Itai Damti on fintech history
From Banking as a Service: Dying or Evolving? (Interview w/ Unit's CEO Itai Damti) · · RexSalisbury
“The first wave of fintech — companies like Venmo, Lending Club, Chime and Robinhood — that focused on one product to increase consumer access has come to an end; the market is saturated and it's much harder to start pure-play financial services companies today.”
On , Itai Damti, CEO & Co-Founder at Unit, spoke about fintech history during Banking as a Service: Dying or Evolving? (Interview w/ Unit's CEO Itai Damti) on RexSalisbury.
About Itai Damti
In an April 2024 interview, Itai Damti, CEO and co-founder of Unit, stated that he dislikes the term "banking as a service," describing it as inaccurate because it focuses on the supply side rather than the demand side and now covers too many different business models. He said Unit prefers the term "embedded finance." Damti argued that the first wave of fintech, which focused on single products to increase consumer access, has ended, and that the future of financial services lies in "rebundling" multi-product offerings. He cited Nav and Variable as examples of companies using distribution to bundle financial products. Damti noted that the U.S. regulatory framework requires any company offering financial services to partner with a bank, and that inserting a technology company between the bank and the customer creates new risk surfaces. He said Unit built an operating system with bank-facing features to provide banks with real-time visibility and enforcement, allowing clients to maintain direct relationships with the bank. Damti stated that he envisions a future that is "less bank-specific and more software-heavy," where thousands of software companies offer financial services through their existing distribution.
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