Innovation in Banking with Citi’s Chief Innovation Officer, Vanessa Colella

In addition to discussing her non-linear career path, how to foster a culture of innovation in financial services, Vanessa Colella gave us her top three trends in financial services that we wanted to share with you. 

Increasing economic disparity 

Not only is economic disparity increasing but the anxiety around financial stability is skyrocketing. Citi launched Worthi to help people think about what skills they have, where those skills are in demand and what skills people can acquire to help advance their career

Embedded trade

While large suppliers have easy access to financing, many small and medium-sized businesses lack adequate financing significantly limiting their growth. Embedded finance solves the problem by integrating financial services into physical supply chain activities. Great deep dive into the trend by Citi here 

Atomization of the world

Everything from finance to office space has moved from one central location (the bank, the headquarters etc.) to many decentralized physical and digital locations. Decentralization presents a host of challenges for banks including digital identity verification when customers no longer want to come to the bank branch to present their ID documents