Following on from part one, here's the second part of Find the Edge founder Kenny Goodman's interview with Bank to the Future co-founder, Simon Dixon.
In this part, Simon explains how crowdfunding will genuinely make the world a better place, and why the current banking system needs to change – quickly.
Watch the conclusion to this enlightening interview below:
Here are some of the discussions between Kenny and Simon:
00.00 Kenny wastes no time getting stuck in – ‘Where do you make your money?'
02.02 – Simon admits he's a bit of a ‘banking geek.' He says ‘We need to change the way traditional banks work. Essentially there's a few things that many people don't know when they deposit with their bank. The first is that when you deposit money, the bank becomes the legal owner of your money, and have the authority to spend it as they wish.'
‘There's only two types of banks lending at the moment. One, because they want a bit of positive PR, and the others because the government have got lots of initiatives to force them to lend to businesses. So the banks are no longer the institution that, if you're a business, you go and get your funds from.'
04:45 – Simon discusses crowdfunding – ‘It shifts the world, to a world, where people can build finance based on shared ideology.
‘If you've been behaving well online, and been building good networks offline, then your crowd funding is going to be successful because you know lots of people who are all going to be willing to chip in a small amount to support you, because you've built those relationships.'
06:23 – ‘What is really interesting is when every single financial product becomes a crowd funded product. Including insurance, including mortgages – and everything will – once that happens – shift from a world where institutions decide who gets the money, to ordinary people deciding who gets the money.
‘That's moving to a world where what gets funded is a reflection of the values of society, rather than a world where what gets funded is the values of what makes more money for a bank.'
07:10 – ‘There's a bigger game that I want everyone to participate in – it's taking back and democratising the world of finance.'
07:30 – He says making money is important, but money should be used ‘for doing good.'
08:18 – Crowdfunding market is comparatively pretty small at present. ‘We've got a lot of catching up top do.'
09:00 – Discusses why banks create money when you withdraw. 97% of every penny in the world has been created by a bank. The difference between bank created money and ordinary money is that it's all based on debt.
10:15 – Will the banks change? – not at the moment, they're protected by law.
10:15 – ‘Most of the banking sector, the people who work there, are decent honest people. They just don't know how the system works, and the system is bigger than any individual. So it's an education process, and that starts at our universities, that have been teaching wrong models to students.
11:30 – Discusses how the company was founded with the goal of being a sustainable bank, and a model for other banks.
12:10 – ‘I think entrepreneurs are the true heroes of the world.'
12:30 – Simon says his team are committed to changing the world, and that to be a good entrepreneur you have to be deluded enough to think you can do that.
13:30 – Discusses the fact that Sir Richard Branson has recommended Bank to the Future.
14:33 – Simon talks about his visits to the House of Commons and Lords to help them increase competition in banking.
15:55 – Says the financial crisis is not a natural disaster, it’s a human creation. Also says it can act as a catalyst for change.
16:37 – Simon discusses expanding, plans for the future, and why crowdinvesting is not currently legal in the US.
