting to see… When you talk about the locations, I’m thinking this sounds like The Hangover movies. And so, yeah, Money20/20, I guess, is kind of legendary in that respect. But we’ve seen a little bit of a momentum shift in people focusing on wellness and health, particularly over the last couple of years, where it’s become very, very tough for founders in the fintech world. What have you seen from the attendees, and have you changed the format any?

Danny Levy
I think the structure of the show is always across three action-packed, busy days. But I think if you’re there and you’re conscious about preserving your energy, because it is a long three days, right? You’re walking around huge halls and you’re having lots of different meetings. If you’re not smart about it, and you’re not 23, you can really be, to use my English word, out on your arse if you’re not too careful. So I think you’ve got to, like anything, manage your own energy levels. But we provide healthy food options. There’s non-alcoholic drink options at the industry nights now. We’ve got wellness programs that we’ve introduced to the shows now, so really thinking about health and fitness, and almost how you can arrive and maybe even leave the event feeling better than when you arrived.

Dexter Cousins
Right. That is possible.

Danny Levy
Yeah. And in Bangkok this year we’ve introduced a Harmony Hub, we’re calling it. It’s an area where you can go in, you can get healthy juices, you can relax, there’s meditation pods, and you can get a massage as well. Get a nice neck massage, get a shoulder massage. So really an area, because it is a lot of hustle and bustle on the show floor…

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
…but this is a quiet space where you can go and relax and recharge, and then come back refreshed at the same time. So ultimately it’s down to you, right? We can’t make the decision, but we’re providing an environment where hopefully we’re making it a bit easier to stay energised and put your best foot forward.

Dexter Cousins
I think you’ve obviously got so much choice when it comes to events, and how I make the distinction of the ones that I’ll make sure are in the calendar is not only the quality of the people who are there attending the event, but also the quality of speakers.

Danny Levy
Exactly. Yeah.

Dexter Cousins
Tell us a little bit about your approach to speakers, and the calibre of speakers that you generally get along to the events.

Danny Levy
I think the one thing that sets us apart internally is that our product, our content, our editorial teams, they sit completely separate to our commercial teams. Because what often happens at most other events is that if a company comes waving a big cheque, they’re able to…

Dexter Cousins
Like the awards, right? Like, pay for this award.

Danny Levy
Yeah. Table of 10, and you’ve won. The one, that’s it.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Danny L, you’ve been nominated the most inspiring leader in Asia.

Danny Levy
Yeah. To kind of do one of those magazines, right?

Dexter Cousins
It always reminds me of that scene in The Office with David Brent, was on the cover of the magazine, and he’s had it for like five years.

Danny Levy
I’m sure if you give it a year or so, I’ll be able to do that for you anyway.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, yeah.

Danny Levy
Absolutely. But again, going back to what I said before, because it’s a ticketed show, that delegate experience is so important to us. And as you know as well as I do, if you’re at an event where the majority of speakers are paid for, when you’re sitting on the stages you get a distinct feeling that you’re being sold to.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah. Or they’ve just listened to one of our podcast episodes and regurgitated everything that we’ve…

Danny Levy
Exactly. And that doesn’t mean sometimes a great experience for you, right? Because you’re not getting the best-in-class content. So we separate the two for that reason. Our editorial integrity is really important to us. From year to year, a lot of other events may recycle speakers, so you’ll see the same faces, the same times, talking about the same topics. We never do that. We don’t recycle speakers year on year. And we do what’s called a call for content. So instead of us going out and deciding who we want to invite to come, what we do is we do the research and we talk to the industry, but then we settle on an overall theme for the show, and then we have our sub content pillars that feed into that, and that then forms our call for content.

And we get thousands of applications to come and speak at Money20/20. As I said, the power of the brand: the stages hold a lot of weight, and I think because of that integrity, people really think that they can use it to make announcements and talk about things for the first time. So it’s very hard to get selected. Probably less than, I would say, 2% would get picked to actually speak on the stage. And the editorial team also come from fintech. I think that’s another differentiator: we’re not getting people that don’t know the industry. We have people that live and breathe the industry every single day. I’m sitting with commercial, so I’m not from fintech, but these people, they get up in the morning and that’s what gets them out of bed in the morning. They love what they do. So they then go through these applications, and then they decide with their colleagues who should make the cut.

And I would say gender diversity, but also diversity of thought, is really important to us as well. So again, when we’re structuring panels, we want to have it balanced. We want to have maybe people that don’t agree with each other, so it’s not one of those panels where everyone’s just nodding their head and going through the motions. And I would just lastly say the format. It’s not easy to do interactivity, facilitated conversation, when events get to a certain size. But again, we’ve taken great strides to introduce ways in which we can have presentations, panels, but then interactive opportunities in roundtables and workshops, so you can go deeper. Because again, people are always at a different stage of their journey, right? They might just be starting out and really need the beginners’ type information, but others have been doing it for decades and they’re really looking to go deep, and that’s where workshops and roundtables can be valuable.

And maybe, like me, not as extroverted, that can also be a great way to kickstart conversations with people who are like-minded to you, or maybe have some of the same challenges you do, in a facilitated format. So I would say that’s really… and we live and breathe it. We’re a well-oiled machine, and we have a great format for putting on amazing content.

Dexter Cousins
Now, I want to move on to the research and the report of trends for 2025. You said something before about Money20/20 often being a launch pad for announcements. This is on video, so you’re going to be reading a lot from notes, because the report is that new, you haven’t really even had a chance to read it yet. So I’m kind of honoured to have this almost exclusive opportunity to go through it with you.

Danny Levy
This is, I think, the first time we’ve spoken about it, actually, outside of colleagues. So it’s exciting to talk about what we’ve been doing.

Dexter Cousins
Awesome. So look, I guess the first burning question that I’ve got is: what is the thing that stood out to you most about the report?

Danny Levy
Yeah. So I’ll just take a step back, I guess. What we’ve done is we’ve put together a white paper, which is really a deep dive into the changing fintech scene in Asia Pacific. And I mentioned that research that we do to get our content pillars in place for the call for content. So we’ve spoken to about 50 key players from across the region, and these are banks, fintech companies, regulators. And the report covers trends and challenges and opportunities in areas like cross-border payments, digital lending, insurtech, regtech. So we’ve got a really good cross-section of the industry. And the goal really was to create a road map for driving innovation, improving financial inclusion and building a customer-focused, sustainable financial ecosystem in Asia. It’s a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, so when you go through the report you’ll see the written analysis, but also good data points you can take, which is always good.

And there’s a few key trends that we’re seeing from the report. I think the first thing is that the banking scene in Asia Pacific is clearly changing really fast. We’re seeing that both digital and traditional banks are very focused on better customer experiences, by using new technology and tailoring services to local needs. And we’re seeing that digital banks are growing quickly with the help of partnerships and ecosystems, but profitability is still a major hurdle: only 5% of them are profitable worldwide. Traditional banks, clearly, are upgrading, so they’re using technologies like AI, blockchain and cloud technology to modernise, improve efficiency and reach more customers. And I would say the interesting thing is that the line between the digital and the traditional banks is really blurring now, both in terms of the technology but also the strategies that they’re using to tackle regulations and meet new customer expectations. So we are seeing the two worlds coming closer together, the more traditional incumbents and the digital banks.

I think the second thing we’re seeing in Asia Pacific is that digital payments and cross-border innovation is really standing out. The report really demonstrated, and this will be no great surprise, that Asia Pacific is really driving digital payments, with systems like PayNow, PromptPay and UPI. So very advanced payment systems. It’s really just one click: you can do cross-border payments now from your bank, DBS, into Thailand or into India. So really leading the way in that sense. I think we saw that in 2024 non-cash payments in the region grew about 20% year on year, so that outpaces Europe, outpaces North America. There’s innovations reshaping cross-border payments, so initiatives like Project Nexus, linking instant payment systems. We’re seeing blockchain making waves, which is highlighted with partnerships like Thailand’s SCB with Lightner and Singapore’s Project uin Phase 5. And there’s a lot clearer regulation in Southeast Asia with these breakthroughs. And I would say as well that, at the same time, cryptocurrency and the central bank digital currencies are opening doors to new global payment solutions. So a lot going on there.

Dexter Cousins
There is a lot on, isn’t there?

Danny Levy
As you can imagine. Yeah, and more as well, but we could pause there if you wanted to.

Dexter Cousins
Oh, look, I think… well, you mentioned cross-border currencies, and what’s really fascinated me is to find out that Australia is like number five in the world when it comes to outbound remittance volumes, right? And it’s these opportunities that you would just never, never think of, right? And I think I put in like five pictures last year AC cross-border currency firms looking the launch, and I was thinking, hey, what’s going on? Why are they looking here? And lo and behold, it’s because there’s actually a lot of business here.

Danny Levy
Absolutely. Yeah. And I think the thing with it as well, for the consumer now, in terms of payments, it’s getting to that point, isn’t it, where you take it for granted. You don’t think about it so much anymore. And it’s like the embedded payments and embedded finance. It’s very integrated now, isn’t it? It’s becoming one click, especially in Asia, with things like the super apps that are very prevalent. That opens up other things, right, in terms of fraud and the risk on that side. Scammers have really grown in Singapore and Southeast Asia. But yeah, there’s some amazing things, and also just that cross-border collaboration that I mentioned between countries in this area, and really open regulations. And one thing we’re seeing at the show in Asia as well is we have many regional regulators that will come together…

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
…and that spirit of collaboration, and how they can work together, it’s really great to see.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, look, I think that’s one thing that has really struck me. If I was going to look at the core difference between, say, a region like Singapore and a region like Australia…

Danny Levy
Mm-hmm.

Dexter Cousins
…it’s the openness of the regulators, and even my experience of having them ask me my opinion. Like, hey, I’m just a recruitment guy, right?

Danny Levy
Oh, yeah.

Dexter Cousins
But, you know, we’re interested in what you’re seeing happening in talent, right? Like, we know that we’re entering uncharted waters, and where are we going to find people with the expertise and the critical think toel these new regulations? And this is coming from top people. In Australia, right, nobody’s interested. Like, you offer your help, and like, yeah, whatever, we’ll come back to you. And I think that spirit of collaboration, not just in Singapore but across Southeast Asia, is cating it. When you look at the opportunity, we keep talking about the US being a huge opportunity. 650 million people in Southeast Asia, two billion in China, there’ll be two billion in Africa pretty soon. This is the epicentre of the new world, right?

Danny Levy
Yeah. So you look at the demographics of those populations, not only the size of those populations, but the average age of those populations is almost half of what it is in Western populations. And they think so differently as well, don’t they? They’re mobile-first. And also in these places there just isn’t the same kind of infrastructure issues. So although maybe they’re coming from further behind, there’s more opportunities to leap forward much quicker in terms of some of these different technologies. And I think that’s what’s really exciting when you look at the digital transformation, but also that opportunity within finance for fintech. So that’s certainly what we’re seeing in Southeast Asia and Asia Pacific as well.

Dexter Cousins
And it’s interesting you talk about the infrastructure and not having that legacy. I mean, this is something that’s been talked about for the last 10, 15 years by people within my network, where they’ve talked about the opportunity. And I think now we’re at the point where the technology allows you to execute at scale very quickly.

Danny Levy
It does. And it’s almost like the good old hockey stick. We’re at that point where we’re going to see very rapid innovation and change, and people are going to just be shocked: hey, well, how did this happen so quickly? And it’s not…

Dexter Cousins
It’s like the 10-year overnight success, right? I think it very much feels like we’re at that point in time, Danny.

Danny Levy
I think so. Yeah. I think that’s where you’ve got to, though, give the opportunity, because, like you said, it’s those entrepreneurial, those small, those medium-sized businesses that can spring up, and they can use technology and these new AI workflows to their advantage. But you’ve also got to get those SMEs funding.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
And in developing markets like Indonesia or the Philippines, access to funds is so important. And I think that’s where embedded finance is really making waves. We see brands like GCash and a big pay, they’re helping to do loans, and they make banking more accessible in these markets, where access to a traditional bank as we would think about it is maybe not so realistic when you’ve got a country the size of Indonesia. So they’re making access to funding… And we often forget, right, the SMEs make up so much of the economy and the market in most countries. They really drive it forward. So if you can foster that innovation, that access to funds, you’re going to boost your economy. So I think that we’re seeing that in Asia as well, which is really exciting, because again, that gets missed in a lot of more developed countries sometimes.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah. And I think we often forget that fintech in itself is an ecosystem, whereby either all ships rise with the tide or we all sink with the tide, right? And we’ve seen that particularly in this last two years, where funding has dried up, and we’ve seen neobanks that were providing banking as a service platforms run out of capital and go bust. And then the businesses that were on that banking as a service platform end up going bust, trying to fight for their lives for 12 months but not able to find another solution. So I think it’s a really fine balance, right? Somebody’s decision somewhere has that butterfly effect of all these other things that happen.

But interesting to hear you talk about the bit about growth. One of the things that I’ve noticed is that we’re starting to see businesses take a completely different approach to growth. Whereas previously it was raise capital, hire a lot of people and scale the business, it’s being: let’s not raise capital, let’s bootstrap, let’s use technology and AI as much as we can and be constrained. But I think the byproduct of that means that when you have limited capital, particularly in fintech, which is a capital-intensive business, particularly from a regulatory perspective, a lot of the innovations that we’ve seen here in Oz have been restricted by that. And so it’s been the low-hanging fruit stuff that we got excited about in 2015, and it hasn’t had the opportunity to evolve from that because of the lack of funding. What are some of the big, bold innovations or ideas that you’re seeing come from the report and the trends, and just what you’re seeing as well?

Danny Levy
Yeah. Well, I think, just before we go on to the big technology trends or the exciting areas, I would say that the other thing to remember in Asia is that cash is still actually the predominant method of payment in most markets, right? It is still quite a traditional culture, and overcoming barriers to financial inclusion still remains really front of mind for most people and most companies. Because again, Asia faces really big hurdles: low digital literacy, poor infrastructure. As I said, they were able to bypass some of those legacy infrastructure issues, but that doesn’t mean that it’s all smooth sailing. There are poor infrastructure issues, there’s regulatory hurdles, unsustainable business models.

So we saw in the report, which I just wanted to raise, that nearly 20% of respondents are focusing on expanding into new markets, but 19% are focused on driving product innovation, while 15% and 12% are prioritising partnerships and regulatory compliance. And that was really linked to the efforts to make financial services more accessible and inclusive across the region. So I would say that that still comes out a lot when you talk to people. That is front of mind, and it’s actually: how can you lift people up, right? Because there’s a huge underserved population, and if they’re getting lifted up, again, that’s going to make the opportunity bigger. The piece of the pie bigger.

Dexter Cousins
Yes. I guess rather than going for a time, it’s like creating your T.

Danny Levy
That’s it. Yeah.

Dexter Cousins
Market-making, rather than just serving the same customers with another product.

Danny Levy
Exactly. Yeah. I think to answer your question, you asked me around what else we’re seeing. We haven’t talked about the big one, which normally comes up straight away, right, which is AI.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
We’re clearly seeing aggressive adoption of AI technologies for fraud detection, customer personalisation and operational efficiency. So that came out strongly. Increased adoption of open banking, with market-driven models in Southeast Asia and clearly regulatory initiatives in Singapore. Digital lending has come out, so the enhanced credit assessments using alternative data sources. Again, that’s expanding financial inclusion. And lastly it’s really about sustainability, so there’s a growing focus on financial inclusion and addressing entrenched societal challenges. So there’s some of the big things that are coming out of the report.

Dexter Cousins
Really. Well, to double-click on the AI piece as well: I don’t know if this comes across in the report, but certainly what I’m taking from my network, and when I’m talking with execs, is I think they’ve got comfortable with AI and the hype piece, and they’ve recognised where the immediate gains ought to be had. I think it touches on the things that you said: fraud prevention, efficiencies, improving customer experience through automation, bots. Those things. The generative AI of, you know, we’re going to create a financial advisor who’s going to look after all of your finances, I think that scene is okay, it’s opening a bit of a Pandora’s box.

Danny Levy
It’s a bit similar to when robo-advisory came along, right? You thought you were going to be dealing with this iroot type person that was going to be giving you investment tips, but it’s not really like that. It’s helping you automate and not think about it, and do things saily, but it’s not quite at that level. But I think at the moment, obviously AI has moved so quickly, but we’re really seeing it mainly being used as a safer kind of customer service, the sales. And clearly maybe moving soon to a point where it does become that thing where, if you’re calling into a bank, for example, at the moment you’re often talking to a human rep, right? And you’d be going through: this is my issue, and this is what I’m facing. And they say, okay, okay, okay. And then you hang up the phone, and then if it hasn’t been resolved the next day, you’ve got to call back again, haven’t you? You’re probably going to speak to someone different, and then you’ve got to re-explain all over again what the issue was.

And so obviously, if you’re talking to an AI, they will register, they will remember that conversation. You’ll call back the next day, you won’t have that friction of having to repeat yourself all over again, and you probably won’t even know that you’re interacting with an AI agent in some of these. And clearly that has cost-saving benefits, and it’s good for some of these larger institutions. So I think we’re seeing it moving in that direction, rather, like you said, than taking over all the internal operations of some of these places. I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah. Now, I’ve got a big burning question that I want to ask you. Obviously you’re very, very close to all of what’s happening in fintech. You’ve got the insights from the report as well. If I was to go, here’s a cheque for 50 million, go and find the next big opportunity in fintech, based on everything that you’ve seen, where do you think you would go and look to build a fintech?

Danny Levy
Yeah, the thing as well is, right, when you say fintech, the challenging part is there’s so many different opportunities within that. So you’ve got… you’ve got blanch, right? Like, you can be anything that sits within that hole, right? Whether it be regtech, crypto, insurtech, digital banks, cyber, AI, right? I think that’s one of the beauties, right, is there’s so many problems to solve.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, yeah.

Danny Levy
And how much capital are you going to get? So like you say, 50 mil. Okay, probably run out of that in six months, us, right? Yeah. First and foremost, I’d spend 49 million on Money20/20. That would be my big bet. I wouldn’t even have an idea or a business case, I’d just go. But no, seriously, I think there’s a few areas. If I was in Asia, based on the report, like I mentioned, I think embedded finance clearly offers significant opportunities, right? The integration of financial services into everyday business and consumer experiences. That’s already here, but we see that it still has a way to go. And we’ve touched on the young demographics and the banked and financial inclusion, so I think that’s an exciting space.

I think targeting industry-specific financial solutions, digital wallets for ride-hailing, e-commerce: these still present high growth potential, because they focus on accessibility and convenience. And I would say the last one, I’m cheating a bit here, but the last one, we’ve already talked about it: clearly there’s a huge focus on AI right now. You’re seeing some fintechs rebrand so AI is in the name. But I think an AI-powered fintech startup can make banking smarter, faster, more personal. You’re probably going to get access to funds in this space a little bit easier at the moment, because VCs and capital are flowing into this area. And I think with AI in the mix, a startup probably can quickly scale. It can automate the boring stuff, it can stay ahead by delivering cool real-time solutions that customers actually want.

Dexter Cousins
There you go. Needs to read at the intersection of fintech, AI and crypto. There you go, that’s the 50 million cheque.

Danny Levy
Yeah, plus b to S.

Dexter Cousins
And it’s interesting you mentioned there the ride-hailing connection. One of the things that really struck me: I was in Bali last year with the kids, and it was the first time I’d been there in about 10 years. I’ve got to say that the biggest difference that I noticed was Grab and ride-sharing, and how it had completely changed not just my experience but the lifestyle there, and the opportunities for people to create their own businesses. It was just mind-blowing, I think, how much it had changed. And one of the things that I think is really incredible about the whole financial inclusion piece that you’ve talked about is the intersection of a ride-sharing app like Grab, and how that is almost like having a business in your hand, and livelihood and freedom in your hand. And it’s something that we really take for granted here in Oz, right? Because everybody grows up in a fairly comfortable life. We’ve had a really good time of it economically. We have the infrastructure and the education and the healthcare and all of those things that are fairly accessible for people.

In terms of that, when you look back, what do you see as being the greatest innovation so far that you’ve seen in fintech, and how it’s really impacted people’s lives?

Danny Levy
In Asia specifically?

Dexter Cousins
No, just in your experience of being in fintech.

Danny Levy
Do you know, when I think about it… I mean, clearly Singapore doesn’t have some of the same challenges that its nearest neighbours have in the region. I’ve lived in Singapore now for 15 years. So when I think about fintech innovations, sometimes you actually don’t realise that it’s having a game-changing impact when it’s happening. It’s often strange. But if I think back probably five years ago, for me personally, in terms of payments: Singapore has this NETS payment, so you would put in your bank card and bang away your PIN number in there, and it was very traditional. And then all of a sudden, QR payments. When you say QR and you talk to people in the West, they think that’s ancient, that’s archaic, right? But obviously QR payments are the norm in Asia. And very quickly, through DBS and things like, it’s called PayLah in Singapore, you could just take your phone out, one click, you’re paying for something and you’re moving on. And all of a sudden that friction that existed was just gone. It was just gone. And it felt, as a consumer, I’m talking, it felt almost overnight that that had happened.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
And now, like I mentioned, we’ve got things like PromptPay and UPI linked to payments, where you can pay overseas using payar in places like Thailand, in exactly the same way, straight from your Singapore bank account. These are the things I think about. And I think in terms of game-changing for Asia, again, it’s around financial inclusion, I guess. Foreign domestic workers obviously are a big thing, maids in Asia, and they’re often having to send money back home, right? So they’ll often be working to send money back home to places like the Philippines, and they’re being charged a portion of that salary, which isn’t huge, I guess, by our standards, to send money back home to their loved ones. Again, innovation in cross-border payment solutions now allows them to send money back home instantly without fees, right? So again, that is really game-changing. Maybe we wouldn’t think about it like that, but that is the way that fintech done in the right way makes people’s lives better. It lifts people out of poverty. That’s what we’ve got to remember. It’s not technology for technology’s sake. We are doing something that makes the world a better place. Sometimes that gets lost in the…

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, it does, it does. And I think it also gets lost in that not everybody has that mindset, right? I always say there’s a big difference between changing your world and changing the world.

Danny Levy
Exactly.

Dexter Cousins
So yeah. And it’s good to see that I think the majority of fintechs who have gone on to be successful have changed the world and had some impact on it in a positive light.

Danny Levy
Yeah. And clearly the AI, right? Looking at that now in workflow, that is such a game changer in terms of things that used to take an hour, a couple of hours of time. With the white workflow now across the different AI tools… again, this has really just come about in the last year or so, like a couple of years. You’re accelerating things. Obviously you fact-check and rewrite, but again, that is a game changer, isn’t it? And again, it’s a game changer for financial services, for the reasons we’ve talked about. I use Claude quite a lot, which is Anthropic, and that’s like having a best friend in your pocket sometimes, right? You’re just chatting away, you’re asking it questions. I barely use Google search anymore. So again, this has happened so quickly, but in the moment you don’t feel it.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah. We talked about this before with the podcast, right? I was using, like, five, six different pieces of software. Now I’m on one platform. I’ve reduced the time to production from 3 days to 2 hours. I’ve got all of the stuff around show notes and everything created. And then if I look at other ways in which I’ve brought AI into the business: whereas previously I might have outsourced, offshored, or gone on Fiverr or whatever and got a contractor to do stuff, I just ask the AI to do it. And if it sends me an answer back and I don’t like it, and I say, hey, that was wrong, I need this, this, this and this, it doesn’t take the huff for eight hours, even if I was a bit of a dick in the way in which… the question, right?

Someone sent me a, I think it was like a funny GIF type thing, and it was a guy, and it said, dancing with your number one employee, and the employee had like a robot helmet on and it said ChatGPT, and they’re both dancing around together. Obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek, but I think it is right. AI agents are already having an impact on my business, and I’m sure they’ll have an impact on my clients’ businesses as well.

Now, one of the themes that we did talk about very briefly was just around health and wellbeing. I think it is something that’s consciously in this last couple of years, certainly as we all get older. We all seem to be out of lockdown mode, and we’re travelling again and on flights. And I’m assuming you’re doing a hell of a lot of travelling in your job, Danny.

Danny Levy
I do.

Dexter Cousins
How do you keep yourself fresh and energised? And have you got any hacks to deal with stress, any routines that you’re just religious about wherever you are in the world?

Danny Levy
I mean, the number one thing is I’ll book my hotels based on the quality of the hotel gym. So it needs to have a gym in the hotel. Because I think sometimes you’ve got jet lag, you can’t sleep, so you can go and work off some of that. Or again, keeping you honest in the morning: waking up early, getting a workout in. I always do that when I’m in Singapore, so it starts the day, right? Making sure I get enough sleep on the plane. I know that doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary, but you need to make sure you’ve packed your eye mask and your ear stoppers, and you’re not overindulging on too many movies, so you feel fresh. Arriving a day early if it’s long-haul travel as well. So not getting off the plane… I have colleagues that do do this, by the way. They get off the plane and they go straight into meetings.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
Certainly for me, I get in and I need to get my bearings and get a good night’s sleep. And I think just diet and hydration. So if you’re eating well and if you’re hydrated… And I found actually, funnily enough, recently, if I’m doing Singapore to the US or Singapore to Europe, with the time difference, I find that if I don’t eat in the mornings, the jet lag is much better. So not having a really heavy breakfast first thing, I think, with the time difference, has made a difference for me. So that could be something to try if you’re struggling with a severe time difference. Don’t overindulge on the avocado toast and the boiled eggs first thing. Maybe don’t eat so much.

Dexter Cousins
And by lunchtime in Southeast Asia, those breakfast buffets are just like, yeah, curries and all sorts of stuff.

Danny Levy
Yeah, yeah, yeah, they are.

Dexter Cousins
It’s some good tips there. My one for long-haul travel is no alcohol, and the vegetarian or vegan option for the food. And for some reason that stops any jet lag and dehydration. I think it’s because there’s not as much salt in the food, and the altitude. Just weird things with your body, doesn’t it?

Danny Levy
Yeah. I think you maybe don’t have quite the boundless energy as you get older, but hopefully you know yourself a little bit better, right? So you should know what works for you and what doesn’t. And if you’re listening to yourself, hopefully you do what works for you when you are travelling. Because you’re going there for a reason, right, for business, and you’re expected to perform. So go there with that mindset, that you want to perform at your top performance. What do you need to do to do that?

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, look. The podcast that I’ve just released this week is with one of Australia’s top sports coaches, about the synergies between an elite sports team and a startup, what is expected of a leader, and how you get high-performing teams. And your health and diet are as equally important to your energy levels as… when you’re running teams, right?

Danny Levy
You’re not yourself, but then everyone’s looking at you. You’re setting the ti, set the pace, you’re setting the example. And if you’re looking after yourself and you’re feeling good and you’re putting your best foot forward, everyone else is likely to follow that example. So that’s really about high performance. And you’ve got to be resilient, right? Like we talked about, fintech has had a more difficult ride, I guess, the last couple of years. What’s that mindset? How do you get through that? What do you do to spring out of bed every morning? That really is about high performance, isn’t it?

Dexter Cousins
Absolutely. That has to be front of mind. Now, we’ll come to a wrap, but before we do, I usually ask people what their go-to podcasts are. But because you’ve got your own podcast, I thought I’d let you plug that instead. So tell us a little bit about your podcast, and where can people go and listen to it?

Danny Levy
Yeah. I mean, I do listen to other ones as well. But I started my podcast back in the pandemic, in 2020, like a lot of people, right, shut up at home. I was working for a different company at the time, and we had more events in different sectors. So we had capital markets, but we had e-commerce for retail, we had procurement for chief procurement officers. But at that time, if you remember, in 2020 digital transformation was the big thing, so that was cutting across all these different industries. And again, similar to Money20/20, it was the leaders, it was the premium-style event. So my podcast, Digital Transformation and Leadership…

Dexter Cousins
Awesome.

Danny Levy
…was a way to bring that umbrella into one place. In the first few episodes I was finding my feet and figuring out how to do it, but it’s gone from strength to strength. And we’ve had some big-name guests on, from big companies that you would know across the technology space: Meta, Google, IBM, DBS. And it’s very varied, right? Digital transformation, a bit like fintech, is a big topic. So we’ve talked about things from AI to high performance, to leadership issues, how to really think about time management. So it’s very varied, but it’s done really well. It ranks now, well, according to the internet, it ranks, I think, in the top 15 to 10 global digital transformation podcasts…

Dexter Cousins
Awesome.

Danny Levy
…in the world. So yeah, it’d be great if people would go and check that out. And then the other ones I listen to, very quickly: I actually do listen to The High Performance Podcast. I do like that one.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah.

Danny Levy
That’s sports people, as you’ve spoken about, because I just think there’s so many lessons within high-performing Olympians or football players that you can take into business, and I find that very useful to get a different lens on things. And lastly, it’s big, but he does a good job: The Diary of a CEO. I do like the way he shines a spotlight on his guests. He’s very good at not just asking a question, but really asking follow-up questions to get to the core of the issue. And again, very varied, and he’s had some amazing people on there. So he does a good job.

Dexter Cousins
Awesome. Now, the big event: April 2025, Bangkok. Where can people find out more? Where can they get tickets? And if they’re interested in being a customer as well, where’s the best place to go?

Danny Levy
Yeah. So if you just plug Money20/20 Asia into Google, that’ll probably do the trick.

Dexter Cousins
Or ChatGPT.

Danny Levy
Or ChatGPT. It’ll come up top. But like I said, the Asia market is not short of fintech events. But I think with the model of Money20/20, when we looked at it, the problem that we saw was that there was no event that brought together the most senior professionals. And as I say, it’s a paid-for event, so when you’re in the walls of Money20/20, you’re really rubbing shoulders with the who’s who of the industry.

Dexter Cousins
Yeah, look. And yeah, I mentioned my hiatus for 12 months. It was also because when I was going there, the people I needed to speak to weren’t there. They were too busy getting done and making things happen. And if you’re going to make time for an event when you’re a key decision-maker, you have to be getting a return on investment.

Danny Levy
Exactly. And our focus is really on quality over quantity. You might go to a show with 70,000 people, but I would imagine it’s pretty hard to get to the right people when the show is of that size. So for us, it’s 4,000 people in Bangkok in April: one in three are C-suite, 50% are at the decision-making level. So I would say if you’re serious about having a good time, wellness as well, as we’ve talked about, but also taking in some amazing and incredible content, hearing from regional regulators… We’ve got 10 regional regulators already confirmed, so you get all the policy updates. And it’s just an amazing few days. It’s really worth coming to check it out. And part of the reason I moved over to Money20/20 was that magic that I talked about. It’s just not common in the industry to have such a blend of content, networking and amazing experiences.

Dexter Cousins
Where are the best places on social networks for people to follow you, Danny?

Danny Levy
So I’m fairly active on LinkedIn. As you know, we did all this through LinkedIn. So if you just plug Danny Levy into LinkedIn, I’ll pop up. I’m on X as well. And I’m off the other social platforms, so I can just concentrate a little bit more. And no, no shorts these days. God, that’s such a time suck. But yeah, if you want to connect with me, LinkedIn’s the best place, and I’m pretty good on there, so I’ll come back to you.

Dexter Cousins
Awesome. Well, Danny, good luck with the event in April. Thanks so much for joining me and sharing the insights from the report as well.

Danny Levy
There you go. And hopefully some of those come true for you in 2025, Dexter.

Dexter Cousins
Thank you very much. Well, thanks for joining us. If you’re new to the show, make sure you follow us wherever you listen to podcasts, or subscribe to Fintech Chatter TV on YouTube. If you’re coming back, thanks so much for your support. It really does help me get great guests like Danny onto the show, and it also makes me feel really good. Until the next episode, keep well.

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