Interview with Advapay’s Chief of Strategy: Ivan Aleksandrov

Advapay Interview

Ivan Aleksandrov is the current Chief Strategy Officer at Advapay. Advapay is a technology company that provides a Digital Core Banking platform to empower FinTech clients or digital banks and accelerate digital transformation.

Currently, the company serves more than 30 financial services companies across the UK and European Economic Area. Besides the reliable technical solution, the company provides licensing and FinTech consulting services. Learn more about them in their website: advapay.eu

Ivan will tell us about his experiences and knowledge of the banking sector, his vision of the future and what future plans he has planned for this startup. Let’s get started!

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Finnovating (F): Please tell us a little about Advapay and how the FinTech started to be.

Ivan Aleksandrov (IA): Advapay is one of the leading providers in Core Banking platforms (web and mobile front end for end-customers and operators, payment processing, back-office, API, integrations) for Electronic Money and Payment Institutions, digital banks, e-wallets, and other FinTech and payment services. Currently, the company serves more than 30 financial services companies across the UK and European Economic Area. Besides the reliable technical infrastructure, the company provides licensing and FinTech consulting services.

The core team has been working in FinTech for more than 20 years. It all started with core banking software to small and medium banks. After the EU introduced the first Payments Services Directive, the team changed its strategic focus and, as a result, started targeting EU and UK-based payment services providers and launched a new business line called Advapay.

 

(F): How did the idea come about?

(IA): Advapay was created to help FinTech companies to launch their businesses without building a complex Core Banking solution in-house and spending years and millions of euros.

 

(F): You are Chief of Strategy at Advapay. How does the company fit in the Global FinTech ecosystem?

(IA): We geared to fill the gap between expensive and sophisticated software like Temenos or Mambu, and non-customisable basic solutions. Advapay is well positioned to serve small and medium-sized companies that seek to develop their own unique product and value flexibility and customization opportunities for the banking platform. With Advapay’s Core Banking solution Macrobank, FinTech new-borns and start-ups can launch their FinTech services cost-effectively and with confidence.

 

(F): What is Advapay ‘s value proposition?

(IA): First of all, our software is the best-in-class in terms of customisation. Thanks to its architecture and built-in tools like the visual workflow editor that allows FinTech make changes into the business logic and interface of the banking app without hard coding.

Helping clients to develop their own apps and unique product proposition is our top priority. We not only speak about implementations at the IT-platform level, but also our approach is something that makes us stand out. We are open to discussions around improvements, customisation and new, additional modules.

As a result, costs of app maintenance and development decrease, and it is a very important aspect when choosing a core banking platform.

We are also the best-in-class when it comes to back-office for PSP-management (accounting, reporting, etc.) It means that we also help companies save time and money when they start their business.

So, we would say that our value proposition for FinTech is saving their time, money and nerves in such conditions when companies face dynamic development of their business and products.

And last but not least is that we are FinTech practitioners with a proven track record in launching payment businesses from scratch. We can support FinTech companies on this journey of licensing, development of the payment infrastructure, and finding reliable BaaS partners, etc.

 

(F): How do you think the implementation of digital functionalities will impact the traditional business model?

(IA): We can see that the financial service sector needs to keep up with the digital acceleration. Gadgets, digitalisation, and personalisation will continue to be the mainstream, meaning that clients will likely give their preferences to digital functionalities that ensure excellent customer experience.

With that in mind, we are here to help FinTech meet their end-customer needs by providing a platform with all essential functionalities for digital payments.

 

(F): Is Advapay interested in partnering with other companies in the sector? How do you think Finnovating can help you with this goal?

(IA): Yes, besides direct customers (digital banks, e-wallets, etc.), we are always eager to partner with other companies that cater the needs of like-minded customers by providing complementary services. We are open for partnerships with banking-as-a-service providers, KYC and AML providers, legal advisors to name a few.

We believe that Finnovating, as a Global FinTech platform, provides an excellent online space for both potential customers and partners.

 

(F): What do you think can be the impact of digital platforms in the FinTech industry?

(IA): Such digital platforms like Finnovating offer great opportunities for us to stay in the loop of industry trends and directly communicate with clients and partners in the environment where they feel at ease to do business.

 

(F): What do you think are the secret ingredients of Finnovating that make it a unique platform?

(IA): Finnovating differs from the rest of the platforms with inclusive focus in FinTech. The platform not only interacts with FinTech companies that are listed, but also is always open to discuss opportunities with new partners.

We believe that you have managed to create a community that is based on trust, and all of that makes the actual process of finding new partners and customers easier and quicker than our competition.

 

(F): Why is Advapay interested in being part of Finnovating? What are you looking for in the first global FinTech platform?

(IA): We feel confident to say that Finnovating is a first-class online platform to meet clients and partners and showcase our products. Besides digital access, we truly value different in person events for networking and meeting new customers and partners. This is a brilliant opportunity for companies to gain extra exposure.

Advapay is a proud member of our platform! You can contact them right away in Finnovating and start collaborating on exciting banking projects.