In September 2020, I moved from Vancouver, Canada to London, England. The mandatory 14-day quarantine period that came with the move was the perfect time for me to learn about B2B banking and fintech, in preparation for my new role at Tide. I was to start as a product manager so I knew learning about the industry’s history, competitors, products, and customers would be important context in the role.
The 101
The first thing I subscribed to was Hong Kong University’s Intro to Fintech Course (free on Udemy). This was a good intro to common terms at a high level. It was excellent production value for a free course and came with a plethora of relevant supplementary reading. Given my personal needs, I would have preferred a smaller emphasis on cryptocurrency but the course was set up so that you could speed through content that was less relevant.
Bank 4.0 by Brett King was my next read. I found this to be an excellent quick read. King points out the specific factors that are enabling fintechs to win — these are key levers that I try to think about when evaluating a problem.
Also — not fintech specific at all — but I would recommend the book The First 90 Days for anyone starting a new role. I think this is an especially important read for someone entering a new industry or functional area.
Case Studies
Having completed an undergraduate degree in commerce and having held a role as a case writer, I’m a strong believer in case studies. I believe that looking at examples of success and failure in other organizations can help us become more strategic.
I feel very grateful for having come across this book, Fintech Founders: Inspiring Tales from the Entrepreneurs that are Changing Finance by Agustin Rubini. If you can only choose one book from this list, I would recommend this one. Despite the interviews being conducted with founders, the books are very tactical, and I believe applicable to many problems faced by product managers.
Additionally, I found lots of teardowns of banking UI/UX. I did not record all the examples I skimmed through but here are a few links I found interesting:
General Updates
I relied on Google Alerts to give me alerts on Tide and the competitors so I could get a feel for what the pulse of the industry was. I also found The Fintech Times was a comprehensive review of all headlines. Lastly, the podcast Fintech Insider continues to be a good source for a detailed discussion of major news items.
The UK Context
As a Canadian, I knew I was missing some extremely basic context, even at a consumer level. I read through posts on /r/UKPersonalFinance and MoneySavingExperts. While not always relevant to my role at Tide, B2C solutions, expectations, and problems often filter into the B2B world. I would recommend skipping this context if you grew up in the UK/are working for a non-UK fintech.
Additionally, applying for a personal bank account in the UK was a good experience in developing customer empathy and learning about onboarding at UK banks. I had a huge two-month struggle with a high street bank (with whom I already had a relationship in Canada). Ultimately, my job was starting soon, and HR was pushing me for banking details. I signed up with a fintech and received an approval in a few hours. While obvious, it was a very practical lesson in why good onboarding matters.
I also found this report by EY to be quite useful, giving significant context into the UK-specific context of this industry.
After the Role Begins
Ultimately, you cannot prepare for everything! Obviously, I continue to learn on the role and keep up to date on the news. Send me a note if there is anything you would recommend.
P.S. As a member of the marketing team, I’d be remiss if I did not tell you that you can get a free Tide account at tide.co 😇
