The man isn't particularly shy and so he claims No. 1 spot among Swiss fintech experts. One fintech that he advises has just reached unicorn status, and it's not the first to do so. Who is this man behind the fintech craze?
Saturday's announcement that Western Union was taking a $200 million stake in STC Pay, a payment unit of the Saudi telecom firm, made all the difference. Today, the fintech's worth surged to $1.33 billion.
Swiss fintech guru Spiros Margaris is a member of STC Pay's board of directors and executive committee. He isn't just a preeminent fintech and insurtech expert in the Swiss community, his reach clearly is global. That's what Wefox Group said when it brought him into the fold as adviser two years ago – Wefox being an insurtech with a valuation of 1.65 billion euros ($1.96 billion), another unicorn.
First Mover at the Turn of the Century
Margaris didn't start out in finance but in tech. After completing an MBA at University of Toronto and an EMBA at University of St. Gallen, he founded his own first fintech startup at the turn of the century. The company's purpose was to create a measurable way of accounting for the investment activities of financials, using a software-based tracking and rating system.
After 10 years in finance – including a year as an assistant vice president at Credit Suisse and one-and-a-half years as director at UBS – Margaris shifted his attention to the advisory business and to a career in fintech.
No Place for Modesty
Reuters' Refinitiv named Margaris the most important influencer in finance. And, he's the first and only influencer to have received «The Triple Crown» from Onalytica, the analysis company, for the three areas of fintech, artificial intelligence, and blockchain.
Margaris isn't shy of showing his titles off. Modesty may be a typical trait of the Swiss, but modesty won't take you far in the world of Margaris, he told «Aargauer Zeitung» in 2017. The world of Margaris and fintech to a large extent means the U.S., where most successful tech and internet companies are based. Over in the U.S., he will always make his importance in fintech circles known right from the beginning.
Share Performance
And successful he is. The share price of Canada's internet firm Glance Pay surged to $1 from $0.35 within a few months after they appointed him as an adviser in 2017.
But he also predicted in the midst of the hype that the fintech industry was in for a bout of company failures. In 2016, he told «NZZ am Sonntag» that innovations as such wouldn't go but many firms however would: «For others, mergers with banks are the best solution.» His words were echoed by the findings of a study published by Forrester a week ago.
