Mizuho Spotlight

Five questions with Dan Dolev

Dan Dolev
Dan Dolev Senior Fintech Equity Research Analyst
September 2, 2021

1. You said Square is essentially going to reimagine banking and is analogous to buying J.P. Morgan in 1871. Where do you see banking in 10 years?

We believe Square’s Cash App could become the ultimate neo-bank and money center bank of the future. Over the next decade+, Cash App should continue to grow its user base, as the US bank account total addressable market is currently greater than 10 times the size of Cash App’s current user base. It can expand its product offering to potentially include the likes of payday lending, home and mortgage lending, and online checkout in addition to existing products like instant deposit, P2P, and buy-now-pay-later. Ten years from now, customers are likely to be drawn to one-stop-shop, high-tech money center banks like Square that better utilize data to enhance product offerings.

2. Fintech seems to be changing at a rapid pace. How do firms stay ahead of it?

Innovation and gearing products and services towards the habits of younger generations. The large, incumbent banks already have the older generation of customers locked up. Companies that are likely to find the most success will gear products and services towards the habits of younger generations, which may have comparatively small wallets today but will soon become the larger wallets. Fintechs that are able to gain the trust of these customers and onboard them today are likely to keep them into the future.

3. Did you have any moment when you saw an innovation you immediately realized it was revolutionary?

The use of blockchain in decentralized finance is revolutionary. It can help speed up transactions and also lower the cost of transactions. This should truly democratize payments. 

4. COVID has shifted a lot of things to virtual. What has that done for fintech and can you foresee a day when physical currency is no longer produced?

COVID certainly accelerated the shift from physical to digital payments. The fintech industry has been a major beneficiary of this trend. While we expect cash to remain a viable payment mechanism for the foreseeable future, we should continue to see gradual increased adoption of digital payment solutions.

5. Now that we are starting to go back to more social interaction, what do you look forward to most?

This summer, I spent time vacationing overseas with my family, so I am appreciating the ability to travel freely again. And I like being able to meet with covered companies, clients, and people across the fintech ecosystem. It is great to be able to interact with them face-to-face.

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