Michael:
This is Michael Salmony. I am part of the expert council of APC and I have the great pleasure of welcoming Robert Prigge, who I’ve known for a while, who has many roles. He is CEO of Jumio, which is one of the companies that are trying to improve identity a great deal going away from passwords to biometrics, KYC, AML, fraud and lots of other things, and he also has many other dimensions. He used to come from Frankfurt and now he speaks fluent Japanese, so he’s a very interesting person. So, Robert maybe you could just quickly introduce yourself and your company
Robert:
Yeah, I have to admit, I did not learn Japanese in Frankfurt. I learned Japanese in Japan, but thanks for including me Michael. Robert Prigge here. I’m the CEO of Jumio. I’ve been with the company five years and have really enjoyed seeing how identity has evolved and had a revolution almost in the last couple years, it’s a super exciting area.
Michael:
Wonderful, and that’s the topic we thought we would have a quick Hard Talk about, where we try to pick up some controversial topic. Today it’s about identity. We thought maybe a nice controversial discussion we could have with you is that there are basically two ways of approaching identity.
Yeah, it’s not so much a preference, but I think the reality is instead of chucking everything like you said and starting from scratch, that’s probably not horribly realistic. I think when you look at especially from a global point of view, much less at the country level, regions in the country have different opinions and philosophies on that topic, which make it quite challenging. And so, I think the reality is more how do you take the different point solutions of which we’re a leader, but how do you combine those, stitch them together into a more complete solution – and there are definitely big challenges with that too. First off, not all solutions are created equal, and so you’ll take someone like us who’s really known for quality, but then there’s a lot of other vendors, who’ll do something very shoddy and very quick and they’re not really the same thing, even though they think they are, they’re not. And the same is true of multiple different areas of identity. I think increasingly we’re looking at a 360-degree view of a consumer. And in our part, that’s the identity of the IDV, there’s address services where you’re seeing if the address exists or they live there, there’s databases like PEPs and sanctions or screening databases. And so, I think ultimately, it’s weaving all of those together. I think inevitably in the marketplace, there’s going to be more consolidation because like you mentioned, creating a Frankenstein’s monster of 80 different vendors you know is not super exciting and that’s why more and more people are moving new holistic total solutions like us, but you know that’s the reality. And also…
Michael:
Sorry to just interrupt you there, because you seem to be leaning a little bit towards the interoperability model, sort of saying you need to get them to connect. I’m just wondering how practical that is? In Germany, for example we have 53 different identity solutions, all running in parallel. If we’re going to interconnect that, and that’s only Germany right, let alone the world which probably has thousands. So, how is that going to be?
Robert:
Yeah, I’m not too sure, I’m advocating interoperability, I think I’m advocating there’s going to be consolidation and that of those 53, 23 are going to go away and 10 of them will combine in one bigger one.
Michael:
What makes you optimistic about that? Why do you think they will go away? Because my observation has been, we’re getting more identity solutions: every bank, every telco, every service provider, every internet provider is coming with their own identity solution. What makes you optimistic, we’re going to have less?
Robert:
I think, it’s a phase frankly. Yes, you’re right, every day a new person writes one line of code and does a startup that says they’re an identity company. I think, in the world of Vovid, that stuff becomes extraordinarily daunting. You need to actually have real sales and have real business and have real results. And so, I think that the difficulties of Covid in 2020 and 2021 will flush out a lot of those companies that are frankly not profitable and are just not good businesses and are little more than fancy PowerPoint presentations without too many customers. So, I think it gets worse before it gets better, that there’s a proliferation mostly because it’s validating that digital transformation and digital identity needs are a real thing. There’s real pain there, and especially because of Covid in other areas, digital transformation is so important and the first problem that people run into is establishing who they’re dealing with. And so yeah, I think it probably proliferates more and then gets consolidated when you flush out the small ones.
Michael:
I’m sure we can agree that as we move to an increasingly digital age,
identifying who it is
and what rights they have
and even what machine it may be
and what that’s trying to access
is an increasingly important point. And I like your idea of the survival of the fittest. So, let those who don’t work terribly well, who don’t have a viable business model, who aren’t usable, let them disappear and that may already get us somewhere. Okay Robert, thank you so much for this short hard talk. Anybody who’s interested in more on this, we will be having more webinars, also with Robert, on this topic and I hope we will see each other again there. Thank you very much.
Robert:
Pleasure Michael, thank you.
Paul Brisk has over twenty-eight years’ experience working in consumer and retail payments. During this time, he has developed expertise on almost every aspect and component, both business and technical, of the end-to-end payment eco-system, from point of acceptance and the retailer, to acquirer, through to the issuer and consumer, and the role of the payment scheme. Paul’s focus has always been the impact and implementation of emerging technologies to the commerce ecosystem to create stakeholder benefit. For the last 12 months, Paul has been dedicated to building a start-up business in Indonesia that offers services and products to enable organisations to undergo digital transformation through the application of Open Data. Paul is currently Managing Director of the Jakarta based Pembayaran Digital Indonesia. The company is committed to delivering expert knowledge-based services to payment ecosystem stakeholders to aid in the transformation to digital commerce. Prior to Digital Payments Asia-Pacific, Paul established Cotignac Consultancy Services Limited in 2002 – an independent payment technology consulting and services company registered in New Zealand. Cotignac was successful in winning a large national contract with the Association of Banks in Malaysia to manage the market level migration from signature to PIN at POS. This resulted in Paul’s relocation from New Zealand to Kuala Lumpur from August 2014 to August 2017. He has remained based in South East Asia. Paul’s payments career started in 1992 with a decade at Visa International in both Asia Pacific and Europe. This included the opportunity to lead several large cutting-edge projects involving the implementation of chip based electronic purse, EMV chip-based credit and debit cards, multi-application chip cards and both issuer and acquirer infrastructure for secure Internet payments. Now based in Jakarta, Indonesia, Paul concentrates on applying his experience and knowledge to add value and assist the rapid and exciting transformation to digital commerce currently underway in South East Asian markets. His particular focus and passion are delivering services and products to enable the transformation of traditional business models to digital commerce through the application of Open Data.
Amb. Michael W. Michalak joined the US-ASEAN Business Council in September 2015 as Senior Vice President and Regional Managing Director. He oversees the Council’s six offices in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from the Council’s regional headquarters in Singapore, and leads the Council’s regional advocacy efforts and engages regularly with key ASEAN policymakers and thought leaders to offer his unique perspective on the k_ey role U.S. businesses can play in ASEAN. He also manages, coaches and develops the Council’s most critical resource: its staff.
Amb. Michalak most recently worked as an independent business consultant focused on Asia and particularly Vietnam. He also served as Senior Advisor to the private sector host committee of the U.S. APEC Year (2011). His diplomatic career with the U.S. State Department spanned more 30 years and included postings to Tokyo, Japan; Sydney, Australia; Islamabad, Pakistan; Beijing, China; as well as Washington, D.C. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam from August 2007 to February 2011. Prior to his position in Vietnam, Amb. Michalak was Ambassador and Senior U.S. Official to APEC. He also served as Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In addition, he received a group award for valor for his actions in time of crisis when the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad was burned down. Amb. Michalak began his career as a research physicist at NASA.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan and a Master of Science degree in Applied Physics from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He received a second Master’s degree in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He speaks Japanese and Chinese.
Milan Gauder is Executive Vice President of Product & Innovation Europe based in London. In this role, he is responsible for leading the product development for all Mastercard core and digital products and new payment flows, leading the change to a world where payment options are flourishing, while security, privacy and superb user experience are at paramount importance for the consumers. Previously he has led the Services verticals by overseeing the development and implementation of innovative new products in digital Authentication, Fraud prevention, Digital Identity, card benefits and reward systems.
Milan joined Mastercard in 2005 as an Account manager and has subsequently held a number of positions within the company. These include managing the Budapest office as Country Manager and both Budapest and Prague offices as Cluster Manager heading Emerging Payments for Europe. After this he moved to Dubai where he led product development, marketing and Advisory for the Middle East and Africa region.
Prior to joining Mastercard, Milan worked on consultancy projects in the banking sector, holding positions at Deloitte Consulting and McKinsey & Company.
As Chief Executive of Payments NZ and the Payments NZ API Centre™, Steve is responsible for ensuring the New Zealand payments industry remains innovative, progressive, interoperable and self-governing. He came to the role with extensive experience in senior executive roles through a career spanning more than three decades in industries as diverse as finance, energy, and consultancy services.
Prior to joining Payments NZ in January 2014, Steve served as General Manager Marketing, Sales and Customer Services with funds management company Gareth Morgan Investments. From GM and other leadership roles to founding and running a number of businesses, Steve is experienced in all aspects of business management, marketing and sales, and technology development and transfer. He has also had direct senior management experience in a leading payments business responsible for the processing of $3b worth of value per year. Steve holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (BCA) from Victoria University of Wellington.
Vishal believes in challenging status quo and thinking creatively in problem solving. Currently, he is heading Data and Analytics Compliance Transformation at Citibank. Vishal advocates proactive, risk based forward compatible approach towards controls and compliance to harness the true potential of Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics (AIDA) as one of the key business drivers. On daily basis, Vishal deals with subjects around eliminating data silos, accelerating AIDA adoption, improving data privacy, shaping internal policies and contributing to AIDA related regulations.
Kalliopi Spyridaki is Chief Privacy Strategist at SAS, the leader in data analytics. She joined SAS in 2007. In her role today, Kalliopi focuses on public policy and privacy compliance in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Kalliopi works with regulators and policymakers to help shape laws and government policies related to data and artificial intelligence that impact SAS and its customers. She also assists with SAS’s privacy compliance program aiming to ensure that SAS remains in the forefront of global privacy requirements.
She feels the most intriguing part of her work is striving to bridge the gaps between the making of a law, its implementation and the rapid pace of technology evolution with its transformative power for business and our society.
Kalliopi has lived in Brussels since 2002. Before joining SAS, Kalliopi worked as a legal adviser and public policy expert in various firms and organisations focusing on data protection law, competition law and consumer law. She holds a law degree from the University of Athens, Greece and a master’s degree from the University of Tübingen, Germany. She is a member of the Athens Bar Association. Kalliopi speaks four languages.
Dr Michael Salmony is Executive Adviser to the Board at equens Worldline SE, Europe’s leader in financial processing and transactional services, which processes over 17 trillion Euro per year. He is an internationally recognized leader on strategy of business innovations in digital and financial services.He is board-level adviser to major European banks, industry associations and European finance bodies.He regularly helps shape future directions in European decision making bodies e.g. European Commission, EPC, ERPB, and further national and international boards. His views are much in demand as keynote speaker at international events and he appears on TV/Radio/all electronic media on advances in finance and is quoted extensively (e.g. Financial Times, Harvard Business Manager, New Scientist, The Economist and by business schools and governments from Ghana to Malaysia). He has published much own original work which has been translated into many languages including German, Italian, Dutch, Finnish, Polish, Danish, Russian, Chinese and Japanese. Previous positions include Director Business Development of leading national central bank (Bank of the Year, Best Innovator Award). Before entering the world of finance,he was instrumental in setting up IBM’s European Network Centre for the convergence of IT, telecommunications and media and helped transform companies and business models in many industries (publishing, TV/radio, utilities, national rail, etc.) as IBM’s Director of Market Development Media and Communications Technologies. He studied at the University of Cambridge and is married with two millennial children
Davide Corda is a Senior Director within the Group Data Office of Intesa Sanpaolo with responsibility over the Group Data Transformation plan and platform. The Data Transformation Plan is an ongoing multiyear big data programme to integrate data supply chain for all core governance and regulatory processes and foster data exploitation using reporting, analytics and AI. Before joining Intesa Sanpaolo, Davide was Managing Director at Accenture Digital where he was Head of Applied Intelligence Delivery for UK & Ireland and European Lead Solution Architect for Analytics. During the course of 20+ years in the Data & Analytics sector across all industries, he has accumulated extensive experience of designing and implementing analytics solutions for large multi-national organisations, with a particular focus on data strategy, artificial intelligence, business intelligence, data warehousing, data governance, big data architectures & platforms.
Yeong Zee Kin is Assistant Chief Executive (Data Innovation and Protection Group) of the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) and Deputy Commissioner of the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC)
In his capacity as Assistant Chief Executive (Data Innovation and Protection Group), Zee Kin oversees IMDA’s Artificial Intelligence and Data Industry development strategy. This is one of four frontier technology areas IMDA has identified for its transformational potential for a Digital Economy. The other three are cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, and immersive media. In his role as an AI and data analytics champion, Zee Kin’s work includes developing forward-thinking governance on AI and data, driving a pipeline of AI talent, promoting industry adoption of AI and data analytics, as well as building specific AI and data science capabilities in Singapore.
As the Deputy Commissioner of PDPC, Zee Kin oversees the administering and enforcement of the Personal Data Protection Act (2012). His key responsibilities include managing the formulation and implementation of policies relating to the protection of personal data, as well as the issuing of enforcement directions for organizational actions. He also spearheads the public and sector-specific educational and outreach activities, to raise both awareness and compliance in organizations and individuals in personal data protection.
David is the Senior Advisor for Data and Artificial Intelligence at UnionBank Philippines.
Concurrently David is an external advisor to Singapore’s Corrupt Investigation Practices Bureau (CPIB) in the capacity of Senior Advisor (Artificial Intelligence) and to Singapore’s Central Provident Fund Board (CPF) in the capacity of Senior Advisor (Data Science).
Prior to his current roles, David was Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) first appointed Chief Data Officer and Head of Data Analytics Group reporting to the agency Deputy Managing Director for Financial Supervision and subsequently Special Advisor (Artificial Intelligence) reporting to Deputy Managing Director for Markets and Development. In these roles he led the development of the AI strategy both for MAS and Singapore’s financial sector as well as driving efforts in promoting open cross-border data flows.
David has extensive exposure and experience in both industry and academia and he has consistently applied advanced technology with an analytical mindset to shape and deliver new innovation. David holds a PhD in Computer Science in the field of Machine Learning from the University of Southampton and graduated from Royal Holloway, University of London with First Class Honors B.Sc. in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. Out in the “field”, David is more likely to consider himself a data artist instead of a pure data scientist.
Piet has a degree in economics at the University of Amsterdam. After his study Piet joined the Dutch Central Bank, in which he held several senior management positions in economic research, economic and monetary policy and payments, lastly as a member of the Payments and Settlement Committee of the Eurosystem.
In 2004 Piet joined Currence, the then newly established Dutch entity for ownership of the Dutch collective payment schemes, including iDEAL. He became its CEO in 2006.
In 2011 Piet became CEO of the newly founded Dutch Payments Association whose members are payment banks and payments institutions in the Netherlands, combining the two CEO positions.
Piet chairs several steering and stakeholder groups on innovative payments in the Netherlands. For example the, recently finished, Instant Payments programme, iDEAL innovations (the largest online banking epayments system in Europe) and the national digital banking identification and authentication service (iDIN).
In his capacity as CEO he is also involved in other innovations in Dutch Payments landscape and participates in a lot of national and international meetings on payments
Wilko Bolt is a Senior Economist in the Economics and Research department at De Nederlandsche Bank in Amsterdam and Professor of Payment Systems at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam. His current research focuses on the payment economics, digital currencies, two-sided markets theory and antitrust implications. He has published in journals such as American Economic Review, European Economic Review, Economic Theory, International Journal of Industrial Organization, and International Journal of Central Banking and Journal of Money, Credit and Banking. Bolt was awarded the Hennipman Prize by the Dutch Royal Economic Association in 2007 for his research.
Alex is the Regional Sector Head for Telecom, Media, and Technology clients at HSBC’s Global Liquidity and Cash Management department, based in Hong Kong. He has over 14 years of experience in transaction banking, global markets, and strategy roles. Alex joined HSBC in Hong Kong and has had over 10 years of transaction banking experience working with clients in the corporate segment covering consumer, retail, healthcare industries before transitioning to an internal strategy and business management role. His passionate interest in technology has led him to his latest role leading an experienced regional team across Asia Pacific.
Prior to joining Payments NZ in January 2014, Steve served as General Manager Marketing, Sales and Customer Services with funds management company Gareth Morgan Investments. From GM and other leadership roles to founding and running a number of businesses, Steve is experienced in all aspects of business management, marketing and sales, and technology development and transfer. He has also had direct senior management experience in a leading payments business responsible for the processing of $3b worth of value per year. Steve holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration (BCA) from Victoria University of Wellington.