Four Eyes Financial Wins National Recognition, International Clients
SAINT JOHN — Four Eyes Financial walked away with two honours at the second annual Canadian RegTech Awards held in Toronto last week. The company was recognized in the categories of Best Wealth Management Regulatory Solution and Canadian Founded Reg Tech Company of the Year, for its work helping wealth management firms align investors’ risk profiles with suitable investment products.
This is the second year the company has won a Canadian RegTech Award. It picked up the Best Compliance-as-a-service Solution in 2021 in the honours’ inaugural run.
“We were delighted to have that recognition,” says Lori Weir, the CEO and co-founder of Four Eyes. “Specifically, in the space that we are a player in, and where our clients are, where we’re really trying to make a difference.”
That space, providing a platform for investment firms to determine suitability of products for their clients while helping manage regulatory and reputational risk, is a very specific one, not only in Canada but worldwide. Four Eyes’ expertise in the field is not going unnoticed.
The company has picked up a major global client — one of the largest investment management companies in the world.
“It is a little bit exotic, and people like it,” Weir says when she explains that Four Eyes is located in Saint John to potential clients and industry colleagues. “I believe in technology … you are competing globally.”
PODCAST: Lori Weir Of Four Eyes Financial On ‘Riding The Waves’ Of Entrepreneurship
She says ultimately, it’s a combination of the networks that companies build in their ecosystems, and the products themselves, that determine success.
“I think that what is important is those relationships, and the people that ultimately you are entrusting your business to,” she says. She notes that she and her colleagues visit cities across North America often to develop and maintain those relationships and that Four Eyes has a permanent presence in Toronto.
“These are decisions that prospects take very seriously, and they’re going to scan the environment for products that can functionally do all the things that they want them to do. But if they’re thinking about a replacement for the next 10-to-15 years, they want what is on the cutting edge today, not what is ‘tried and true’ and in maintenance mode today. I think that has more of an influence in terms of how you’re selected.”
Having niche expertise is another advantage in the global marketplace.
“I interact on the global stage in the ‘reg tech’ space and when you get down to regulatory technology and then specifically in financial services, and then more specifically in investment and wealth management, then you know what – the shelf is actually not that huge, even globally.”
Because a good product can speak for itself, and technology has opened up channels of communication that didn’t previously exist in the business realm, there is now a world of possibilities available to New Brunswick businesses.
“It is really important to me that we build out an industry in this region. It’s the future and there’s no reason that we can’t be considered as a region, a hub for companies that are producing really interesting financial technology.”
Atlantic FinTech is an organization aiming to do just that, by accelerating the financial technology industry’s growth in the four Atlantic provinces, which are home to over 500 financial sector businesses and over 35,000 financial sector professionals.
The organization’s recently released Atlantic FinTech Report, notes that the opportunities in FinTech are growing, as changes in payment methods and retail banking create market gaps – particularly in digitizing finance.
“The Atlantic region is well positioned for growth in the fintech sector as the result of key investments made by government in internet access and attracting back-office operations of large companies,” says Alicia Roisman Ismach, head of FinTech for Atlantic FinTech, in a press release.
“These investments have created an environment where today’s founders are succeeding on the global stage, transforming the financial aspects directly inside and outside of the financial services realm. Whether in manufacturing, supply chain, insurance, banking or even e-commerce, financial technologies hold transformational power, value and potential and will play a key economic role in the region’s future.”
The report found that of the region’s 140 FinTechs, 108 of them were founded after 2010, and that 42.1 percent of those companies are in New Brunswick, constituting an even bigger share of the pie than population leader Nova Scotia, which came in at 40.7 percent.
The report identified 11 categories of FinTech, with PayTech constituting the largest number of companies, followed by AI and Data, Wealth Management, FI Tech and Software, and Cryptocurrency and Blockchain. Other categories of companies included Crowdfunding and Donations, ESG, InsurTech, LendTech, RegTech and PropTech.
It’s a sector that is maturing and coming into its own.
“You know, when people think about technology, they generally think about it as an enabler, something that you bring into a manufacturing plant to increase operational efficiency. They don’t think of it as an industry,” says Weir.
“When you see those graphs and charts that say: here’s how energy is doing; here’s how learning and education are doing; or healthcare services,” she explains.
“My goal would be a bar chart that shows: here’s how technology is doing. That would be an indicator to me that we have actually become an industry sector.”
Alex Graham is a Huddle reporter in Saint John. Send her your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].