Interview | Tim Maddock, Co-Founder at i2i Logic

How is data evolving in financial services and what are the biggest challenges for financial services dealing with data? Tim Maddock, CEO at i2i Logic shared his thoughts on these very questions and gave an insight into what i2i Logic do.  

Firstly could you tell the audience a little bit about what i2i logic do?

I2i Logic is a Corporate Finance Analytics platform that digitises the corporate banker’s market facing activities. We were founded in 2013 by ex-bankers with a passion for data, analytics and banker development and now we have operating offices across Zurich, Hong Kong, Melbourne & London. We are on a mission to transform the front-line banker across common tasks that drive revenue from prospecting, account planning, client insight generation, peer and industry benchmarking, pitchbook creation and more. At the same time, we are committed to the professional development of bankers through our learning academy as they strive to enhance their skills and become trusted advisers.

Can you tell us more about your digital platform? What do we do?

We deliver analytics and insight to the corporate banker to use in prospecting and to better engage their clients. Our platform provides detailed analysis on the company’s financial and operating profile, how do they compare to industry and peers, conversation and product ideas as well as predictive forecast scenarios. How? We combine raw financial data from the bank with the best available public data. We then transform that data into actionable insights and interactive analytics. This is delivered to the banker via a web-based platform designed especially for corporate bankers and is customised to the bank’s look and feel. The bankers use it at their desk, in the field and, most importantly, directly with clients either face to face or remotely. This transforms the client meeting into a 2-way valuable conversation, allows the banker to see more clients, more often and actively develops their core capabilities as a banker.

How do you see the role of data evolving in financial services?

We believe data is at the forefront of the digital transformation, and incumbent banks have some of the corporate data available – but they struggle to maximise the value of that data. With Digital, Neo and Challenger banks offering clients an enhanced level of service it becomes more important that these incumbent banks play to their strengths and utilise the power of the long-standing clients relationships that they have built up over many years. By equipping bankers with access to in-depth client and industry analytics banks are better able to prioritise leads, identify opportunities with clients and provide solutions that solve a client needs. Tools that leverage data to augment already smart bankers, will give them greater ability to connect more intelligently with customers, have more meaningful conversations and provide solutions for actual client problems rather than pushing products.

What do you see as the biggest challenge for financial services in dealing with data?

Today’s bankers need to have the right insights at the right time to address the highest-priority items in ways that deliver the most value to their customer’s real issues. Many banks have grown through multiple mergers and with that come multiple legacy platforms that are stitched together. Due to the complexities of these legacy platforms, along with the overlay of data security concerns, many of these banks struggle to release the value of their client data and turn it into the valuable asset that it undoubtedly is. It is key to find a way of leveraging internal datasets and combine them with the right external data sources to enrich the understanding of the client.

What do you see as the biggest trends in corporate banking going into 2022?

Across commercial and corporate banking going into 2022, we see 4 major trends: Monetising their data Commercial banks often have the best company data in any given country. During 2022, we’ll see banks begin to actively explore how they can use and ultimately monetise that very valuable advantage. Front line banker enablement To date, digitisation has been focused on the mid / bank office in commercial banking – with the front-line banker not yet seeing the benefits of digital. However, front-line bankers are both an expensive cost for banks and their differentiating factor. In 2022 we’ll see more banks turning their attention to arming their bankers with more tools to enable them to better serve their clients and capture more of the market. CRM’s into the field CRM’s have been a major focus for banks in the past 18 months. With this capability in place, during 2022 banks will look to leverage these systems into market impact. We expect to see CRM’s move from internally focused tools to ones that are used more often in the field. ESG ESG is becoming central to commercial banks’ decisioning – credit, risk and operating decisions. This will continue to permeate the space in 2022 – with ESG beginning to move from an idea and directly into the banker workflows.

How are you looking to digitise the corporate banker?

There are multiple layers to this from the i2i Logic perspective – our focus is on the banker’s market facing activity. First, we need to ensure that bankers have the right tools in the banker cockpit to actually engage with clients on topics that matter and provide solutions for real client problems. We provide touch of a button insight that is generated by benchmarking multiyear financials of a client against the global industry benchmarks. Second, we then coach a banker through the conversation pathway using our built-in digital coaching platform. As a banker you are learning on live client data and developing your skillset at the same time as delivering solutions for your client. Third, to elevate these client conversations to the next level our platform contains a series of interactive modules that allows a user to work through scenarios in a dynamic nature. eg. Decreasing the receivable days by 2 days will free up $100m capital…and that capital can be used for strategic purposes such as repaying debt or returning capital to shareholders. Lastly, i2i Logic will auto generate a range of reports with the data and analysis - such as pitch packs, account planning and credit reports. Additionally, many in the industry are talking about CRM tools and we tend to agree that CRM tools are very important for a bank to understand activity levels of bankers with their client portfolios. Our platform links to a CRM systems and, through the content we deliver, drives further adoption of these internal CRM tools.

How does i2i logics platform work with pre-existing corporate architecture?

I2i Logic provides a managed service – hosted on a dedicated virtual network for the bank or on the bank’s network. We work with clients to integrate proprietary data, typically held in a 'golden source', to our platform through API connectivity, bulk upload or single client data upload. Client data is sensitive, and banks are rightfully concerned about the need for the highest levels of security. We have additional enhanced methods such as de-identification of data enhance security. As mentioned, we also integrate with existing bank CRM systems to provide the client insight from a corporate finance

You are kindly supporting FinTech Connect this year, who are you looking to meet and speak to?

As a Fintech company we’re incredibly open to speaking with as many people as we can across the industry, be that potential clients, other fintechs in the client engagement ecosystem or consultancy companies that have established relationships across the industry.

Our key target end user clients fall into 2 broad categories;

1. Corporate and Commercial banks

2. Trade Finance Fintechs.

On the corporate and commercial banking side - we see the deployment of i2i Logic technology as a way of enhancing that banker-client relationship as well as drive the productivity of their bankers.

Corporate and commercial banks that succeed in the future will be those that put retention of the client interface and delivering increased levels of client value at the top of their transformation agenda. They will deliver this through customised and tailored services.

On the fintech side we see considerable interest from innovative companies trying to use technology to bridge the “Trade Finance Gap” which has been estimated at 6.5trn by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).

Trade Finance Fintech look to us for 2 reasons.

1. To build target clients lists and aid the business development efforts.

2. When they onboard a client, perhaps a major multinational corporate, they will want to analyse the supply chain of that multinational to identify SCF opportunities. Our platform allows them to build your own bespoke portfolios and perform the fundamental financial analysis to uncover those opportunities.