00:04.260 --> 00:06.120 Johny Fernandez: I'm at the Javits Center, the largest 00:06.120 --> 00:09.060 convention hall in all of New York City. It was supposed to 00:09.060 --> 00:11.670 host the LendIt Fintech Conference earlier this year, 00:11.730 --> 00:14.820 but the pandemic of 2020 had different plans. The Javits 00:14.820 --> 00:17.280 Center right behind me was transformed into a temporary 00:17.280 --> 00:20.580 hospital that would treat patients with non COVID related 00:20.610 --> 00:23.340 illnesses. That was back in April and that lasted for about 00:23.340 --> 00:26.280 a month. But the restrictions for large mass gatherings are 00:26.280 --> 00:29.580 still in place, making events like LendIt FinTech seek out 00:29.580 --> 00:33.270 alternatives. This year, Lendit Fintech has gone virtual. 00:33.660 --> 00:38.280 Viewers may recall conference co-founder and CEO Bo Brustkern 00:38.310 --> 00:41.910 aggressively marketing it in the weeks leading up to the event 00:42.120 --> 00:45.690 that actually took place this week. The company originally 00:45.690 --> 00:49.650 appeared to be defensive about overcharging a hefty price tag 00:49.890 --> 00:53.760 for what was presumed to be a series of Zoom panels. Brustkern 00:53.790 --> 00:57.390 made his case for why this would be different in ads peppered 00:57.420 --> 00:58.650 across social media. 00:58.950 --> 01:01.140 Bo Brustkern: Your job is too important to waste time on a 01:01.140 --> 01:04.620 virtual conference with garbage content and surface level 01:04.620 --> 01:10.830 networking. Believe me, I get it. Lendit Fintech USA isn't 01:10.830 --> 01:12.840 like all that free Zoom garbage out there. 01:13.410 --> 01:15.720 Johny Fernandez: It should be noted that the last time LendIt 01:15.720 --> 01:18.720 Fintech held an event here at the Javits Center was back in 01:18.720 --> 01:23.490 2017. And it drew in nearly 5,000 people. Now that number dropped 01:23.490 --> 01:27.360 to nearly 4,000 people back in 2019, when it held an event in 01:27.360 --> 01:30.900 San Francisco. LendIt was marketing the in-person event 01:30.900 --> 01:33.570 that had been planned for this year and it was hoping to hit 01:33.570 --> 01:38.010 that same figure of 4,000 people. But then the format changed. A 01:38.010 --> 01:41.250 virtual event accessible from anywhere in the world could 01:41.250 --> 01:44.760 potentially open the doors for a much larger audience. But it 01:44.760 --> 01:47.880 doesn't always work out that way. When we logged into the 01:47.880 --> 01:51.630 LendIt virtual event platform on its opening day, there appeared 01:51.630 --> 01:56.370 to be less than 1200 attendees, a steep drop off. Despite this, 01:56.400 --> 02:00.330 a sample of attendees surveyed by deBanked reported back that 02:00.420 --> 02:03.630 they had been provided a valuable networking experience, 02:03.900 --> 02:07.380 good content, and a cool newscast like feel when the 02:07.380 --> 02:11.190 co-founders were live on camera. The Javits Center is back open 02:11.190 --> 02:14.220 but for limited use, for example, its broadcast studio 02:14.220 --> 02:17.250 can still be rented out. But if you're looking for a hall full 02:17.250 --> 02:20.160 of fintech fans, you're gonna want to go online for that. 02:20.340 --> 02:22.650 That's the latest here from Manhattan's West Side. I'm 02:22.650 --> 02:25.410 Johny Fernandez with deBanked news. Sean, we're gonna send it 02:25.410 --> 02:26.610 back over to you in the studio. 02:27.230 --> 02:29.450 Sean Murray: Thanks, Johny. Believe it or not right behind 02:29.450 --> 02:32.660 me here on the screen is the actual Lendit Fintech virtual 02:32.660 --> 02:36.020 event happening in real time. This is not a screen recording. 02:36.290 --> 02:38.960 In fact, right now, what we're looking at is the screen they 02:38.960 --> 02:42.800 show you in between sessions, which is why we're doing the 02:42.800 --> 02:44.840 broadcast right now, because we don't want to miss any of the 02:44.840 --> 02:48.230 content that they're putting out there. And I will say that I was 02:48.230 --> 02:52.310 at the Javits Center back in 2017 for that LendIt event, and 02:52.340 --> 02:54.680 you mentioned something about the crowds having gotten just a 02:54.680 --> 02:57.980 little bit smaller over time. I think that's really due to the 02:57.980 --> 03:01.580 industry getting more mature, more sustainable and weeding out 03:01.610 --> 03:04.820 a lot of the bad ideas. I will add that the LendIt co-founders 03:04.820 --> 03:07.400 reported that networking was so active on the first day of the 03:07.400 --> 03:11.600 virtual event that they logged a total of 2,171 meetings booked 03:11.600 --> 03:14.390 on the platform. One attendee told me that he actually 03:14.390 --> 03:17.780 conducted more than 25 virtual meetings on the first day. But 03:17.780 --> 03:20.090 it's not just fintech people who are adopting the digital 03:20.090 --> 03:22.910 experience. 2020 has been the year that consumers and business 03:22.910 --> 03:26.390 owners have had to as well. They've had no choice. So today, 03:26.390 --> 03:29.810 our guests are Raf and Vlad from a company called Smarter Loans, 03:29.930 --> 03:32.990 based in Toronto, Canada, who have been following the rapid 03:32.990 --> 03:36.470 expansion of fintech, but also the digital adoption of the 03:36.470 --> 03:37.160 modern era, 03:37.180 --> 03:41.050 Rafael: We're definitely seeing a shift towards more digital 03:41.080 --> 03:44.860 products and digital behavior in the financial space and outside 03:44.860 --> 03:48.700 of it as well. So we definitely anticipate an increase in users, 03:48.700 --> 03:52.510 you know, engaging with brands that are able to offer a digital 03:52.510 --> 03:56.110 experience, right, we're seeing that across a variety of 03:56.110 --> 03:58.810 different industries, you know, whether it's personal loans, the 03:58.810 --> 04:01.810 automotive sector, or the business side of things as well. 04:02.260 --> 04:04.900 Consumers that are aren't able to go into a retail environment 04:04.900 --> 04:09.010 now are gravitating towards digital. And that's a trend that 04:09.010 --> 04:11.290 we're you know, hoping to see in 2020 as well. 04:11.810 --> 04:14.780 Vlad: And overall, I mean, when you look at COVID, and the 04:14.780 --> 04:17.630 result that it's had on different activities in 04:17.630 --> 04:22.010 different sectors, ecommerce has been on the rise, right. And not 04:22.010 --> 04:26.240 just for everyday household items that maybe we go to Amazon 04:26.240 --> 04:30.320 to buy, but also for financial products. And that behavior 04:30.320 --> 04:33.800 change has- is something that we noticed in our previous studies 04:33.800 --> 04:39.380 into 2019 and even in 2018. But that behavior change has been 04:39.410 --> 04:44.630 given a jolt. So we're expecting that even if there's an economic 04:44.630 --> 04:48.770 slowdown, that this shift in consumer behavior will actually 04:48.770 --> 04:53.090 continue long beyond and we're starting to see that already. 04:53.090 --> 04:56.480 And and one way that we've been impacted is that we've been a 04:56.480 --> 04:59.450 leader in loans in quite some time, but even for our existing 04:59.450 --> 05:02.450 customers we've started to expand our service offering to 05:02.450 --> 05:06.290 them and starting telling them about additional options for 05:06.590 --> 05:09.500 financial products that they can obtain digitally and whether 05:09.500 --> 05:13.190 that can be everyday banking solutions like checking and 05:13.190 --> 05:17.360 savings accounts, or insurance services, or investing, money 05:17.360 --> 05:19.370 transfers, and so on and so forth. 05:19.460 --> 05:21.440 Sean Murray: Thank you guys. As you can tell, we're about to 05:21.440 --> 05:24.650 head back into Lendit Fintech Virtual. I'll see you next time. 05:24.740 --> 05:25.580 I'm Sean Murray.