Nick Reid is Head of Strategic Growth, Europe, at Manchester-based BankiFi.
BankiFi, a provider of embedded banking solutions, was founded in 2017 by Mark Hartley to help financial institutions assist small and medium-sized businesses with its technology.
Reid initially joined as a sales executive in 2021 before being promoted to his current role in July 2022.
Prior to joining the company, he spent over a decade in the banking industry. He is passionate about open banking and the opportunities it has created for financial institutions.
Reid shared what a recent week in his life looked like…
Monday
Monday is a WFH day and always starts at 8am with the weekly Teams huddle with colleagues in mainland Europe and Australia. We do the same again with colleagues in the US later in the day. This brings together colleagues from sales, marketing, product and tech to share all business updates from the previous week and everyone’s priorities for the week ahead. Whilst my remit is Europe, it’s incredibly useful to speak with colleagues from Sydney to Ohio and share trends and insights from our respective regions.
I am very much a morning person and if I have written tasks or business proposals requiring more creativity, I keep my mornings free for that and schedule meetings for the back end of the day. Later this week, I am a panellist at a Digital Banking conference in Romania so my time is spent preparing for that. Spare moments in my working week are spent absorbing information from various industry sources (Finextra, The Banker and Pymnts.com are notable examples).
Referencing content from these publications and combining them with my own opinions is invaluable when it comes to preparing for speaking opportunities like this week’s. Monday evening is usually an opportunity to get to the gym, but not before spending time with my wife and two young daughters. Both love several stories at bedtime and eldest is well versed in the art of procrastination!
Tuesday
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings usually involve the nursery drop-off followed by taking the train into our offices in Manchester. My commute this week looks a little different! My journey to Bucharest starts early. Usually for any travel (business or leisure) I fly from Manchester for convenience. However direct flight options mean I am going from Liverpool on this occasion.
Bucharest is wet but I am staying in the old town next to the National Bank of Romania and the buildings (some holding government department offices) are extremely picturesque, representative of much of the architecture in Eastern Europe.
The conference has a fantastic agenda and I am spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding which sessions to attend. With my role focusing on business growth, my primary aim is to connect with prospective bank clients. For BankiFi, that is typically anyone representing a bank’s SME segment, digital business banking offering or strategic partnerships. However the wider industry also fascinates me, so I maximise the chance to hear from industry peers about the latest trends, themes and technology and think about how it can shape our own strategy.
The European banking and payments network is quite fragmented, so this week is an excellent opportunity to stay up to date with the digital banking landscape in South East Europe. The conference organisers have put on dinner in the evening. The hotel conference venue used to be a bank and the underground vaults have been transformed into a bar. Certainly not my average Tuesday evening!
Wednesday
I try to keep on top of email and instant messages whilst travelling, however my out of office is on and colleagues and clients know to expect a delayed response. Business travel isn’t always conducive to keeping active or eating healthily, so I always pack my trainers and grab any chance to use the hotel gym or go for a run.
Today is the panel and whilst I really like public speaking, there is always nervous energy. The moderator and my fellow panellists, all very experienced and respected in the industry, make it a really easy conversation and an enjoyable experience. The panel subject addresses the implementation of Open Banking and PSD2 in Europe. With the UK being a frontrunner in its adoption, I am fortunate to be able to articulate examples of where Open Banking has created better outcomes for British consumers and businesses, as well as our own experience of helping banks to capitalise on the opportunities it presents.
Conferences are always full on. After the closing remarks, I do some calls via Teams from my hotel room and start to wind down by FaceTiming my family. My wife runs her own business and my daughters have both been at pre-school today so there is plenty to talk about. I also take the opportunity to catch up on some of the action from the World Cup in Qatar. I also catch up on the latest from my own team, usually via social media. Being from Manchester, I am always asked whether I support United or City. Answering Stockport County is usually a conversation starter or killer! Whilst family and work commitments mean I can’t go to matches as frequently as I used to, I go to as many games as possible, home and away.
Thursday
Travelling with business means sometimes seeing nothing but the same four walls of a hotel, conference or meeting room so I take the opportunity to go for a walk around Bucharest before the UK comes online for the start of the day. Time at the airport and on the journey home is split between work, reading and listening to podcast.
For work, it’s following up on actions from the week, sharing insights from the conference with colleagues and closing out anything urgent. My top three podcasts are BBC Newscast, Wisden Cricket Weekly and 11:FS Fintech Insider. My iPad is also a valuable travel companion and there is usually a foreign language crime drama downloaded to it. It’s a relief to be back in the UK and it’s a nice moment after battling the M56 to do bath and bed time with my daughters before spending time with my wife in the evening.
Friday
Fridays are always a work from home day. I get up with the kids and, on Fridays only, Paw Patrol is the background to breakfast before starting work. Even when I haven’t been out of the office for the week, I usually spend a good chunk of Friday mornings speaking to colleagues before the weekend.
This is especially important this week because a lot can happen in a short space of time in a small business serving global clients in a fast-paced industry. After client calls, I always try close my laptop in the middle of the afternoon. It’s not always possible, especially if I have something urgent on my desk, but one of several things that attracted me to BankiFi was a flexible but accountable attitude to working. Being able to spend Friday afternoon in the local library with my eldest daughter (insatiable appetite for reading) is precious, especially after a long week away from home.
