In conversation with Georges Bock

Read time: 4:30 Minutes

Georges Bock, Founder & CEO at Investre, participated in a panel discussion on “Wealth Tech at a Turning Point: Consolidation, AI and the Race to Scale” on our Festival Stage.

You spent 27 years at KPMG, including as Managing Partner of KPMG Luxembourg. What made you take the leap to become a fintech founder?

Georges Bock: During my career at KPMG, I always needed new challenges. I'm very grateful for those 27 years, I learned a lot. But there came a moment where I had to choose: do I retire here, or is there something more meaningful and fancier to do? I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to retire at that place. The logical consequence was to step out.

While still at KPMG, I wanted to properly reflect on what to do next, but it was not possible - you're so caught up in the wheels. So, I made the break. Once I did,I realised that I wanted to build something. I had always been an entrepreneur at heart, even within a large organisation. 

At some point you have to stop doing studies and simply jump. Either you go for it, or you forget about it entirely – but then you can't look back and wonder whether you should have. I wasn't ready to live with that regret. So, I started the business.

I can feel a lot of passion clearly. In summary, what are you now building with Investre?

Bock: We are convinced that the financial services industry is still running on steam machines. The technology in use today is 20 to 25 years old. In information technology terms, it’s ages.

The solution that is crystallising is tokenisation and blockchain. Five years ago, many people questioned whether it would ever arrive. Today, nobody contests it anymore. We just debate the speed of it – and I believe it's moving fast. We give the investment process a better experience using this technology. And by doing that, we can make it faster, we can make it cheaper, we can make it more transparent, and safer. 

Our core business focuses on the investment fund space. More specifically the journey from the fund to the investor, which I believe is rather poorly served right now, and it has become better: be it no multiple KYC processes, be it faster delivery of assets to clients, and also safer holdings of the clients in networks.

In your panel on the Festival Stage you said something that really resonated, about “why should I trust a bank or an investment manager, if I can’t have the experience that I am expecting?” – Can you tell us more?

Bock: I believe it is important - and apart from the efficiency gains, if we have settlement cycles reduced from three days to zero, it also de-risks the system. But if I look at my clients, they want to be served in a way they feel is adequate. And for them, what is adequate is the here and now.

If I come to you as an advisor because you are more intelligent, because I feel you are the better version of me - but you work with technology that is 30 years old, why should I believe that you give me the best investment advice? It makes no sense.

Either your clients say "my bank is really smart and does things the smart way", and they stay. Or they see you pretending to be sophisticated while not doing it the smart way, you lose credibility and they leave. That's exactly what we see happening in the generational switch - and that is where traditional banks have to question their strategy further. 

I absolutely agree that it is about trust, I also agree it’s about good and solid research and knowledge. But then if you miss the last mile, the way you actually deliver that to the client, you lose the game. It's not acceptable anymore. There will be no innovation without trust, but also no trust without innovation.

For the next five years, the big play is not the innovation of the product - it's the innovation of the infrastructure. Are you a part of that infrastructure or not? Because the infrastructure itself will change the way we look at things. When I start to realise that I could receive my salary at the end of the day via a smart contract, I will go to an employer who offers that, and I will try to place that money directly in a money market fund or a savings product where I earn interest. Tokenisation of RWA will play a key-role when it comes investment solutions.

I will ask myself: why should I give that money to anybody? I should just have it – full stop. The speed by which we are going to want to have access to our money, and the usage of that money, will make us very conscious about minutes and seconds. 

You could say "oh, the world is already quick enough" – well, in financial services, for sure, it was not yet quick. It's going to get quick, very soon.

Last but not least, let’s talk about one the most debated topics at FIBE 26: European sovereignty and the funding gap with the US. We try to build European technology, but often still need American capital to scale. Do you have any ideas about how we can fix that?

Bock: We have to realise one thing: we often look at the United States as an example when it comes to innovation and speed – and they have proven, time and again, that they were quicker. 

Be it the cloud, social media, or so many other examples. Last year at Davos Larry Fink (Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO of BlackRock) said, that he had just realised how big of a competitive advantage the US had because of capital availability. This is a real, core competitive advantage, and we must fix it. How we can do that, that’s the question.

I believe it is a combination of state of mind and policy. One could say: if the normal market does not provide the money, shouldn’t we have programs where we give money? Yes, we have European programs for startups, but they are slow and not fit for purpose. 

I once tried to access a European grant. That was five years ago, and the person on the other side was explaining what I wanted to do as something that already existed. And we know tokenisation of RWA just now starts five years later. As a founder, you don't necessarily have time for that. All of this must become quicker. Those programs, while well-intended, have to be far more agile.

Speed is part of the solution. We are slow because, we are afraid of the risk of failure - and we must get rid of that fear. We have to accept that some of that money is going to fail, because that's also what happens in the US system. A lot fails, but some will break through properly. 

First, prioritise speed over risk, then accept the risk of failure. Once authorities make that shift, perhaps people will follow – and younger generations are more open to this than ever. But right now, there are simply not enough means given to people who have ideas and want to test them. That's the reality, and it hits us hard.