The banking system we have today is almost the same as the one we had in the Middle Ages. It’s the same structure, the same tangible currencies, the same payment networks. Even the debit cards we have are iterations of the passbook you might have had if you owned a bank account in 1850. Ever since the first bank branch opened up 750 years ago, things have remained roughly the same.
Internet and mobile phones appeared, but the only thing banks did was to take all these artefacts and adapt them to new channels. Every single offline process was duplicated and made into an online version, where you’re still filling application forms and signing documents. In many parts of the world, you still can’t open up a bank account online or on your phone - 25 years after the rise of commercial internet.
It’s absurd.
We need to get get back to the basics of banking, and redefine how banks can make use of new technologies to bring three core pieces of utility to the people:
Store value;
Move money;
Access to credit.
If you had to describe what you want from your bank, would you say “I want product A” or “I need product B”? Never. You’d come up with stuff like:
I need to keep my money safe;
I need to send money fast;
I need to pay this bill;
I need a way to pay when I’m in another country;
Etc.
You wouldn’t describe channels, departments or products. You’d be talking utility and functionality. But banks have created such a massive structure around banking that the most accurate word to describe our experience with them is “friction”.
Thankfully, technology allows us to rapidly eliminate that friction and bring back the core of banking when and where we need it the most. It becomes immersive, informed and contextual.
In this emerging world, there is no place for a system burdened by legacy, where payments regulation are ruled by consensus and point-of-sale architecture is a decade behind the rest of the world.
It’s time to remove this embedded friction by showing people that they deserve better, and that this better already exists. Banking needs to be stripped down to its core utility principles, and re-built from the ground up.
This is what’s been driving BigPay from the start. We are bringing fair financial services to South East Asia, where banks have failed to bring to consumers what they have the right to.
Our goal is to solve real world money problems for millions of people by empowering them and providing a simple interface for users to send, receive and track their money. No fees, no friction and no bullshit - both for the unbanked and the underbanked.