Tech Titans and Fintech with Aly Dhalla, Zaheer Merali, and Jason Pereira | E71

A discussion on how Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, Alibaba, Tencent, and Biadu are moving into the fintech space.

Summary:

In this 71st episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host conducts a discussion with previous guests Aly Dhalla, CEO & Co-Founder at Finaeo and Zaheer Merali, Entrepreneur, Advisor, Investor, and Connector of Fintech and Healthtech. Their talk revolves around how large technology businesses in non-financial spaces are venturing into both fintech and healthcare at the same time. Some of the companies that are mentioned include: Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft among others.

Episode Highlights:

● 01:06: – What is Facebook’s approach in the cryptocurrency arena?

● 05:27: – What is the Chinese company WeChat?

● 07:21: – What are the differences between Messenger and WeChat?

● 10:06: – What is the world’s biggest hedge fund, where is it located, and why?

● 11:03: – Where is Apple going with Apple Pay, Apple Pay Cash, and Apple Credit Cards?

● 16:44: – Banks will become utility providers that provide financial infrastructure.

● 18:04: – What is Google struggling with in the fintech space?

● 22:30: – What are their thoughts on Microsoft’s partnership with BlackRock?

● 27:32: – How do they feel about Amazon Cash?

3 Key Points:

1. WeChat has a billion daily active users, which can equate to hundreds of millions of dollars from even a small portion of that transaction layer.

2. In North America, there is a push in tech to keep changing what users use and disrupting public habits where Asian tech plays like WeChat keep building off a product people are already using.

3. More partnerships that we see at the macro level should be clear indicators of how the world is evolving.

Tweetable Quotes:

● “99.8% of Facebook revenue comes from advertising.” – Aly Dhalla

● “The reason Messenger won’t take off the way that it has, that WeChat would of, is the bulk of its user base up until that point was in developed markets, where there were developed banking models.” – Zaheer Merali

● “Payments is the space right now where their (tech companies) all playing in, because it’s the most accessible. It’s the one that drive most closely to the business that they already have.” – Zaheer Merali

Resources Mentioned:

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s

● FintechImpact.co – Website: Fintech Impact

● Aly Dhalla – Linkedin: Aly Dhalla

● Zaheer Merali – Linkedin: Zaheer Merali