Midas Advisory Services LTD

I can't tell you how many times I see Operations, and certainly Collections as the poor cousin in the FS world, until it isn't anymore and there's a scramble to engage with debtors as the book has grown. Get this aspect in place, from the get go. I've been advising a lender coming to the UK on these topics, and getting your strategy in place now, your 3rd party vendors, is key to reducing cash burn, cyclical data to Risk teams is vital Even those moving to scale up under fund this area, don't wait for the debt pile to grow, it's worth less and harder to liquidate, commercials can be sorted, it's more expensive to do nothing, let alone Consumer Duty issues regarding the customer journey and how they ended up in the can't pay bucket, reach out today to discuss your options and plans!

Buy cheap = buy twice, it's true if the SaaS or BaaS system you put in to your company is really based on commercias! Whilst , of course, commerciality is one check point in the RFI process, knowing what you are solving for, what tech will do that for you, how it integrates and your ROI over what period of time are really your driving factors. It may be cheap , it may be expensive (in comparable terms) but it's what 'scratches your itch' which is the most important question to answer, buying cheap and having to 'fudge' 30% of your 'build' brings complexities and problems down the line, think about your requirements, your overarching goal, and work from there.

Interesting listening to the Regulators, Lenders and tech firms in the Open Banking space at the Open Banking Expo this week. One phrase used several times was 'what are you solving for' interesting people in FS were discussing this, I thought we knew in FS the benefits on commercial pricing, Risk, fraud, early warnings on affordability, transaction monitoring many years ago!! There are many use cases dependant on your appetite, and remember, it's not just one part of the market I have use cases for all lending verticals and asset classes how OB can help, reach out to discuss further.

Revolut on BBC this morning talking about their Fraud levels and disgruntled customers! It's been a great journey and story for them, things may slip, but, more practitioners are needed, going to a STEM school really is no substitute for experience! TD Bank fined a record amount for no transactional monitoring, on certain accounts, leading to over 600m of money laundering!! How? What controls weren't in place? Each week we hear of own goals across a multitude of FS firms, ensure you are doing the basics of FS correctly, Janet and John page one of Financial Services is needed for some firms it seems!!

I'm sure all our thoughts are with our family, friends and colleagues in Florida, most Floridians are safe and well which is the main thing. I worked in BCP for Lloyds over 20 years ago, something that was often 'side of the desk' now a thriving industry. Ensure your BCP plays are always updated, tested, reviewed and tested again, in this ever changing world having back up plans for as many scenarios as you can think of, are key to your business, simply 'working from home' isn't going to cover all scenarios!!

We know Q4 is gping to be up and down, we can guess that H1 25 is also going to be a little unknown with macro events around the world that effect the UK. Ensure you optimise your processes now, get you plan ready, it won't make you bulletproof to outside factors, but you will be in a better position not bleeding cash. If we see an upturn your business will be in a prime position to take full advantage!

Busy day up in the Big Smoke networking and deliberating the payments landscape, really looking forward to seeing old colleagues later on, anyone fancy a chat after 4.30 by all means give me a shout.

I do reiterate, review your journeys, what are you doimg now, what should you be doing in line with regulations? Even well funded companies fall foul, those in the start up world and scale ups need to be really sure you are doing the right thing, across ALL journeys, reach out to check what you are doing, and what you could be doing , belts ahd braces, but not at a huge cost! https://lnkd.in/dAZ7MysK

As we kick off Q4, start to review how Q3 went, good, bad, indifferent! Nows the time to really look at your 'leaky funnels' be it onboarding, do you have the right tools, safe but quick as customers demand. Is your credit scoring the best it can be, what data are you using, are you very risk adverse because you don't have the data or confidence in your cards to push a little harder? When customers don't pay, what strategy do you have, to rehabilitate your customers, to hopefully keep them, acquisition costs are high, there's some nuggets in your book!! Competition in the FS world is the most I've seen in over 2 decades, across all lending verticals, how are you standing out? What's your SOP your TOM, there's more customers out there, but you need to understand your own processes fully, planning now for Q1, introducing new tech, new processes can really make the difference, don't delay, reach out, what solutions do we have for your problems!?

Really great week so far, a few hours to go so who knows what will happen! A great panel debate on PropTech beginning of the week, which was excellent! Working for some fantastic clients this week on offerings and proposals, thinking outside the box on different lending verticals, and some introductions with companies that certainly have synergies and great potential to flourish. You may have a laser sight on what your company does, and for who (sector), but, with practitioners in your corner you can start to see the bigger lending picture, really open up your company to different verticals with some tweaks to the tech, staying focused on one areas is great but as Bruce Lee said 'it's like a finger pointing away to the stars (young man stirs, focused on the finger!), don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory'!!