Global Crisis – Threat for Several Financial Institutions

Global crisis had created a threat for several financial institutions during the last few years. A pioneering peer to peer foreign exchange – FX, fintech startup - Kantox which is a platform for businesses, grew 250% in 2014 achieving its biggest transaction earlier, when one of its clients transferred US$29 million through the online platform. What could have been the secret of its success inspite of the uncertainty of global economic?

While the import-export businesses lost faith on traditional banks, Kantox provided an alternative solution in managing foreign exchange risks via a business model which was based on transparency. While businesses were on the lookout for no-banking solutions, this fintech startup became a feasible alternative as an online managing platform as well as a way to reduce costs, making the procedure an easier one.

As per the Co-founder and CEO, Philippe Gelis, the foreign exchange market had a setback from several transparency issues and was in need of urgent restructure. Gelis together with his partner Antonio Rami worked as a team as consultants in Deloitte and planned to develop an alternate option.

Kantox – Tools to Manage Currency Exchanges

Gelis had commented that `the aim was to be trusted as a competitive and transparent platform by financial directors and they wanted to provide them a different option’. The tools were provided by Kantox for the clients to enable them with improvements in managing their currency exchanges as well as consulting services from professionals.

Kantox presently transfer funds to 1,000 clients all across 18 countries in over 25 currencies. Gelis explains that `at the moment, growth is their goal and knowing now the needs of the clients, they have a clearer idea of the market and how to differentiate from their competitors’.

Gelis finds it important to be ambitious and a race for growing up. He states that `when one is immersed in business, they have the feeling that the developing process is long and one would want to grow faster though the process needs time’. Though the fintech space is still in its early development, there are several potential clients for new fintech startup and new business options like Kantox who are striving to compete with banks in foreign currency exchange.

Driving Down Cost/Administration Time

Kantox originated out of the idea of dis-intermediating banks as well as brokers from the foreign exchange procedures, driving down cost and administration time for companies and according to Gelis, instead of trading via a bank or broker, with this fintech startup, two trusted companies tend to trade with each other directly with transparency.

His challenge is to reach 20 percent of the market share in the next ten or twenty years and that `the fintech sector has been changing fast with new business solutions to be included in the whole updated structure. He further states that they are educating the market on these new solutions where the sector is monopolized by banks who own 99 percent of the market and their business model is quite a new alternative.

He adds that the global crisis largely affected the fintech sector and that they believe it was time to change the finance industry introducing the transparency, fairness and efficiency. These changes could come up though it would have a profound positive consequence on the global finance industry as well as economy and technological innovation is and will continue to be the vehicle for this change.