Checklist for FinTech firms

Topic	Considerations
Data ownership and management	Can you demonstrate good data architecture, governance and controls in your solution for the full lifecycle of data within your product / service? Is the ownership of data clearly defined?
Business & industry complexity	How can you show the suitability and understanding for the client’s problem? What is the expertise within your team? Can you provide a track record of success? What references can you provide on request?
Legacy technologies and supporting systems	Is your solution technology agnostic? Have you designed your integration layer in such a way to be abstracted from any technical dependencies?

Topic	Considerations
Various operating models stemming from different degrees of outsourcing	How much of your development work is carried out externally?
Skills gaps & culture	Are you ready to engage with an Investment / Wealth Manager, their traditional change management policies and their low-risk tolerance?
Regulation and Compliance legal frameworks	Do you understand the regulations and compliance needs of your solution/service on the Investment / Wealth Manager and its clients? How do you keep up to date with the regulatory and compliance expectations of your solution/service?

Organisational Readiness

Topic	Considerations
Readiness of their organisation to work in a very different high touch delivery model	Have you set gateways, success criteria, milestones or other concrete markers for progress assessment with your partner?
The organisation’s ability to adapt (business & technology) processes for innovation and efficiency	Can you assure the incumbent organisation that you are agile and can meet their engagement needs for the medium to long term?
Procurement and legal processes for early stage companies	You should not be surprised by the questions you are asked and documents you will need to produce/ share. NDAs should be in place from an early stage for mutual protection of intellectual property.
Understand the path to production of the final solution	What are the key steps the incumbent needs to take to make your solution live (and support it thereafter)? Do you understand the route to production for your chosen solution and the impact that has on licencing and the engagement plan? Do you support multiple environments integration for change and release processing / DevOps?

Topic	Considerations
Integration into existing or competing priorities with existing technology & functions	Understand where your solution fits, how it will be/is funded, resource requirements and prioritisation within the incumbent organisation.
Adapt existing information security assessment and restrictions for potentially significant different infrastructure or solution approach inhouse vs outhouse	Security due diligence is important to Investment / Wealth Managers. Any work you can do in advance is advantageous. Kitemark standards such as SOC reports, penetration test results or independent audit statements can be invaluable to accelerate approvals. The added advantage is you only need to do it once and it can be reused for many clients.
A product owner on the Investment managers side for feedback, updates and potential expansion opportunities	Understand fully the incumbent’s engagement model and be keen to facilitate any project reporting requirements on a regular basis in order to keep the project rolling.
Consideration for new working arrangements and impacts due to COVID-19	Be open, honest and transparent about the company’s position with regard finances, funding, staffing and any other risk that may impact the partnership. There should be no surprises.

Key reasons FinTech’s partner with traditional financial services firms

Topic	Considerations
Enhanced profile by brand association	Openly discuss potential case studies, press releases or communications plans allowing for mutual positive promotion
Economies of scale on infrastructure, talent and operations	You’ll be partnering with a well-oiled machine; ensure you engage and gear up to benefit from the opportunities presented. Be inquisitive, helpful and engaging to maximise the potential benefits.
Accelerate trust and credibility	Those major milestones are bittersweet, make each one count, deliver what you promise on time and share the accomplishment to build that relationship bond.
Better distribution capabilities	Capacity plan, ensure you are prepared to scale all capabilities and features to accommodate what you wished for at pace.
Access to capital	Price well and always have a clear path to profit.

Topic	Considerations
Navigation of regulation, local scaling proposition/global market entry	Be prepared for unexpected constraints and differences across markets. It is wise to build interfaces and controls for key approvals/checks/logs/archives at an early stage.
Operations, Risk and financial services expertise	It’s a unique sector, to succeed be prepared, know the basics then engage, ask, listen then act. Repeat.
Rapid feedback on scalability of their solution with respect to operations, pricing and support model	You’ll be provided with invaluable feedback that you should carefully assess. Be wary of holding onto early-stage growth models for too long and be ready to pivot to a more mature model fast.
Domain expertise and experience	Get close to the talent and build out your solution’s features complementing your IP with their insights and expertise.
SMEs driven Product enhancements or new business opportunities	Engage with the SME’s to help them, add value and inform your product roadmap. Keep an ear to the ground, be very alert and open to potential opportunities that may arise. Strongly validate the feasibility of ideas.