Through their no code approach to embedded finance, Orenda Finance is no stranger to building new revenue streams, optimising processes and transforming organisational value for clients across an array of industries – all at a fraction of the time and cost most think possible.
Orenda’s Chairman, Naz Badat, has spent over 30 years in investment banking. With time spent operating from America, Switzerland, Japan and London, he has his own fair share of experience in dealing with evolving technology and meeting client demands.
We recently sat down with Naz to find out more about his involvement in Orenda and what he expects from the future of embedded financial services.
Q1: How and why did you get involved in Orenda?
Naz: There’s a combination of reasons why I was interested in getting involved in Orenda.
I’d known Josh (Orenda’s MD) for a number of years. We first met when he worked for me at HSBC after I’d retired a couple of years ago from executive roles.
When Josh approached me, I was seeking projects to get involved in and work with people that I really wanted to, so I knew it would be a great fit.
Overall, it was this great relationship with Josh along with the quality and innovative nature of the product streams offered by Orenda that really stood out to me and made the opportunity a particularly attractive one.
Q2: What do you think sets Orenda apart from other FinTech organisations?
Naz: The two things that stood out to me that sets Orenda apart from its competitors is the kind of people they have and the differentiator (no code, time to market, cost-effectiveness) in terms of the value proposition. Alongside that, the problem Orenda is trying to solve is quite clear.
Having worked on the other side with legacy infrastructure, technology, and the lack of flexibility, I recognised Orenda’s approach as quite unique from that perspective.
Q3: What interests you the most about the direction Orenda Finance is heading in?
Naz: Well, it’s a young company, and it’s evolving – so you can shape it the way you want in order to go and interact with partners and clients, which is all afresh; you’re starting from a clean slate. That’s one of the most appealing parts.
How far, how long and when? That’s still an open question as we develop the company and as the technology and flexibility continue to evolve as we move forward.
Q4: Why do you think it’s important that more businesses are made aware of the no code route to embedded finance?
Naz: I think one of the key things that strike me is having worked in large corporations for a number of years is how inflexible the existing technology is.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re coming at it from a retail perspective, investment banking or private banking perspective. It still all comes down to the interaction with clients and the time it takes to onboard new clients, new products and new functions. It was quite frustrating to see from the client-side how difficult it was to change.
That’s why I think the no code route is a pivotal one. In turn, it allows flexibility and nimbleness when you interact with various stakeholders.
Q5: What are the biggest challenges that embedded finance can help businesses to overcome?
Naz: Flexibility and time to market are key. In terms of having the sort of flexibility that Orenda offers, it enables you to do things much faster, much quicker. And if you can extend your range from different jurisdictions to different countries on a far quicker basis, as Orenda enables, businesses have more opportunities for growth than ever before.
Q6: What kind of shift do you think the embedded finance sector underwent during the Covid pandemic?
Naz: It gave people far more flexibility. Things may change as we come out of the pandemic; however, I think we will still have to go through the same hurdles, the same challenges now as we would have done without it. But of course, it also depends on how people and businesses react, and as we come out of the pandemic, that may change.
Q7: Where do you see embedded finance heading over the next 5-10 years, and how do you think Orenda will help to shape that evolution?
Naz: I think there’ll be more people operating in this space, so there will be a lot more competition.
It’s up to us to work on the foundation that we have in that no code element and see how we can interact more quickly with the client. A competitive advantage today may not be a competitive advantage in six months, or nine months or 12 months, so we still have to keep going forward and evolving to build on the possibilities that we already offer our clients.
I’m optimistic about that. I think we can do it, watch this space for how we develop it further in the future.
Final thoughts
We’d like to thank Naz for taking the time to sit down and talk to us about Orenda and the future of embedded finance.
It’s certainly clear that embedded finance is a piece of the puzzle that many businesses have been missing up until now, and FinTech customers can look forward to a whole array of exciting developments in the near future.
If you’d like to find out more about how Orenda Finance leading the way in the future of embedded finance, click here.
If you’d like to see the interview with Steve Britton on All Things Embedded Finance, click here.
