At b-next, innovation is not just a buzzword; it’s a core philosophy that drives us to stay at the forefront of the compliance industry. We recently had the opportunity to sit down with our Chief Technology Officer, Dmytro Berdnik, to discuss the role of innovation in shaping our solutions and the evolving landscape of technology in the financial sector. Dmytro shared his insights on the direction of technology, the challenges, and opportunities it presents, and his personal passion for driving innovation. Here’s what he had to say:
What innovations are driving our solutions forward?
“The short answer is smart innovations. Modern software development proposes hundreds, if not thousands of technologies. Many fintech products have been dipping into an ocean of technologies until realizing they have several concurrent frameworks under the hood. The innovation strategy we run at b-next is largely focused on the value we bring to our clients. This is not a simple choice of technology A or technology B based on the value it brings. Many engineers are trying to innovate solutions to problems they aren’t supposed to solve because these problems should not exist. This statement is basically the essence of our approach to innovations. Being the center of expertise regarding compliance, we are trying to understand the depth of the issue and the reason for its arise. So, the innovations we opt for are widely focused on preventing the root cause or changing an approach rather than fixing consequences. Respectively, new technologies opening such opportunities can drive us to improve our product.”
How do you see the role of technology in the financial industry in the coming years? What challenges and opportunities do you see for us and our customers?
“The role of technology is essential. We’ve already witnessed two significant transformations in the financial industry. First, when software-based trading compliance checks became an obligation, and second, when AI was allowed as a market abuse compliance tool. We can already see a gradual digitalization of compliance with the repetitive reinforcement of the tech stack. This is natural, considering the growth of daily trades. Respectively, technologies building a new level of performance are going to be in demand.
On the other hand, the industry is facing new challenges on a regular basis. The ‘Game Stop’ issue is a good example. The scandal revealed a crisis of trust not only for a specific institution but for the entire clearing process and the practice of arbitrage trading. However, the Crypto market, typically considered immature, does not have this problem by design. The basis of crypto transactions is blockchain, implying the entire history of an asset’s lifetime, not just the clearing of a transaction. However, exuberant adoption of blockchain, forecasted by many in the financial industry, is not an option. It would significantly increase computational demands around exchange operations and necessitate the adaptation of the clearing model.
Another big challenge is the development of economic thought. Behavioral economics is pushing us to review the approach to understanding compliance, which is still based purely on algorithms. This challenge is more complex than anything we’ve seen before, as it utilizes many new areas of knowledge like social science and psychology. Consequently, we need to build and use significantly more complex models of economic affairs.”
What personal mission or passion drives you when it comes to technology and innovation? How do you contribute to keeping b-next at the forefront of the industry?
“Robert Shiller once said: ‘Finance is not about money; it’s about making things happen.’ For me, this quote means a lot. If there is a place where tiny bits of financial information are swarming to make various things happen every day, we at b-next are making this place safer. Each innovation we bring to the market means less risk for a space project running somewhere in Los Angeles, more sustainability for a renewable energy company in Denmark, better education for a schoolgirl in France, stronger confidence for a veteran in Ukraine, and thousands of other things happening every day. Happening because finances are making things happen.”