By Dennis Buckly
In 2007, she saw millions of Americans lose everything because of the faulty American Financial System. Immediately, she knew she needed to do something.
Join Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder, President and Chief Strategy Officer – BankMobile, USA in the 4th ASEAN Exec-IT event to gain more insights on the Disruption for Digital Differentiation.
In an era where consumer demands are rising and technologies are rapidly disrupting, the secret to survive is hardwork – to some people, at least. For Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder, President and Chief Strategy Officer at BankMobile, surviving is not enough, and hardwork is a mere understatement. Her secret to success is her “obsession towards solving customer pain points.” Having that extra mile beyond hardwork is key to not just survive, but to thrive in an age where disrupting technologies are the horses, and customers are kings. For Sidhu, leveraging technologies to create new and more efficient business models should be one’s genuine purpose to thrive. Passion comes a long way.
With pure dedication and resilience, Sidhu has been consistently recognized for her accomplishments in the industry. Back in 2015, she was up for multiple accolades such as the New York Business Journal’s Women of Influence Award; one of Auto Finance News’ 10 Executives to Watch in Auto Finance; and one of Bank Innovation’s 2015 Innovators to Watch. Her success continued in 2016 as she was selected as the Woman to Watch Honoree in Lehigh Valley Business Women of Influence. She upped her game in 2017 as she was named as one of CEO Connection’s Most Influential Women of the Mid-Market. And just recently, she was selected as one of 2018’s 33 under 33 by Strtup Boost. For someone who’s gained tremendous success at such a young age, Sidhu definitely proves to be a woman to look out for in the corporate world.
IT STARTED WITH A VISION
Despite her now elite status as President, Co-Founder and CSO, Sidhu always goes back to her humble beginnings when she first started out her career. “After graduating from college, my first day of my career was the Lehman bankruptcy and I was joining Lehman Brothers,” she says. “This start to my career had a huge impact on where I am today.” She constantly reminds herself what inspired her to work hard and achieve so much. In this case, it was her country’s weak financial system, and seeing people losing their money. She immediately knew that she needed to do something. “I saw the fragility of the American financial system and saw millions of Americans lose everything.” The idea of saving the American financial system’s downfall motivated her to formulate this vision of providing Americans a consumer-focused product that is both affordable and easy-to-use. “Always keep it the customer in mind,” she reiterates.
With innovation and experimentation, paired with her keen eye on technological trends, BankMobile came into picture as the first completely digital bank delivering a secure financial foundation.
EXECUTING THE VISION: “BUILD A BANK THAT WE WOULD LOVE TO USE EVERY DAY.”
As what they say in BankMobile, “Nobody ever said that changing the world of banking would be easy — but we prove, time and time again, that we’re up to the task.” Indeed, it wasn’t easy. Sidhu’s vision of banking revamp had its fair share of challenges. They faced the challenge of finding a way to grow exponentially, but not being able to do so because of their direct-to-customer strategy. By remodeling this strategy means contradicting their initial purpose, which is to give accessible banking. This dilemma made Sidhu and her team think out-of-the-box, and soon pivoted into a B2B2C strategy – which helped them expand as a larger business without having to sacrifice their consumer-centricity. Despite being the most challenging channel to conquer, Sidhu is confident that the B2B2C strategy will create a mutually beneficial service that’ll give BankMobile and their loyal consumers great satisfaction. “You need to have the skills, systems, processes in place to execute on your strategy,” she adds.
Innovation started this organization; innovation expanded this organization. “It has always been at the root of our culture,” Sidhu says. “We came into business to innovate and disrupt traditional banking.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
When asked what her next vision is, Sidhu affirms her hopes of seeing her organization to rise above the ranks in the next 5 years.“I see BankMobile as a Top 5 bank in the country, acquiring a million new customers each year,” she says. “And most importantly, financially empowering our customers through education, our products and our customer service.”
Learn more about Luvleen Sidhu, and her thoughts on the Disruption for Digital Differentiation in our 4th ASEAN Exec-IT event in Singapore, on the 14th – 16th November 2018.
“My presentation, “Disrupting Banking through the Use of Technology,” will focus on the launch and success of BankMobile, a fintech company with a banking charter that I cofounded in 2015. I will discuss why my father and I decided to create the bank, our mission of financial empowerment, and how we have grown to nearly two million depositors all through the use of technology.”
Should you be interested to attend the ASEAN Exec-IT 2018 event in Singapore on the 14th – 16th November 2018, please contact Didi Jaafar at didi.jaafar@managementevents.com
