Scott Bales

Book Scott Bales for speaking engagements & events.

Along with Movenbank founder Brett King, Scott is challenging the entrenched paradigms of banking with disruptive new mobile services aimed at consumers and emerging markets.

A former Senior Vice President of Fundamo, a Visa company, Bales is an expert on the state of the financial services industry. In addition to his roles as Business Development Manager for ANZ and the Head of Technology for ANZ subsidiary, WING, Scott has also been Director of Strategy and Partnerships for the African Centre for Mobile Financial Inclusion. These roles give him a unique insider’s perspective into the status quo of both western and third world banking conditions. He is also a regular contributor to The Economist & the Digital Banking Club.

Scott is a visionary and banking innovator who, as Movenbank’s Chief Mobile Officer is poised to disrupt the banking services industry with a mobile-centric offering unlike any other. He ties the modern trends of social media and mobile services with the age-old business of banking with ease.
A charismatic and knowledgable speaker, Bales isunafraid to challenge the existing financial services industry and banking startups alike and holds the rare gift of both technological insight and understanding the consumer mindset.

Scott Bales has presented keynote addresses throughout the world and was recently listed in Obopay’s Top 20 report as the number one mobile money influencer.

Topics

Transform and Mobilize
Consumer Behavior Evolution, Organizational Transformation, Disruption.
Over the past decade our everyday life has changed with the rapid adoption of multiple lifestyle evolutions, primarily driven by technological advancement. So are hundred-year-old financial services institutions ready to bank the modern consumer?
We take an investigative journey through the cultural, behavioral and technological changes that are shaping the expectations and outlook of the modern consumer. Exposing the cognitive zigzags of mind that lead to the formation of consumer beliefs and attachments. Investigating the impacts these have on financial services, and how financial institutions in the 21st century need adapt their approach or face the same disintermediation already witnessed in other industries.

• Learn to identify and ask the right questions of the market signs that are disrupting financial services
• In depth understanding of the realities that shape the modern consumer

Mobility Utility
Mobility, Modality Shift, Anytime, Anywhere
No longer will the consumer be tethered to a television, computer screen or a physical place when interacting with businesses. Mobility is a game changer, its not just about the device, its about the entirely new eco-system of services and empowerment the device and connectivity enable.
The rapid growth of mobile accessibility around the world has created immense new possibilities, based a device that we have a deep personal connection with. We look at how the mobile phone has and will be the catalyst for change as industries are forced to shift away from the idea of a ‘place to do business’ to a anytime, anywhere, always-on culture that has already hit billions of people and continues to sweeps across the globe.

• Learn to understand how the consumer modality shift impacts your organizations outlook
• Leave with key questions that organizations should be asking themselves, and their customer base

Democratization
Social Media, Consumer Opinion, Tipping Points, and Debtors Revolt
‘There is nothing more powerful than an idea’ The KONY 2012 video clocked more than 43 million views in only two days on YouTube, and today totals 92 Million. In 2009, Ann Minch had a message that became an idea ‘You Are Evil Thieving Bastards.’ A message she delivered in her Debtors Revolt video, which went viral and eventually forced Bank of America to reverse her Credit Card APR hike.
Information and Networks are power in the modern connected world… the rapid growth of social networks has shifted that information power from the organizations to the people.
Learn the dialogue that occur in just 60 seconds in the information age, and how it can have impact within days, or even hours
Prompt the audience with the questions they need to consider when planning and evolving their social media strategies
Entrepreneurial Disruption
Entrepreneurship, Startups, Disruption
The unthinkable usually starts a disruptive evolution. Remember when you used to go to Borders to buy a book? Or to your local Blockbuster to rent a movie? Or did a research project with Encyclopedia Britannica? In a world where digital transformation is a key driver behind innovation, legacy businesses are quickly being overtaken by more nibble startups. Companies that are fueled by the raw passion of a founding team laser focused on a signal mission… to evolve a legacy industry for the digital world.
Recent years have seen dozens of startups in the financial services sector. Square, PayPal, Dwolla, and my own… Movenbank, enter the market at an opportune time. But what fuels these startups and their founders? Why will they succeed? What is their secret sauce to disruption? We look at the reasons behind these startups, and why some of the most powerful financial institutions should be paying attention. Before they go the way of Borders, Blockbuster and Britannica.

• Learn to understand and appreciate the art to Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Usability, Visual Emotion Connection and The Power of Prototyping
• Learn to identify and act on both quick win and longer term opportunities to refine the touch points of your organisation