Industry Rethinks Its Notion of Value
Recent conversations on a fintech‑focused podcast highlighted a shift in how the industry evaluates value, moving away from the financial product itself and toward the surrounding services that help customers reach their goals.
Banking platforms merge product and software
Slash, a business‑banking platform, built its model on the premise that the line between banks that move money and firms that create financial software is artificial. Co‑founder and CEO Victor Cardenas told the host that “for the longest time, there were two categories of companies operating in the SMB finance space… there were companies that actually bank and move money… and then there were companies that build financial software.” He argued that combining these functions creates a stronger offering.
Slash’s approach means the platform not only ingests data but also acts on it, issuing cards, approving payments, and automating workflows. For performance‑marketing agencies, the result is a replacement for manual reconciliation with dedicated client accounts, automated spend tracking and real‑time fee collection. The bank account becomes the underlying infrastructure that powers the business, rather than a separate back‑office tool.
Lending firms redesign debt consolidation
Figure and Method, both working on modernizing lending, applied a similar mindset to debt consolidation. Traditional processes rely on trust that borrowers will use loan proceeds to pay off existing debts, a certainty often confirmed only weeks later when credit‑bureau data updates. They instead created a closed‑loop system that verifies liabilities in real time and routes money directly to creditors.
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Method’s COO Mit Shah explained that “the money goes directly to the creditor. It never touches the consumer’s bank account.” This design gives lenders a current view of a borrower’s obligations and eliminates uncertainty about how loan proceeds are used. According to the firms, borrowers on the platform were 50 % less likely to become seriously delinquent and saw FICO scores improve by an average of 21 points within 30 days.
AI and stablecoins reshape competitive moats
Partners at McKinsey and QED Investors discussed how AI speeds up product cycles, making it harder for firms to defend a singular offering. Both speakers also referenced stablecoins, noting that while most volume still comes from trading, the technology is shifting expectations toward instant, programmable, global money movement. Whether through AI, stablecoins, or embedded finance, the trend points to workflows that require less manual effort and more intelligent automation.
For newcomers, this evolution matters because it changes where competitive advantage resides. Instead of focusing solely on the features of a loan or a checking account, firms now invest in the surrounding ecosystem—real‑time data verification, automated fund flows, and platforms that can act on information without human intervention. The shift reflects a broader move toward making financial services a seamless part of everyday business processes, reducing friction and improving outcomes for both providers and users.
The discussion has migrated to the adjacent layers: gathering better context, verifying information instantly, removing manual steps, and ensuring the intended financial outcome actually happens.
