Session on Digital Financial Services by Allen B. Tuladhar

BSc was a guest session in Embark College, which is linked to an industry. Business Management (BSc. BM) students on the timely and rapidly developing subject Digital Financial Services. The speaker was a famous fintech leader and technology evangelist, Mr. Allen B. Tuladhar, whose career has been characterized by global financial innovation, but also years of work on supporting the digital ecosystem of Nepal. The session gave students a clear and practice-based insight into the digital, instant, and border-less movement of money in the modern world and what it entails to consumers, businesses, regulators, and the workforce of the future.

It began by putting the digital financial services into perspective, more than mobile banking or online payments. Students delved into the theme of the whole financial value chain being redesigned via technology, to include all customer onboarding and digital identity, through to the processing of payments, cross-border settlements, merchant acquiring, remittances, compliance systems, and embedded finance. Mr. Tuladhar pointed out that this disrupted the situation in which the finance industry was characterized by banks alone, but by a network of platforms and partners collaborating to provide financial access, speed, and convenience. The wider perspective assisted the students to relate the subject to the strategic business concepts of customer experience, operational effectiveness, risk management, and innovation.

One of the most important aspects of the lecture involved the practical presentation of the way fintech infrastructure functions under the hood. Mr. Tuladhar wrote about the growing dependency of modern institutions on the banking as a service models, in which financial functionality can be provided as APIs and modular systems, and not necessarily as bespoke systems. With this method, it is possible to launch products faster, scale, and provide access to a broader audience in a market where not all the customers can be served effectively by traditional banking means. For BSc. This was an essential learning to BM students because it is when technology is at the centre of service delivery that business models transform.

The session also provided a good idea of cross-border payments which is a field where his organization is presently operating. Learners were made to understand why transferring money across borders is not that easy as sending messages-since payments have to go through several intermediaries, settlement systems, foreign exchange, and compliance controls. Mr. Tuladhar discussed the complexity in simple terms and emphasized the reduction of friction, increased transparency, and the opportunities of making transfers faster and cheaper through the use of fintech solutions. This was especially applicable to the case of the Nepal country where remittances and international transactions contribute significantly to the household incomes and conduct of business.

In addition to the technology and systems, the lecture made students reflect on the human results of the digital finance. Digital financial services, designed in a responsible way, can increase financial inclusion, lessen cash dependency, enhance savings behavior, and provide small enterprises with improved access to financial services. Simultaneously, the session touched upon such vital issues as cybersecurity threats, fraud, consumer protection, and data privacy, and the danger of marginalizing groups who are not digitally accessible or literate. The students were asked to think about the ways in which responsible innovation demands not only business drive but also ethical consciousness the more data-driven finance is getting.

There was an added depth to the session by Mr. Tuladhar. Being a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Unlimited, he is the founder of a global fintech that has offices in Singapore, Canada, the US, the UK, Qatar, the UAE, and Poland, and provides solutions like banking as a service, cross-border payments, and solutions that assist financial institutions to move money safely across the borders. He is also a policy advocate and advisor to the Government of Nepal, the United Nations, and other emerging market Governments with more than thirty years experience in the technology sector–between technological potential and policy willingness.

His efforts to enhance digital access and literacy in Nepal were also very motivating. Mr. Tuladhar has funded education by donating computer labs, which have computers, printers, UPS and Networking, to over 110 rural government schools. He was also a four-year Microsoft Regional Director, a leadership of eight years running Microsoft Innovation Centers, and aids to Microsoft Student Partners in 68 academic institutions across the country. His technical work has been to assist in the development of the Nepali versions of Windows and Office, language tools, including spellcheckers, and standardization of local language computing, such as Nepalbhasa. Typeshala, a Nepali typing tutor is one of his most renowned inventions that assisted in increasing the level of digital involvement among the users who do not depend on English. As a reward to such work, he was widely called by the name of Adhunik Bhanubhakta by the Vice Chancellor Base Dev Tripathi of the Royal Nepal Academy- in appreciation of the fact that he had made computing more accessible in Nepali language environments.

At the end of the session, there was the interactive part where students were able to contemplate career paths in fintech, the changing purpose of banks, and how business leaders could create digital financial products that are competitive, compliant, and customer-focused. On the whole, the guest lecture has enhanced the knowledge of the students regarding the transformation of economies by digital finance and provided the solid connection between the classroom knowledge and the practical experience in the industrial field. Embark College is determined to offer such exposure as students can graduate with conceptual understanding as well as applied knowledge of the industries that shape Nepal and the world.