As is my tradition, I'm taking a moment to reflect on the past year. You can find my previous year-end reviews dating back to 2019 (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023). While 2024 brought its share of difficulties, I'm filled with gratitude for the positive experiences and remarkable progress we made at Backbase. I'm especially thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with such a humble and talented team. Listing everyone would be impossible, but I want to express my sincere appreciation for their dedication and collaboration.
My 2024 review will focus on:
- Books
- Articles
- Serving My Life Purpose (My work at Backbase)
1. Books
I'm thrilled to have read 74 books this year! You can find the complete list on Goodreads, but I've highlighted a few of my favorites below:
- Hold On to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers
- Right Thing, Right Now: Justice in an Unjust World
- The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values
- Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life's Emergence
- The Self-Assembling Brain: How Neural Networks Grow Smarter
- Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
- Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI
- A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
- My Father's Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's
- Party of One: The Rise of Xi Jinping and China's Superpower Future
- Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ
- The Fund: Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates, and the Unraveling of a Wall Street Legend
- Why We Remember: Unlocking Memory's Power to Hold on to What Matters
- The Capitalist Manifesto: Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World
- The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism
- Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things
- Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America
Articles
I maintain three principal lines of inquiry in my article writing, developing them further as my experience expands.
2.1 Cloud Journeys
- Cloud Journey - Part 1. A basic introduction of cloud, applying PACE layering and The 6R's.
- Cloud Journey - Part 2. A quick review on what is the good organization chart to enable cloud journey.
- Cloud Journey - Part 3. A quick view on Business Values and Business Drivers on a cloud journey.
- Cloud Journey - Part 4. What does cloud mean for your "Talents & Culture"?
- Cloud Journey - Part 5. Using Platform Ops to accelerate DevSecOps adoption
- Cloud Journey - Part 6 | Foundations of Cloud Architecture
- Cloud Journey - Part 7 | Customer Data Platform (CDP)
- Cloud Journey - Part 8 | Customer Data Strategy
- Cloud Journey - Part 9 | Cloud for CFOs
- Cloud Journey - Part 10 | FinOps
- Cloud Journey - Part 11 | LLMs in Finance using FinGPT
- Cloud Journey - Part 12 | Ecosystem Digital Servitization using Data Spaces by aws
2.2 Platformization of Banking
- Platformization of Banking - Part 1 - Introduction
- Platformization of Banking - Part 2 - Journeys
- Platformization of Banking - Part 3 - Bank of the Future
- Platformization of Banking - Part 4 - Embedded Finance to uplift TOI
- Platformization of Banking - Part 5 - Relationship Banking
- Cloud Journey - Part 11 | LLMs in Finance using FinGPT
- Platformization of Banking - Part 6 - Unleashing the Power of Language Models: Disrupting Retail Banking with LLM Technology
2.3 AI and LLM
- LLM Series Part 1 | Cloud Journey - Part 11 | LLMs in Finance using FinGPT
- LLM Series Part 2 | Unleashing the Power of Language Models: Disrupting Retail Banking with LLM Technology | Platformization of Banking - Part 6
- LLM Series Part 3 | Make AI-Driven Decisions: Financial Statement Analysis with LangChain & OpenAI
- LLM Series Part 4 | Level Up Your Developer Experience (DevEx) with GenAI
- LLM Series Part 5 | How LLMs Can Chatify Your Database
- LLM Part 6 | Dockerize Your Career Coach: Deploying an LLM App with Ollama and LangChain
- LLM Part 7 | Governance
- LLM Part 8 | Unleash the AI Without the Price Tag
- LLM Part 9 | LakeFS: The Missing Piece in Your Data Pipeline
- LLM Part 10: Real-Time GenAI Platform Banking
- LLM Part 11: Inverse Reinforcement Learning
- LLM Part 12: Reimagining Recommendations: LLMs as a New Frontier
3. Serving my Life Purpose | My work at Backbase
I played a key role in driving innovation at HDBank, leading the charge on our 0-fee (freemium) banking launch, which significantly streamlined the onboarding process for digitally active users. This was followed by the development of our pioneering 1'Click Banking model. My focus has always been on understanding and anticipating customer needs, delivering value at the right moment utilizing AI at scale. I outlined this approach as part of our "Empathic Banking" strategy, demonstrating how financial services can create truly impactful customer connections (see my 2022 post for more details).
At the end of May 2024, I concluded a highly successful two-year tenure leading HDBank's Digital Banking team. During this period, we delivered exceptional results, including a 4x expansion of our customer base, a 5x increase in new customer acquisition (with 84% originating from digital channels), and a 7x surge in active users and a 5x increase in logins. Our online deposits grew by an impressive 11x, while total operating income per customer increased nearly 3x, and we achieved a remarkable shift to over 96% digital retail transactions. I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside such a dedicated and high-performing team.
Ultimately, I want to contribute to building a future where banking is truly seamless and personalized, empowering individuals and businesses to achieve their financial goals. I believe Backbase is uniquely positioned to lead this transformation, and I'm excited and honored to be a part of it. I envision a future where banks use our platform to not only meet but exceed customer expectations, fostering long-term relationships built on trust and mutual success. By focusing on customer-centricity and continuous innovation, we can redefine the banking landscape and create a positive impact on millions of lives.
In my role as Head of AI, I'm focused on how elevate product holding and cause banks to win primary relationship with their clients using AI. My primary goal is to leverage data and technology to create more personalized and engaging experiences for bank customers. This involves building robust user profiles, implementing advanced analytics, developing AI-powered recommendation systems. I'm also working to strengthen the collaboration between product, engineering, and marketing teams to ensure we're delivering maximum value to our clients.
2024 has been a year of growth, learning, and exciting new beginnings. I'm deeply passionate about creating a future where banking truly empowers individuals and businesses, and I'm thrilled to be pursuing this vision at Backbase . I'm excited for what 2025 holds and look forward to continuing this journey with renewed energy and purpose.
