The Revolut ATM Moment: Eric Bierry on Banking’s Unpredictable Future

Caroline Béguin: So talking about this Connect event, why the acceleration in the US market? 

Eric Bierry: You know, when you are a software company the US revenue, whatever the political situation is, is considered as very critical if you wanna become a big player. So it’s an old dream. A personal old dream, I should say. And we did grow SBS standalone before from one million to twelve million, so we were proud of that. But today, the game has changed. The group is doing, as I said, more than one hundred and fifty million, including SBS. And we start to be ready with some of our products to engage with the North American market. And the combination of the Axway presence or the US flavor of Axway, I should say, combined with our better maturity on the product, is obliging us, I should say, now to accelerate and to engage strongly with the North American market. We cannot address too many niches or domains because otherwise we’re gonna be lost. But open banking is very important, even if Trump decided to kill the regulation on that topic. But US banks now understand what’s the value of open banking. And meaning that being regulated or not, they will need this capability for the future. And Regions Bank, as a reference, I think is big enough or strong enough to address that niche. So that’s one. The second is obviously the asset finance or the auto finance business, where it’s where we really did start alone. And there are many subsidiaries of bigger groups in North America where I would like to leverage as much as I can the existing MSAs, so the master contract Axway is having, to accelerate our ability to discuss on the floor plan financing and on the digital debt. I’m convinced that we should be able to accelerate and, I’m convinced also that we need to invest. And I think the first investment is in our people.We need American people to talk to American and British or French, even worse French cannot make a difference in America. They want to talk to Americans. So it’s where I think we may have to invest, and Axway is giving us that opportunity because Axway in the past did acquire many US companies and there is a very strong US DNA in North America for Axway, so we need to leverage this. 

Caroline Béguin: From what I understand, open banking and specialized finance are levers in the US. Can you talk to us about our strategy regarding this? 

Eric Bierry: So first, in a strategy, you need to be clear on what you don’t do. So I don’t want to expand into any other domain. We need to stay very focused, and we need to operate in this niche before trying to expand on other domains. Technology and the ESG are two very important drivers. When we are talking about digital audit, it’s to replace physical audit. It’s to replace tons of flight and, I would say, visits on the existing floor plan from dealers. This is working with NextGear. NextGear is the biggest player in North America with more than twenty thousand dealers. The strategy is we have our flagship, it’s NextGear. We need to leverage more that reference. We need to make NextGear talk about us. They are very happy with the solution. They are very happy with the business outcome. For me, it’s not rocket science. The others will be looking at what NextGear is doing, and when it’s working, usually they like to follow. So the strategy is this one, but it requires time, focus, discipline in the way we are working with NextGear also. But for me, in that domain and you’re tackling cost reduction, you’re tackling ESG. So for me, these are good drivers. On the floor plan, that business is seen as a commodity by our clients. They consider the retail part when they are leasing to individuals. It’s where they see the value and the floor plan financing is seen as the backbone to support the dealers to make it happen. So meaning that for the last fifteen years, they did not invest a lot in terms of technology. And for me, this is a strong opportunity for us because if they want to continue to leverage their floor plan capabilities, they need to have a product or SaaS solution open enough to leverage AI. There is a lot of automation, by the way behind the floor plan and, becoming more a differentiator for them, for their market. And really the technology today, there is a lot of obsolescence in North America. And we are having twelve clients today in North America on the floor plan financing, and big name, by the way. And I think we have now the proof that we are able to bring that differentiation, leveraging the technology. So for me, we need to stay focused on these two strategies, on this single domain. And I’m convinced that there is no reason in that niche to do fifty, sixty, seventy million. The market is there. The size of the market is big enough. Now it’s a question of execution, and we need to focus on the execution. 

Caroline Béguin: That’s interesting. I’m curious to see where we are going with that. And did you expect back then, thirty years ago, that the finance would take that turn? 

Eric Bierry: No, to be honest it would have been too difficult to anticipate this. In the last five years, many more things did happen than the twenty years before, and in the twenty years before, a lot more things did happen compared to the fifty years before. So everything is accelerating super fast. Five years ago, we were saying, “Oh, the new entrants are gonna take over all the business from banks.” And then it has moved to competition rather than just replacement. And then we said neobanks are not gonna be profitable, never. And surprisingly, there are one or two today delivering profit. And maybe the stronger example is that all the banks are closing branches and ATMs. And on ATMs, they are building joint ventures between different banks to reduce the cost to continue to manage ATMs because they don’t have any choice. And Revolut, a few weeks ago, announced that they’re gonna implement ATMs everywhere. And I was in the Madrid airport in Barajas a few days ago, and at the center of the airport after security, there are four big ATMs Revolut. And who did anticipate three years ago that Revolut would be the only one delivering cash with an ATM in an airport? So really difficult to anticipate. The only thing I know is the behavior of bank clients is moving super fast. The competition for the banks are not only banks, and especially with the younger generation, it’s forcing them to be super agile. And unfortunately for all of us, or fortunately for all of us, it is very difficult to anticipate what’s gonna be the trend in five years. There will be basics. Payments, account management. There will still be compliance with a lot of regulations. There will be many things like this, basics. But the client experience, very difficult to anticipate. 

Caroline Béguin: Okay. So from what you’re saying, I guess that you can’t anticipate what’s gonna be thirty years from here. But what would you like it to be? 

Eric Bierry: I’m trying to be in a bank’s client’s shoes. And by the way as CEO, I see the way banks are, let’s say, supporting us as a company, and as an individual, I’m a client of banks, of course. Today, there are two things I think they absolutely need to do to anticipate the future. One is linked to personalization. This is not acceptable in twenty twenty-five, especially with all the data they are having with AI, with everything, that the way to target someone in product and services is not completely aligned with the reality of their life, my life. So that hyper-personalization is not against standardization of the processing platform or engagement platform, but is related to being a lot more aligned like Amazon or Netflix or others are doing with you every day. So this is one. The second is the speed. Compared to new entrants or compared to players like I was mentioning, they take six, seven, eight times more time to deliver the value and the service. So I think speed and hyper-personalization for the benefit of everyone, for the benefit of even the companies to engage a better experience, I think is critical for the future. 

Caroline Béguin: Thirty years ago, when you were a trainee at the beginning of your career, what advice would you give to the older you? 

Eric Bierry: The younger me? 

Caroline Béguin: The younger you. Sorry. 

Eric Bierry: Ahah

Caroline Béguin: So yeah. What advice would you give the younger you, knowing the context today? 

Eric Bierry: I did it well, right? 

Caroline Béguin: Ahah

Eric Bierry: I’m kiddin. I think curiosity. Curiosity is really a lot more important than many other things. As I told you my two first internships were in two different banks, one retail, one for SMEs. And I did not spend enough time, or I did not leverage as much as I should have done, I would say, the understanding of what people around me were doing, understanding what’s the value. Because I did learn later, but I did have a fantastic opportunity to understand this and I think… By the way, my son is twenty-one. He’s doing an internship at the moment and I’m forcing him to read more about the domain where he’s working at the moment. You know, he’s in a consulting firm in payments, so without giving the details. The first thing I asked him for the first assignment, I said, “Ask the contract your company has signed.” He said, “But why? It’s not my problem.” And I said, “No, you have to know what are the engagement the company has taken because you’re gonna contribute to this engagement. And when you will be understanding this engagement, please do understand what’s the expected business outcome the clients of your company is gonna expect from that. And then please start to document yourself.” And compared to thirty years ago, even Google was not really strong enough to give you a lot of insight. So I told him, “You have ChatGPT, many others. You’re gonna save a lot of time compared to what I was doing in the past. But please take that time. Understanding this is making a huge difference.” You know, the technology, every six months, it’s becoming legacy. So you need to understand the way it’s working, but technology itself will be changing, so you need to be agile. And to be agile, you need to be curious. And to be curious, you need to understand and, or you need to have the willingness to understand what’s happening behind. So that would be definitely my first advice. The second, that life has changed. Thirty years ago, we were not very keen to travel and to observe what’s happening cross-border. So today, in any business school, you’re spending two, three semesters abroad and of course that has changed dramatically. But when I’m looking at a team, and I’m looking at the experience of a team, they are smart people. Let’s say if I compare everything with the same baseline, the one who did have experience in more than two countries in his career compared to the one having experience only in one country, you see a difference in the mindset or the agility of the mindset. And the stronger tomorrow is not the smarter, but the one who will be agile to adapt himself and to adapt his organization to the conditions. So, that would be my, my two pieces of advice. 

Caroline Béguin: There is another question I think our listeners are curious about, and it’s the twenty twenty-five Summit edition. 

Eric Bierry: Yeah.

Caroline Béguin: So it’s back again this year, and that’s great. Can you remind us of the concept and tell us about the history of this event, which is, by the way, celebrating its fifth anniversary this year? 

Eric Bierry: Yes, indeed. Five years ago, it was just after COVID. We started to forget, and it was only digital and now we did move the last two years only physically. The objective for us was to build an ecosystem with our client and our partner, and leverage that ecosystem to think about the future of finance. If I compare it with Connect, it’s not the same event. The Connect is really on connecting operationally, meaning we are looking at the next eighteen months together. The Summit is more long-term. How do we anticipate the trends? How do we share with our clients what we do see and the way we would like or we are trying to anticipate? So this is more thinking, this is more ecosystem, this is more designing the future together. And our benefit is more on image, of course, but also being at the center of that ecosystem, you know. And compared to the Connect, it’s more engaging with our clients. So that’s the reason why there are these two different events. And from the beginning, we wanted to build an event like this. It’s not so easy because it requires us a lot of investigation and of course this is a bit risky sometime to position ourself on the future of finance especially five minutes later than I was saying, I don’t know what’s gonna be in the future. But, it’s sharing and it’s having that opportunity of sharing, which is very, very important. So that’s the difference. And yes, I’m happy with the Summit again this year. 

Caroline Béguin: So what can we expect for this twenty twenty-five edition? Do you have any teasers about the venue, the agenda, et cetera? 

Eric Bierry: By chance, we are a bit more in advance compared to the previous year in the preparation. So I start with the venue. This will be on Concorde Place at the Hotel de la Marine for the gala. 

Caroline Béguin: Nice. 

Eric Bierry: And the talks will be at another location in Paris, but that location, Hotel de la Marine, is really, really…

Caroline Béguin: Very prestigious. 

Eric Bierry: Yes. I’m very happy about that. And it’s for our clients because they are trusting us, and it’s a way also to thank them, and it’s, I think, very important. Business is the first human relationship, you know. So that’s very important. By coincidence, the big topic of the Summit this year is linked to hyper-personalization, surprisingly. And of course, you don’t do hyper-personalization if you do not rely on AI. But I didn’t want to have an event AI for AI. I wanted to, let’s say, have AI, but for a real reason, and the only way to support hyper-personalization is to leverage AI. And back to what I was saying earlier, and to have AI, you need the data and so everything is linked. We’re gonna have Laurent Nizri with us, so I’m sure many of our listeners know Laurent Nizri, the founder of Paris Fintech Forum. We’re gonna have someone prestigious in AI, having both business super strong stories and academics, so he will be there. And then another person, a surprise. So I need to keep some surprises. So the first day before the gala, there will be these talks with these strong speakers. And the day after, we will be more entering into a demo but not a demo on the product itself, but a demo on the experience to provide that hyper-personalization from originating, onboarding a client to managing collection, managing loans. And so we’re gonna try to explore what we do see feasible to drive that future for and with our client. 

Caroline Béguin: Okay. Do you have one word to describe the Summit twenty twenty-five? 

Eric Bierry: I’m gonna stick to hyper-personalization. So for me this will be really the key word because for the rest it’s like the previous one. It’s just a pleasure to have our clients and partner with us. 

Caroline Béguin: Great. So to wrap up this podcast, I’d like to know in a nutshell, what excites you most about this new phase for SBS one year after the creation of Seventy-Four Software? 

Eric Bierry: I’m really proud about what SBS is doing. We did design a plan and strategy close to three years ago, and Seventy-Four Software did take that strategy and that plan inside Seventy-Four, but without changing it. And it was very important for me in the way to design that transaction. And we are really on track with that plan. And it’s not only a question of figures and profitability and growth, but it’s also very critical in regard to modernizing our assets and the way we are engaging for our clients and relying on that strategy with our clients. So this is really what’s exciting me because doing it is opening for SBS and in an augmented way for 74 Software for a very strong impact to the market in the future. And, you know, being listed is giving you many obligations, but it’s a fantastic opportunity for the company and all the people from the company to be even more proud on what they are doing because everything is public today. 

Caroline Béguin: Yeah, sure. 

Eric Bierry: It’s very exciting, I think. 

Caroline Béguin: Is there any message you’d like to share with customers, teams, and partners? 

Eric Bierry: I would like to share my engagement and the engagement of the management team of SBS and of 74 Software in delivering what we have said. And again, delivering is for all the stakeholders, so of course my shareholder who did finance this transaction and everything and it’s really important that we stay engaged within that objective for our clients because remember the three priorities, the business continuity, the way to understand, the way they operate, and to leverage the money they have given us in the past to bring that innovation on the table. So it’s really important and that’s my key message, and we are very committed to this. And the third and at the end of the day, the most important one, because the first two cannot happen, it’s we are trying to spend a lot of time with our people. We need to learn together more on the way we want to upskill them to make them stronger in that new world. The new world is not only 74 Software, it’s the software business in twenty twenty-five up to twenty-thirty is not at all the same as the one we were having ten years ago. And no one is able to give the return experience, so we need to learn together and it’s really important to give them proof that we are moving to the right direction, giving them the material to continue to improve their skill and to find their path inside our company for a common success. So that’s the three key engagements, and for me, that’s the most important thing. 

Caroline Béguin: I have one last question, and that’s a question I ask every leader I receive on this podcast. It’s, what do you think leaders truly want? 

Eric Bierry: I should have been prepared if it’s the same question every time. 

Caroline Béguin: Ahah

Eric Bierry: You know, the real thing is when you see what you’re building and linking to the people, it’s realizing, but especially you see them taking over and then they can continue without you. It’s the day you consider you have done your job. And from a very personal point of view, there is nothing more motivating when you see that it’s working that way. So that’s the way I’m looking at it. 

Caroline Béguin: Thank you, Eric. Thank you for sharing your insights and thank you for sharing your time. 

Eric Bierry: Thank you, Caroline.