The Irish Tech News Podcast

While the conversation around AI often centers on automation and efficiency, the real opportunity lies in AI’s ability to act as a decision-making layer. In this episode of One Vision podcast, Theodora Lau hosts Bianca Zwart, Chief Strategy Officer at bunq, to unpack what it truly means to be AI-native. For bunq, AI isn't a feature bolted onto an existing model. It's the operating system. Bianca shares how bunq's obsession with the user experience drives every technology decision. The conversation also explores what's next for agentic AI — and why the future isn't about AI taking over, but about making users smarter supervisors of their own financial lives.
Plus: bunq's bold move into the US market, the needs of the people navigating life on both sides of the Atlantic, and why Bianca believes trust — not technology — is ultimately the only thing that matters.

📍Hot take: “...  the first question that you always need to answer is, what is in it for the user?”
📍Hot take: “You can copy features. But you cannot copy DNA (of a company).”

00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:47 Why bunq Is AI Native
03:42 Meet Finn GenAI Platform
08:26 US Expansion Strategy
13:00 User First AI Mindset
18:39 Privacy Trust and Transparency
22:10 AI Fraud Prevention Journey
24:11 What Keeps Bianca Going
27:20 Closing and Farewell

Keywords: AI, Fintech, User Experience, Banking Industry, User Centricity, GenAI, AI Ethics, AI in Banking, Fraud

More about our guest 
🌐Bianca Zwart on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bianca-zwart/ 

More about our host and One Vision Podcast 
🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 
🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 
🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 
🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision 
**

Bharat Sharma, is the founder and CEO of Apex, and he spent over a decade building complex B2B commerce platforms through Monsoon Consulting, gaining firsthand insight into the recurring operational challenges mid-market merchants face. Some of those challenges, such as manual and fragmented processes involving multiple buyers, layered approval, and strict financial controls, could not be solved with traditional B2C platforms, and this was when he noticed  a pattern in B2B commerce platforms and why B2C tools are not fit to meet their challenges. Bharat also noticed that almost 65% of B2B executives reported that B2B online commerce is "broken" due to poor data, inefficient processes, and an inability to meet B2C-like convenience standards. Noticing these patterns across multiple projects, and this inspired him to create Apex, a purpose-built platform that addresses these pain points at scale. 
I recently caught up with Bharat and he spoke to me about his background, what Apex does, the challenges of B2B commerce and more.
More about Apex:
Apex is an out-of-the-box ready B2B eCommerce product for manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers. Apex knows B2B e-commerce is hard which is why it makes it easy, providing everything you need, from pricing and quoting to self-serve dashboards. It is ready to go out of the box, so you can focus on growth, not setup.

I Wish is a multi-award-winning programme dedicated to driving the power of STEM to female students in Ireland and across the globe. I Wish brings STEM education to life in a high-energy, fun space, igniting a flame in the minds of girls.
In the past 12 years, I Wish has engaged with 65,988 girls. 23,365 girls have shared their voices through the annual surveys to date. Initiatives include showcase events. To find out more about iWish I spoke to Caroline O’Driscoll the co-founder of I Wish
Caroline talks about her background, What I Wish does, STEM, gender bias, the speakers at this year I Wish event and more,
More about Caroline O’Driscoll:
As well as being the co-founder of I Wish, Caroline is a Corporate and International tax partner with Deloitte Ireland focused on the technology sector.  Caroline is an Adjunct Professor in the College of Business and Law at University College Cork (UCC).
Caroline is a former member of the gender balance advisory group for the Department of Education to achieve better gender balance in STEM education at the post-primary level. Caroline has held a number of board positions in the not-for-profit and charity sector.

In the ever-evolving world of digital banking, understanding the shifts and trends is crucial for industry practitioners and innovators. In this episode of One Vision, Theodora Lau hosts Dharmesh Mistry and Dave Wallace to explore the transformative moments in banking and fintech over the past decade, the impact of technology on the financial services industry, and the future of work. They discuss the rise of 5G, smartphones, digital banking, and the need for industry revaluation to adapt to rapid technological convergence.

00:00 Introduction and Guest Welcome
02:20 The Game Changers and Misreads
11:57 The Role of Fintechs and Neobanks
21:24 The Future of Banking: A New Paradigm
32:16 Rethinking Banking for the Future
34:09 AI Native Banking
37:03 Jobs and the Human Contribution 

📍Hot take: “ We've had a new layer of financial services by the fintechs …  and we totally overestimated the impact of these new players to the existing players.”
📍Hot take:  To create a better industry industry. It doesn't have to be FinTech completed. It's. Destroying banks. It doesn't have to be banks, completely destroying newcomers. There are so much, there's so much room for us to all play together to create a better ecosystem for all of us. 

Keywords: AI, FinTech, Digital Banking, Financial Services, Disruption, Future of Work, 5G, Banking Innovation

More about our guests 
🌐Dave Wallace on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davejvwallace/ 
🌐Dharmesh Mistry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dharmesh-mistry-b81207/ 
🌐Demystify Podcast on Fintech Futures: https://www.fintechfutures.com/keyword/demystify-podcast 
More about our host and One Vision Podcast 
🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 
🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 
🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 
🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision 

#AI #Fintech #FutureOfWork #BankingIndustry #DigitalTransformation #5G

As AI is becoming more common place and innovative, new uses are being found for it.  Higher education for example could benefit from the implementation of bespoke AI chatbots. One person who knows all about this is Sean O’Grady, Lead Learning Designer and Deputy AI Futurist at the IDEA Lab, Imperial Business School.
The IDEA Lab is developing tailor-made, course-specific AI avatar lecturers that act as digital twins to several of Imperial’s teaching professors. A key strength of the avatars is that they can provide students with real-time specialist knowledge, regardless of geographical distance or time zone differences (in the case of online courses. 
I recently caught up with Sean and he spoke to me about his background, AI, bespoke AI chatbots, and more.
More about Sean O’Grady:
As Lead Learning Designer in the IDEA Lab, Sean collaborates with faculty, academic and programme management and media to design and evaluate online programmes within the business school, primarily the Global Online MBA (GMBA). Sean explores how technology can be used to create impactful learning experiences while maintaining a pedagogy first approach to my work.