#FrontRunners is a series of spotlights on prominent members of the Luge Capital network. We are fortunate to have access to this network and wish to share with FinTech entrepreneurs their industry insights and tips on partnering with their organizations.
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE AT DESJARDINS GROUP?
I am Vice-President of Growth, Acquisition and Development with a team of over 600 people dedicated to collaborating with all the forces of the Desjardins Group in an objective of organic and non-organic growth. Our team is assiduously seeking growth opportunities, partnerships, potential acquisitions and new business opportunities for the benefit of our members and clients.
To achieve this mission we regularly:
- Work in close collaboration with the various business sectors of our Group and senior management.
- Rally Desjardins’ strengths around targeted growth initiatives (credit unions, pan-Canadian development, non-organic growth, etc.).
- Innovate in areas adjacent to our core business.
- Monitor and engage in socio-economic trends that influence our society.
WHAT EXCITES YOU THE MOST ABOUT INNOVATION IN YOUR INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW?
I am fascinated to see how dynamic innovation continues to be in the financial sector, and in its 120 years of existence, Desjardins has always been a leader in this regard. Moreover, the current environment, although unusual, is conducive to welcoming many innovations.
Our living contexts are rapidly changing, the boundaries between different sectors of the economy are breaking down, and creativity is such that we are now witnessing the arrival of new initiatives that would never have been possible just a few years ago. Indeed, we see non-traditional players appearing in our sector and we ourselves are making inroads into non-traditional industries. For example, last January, Desjardins acquired a company specialized in home renovations and more recently, we acquired DuProprio and Purplebricks Canada offering support services for residential real estate sales. These acquisitions that are not related to our core business, will serve as an anchor for the development of a complete ecosystem that will simplify the process of buying and selling and meeting the needs of independent homebuyers and sellers.
Although we innovate every day, we avoid spreading ourselves too thin and losing sight of our goals. With this in mind, at Desjardins, our anchor remains our members and the clients, and we make every effort to work in their best interests.
AS A LEADER IN THE SPACE, CAN YOU SHARE ANY NON-OBVIOUS INSIGHTS ABOUT THE INDUSTRY?
This is an excellent question because we don’t always realize how much potential competition financial services are up against. In addition to new players entering the market, our industry continues to be under tremendous pressure in terms of revenues. For example, we saw a drop in interchange on credit cards last May, a great deal of pressure on securities commission rates and interest rates have returned to floor rates. All of these elements and many others are putting pressure on the traditional businesses of our industry. As a result, financial institutions are seeking to make up this revenue shortfall through business growth and diversification into adjacent trades.
FINTECH OR TECHFIN? SHOULD LARGE INCUMBENTS FEEL ANXIOUS ABOUT DISRUPTION FROM MAJOR TECH PLAYERS?
Not at all, contrary to 4 or 5 years ago, FinTechs are today more perceived as acceleration vectors allowing the implementation of innovative solutions.
I’m not hiding the disruption that could originate from larger tech companies (Amazon, Apple, etc.) which have significant capital and can diversify into a multitude of fields. That said, this observation is not slowing us down but rather encouraging and motivating us to continuously reinvent ourselves to do better for our clients.
WHAT ARE SOME CHALLENGES DESJARDINS IS LOOKING TO SOLVE RIGHT NOW?
Desjardins wants first and foremost to simplify the lives of its members and clients as they go through major life events. Whether in the context of acquiring a property, purchasing a life or property insurance policy or saving for retirement. During all these important life events, Desjardins helps members and clients achieve their dreams or life projects.
For example, in the context of a mortgage loan, our support goes far beyond a loan approval. We support and guide our members and clients in the journey of owning that home with the right insurance choice, an eventual renovation, and even maintaining their property.
To achieve this, we continuously listen to what our members and clients are experiencing, engage with them at the right time and propose solutions to simplify their lives. We seek ways to ensure that a young student or a person on the eve of retirement realizes their dreams with as few pitfalls as possible. For Desjardins, it’s much more than simply signing a mortgage or an insurance policy. We want to be with them from beginning to end.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR FINTECH ENTREPRENEURS WANTING TO PARTNER WITH LARGE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS?
Our organization has close to 50,000 team members who work in a highly regulated environment that requires us to implement numerous processes. We understand that it is not always easy to find the right person to talk to. This is why we have implemented a number of initiatives to facilitate connections and access to information for the FinTechs that want to work with us. We have dedicated teams whose role it is to ensure constant communication.
I’d like to share a few suggestions when working with Desjardins. When it comes to FinTechs, the FinTech Development Group (fintech@desjardins.com) led by Thomas Gagné is the perfect gateway to start. His department was purposely set up to facilitate communication between internal teams and external FinTech players. The group has strategic capital to invest and can help speed up the growth of innovative businesses that we’d like to work with on existing and emerging issues.
Similarly, businesses that want to take part in our incubator and/or accelerator programs can contact the Startup-in-Residence team, led by Éric Morin. The team’s mission is to promote the development of startups that can have an impact on Desjardins’ digital shift and thus create value for our members and clients.
Lastly, we launched our 5th annual Coopérathon, the world’s largest open innovation competition that helps citizen-led projects and startups validate their ideas and quickly get off the ground. This year’s virtual event will connect a large network of innovators and entrepreneurs who are driven by social impact, a cause which is core to Desjardins’ mission.
We believe that it is through these types of initiatives that sometimes a simple idea can have a profound impact and even become a great business that can benefit from our support or a possible investment. This is a continuum in our strategy to support entrepreneurs and innovation.
“MOVE FAST AND BREAK THINGS” OR “PLAN AND PROGRESS METHODICALLY”?
Both approaches have their place and merit depending on the context and situation. If we start touching an element that exists on the periphery of our core business, we can go into “move fast” mode. However, in a context where you launch something on the market that impacts your core business, one needs to understand that it can demand more in-depth planning and time to ensure it is done right.
HOW HAS COVID-19 IMPACTED DESJARDINS AND THE INDUSTRY IN GENERAL? HOW DO YOU THINK THE INDUSTRY WILL EVOLVE POST-COVID?
The context of the pandemic forced us all to take a step back for a few weeks to adapt. Activities quickly resumed their cruising speed and we all continued to work with our partners while learning to do things differently.
Moreover, in such an exceptional context, FinTechs are more relevant than ever and although the industry was already on the move with respect to the digital shift, we are seeing an acceleration of initiatives. Whether it’s in e-commerce or in the use of mobile platforms for daily work, all of these are part of what we need to do differently. Moreover, we were extremely pleased with how incredibly resilient people are and the speed at which they adapted to new ways of working in only just a few weeks. For a large financial institution like Desjardins this was a true test that could not have been accomplished without the dedication of everyone driven to keep serving our members and clients.
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