Boutique strategy consultancy Fincog launches in the UK
Boutique Dutch strategy consultancy Fincog has launched a permanent presence in the UK. The move comes as the firms seeks to meet growing demand for strategic and digital transformation services from banks and FinTechs.
Digital disruption has seen financial services transform at a remarkable rate in the last decade – while the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digitalisation even further in the past two years. The Fintech Consulting Group, or Fincog, is a strategy consultancy focusing on FinTech, established in 2017 to help clients capitalise on the promise of financial innovations.
Initially launched in Amsterdam, by former Boston Consulting Group Senior Analyst, Jeroen de Bel, the firm is currently expanding quickly beyond its native market. And Europe’s financial services sector is ripe for such growth, as it is already saturated with the digital banks – presenting opportunities for Fincog to advise clients on how to scale, or adapt to this.
Speaking to Consultancy.uk, De Bel explained, “It’s a battle which players are able to scale and survive. Players are searching for a sustainable way to generate a positive return, typically monetizing with expansion into revenue generating product segments (i.e. lending, insurance etc.) as well as premium accounts. Where there are new players created, these tend to focus on very select niches.”
Currently, Fincog maintains a database of over 400 digital banks worldwide, out of which 130 are in Europe, and 54 are in the UK. Fincog has already been supporting various FinTechs, digital banks and industry incumbents in building and growing their business. Clients in the UK have included Lycamobile, Dozens, Ribbon and others – while the company has supported a range of projects, like helping an educational institution to develop a banking proposition for international students, and advising on a FinTech strategy for an industrial conglomerate to build a digital bank of its own.
Building on this, Fincog has founded a new hub in London to better serve its growing UK and international client base. Muazzam Javed – a Senior Advisor and Director based in London will lead the local expansion, next to leading various international engagements. De Bel will meanwhile co-develop the UK and international business, as well as setting up the local team.
De Bel noted, “Situated in the City of London, we’re in the heart of Europe’s financial capital and are well-placed to serve clients from around the world with tailored digital banking consulting. As context, over half of our clients last year were based in the UK. [The move also gives Fincog] better access to new talent – and a few of our key people and partners are already based in London.”
As mentioned, entering London presents access to one of the world’s leading financial talent markets – and the firm is looking for people to join it, particularly at the intermediate level of between three and eight years of consulting or banking experience. Beyond the immediate impacts of arriving in London, though, the move to the UK also positions Fincog well for growth even further afield. While Western Europe and Nordics are mature digital banking markets, many other markets are catching up, and due to London’s status as a global finance hub, the UK office can help act as a springboard into those locations.
Concluding, De Bel said, “In Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, and the Caribbean, we see greenfield banking initiatives that we saw 5-10 years ago in Europe. The nature of such initiatives varies across regions, from simply providing means for financial inclusion and deposit of savings, to (international) money transfers or innovative in-store mobile payments and rewards. In any case there is still large unchartered territory out there!”