SIX Group’s Thomas Zeeb on advice to fintech for working with finance companies

It’s
all about teamwork.

REUTERS/Fabrizio
Bensch

• Thomas Zeeb, the head of securities and exchanges at
  the Swiss stock exchange, says fintech companies should “learn
  the regulations” if they want to work with established
  players.
• “The idea is cool but building that bridge back into
  the financial world to make it financially viable is still a
  lot of work,” he said.
• Zeeb is heading a project to build a new digital asset
  exchange and wants to help fintechs to work in the new
  ecosystem he’s creating.

LONDON — The head of securities and exchanges at the Swiss stock
exchange says his biggest piece of advice for fintech startups
that want to work with established financial services companies
is for them to “learn the regulations.”

SIX Group’s Thomas Zeeb told Business Insider: “I go to
conferences and people say: what would you tell us to be more
successful? One thing, learn the regulations.”

Fintech — or financial technology — has grown from a niche
industry to a multi-billion dollar sector globally that can often
attract the best and the brightest. It covers everything from
online lending to new methods of credit scoring and even digital
currencies and tokens.

Many established banks and financial services firms are now
turning to fintech startups to help reinvigorate their businesses
or to keep up with rivals. Witness
Barclays’ recent partnership with UK fintech
MarketInvoice or JPMorgan’s longstanding partnership with
OnDeck.

However, these partnerships can be a tricky business, Zeeb says.

“There’s so many great ideas in the fintech space,” Zeeb told
Business Insider.

“One of the biggest problems we have as traditional firms is
dealing with this regulation ran amok over the last 10 years that
generates a whole series of questions for fintech firms and
managers with great ideas.

“You say: what about this? What about this? Have you thought
about CSDR [Central Securities Depository Regulation, a piece of
EU law]? Usually, they look at you with a blank face.”

If startups haven’t already considered the regulatory
implications of any proposed partnership, then the likelihood is
that any deal will prove financially costly, Zeeb said.

“The idea is cool but building that bridge back into the
financial world to make it financially viable is still a lot of
work.”

Thomas
Zeeb, head of securities and exchanges at SIX
Group

www.six

Zeeb says SIX Group, which owns and operates the Swiss stock
exchange, wants to help startups to better understand the
regulatory landscape so that collaboration and partnership is
easier.

“I’ve got lawyers, regulatory people, lobbyists,” he said. “We
can build that bridge and then that ecosystem starts to live on
its own and that’s when it becomes really interesting. And that’s
going to take a few years. I don’t mind investing in that.”

Zeeb is heading up SIX Group’s
efforts to build a new digital asset exchange that can process
digital tokens structured like ethereum
or other cryptocurrencies. As part of this project SIX is
building a team to work with fintechs who may want to participate
in the market.

“We already have the start of a team — and we’re building it out
as we speak — that will work with fintechs and with banks and
anyone else who wants to work in the ecosystem to help them
bridge that and use it going forward.”

Zeeb compared it to Apple’s developer kits, which are tools
published by the tech giant that anyone can use to make compliant
apps for the app store.

Zeeb envisages a whole range of new fintech companies providing
services to companies on the new Swiss Digital Asset Exchange.

“There’ll be reporting companies, there’ll be market makers,
there’ll be liquidity guys — who knows? There’ll be all kinds of
different things, right?” he said. “Stuff we can’t even think of
at the moment.”