SFF 2021 - VIKRAM PANDIT - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, The Orogen Group
About Vikram Pandit
Vikram Pandit, chairman and CEO of The Orogen Group, has spoken about the need for a fundamental shift in the architecture of finance, describing the current system as still rooted in the 20th century. He has expressed excitement about Web 3.0, calling it a "huge paradigm shift" that can allow the value of finance to accrue more to the end user than to middlemen. Pandit has also advocated for the U.S. to take a leadership role in developing a central bank digital currency, stating that he would like the U.S. to be "the one setting the rules" and preserving the dollar's status as the global reserve currency. Pandit has discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business models, noting that companies need to improve operational resilience and that the crisis demonstrated the value of agile, digitally native approaches. He has said that the banking system has benefited from lessons learned during the 2008 financial crisis, including stress tests and more resilient management practices. However, he has also stated that the architecture of banking has not changed much and that half of the top financial institutions are now payment companies or "super apps." He has emphasized the importance of modernization, including focusing on the customer and rethinking back-office supply chains, and has said that technology adoption is an "existential issue" for financial services.