Life after Royal Bank of Scotland | Sanjeev Kumar | Negotiator 36

Sanjeev Kumar and Sami Miettinen worked together at Royal Bank of Scotland around 2010 to 2012, and this conversation picks up the thread almost a decade later. Sanjeev went on to run RBS global corporate advisory out of London, returned to Asia, built acquisition and leverage finance at MUFG in Singapore, and has just stepped into the next phase of his career. The heart of the episode is pinBox Solutions, a fintech focused on getting low-income workers and especially low-income women into savings and pension schemes, already live in Rwanda, Kenya and India with the stated ambition of lifting a billion people out of old-age poverty. Along the way they discuss financial inclusion in developing markets, why longevity is the sustainability question nobody prices, the unsolvable asset allocation puzzle in defined contribution systems, and what a fulfilling finance career looks like after the global financial crisis.

00:00 What pinBox Solutions actually does
00:25 Reconnecting after RBS with Sanjeev Kumar
01:20 Covering Finnish multinationals and the China story
02:30 Running global corporate advisory from London
03:30 Back to Asia and the move to MUFG
04:20 Leaving MUFG and starting the next phase
05:40 Life in Singapore and the Raffles ritual
06:40 Singapore versus the Finnish pension model
08:00 Introducing pinBox Solutions
09:00 The founders and the advisory board
10:00 Live in Rwanda Kenya and India
10:40 Fintech blockchain and tokenised assets
11:50 Financial inclusion in developing markets
13:00 Building an ecosystem rather than taking share
13:50 Progress narratives and the pension blind spot
14:50 Longevity as a sustainability question
15:40 What finance can be after the crisis
16:30 Funded pensions versus debt funded benefits
17:20 A multi country platform and a billion people
18:00 The asset allocation dilemma
19:00 No holy grail in portfolio construction
20:00 Agnostic on investments and working with providers
20:40 What comes after a banking career
21:50 The rise of impact investing
22:50 Disintermediation and the macro backdrop
24:00 The value of global connections
24:40 Why Sami started the Negotiator channel
25:20 Rebuilding trust in finance
26:20 Combining an executive role with board work
27:40 Closing thoughts