Levvel: Thorough Technological Innovation

Having spent 15 years working inside two of the top five banks in the country Scott still wanted more out of his FinTech adventure. "While I learned a lot in those roles, it wasn’t until I left and joined the leadership team of Levvel that I realized how passionate I was about shaping people and culture and not just delivering cool work", reminisces Scott. Today at Levvel, he brings a unique "insider" point of view combined with a proven track record of delivery to banks, technology providers, and merchants exploring the digital payments space. "Levvel has opened my eyes to the ability to impact people in a much more meaningful way by helping shape a company they are proud to call home and solving some really big challenges", he says. Scott also holds a number of payment related patents, is a frequent speaker on digital wallets and payments, and is playing an active role in creating a FinTech culture in the Charlotte payments community. He holds an MIS degree from UNC Charlotte and an MBA from NC State University and lives in Charlotte, NC with his wife, daughter, and twin boys. Together they love going to parks and enjoy exploring the beautiful city.

Scott gives his key insights about the dynamic FinTech environment, "I believe the data shows that millennials still trust banks and use them. There is a fundamental difference in where you keep your money and how you want to interact with your money. Millennials want to keep their money where it is secure (i.e. the bank), but they want to be able to access it wherever they spend their time. That means that the tech companies, gaming companies, social media, etc. all have a valid role in providing these services and access to these services, but they need to do it partnered with a bank that is ultimately keeping the money safe", elaborates Scott.

This recent shift of people for managing their wealth using technology has been crucial to the rise of several FinTech companies. And the high level of disruption triggered by FinTech’s has reshaped the payment industry. Even banks have moved towards non-physical channels to pursue renewed digital customer experience. Subsequently, we are now beginning to see these Fintech companies add in additional products and services that are starting to looking more and more like the suite of products a bank may have initially offered. One difference though: Digital identities of these users. "Digital identity is critical for our modern world and will only become more so over time. As our systems become more open and data is shared between them with more regularity, it becomes imperative that you can maintain a secure identify to access those services. This has yet to be solved across industries and geographies, but it is being worked on and will be critical to solve", highlights Scott.

Clearly compared to other forms of technology, FinTech has much more to overcome. Yet, there is still so much to be explored in the world of FinTech. Scott suggests, "I think Real Time Payments will drive a huge wave of innovation in the industry, especially in the B2B and Corporate space. The ability to send real-time payment and include remittance and other data will allow a lot more automation to be created in the invoicing, receivables and general corporate finance areas..... I think we will see more partnerships between banks and large tech companies for specific product launches (like the Apple Card announcement). I also think we will see more mergers on both banks and service provider side as companies look to achieve high growth targets and don’t know how to do it organically".