Streamlining Global Payments: Insights from FinTech Leader James Camilleri on SaaS Innovation

Yes. Yeah. So my journey in fintech started around about 10 years ago. I used to work for a fintech company in the UK.

And essentially I also moved out as it’s a bit outside of the fintech. So I also worked a bit in the e-commerce space but I was always close to the fintech world. I think what actually really Draws me to this space is that the ability or having to solve a problem in terms of how money moves, right?

And FinTech is essentially right in the middle of that. Whatever you’re doing as a business, whether you’re in e-commerce, whether in retail, you always need to get paid and to get paid and also pay. So the ability or being that. Disillusion to facilitate that is something that always had fascinated me.

Yes. So essentially, if you look, if today, if you look at an international business, typically in order for you to operate internationally, you will have to interact with different financial institutions.

A secondary bank, an FX provider, maybe a lender, also a card expense management platform. Now, what’s the challenge with that? The challenge is that you have treasury being fragmented across different financial institutions, which means that it slows you down when it comes to reconciliation. And when it comes into also automation, so we saw that pain point. We developed a payment and a financial operations platform where we had international businesses to automate their movement of money and also diversify their treasury across a global network of financial institutions.

And I give you an example of this. So let’s say a company based out of the UK. We onboard them, we provide them with the localised accounts in the UK. They can connect their existing accounts also, let’s say with Barclays or any other account. But then let’s say this business wants to go and expand into, let’s say the US.

Instead of actually go and find the right banking partner in the US, with one click of a button, we provide them with localised bank accounts. We provide them with localised cards. And the beauty of that is that everything is connected to our accounting platform. So we’re going to have Zero, QuickBooks, NetSuite Dynamics, SAP, and you can automate payables and also receivables.

So then one platform where you can automate your payables, automate your receivables, your current expense management, and also you can automate your treasury management. So you can operate globally as if you operate locally. So I’m asking it, but

Yeah. (04:04 – 04:46) So essentially with our platform, it’s all about automation. It’s all about efficiency. So essentially it’s all about how we can help you to transact globally and to keep what’s done as much as possible.

And this is reflected in the pricing structure. So we have a tiered SaaS. Pricing, right? Where the more payments you do, the less essentially you pay, but it’s not just about the pricing, but it’s also about the efficiency that we bring. So when you call neck, for example, with directly with the accounting platform, so that from accounting platform, you can select the bills that needs to pay, right?

We pick them up and we distribute the payments. So there is no need to upload any files. There’s no need to go to the bank and actually key in the payments. We’ve seen that customers, we’ve seen customers up to 85 percent of the accounts where we process. So that is time when that, that your team, can actually use to do more strategic, doing more strategic stuff.

Yes, like any other business, there are a number of challenges, right? I think there are different challenges at different stages of the company.

In the early stages, it’s all about also finding your product market fit, right? So I think one of the things that we did in the early stage, which we did very well, is that We spoke to a lot of businesses, right? A lot of, for example, finance people, which is the person that we actually sent to, where we’re trying to understand what are they doing today, right?

What are they doing today around payables? What are they doing today around receivables, around treasury management? And how can we actually solve that, right? Or if we have to build a solution, how are we actually going to solve their pain points? And that is something that was at an early stage and something that I think today it’s really big also a lot of a lot of benefits.

Yes. So in terms of the ICP, we target companies that are, that have Two or more different currencies. They’re operating in different jurisdictions and practically companies that are doing 10, 10 million to 50 million of turnover per year those type of companies that we actually target we can abort companies in over 92 different jurisdictions.

So there isn’t much limitation in terms of jurisdiction and primarily we work in the e-commerce space. In the affiliate space also shipping private aviation. So all those businesses that are operating internationally.

I think the biggest trend is, it’s the AI, right? So there’s the buzzword of AI. I think it’s very interesting, but we have still to understand essentially how it will help us to scale also at, when you’re doing business cross border.

So that’s something that, but I think it definitely help out when it comes down to, for example. Doing transaction monitoring way much better, right? Which means that customers can transact globally way much faster.

Correct. Yes. Specifically around, for example, in Europe there is the regulation that And on the Mecap, for example, where we’re seeing that also like something like Saber coins is actually also picking up a lot. We as a company, we don’t do anything with blockchain.

But I think this is something that, yes, something that is very much the fintech space is moving also. I would say it’s something that’s probably in the future that will be coming.

Yes. I think the key considerations will be that There is a lot of manual work being involved, right? So when you are actually looking into expanding the new market, it’s not just about finding the right banking partner, but it’s also about what comes with all that, the manual work around payables, the manual work around receivables, right?

So reconciliations. demand work around compliance, which typically is it’s a hidden cost, right? So if you are interacting with different financial institutions, you have to deal with different banks that have different compliance requirements. So typically what we’ve seen is that companies that are going internationally, they end up hiring or getting in more people to do all this manual work, right?

Yeah. And what’s it ends up happening is that your operational costs are will actually will increase, right? So this is one of the concentrations I would say that companies that are going internationally should look for that how they can actually go and penetrate international markets while keeping their operational costs low as much as possible.

Yes, it’s a very good question. So we managed to grow a lot through organically so customers referring us as their customers also.

Word of mouth, but essentially we also managed to grow through our network that we have, of course we also do SEO primarily where essentially from our side we, as much as possible, try to position ourselves. as the leaders in, in, in the areas that we are actually operating in.

Yes. Something that the more we actually grow, the more it is becoming more on our radar. So this is something that we always look for these type of events.

Some event that will get us in front of the right audience. And so this is something that’s very much on our radar, I would say.

Yes. I think, I would say it’s market opportunities, but I think Fyorin capitalized a lot on markets where they’re very much fragmented.

For example, if you look at South of Europe, for example, the market is very much fragmented, right? And companies are finding it harder every day in order to operate internationally in those markets. And then a platform like ours, where we have a global network of financial institutions, where you as a business, you can interact with different financial institutions as if you’re interacting with one.

This is something that helps a lot of businesses because they can move faster. Now they can actually grow a much faster. And essentially we want our solution to be an enabler for an enabler for growth, right? This is, that is something that, so we’re going back to our question and we see opportunities where the market is very much fragmented in AIS where.

Getting paid or get paid is super hard. I think, and I think this is the opportunities where if you are essentially going after.

Yes. From our side, we always try to partner up with you. partners that are closer to our customers, right? So we have our ideal customer profile, but typically we partner a lot with, for example, resellers or accounting firms, right? Again, accounting firms, they are close to the businesses that we’re actually after and also not just make a good advocate for us, but also a good a good channel to provide us or get us business.

Yes. I think it’s one, one, one building and performing high performing teams, I think is one important thing is that defying the clear objectives of what we want to do as a company.

I think that is very important, but secondly, is also bringing indirect people on board. Because this is having a company is essentially it’s a marathon. So the sprint, so you’re always going to be have, you’re going to always have the ups and downs. So bringing in the right company and having clear objectives of where you want to go, I think this is going to be very important because then people can essentially use their unique skills to actually get the company from point A to point B.

Yes. So first and foremost, I think when it comes to innovation, we always listen to what the market is telling us, right?

To what our customers are telling us, what our prospects are telling us but also to our internal teams. So for example, if we launch a particular product. We go back to the team and say, okay, this is the feedback that we’re getting, right? In some cases, we can suggest how we can improve it.

And so forth. So I think one of the things that we do is I think that to do very well is to listen always for improvements, whether this is coming in from internal things, whether it’s coming in from the outside teams, et cetera.

Yes. I think this stands up what I was saying earlier. I think two things. So first and foremost having clear communication, right? I think this is something very important ’cause you can have great ideas, but you need to know how to communicate these ideas. But secondly, it’s also about listening.

You also need to be paranoid about and understanding the environment around you, right? So listening to what your customers are saying, listening to what your people are saying. So that you can actually move ahead in some cases. I still don’t know if companies are trying to push a product because the customer doesn’t want them.

I think those two things, so listening and communicating clearly.

Yeah, we definitely have a lot of goals. I think what we’ve done so far is we’ve scaled to a number of jurisdictions. So I think in the next 12 months, we want to continue to actually accelerate that that growth, right? We want to tap into new different markets. Markets also verticals that today we are not stepping into.

So from our side, we want, of course, to double down. I want to continue to double down on what we are doing and accelerate our growth to new markets, which will, of course, it will help us to accelerate more our revenue.

Yeah. So we have a very low chain no portfolio. And I think it’s because going back to what I was saying earlier, it’s about understanding your customers, understanding their pain points and providing a solution Fits what they’re after. So I think this is something which is important and something that even not just with Fyorin, but even the other companies that I work with, understanding your customer needs is always very important.

And so in order for you to achieve success that you would need.

There are a couple we’d like to keep it under wraps, but I would say we are launching a number of products that will enable businesses to move faster, right?

So for us, it’s all about efficiency. It’s all about automation, but we’re essentially, we have products in the pipeline that will help business to move faster.

Yes. I think if you look in the FinTech in the early days there was a lot of push on the business to consumer B2C. And I think there’s more now it’s mature as a space, but I think the B2B side of things is still there’s still opportunities still not yet mature as a B2C and I think in the next five, 10 years we’re going to see more and more improvements coming in on the B2B side of things.

Where it’s all about how can a business operate internationally in a very smooth way? So I think I’ll force it in the next five, 10 years. There’s going to be more tools on the Infintek and on the B2B side of things. Gotcha.

Sure.

What habits?

Yeah, I’m addicted to chocolate, I think. So

Very difficult. I still find fintech very fascinating. I think I’m, I learn every day yeah I would go with fintech.

My dream as a kid was to be actually become a commercial pilot.

I think i’ll use linkedin Because I think first and foremost have you know, a lot of users are actually on

LinkedIn is becoming more of a lot of communities being built up from linkedin and I think the world has become a very small place And communities are becoming more and more important.

What’s the last Google search? Interesting. I think the last Google search was about looking at fueling statistics. That is what my Google search, my last Google search was.