“I think we probably overestimated the short-term impact of fintech,” says David Rasson, the Center of Expertise Lead for ING’s Innovation Center in Belgium and the Netherlands. “But we might underestimate the long-term impact.”

Rasson’s group deals with startups in all stages, from investing to bringing them into Fintech Village, the bank’s accelerator program, and helping them work on problems alongside bankers and eventually, perhaps, become part of the bank’s suite of products.

“Change, that’s what I love the most,” Rasson says of banking. This is not a common sentiment in an industry that is inherently conservative out of necessity, hemmed in by regulations and responsible for safeguarding the money of consumers and businesses. But Rasson loves change because he enjoys learning, and is passionate about all the new technology emerging in the world of fintech.

He believes it is essential for bankers at all levels to continue learning about new technology as well as interacting with customers in order to learn what motivates them. Fintech will be part of the solution, and interacting with new companies building new technology has become deeply ingrained at ING.

As for the startups themselves, Rasson is a believer that we have reached “peak fintech” — “There are more startups than problems,” he said, but that should excite banks rather than discourage them, because it means there are many smart people out there looking to solve the problems banks face everyday. Listen here to see how ING is perfectly positioned to reap maximum advantage from “peak fintech.”

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