This year, we’ve been working hard and diligently to build a truly inclusive fintech ecosystem. A key part of this is, of course, our members. So far, we’ve brought over 100 new members onboard since January 2019, ranging from legal research companies, trade associations and blockchain outfits to venture capital firms, data security enterprises, and core banking software providers. Now, we stand at over 500 members strong. To mark the occasion of reaching and eclipsing the 100 new–member mark in 2019, we decided to interview our 100th member, SAS, the leader in analytics providing innovative software and analytics solutions to assist companies in transforming data into intelligence. Below, check out our talk with Barend de Bruin, account executive covering financial services at SAS.
As a network filled with many companies throughout the fintech value chain, it’s important to create value for our members by connecting the dots between them. We brought SAS onboard because they not only deliver their services to large incumbents like banks and insurance companies but assist fintechs in growing their businesses through implementing offerings. Our business director, Aleksander Tchernov, calls SAS’s presence in our network, “an enormous boon”, explaining, “SAS can serve multiple parties in the fintech value chain, particularly start-ups, who can use their solutions to create more value in their particular markets.” And indeed, we hope to facilitate SAS making these connects.
What most interested yourself and SAS about joining the Holland FinTech network?
From the start of 2019, our goal at SAS for this year is to spread our wings within the financial services sector. SAS has been extremely successful in providing the more traditional financial services organizations such as banks, pension funds and insurance organizations with our software.
Over the next few years, our aim is to provide the more upcoming financial services organizations, such as fintechs within the Dutch market, with our software to help them become more data driven.
Our team has been working hard to tailor our analytics software to the needs of the financial growth market, to make it scalable, transparent and most of all easy to deploy. By becoming a member of Holland FinTech we are able to address a market with a huge potential which we want to help grow.
What is on the horizon for SAS, and how can collaboration or insights from Holland FinTech members help you achieve this?
Having a fintech ecosystem such as Holland FinTech is key to helping the Dutch fintech sector prosper and continue to prosper in the future. For example, it facilitates sharing of best practices amongst companies, and parties can benefit from each other’s strengths.
There are multiple initiatives in the Netherlands to help smaller financial services organizations prosper and we at SAS want to contribute to this success. Forexample at SAS we have created multiple applications through Artificial Intelligence with our partner Finaps, such as Chatbots and the Smart Working Capital Assistant application SWAC for ING. SAS is a global company with 14,000 employees worldwide, and we have the capability to help organsations grow internationally. On an annual basis we organise local forums, global forums, meetups, and we write articles and share best practices through our network. We really want our customers to become successful, so by engaging with the SAS community we can give customers the unique possibility to share insights and knowledge of their use of analytics. We offer a wide range of solutions at SAS with predictive analytics and embedded AI capabilities which are helping meet a range of strategic business needs.
Why choose SAS® for banking and insurance analytics?
Banking as we know it is disappearing, and the entire financial ecosystem is undergoing radical change. Digitalisation, fintech, regtech, open banking, data privacy and regulatory compliance technologies are all playing a part. SAS believes that surviving banks will be hyperintelligent, AI-driven organizations that can provide personalized, trusted customer experiences, as well as meet risk and compliance mandates. SAS delivers proven value, and we can help you unlock AI’s vast potential for your digital transformation.
What are SAS’ key financial services products & services, and which sub-sectors have the most to gain from these and why are they better/unique than competitors?
SAS, provides an Analytics Platform that supports the entire analytics life cycle , from data, to discovery, to deployment. The most essential element of conducting advanced analytics is ensuring the quality of your data, so eradicating duplications, identifying missing values and ensuring that you do not use incorrect data sets. Once the correct data is collected the discovery phase takes place where models are used to gain a deeper understanding in what your data say. Finally, deployment takes place where you actually see your analytics in action through dashboards, reporting standards, and so on. The SAS Platform provides the perfect balance for choice and control, as it enables you to orchestrate your analytics journey to ensure optimal returns on your investments in data, talent and analytic technology.
Within the financial services domain, SAS focuses on four core areas: risk; fraud; data management; and customer intelligence. Concerning risk, we have created a Risk Platform, which you can see as a risk operating system. On top of this platform we have multiple risk solutions. Think of risk-related topics such as IFRS 9, stress testing, credit scoring or model risk management, for example. Within the fraud domain, we have end-to-end solutions for anti-money laundering, application fraud, and payments fraud. Our customer intelligence solutions really focus on optimising the customer journey, creating personalised marketing campaigns and optimising onboarding procedures.
What are the key strengths of the Dutch fintech landscape that make it an interesting market for SAS?
The Dutch fintech landscape is growing extremely fast. According to Reuters, the Netherlands is in the top five ranking for Fintech Hubs and our goal is to contribute to helping this market grow even more. We have helped multiple established financial services organizations in the Netherlands to meet risk regulations, fight money laundering and to embed artificial intelligence into their daily practices, think of organizations such as ING, ABN-AMRO, Nationale-Nederlanden Bank and Achmea to name a few. We now want to particularly focus on providing the Dutch financial growth market with the same possibilities to ensure that companies here are future-proof organizations. We want to help organizations within the Holland FinTech ecosystem to overcome any obstacles where automation or process development is needed, helping them grow within the financial industry.
