TYLER SEYDEL CHIEF FINTECH OFFICER , SUNRISE BANKS

a product , paying it off , and maybe then taking out the product once again . We need to look at that and think seriously about whether these folks are becoming trapped in a cycle of economic conditions . What can we do to help them out ?”

What ' s on the horizon for Sunrise ? In our conversations with Seydel , it ' s clear above all else that mission and purpose are the biggest motivations behind the bank ' s work . It goes without saying that , regardless of what the economy gives us , Sunrise will continue to prioritise its customers – championing financial inclusion , caring about people ’ s household budgets , and living up to its obligations as a socially minded business .

When he looks ahead , he can ' t help but reflect on a topic that has already made an appearance so far in our discussion . “ Over the next 10 years , I think open banking is going to become a force in the United States ,” Seydel predicts . “ It ' s only going to continue to gain momentum . As you look at the state of globalisation , we ' ll be forced to deal with open banking or at least we ' re going to be seeing that as an opportunity .

“ Then there ' s embedded finance . To most consumers , the idea of going into a branch is not an end-destination , it ' s a chore . When you pair those two together , that ' s going to be wildly powerful . Today , financial institutions have your information and they ' re in a position to know what you need before others will . In the future , nonbank platforms like Facebook might decide to vertically integrate and have their own institution . In that case , are they going to lower their prices in an effort to capture market share ? Probably . Because there ' s a volume component there that ' s very real and true . I think we ' re going to see a lot of social platforms start to move into the banking space , because they already have that group of active users .”

When we think about the future of banking , it ' s easy to assume that will be branch-less . For many consumers it will . Technologies like open banking and embedded finance will empower more

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