WEBVTT - How Fast Food Is Using Tech To Bridge Labor Crunch 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.040 Welcome to the Bloomberg Markets Podcast. I'm Paul Sweeney, alongside 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:06.920 my co host Matt Miller. Every business day we bring 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:11.520 you interviews from CEOs, market pros, and Bloomberg experts, along 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.600 with essential market moving news. Find the Bloomberg Markets Podcast 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:18.479 on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts, and 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.919 at Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. Now, we want to 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:25.439 talk about the restaurant business with Lad Ricker's, the CEO 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.639 of zen Put. If you run a large restaurant chain, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.240 you already know what the company does. It's a platform 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:42.440 used by huge names Domino's, Papa John's, uh KFC, five Guys, Chipotle, etcetera. Um, 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.879 I don't know exactly what it does flat, so I 0:00:45.960 --> 0:00:50.360 know that you your platform helps people with safety, helps people, 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.360 especially giving the COVID situation. But what exactly do people 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.640 use zen Put to do? Yeah, of course, thanks for 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.480 having us so our customers. You said to make sure 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.680 that every time you walk into one of their locations, 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:05.440 the food and dying experience is great. There making sure 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.360 that the food is being handled and prepared to safely, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:10.319 you know, taking temperature readings, making sure that the hot 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:13.000 food is hot. The cold food is cold, and particularly 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:15.960 given given last year with COVID, a lot of our 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:17.600 customers were used us to make sure that you know, 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.399 safety and clean procedures were followed, that they were being 0:01:20.400 --> 0:01:22.600 done correctly, so that you and I, whatever we walk 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:24.919 into one of these places, we know great, this place 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.200 is UM. This places following the like protocols and as 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:30.600 you were mentioning, that's correct. We worked with some phenomenal 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:34.640 brands that about UM and roughly about fifty locations across 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.640 a hundred plus companies, including including the Dominoes in Germany 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.119 and even there should grows technology in Germany as well. 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:45.520 So glad. You know, you walk past almost any restaurant 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.240 here in the States, whether it's a you know, part 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:50.440 of the national chain like a Papa John's or Chipotle, 0:01:50.720 --> 0:01:54.480 or you know, an independently owned restaurant, almost everyone has 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.840 a help wanted sign in the window here. How bad 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:04.800 is the labor shortage in the restaurants slash fast food business? Yeah, look, 0:02:04.800 --> 0:02:06.720 it's it's it's challenging right now. You know, there's a 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:08.800 there's a comment that we heard from our customers starting 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:10.520 a couple of months ago that said we felt like 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.440 we just got out of one pandemic and we're getting 0:02:12.440 --> 0:02:15.720 into another one, but now one being the labor shortage. Look, 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.200 it's um, it's uh, it's challenging, without a doubt. I 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.200 think early on you had a shortage of people that 0:02:21.280 --> 0:02:23.520 didn't want to go back. They were worried about you know, 0:02:23.560 --> 0:02:25.040 I don't want to get sick of it, I don't 0:02:25.080 --> 0:02:28.000 want to get COVID potentially from somebody else in the workplace, 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:30.120 and so they bought out of it. Um that's now 0:02:30.160 --> 0:02:34.240 fading a bit with vaccination. Vaccinations obviously where they are 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:35.960 today in terms of how many people are getting them, 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:38.359 um to, you're having a lot of people just kind 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.200 of question the type of work that they want to 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:42.760 be doing. All of a sudden they said, well, hold on, 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:44.960 I've been doing this for five or ten years, and 0:02:44.960 --> 0:02:46.280 maybe I don't want to do this thing more. Maybe 0:02:46.280 --> 0:02:48.040 I want to switch jobs and go to a different career. 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:50.600 And I think that the third piece of it a 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:52.560 little bit, and it kind of varies from the statements. 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.040 That is, some of the benefit the temporary benefits that 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.160 we have from the government that are coming in, but 0:02:57.200 --> 0:03:00.680 are also you know, providing some some money these individuals 0:03:00.680 --> 0:03:02.840 and so the customers a week talked to in regulations 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.120 are getting real creative, right for hitting out money just 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.480 to even get people walking the door for an application. 0:03:07.760 --> 0:03:12.840 Fifty dollars just to interview, fives on your first paycheck 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.840 if you start within two to three weeks, and another 0:03:15.840 --> 0:03:18.760 five drawars that anyone else that would recommend someone. So, um, 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:23.520 it's challenging for sure. So does this get sorted in 0:03:23.560 --> 0:03:27.040 the next couple of months. We know those unemployment benefits 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:31.320 run out in September, and I realized, you know, there 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.880 are other aspects to this, but once those are done 0:03:35.240 --> 0:03:38.840 and people have gone through savings, you'd assume they're gonna 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:40.800 want to go back and get fifty dollars for an 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:45.440 interview and five um to start off. Yeah, I'm actually 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:49.600 considering doing some interviews later today to get I think 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:52.120 I think as a whole you're probably gonna see that 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:55.240 exactly what you said towards maybe you know, my our 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.280 best guests is maybe towards the end of the summer 0:03:58.560 --> 0:04:01.360 beginning of the fall, at some point we start to 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.360 hit some level of normality, and I think maybe people 0:04:04.400 --> 0:04:06.520 start to kind of fade a little bit out of 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.040 the pandemic. To your point, the benefits start to run 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:11.520 out all of a sudden, jobs might be a little 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:13.000 bit harder to come by, right because some of these 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.360 places might might start finding the people that they need, 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:19.440 and people start to settle in into certain environments. UM 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:21.800 So I would imagine, you know, based on the things 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.359 that we're here and from from our customers, is that there. 0:04:24.400 --> 0:04:26.360 You know, while this started off a couple of months ago, 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.200 it's very difficult. They found ways to deal with it. 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.840 Um A lot of it usually have to deal with technology. 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.000 How do you invest in technology to basically make the 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.400 people that do have at the store with the restaurant 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:37.720 a lot more efficient. They can get more done this way, 0:04:38.080 --> 0:04:41.479 and so they're trying to find ways to increase that 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:43.880 so that hopefully by the time people do come back, 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.400 you know, and there and they're fully staff, they're rocking 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.279 and rolling, you know, on all cylinders that thirty seconds. 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:53.720 Is there a chicken wing shortage out there? Yeah, a 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:56.440 little bit. These uh, these these chicken uh, these chicken 0:04:56.440 --> 0:05:00.480 wars have gotten very serious. I think the you know, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:03.000 everyone's pushing into the chicken sere, which is the chicken wings. 0:05:03.000 --> 0:05:05.840 Obviously wingstoff did a phenomenal job during the pandemic, but 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:09.919 the most searching pieces. As prices have gone up on chicken. 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:11.599 I think Winstoff came out a couple of weeks ago 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.680 with there now five stop UH brand that's delivery only 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:17.920 they're buying whole chickens trying to get a lower price 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.640 for the chicken, and then they're now selling a big 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.719 chunk of it off from some other way. But that's 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:24.920 UH should be good. Listen, Chicken from a lot of 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:27.359 these places is pretty solid, so it's we benefit of 0:05:27.360 --> 0:05:29.800 consumers from these chicken wars. All right, glad, thank you 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:32.920 so much. We appreciated glad Rick deir CEO of zen 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.560 Pod giving us a son of the overview of what's 0:05:35.600 --> 0:05:38.480 going on on the restaurant business fast food business. Obviously 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:42.200 the demand picking up dramatically supply side, particularly on the 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.880 labor A little bit challenge here as a deal with 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:51.600 the rebound right now, I want to get into UM 0:05:51.960 --> 0:05:58.440 crypto and defy and everything surrounding it. Diva Balji joins 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.800 as senior editor at Bloomberg News. Talk to us about 0:06:02.120 --> 0:06:05.919 what's happened here. I guess you know, as we broke down, 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.839 UM did you a below thirty thousand, A lot of 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.120 people took that as a technical time to buy in 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:16.680 and did so. Now we're bounced back up UM from 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:22.200 that level. What's what's the state of crypto currently at 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:26.120 this point, it's up about it's up to about thirty 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:30.599 four thousand for bitcoins specifically. You know, even stocks that 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:35.839 slump yesterday, crypto linked stocks that slumped yesterday have sort 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:39.760 of quickly reversed UM today. They're mostly all in the green. 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.320 You know, micro Strategy, which obviously was a huge focus 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.440 for a lot of investors yesterday because you know, they've 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:51.120 been making a bullish beat on bitcoin UM is also 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:54.960 back up today. So overall, you know, I don't want 0:06:55.000 --> 0:06:56.680 to say it was a bit of a blip yesterday 0:06:56.720 --> 0:06:59.559 because that was a huge loss for a decent amount 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:01.599 of time. But you know, I also don't want I 0:07:01.640 --> 0:07:05.240 also just you know, it's not exactly surprising, you know, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:08.440 to see the type of volatile ride that bitcoin and 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.160 crypto stocks have. Yeah, that's kind of where I want 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:13.960 to go, give you the volatility associated with crypto and 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:18.360 particular bitcoin. For some naysayers or some folks that look 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.000 at this, they say, you know, the volatility is just 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:26.120 too great for this to be a real asset class um. 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.200 What are you hearing? Um? You know, generally people who 0:07:31.240 --> 0:07:36.000 are invested in crypto currencies and bitcoin and the stocks 0:07:36.040 --> 0:07:39.200 that are linked to them are very very well aware 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:42.760 of how volatile it is. And you know, some people 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:46.880 that we've spoken to generally what they say is as 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.120 much as it goes down, there's a chance of it 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.560 going back up and even higher. So, you know, they 0:07:52.560 --> 0:07:56.240 seem to be very well versed or or knowledgeable in 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.320 the land of crypto and seemed to be generally or 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.680 at least the bulls are sticking to their guns and 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:04.360 believe that, you know, this is the place to be, 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:07.080 whether it's volatile or not. If you can stomach it, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.400 you know, stay because you can potentially make money off 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:16.360 of it. Is there any uh, is there any merit 0:08:16.440 --> 0:08:20.000 to trying to find a reason for the gains and losses? 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:24.400 I mean, we always cite China's clamp down on mining 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:28.480 or Elon Musk's tweet, But isn't a lot of this 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:32.920 really momentum driven in technicals. I think it's a combination 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.640 of both. You know, sometimes it is hard to sort 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:39.600 of pinpoint a specific reason on any given day. But 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.040 and you know, sometimes it could be the fact that 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:46.480 Musk is tweeting something about it that's really driving the shares. 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.520 But you know, there's definitely a part of it that's 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:53.040 momentum driven. You know, if it's a bunch of people 0:08:53.160 --> 0:08:55.480 on Reddit who are talking about it and pushing the 0:08:55.480 --> 0:09:00.280 stock higher, or just general market rotation. Um, they all 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:03.200 tend to play a part in this, you know, on 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:07.280 any given day. So let's broaden it out to some 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:12.160 of the derivative plays that the stock market plays for crypto. 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.480 I'm thinking coin based that was a really high profile 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:20.760 direct listing here. Are direct direct listings still a thing here? 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.480 Or you know, the coin base says it hasn't traded 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.160 very well, So I'm wondering if that kind of puts 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:29.079 a pall on that. Yeah, you know, it definitely was 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:33.200 something that a lot of companies were, you know, actively 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:37.440 pursuing or considering. I think what we've seen of late, 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.080 whether it's coin based or other direct list things that 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.920 have come through, is just the fact that you know, yes, 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.200 they are an alternative way to list your stuff, but 0:09:46.559 --> 0:09:49.120 some of them haven't done as well. Like you pointed out, 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.600 with coin based UM as other ideas. So you know, 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:58.160 generally people seem to be questioning whether a direct list 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:02.640 thing is really the way to go UM for their company. 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.000 All right, we really appreciate it to be a bold 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:07.640 senior editor Bloomberg News joining us on the phone, talking 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:11.280 all things crypto again. Bitcoin up about two point eight 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.160 percent today, pushing up close to thirty four thousand, a 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.840 big reversal from it when it broke below a technical 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:21.520 support level of thirty thousand. Levet more coming up now. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:24.319 I want to bring Dr Eric Servini. He is a 0:10:24.400 --> 0:10:27.600 Gates Cambridge scholar and an historian. He wrote a book 0:10:27.600 --> 0:10:31.599 called The Deviance War, The Homosexual versus the United States 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:34.560 of America, and we bring him on UM to talk 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.920 about that obviously in relation to Pride Month and New 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.000 York City's Pride Week, which is this week. UM, Dr 0:10:42.800 --> 0:10:46.520 thanks so much for joining us. UM. We have strewn 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.400 around the office a number of different Pride flags and pins, 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:55.360 and you know here at Bloomberg obviously, UM, we're very 0:10:55.400 --> 0:10:57.480 aware of the situation. I think in New York City 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:02.680 as well, people are is it nash only as as 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:07.160 as as UM visible as it is on the coasts. 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.880 I think so, and thanks for having me. You know, 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.280 Pride goes back more than fifty years now, and it 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.880 started out as as a protest and as a reaction 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:20.400 to police violence at the Stone Wall in in New 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:23.320 York City. But it's really from that moment has grown 0:11:23.360 --> 0:11:25.520 all across the country and all across the world. You 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.079 can rainbow flag, uh, not just on on logos and 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:33.439 not just in parades, but in in houses and schools 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:36.040 all across the w entire world, and it's comes to 0:11:36.160 --> 0:11:40.000 mean a symbol for equality. And I think that's something 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.160 that you'll start to see grow even more in the future. 0:11:43.640 --> 0:11:46.600 All right, Well, the folks in Washington are friends in Washington, 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.600 and Congress are you? I guess there's the Equality Act 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:52.840 which is going back and forth. Give us the status 0:11:52.840 --> 0:11:55.600 of what is the Equality Act? What does it seek 0:11:55.679 --> 0:11:57.440 to do? And kind of where are we in terms 0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:02.400 of the discussion in Washington. Sure, Well, until last year, 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:06.480 there was no federal protections for anyone who was lgbt 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:10.120 Q plus when it came to employment, when it came 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.040 into housing, public spaces, or services. And there was a 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.800 very important Supreme Court decision last year bus Dot versus 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:21.040 Clayton County, which for the first time, the Supreme Court 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.800 said that actually the Civil Rights Act of nineteen sixty 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:28.160 four protects queer folks in this country. The problem is 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:33.760 according to which administration is currently in power. Currently President 0:12:33.800 --> 0:12:36.480 Biden issued an executive order saying he was going to 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:38.800 interpret that to mean that it applied to all sorts 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:43.760 of different areas where discrimination should be prohibited, so education, housing, 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.520 and healthcare. But the problem is, at any point, if 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.240 we had a different administration in office who interpreted that 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:54.360 Supreme Court case differently, UH, than very easily those protections 0:12:54.360 --> 0:12:57.360 that we currently have UH could be stripped. So what 0:12:57.520 --> 0:13:00.520 the Equality Act would do is cod if I and 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.920 make very explicit that Supreme Court decision to ensure that 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.600 this is a permanent protection for a very large and 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.560 growing minority in our country. Is at some point has 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.880 the movement shifted the zeitgeist of it from a gay 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:21.959 rights movement to really just a general political movement, because 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:26.439 it's not just lesbians, gays, and bisexuals. There are many 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:31.920 many more letters and numbers now in UH involved. And 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:34.920 it's not just the rainbow flag I read today. There 0:13:34.920 --> 0:13:39.880 are thirty different rainbow flags UM is it at some 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.560 point just a political dogma. Well, I think it's just 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:49.120 a community of folks who don't identify as straight or 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.760 cis gender meaning you're this, you identify as the same 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.120 way you were assigned at birth. Uh, And so there 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.160 are so many different gender identities and this goes back 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:02.000 thousands of years. What's new isn't the concept of being 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.320 non binary or not being male or female. What to 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.480 do is that binary itself? And so what you're starting 0:14:07.559 --> 0:14:11.720 to see is people realizing that, especially younger folks, that 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.640 there are so many different varieties of humanity. And that's 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:17.959 true not just among straight people, but within the queer 0:14:17.960 --> 0:14:22.080 community as well. There's so much diversity contained within that 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:29.080 one rainbow flag. In fact, it's changing, and I reginate 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:31.360 that there's an a sexual flag as well. I mean 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:35.680 there's it's it's almost like everyone except for a small group, 0:14:35.920 --> 0:14:39.680 is contained into the in the in the movement. Right. Well, 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:40.880 at the end of the day, you look at our 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.840 Congress and you see a very small group it's running 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:47.320 our country. It's a it's white, this gender straight men. 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.200 And you know, there should be flags for everyone else 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:55.160 because given how ubiquitous we are, we should be also 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:58.280 in power. We should also have representation in media. So 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:00.840 I think that's why those flags are so portant, because you, 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.000 as you mentioned, there is a disparity between who is 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.920 actually in power, who has the wealth, and then who 0:15:07.000 --> 0:15:10.560 actually constitutes this country. All right, Eric, thank you so 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:13.440 much for joining us. We really appreciate uh your time. 0:15:13.520 --> 0:15:18.200 Dr Eric Servini Gates, Cambridge scholar and historian, also author 0:15:18.240 --> 0:15:20.920 of the book The Deviance Wore The Homosexual versus the 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:24.320 United States of America. And you're right, Matt, the flag 0:15:24.360 --> 0:15:26.200 is it seems to be growing and growing and growing. 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.480 Is more and more people you know, look to have 0:15:29.920 --> 0:15:34.040 their positions is aired and and be you know, fairly represented. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:36.880 So it's an issue that is important. Is you know, 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.280 Eric was saying, are the folks on the Congress are 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:42.080 you know, looking at a lot of these issues as 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.240 well from a legislative perspective. Um, and certainly for the 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:51.840 Biden campaign, kind of a a important issue. All right, 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:56.800 Let's talk technology, particularly artificial intelligence and how it's transforming 0:15:57.200 --> 0:15:59.880 the financial services business. For that, we bring in Lisa Chi. 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.680 She's a senior research analysts for robot Global. Lisa, thanks 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:07.240 so much for joining us. Here, I'm probably fairly representative 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:09.560 of some people. Are a lot of people that during 0:16:09.560 --> 0:16:13.400 the pandemic, I found myself doing a lot more digital banking, 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:16.640 a lot more banking on my phone. Talk to us 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:20.920 how the financial services industry is adapting. How well is 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:26.720 it adapting to technology? UM, Yeah, thanks for having me. UM. So, 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:29.600 I've been following the fintech industry for a while now 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.560 and and and it has really evolved, probably in the 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:36.360 past decade, has really seen a lot of advancement, and 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:41.400 obviously with the pandemic has accelerated all the activities around 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:44.280 e commerce. And just like you, I've also been home 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.240 and be doing a lot more online shopping and a 0:16:47.280 --> 0:16:51.920 lot more of the kind of the touchless payment system. Right. So, 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:55.400 some of these dynamics that we're seeing and experiencing today, 0:16:56.160 --> 0:16:59.880 UM is due to all these digitization that we're seeing 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.880 growth of IOP devices that definitely had a lot to 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.800 do with it. UM. I think ten years ago we 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:08.080 had just about a third of the world that we're 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.560 Internet users, and now almost two thirds of the world 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.919 has access to some type of Internet. So, and on 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:21.320 top of that, I think technologies around cloud services UM 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:27.000 combined with advanced compute power has really accelerated, so so definitely, 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.440 the financial industry has been real tremendous progress in terms 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:33.359 of innovation, and I think we're just at the tip 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.280 of the iceberg and what's to come talk to us? 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.600 I mean, I often wonder is that, you know, here 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.040 in midtown Manhattan, there's still a lot of bank branches around, 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.680 and I'm wondering what's the future of a branch commercial 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:48.920 bank branch because I can't even recall the last time 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:53.960 I went in one, right, I think UM definitely the 0:17:54.880 --> 0:17:58.119 we've all received our if you had a credit card, 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:01.920 we all received that touch this UM credit cards in 0:18:01.960 --> 0:18:04.800 the mail in the past six months or so. I 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:09.080 got a few exactly UM. I think the younger generation, 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:13.920 the millennials, definitely feel much more comfortable using their apps 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.879 to do their banking. And you saw the growth of 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:21.600 UM institutions like robin Hood, right, and you've got companies 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:24.080 that coin b is coming out, and and that that 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:27.399 use of the used platform in the apps have really 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.800 UM kind of dominated UM some of the usage and 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.520 mind share. So definitely, the banks and credit card providers 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.359 are kind of scrambling at the moment trying to find 0:18:37.400 --> 0:18:41.040 some innovative solutions and really adapting to the world um 0:18:41.119 --> 0:18:44.280 and I think that definitely we're seeing a combination of 0:18:44.320 --> 0:18:47.639 the cloud and co put power and adoption of the 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:51.600 AI that's really making the experience for the consumer a 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.200 lot more user friendly, and I think we're going to 0:18:54.280 --> 0:18:56.600 see a lot more innovations around that. I think the 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:00.639 biggest hurl, and while you still will see some of 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:04.600 the banking branches is because of the integration between the 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.800 back end solutions and then the front end. It's still 0:19:07.880 --> 0:19:11.120 being worked on and that's still um I think we're 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.120 going to see a lot of spending around that UM 0:19:14.200 --> 0:19:18.320 but I think that the industry is really um embracing 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:22.960 technology to offer that integration from the back influtions and 0:19:23.080 --> 0:19:25.960 the front end, and you're seeing lots of progress. You 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:29.960 publicly don't really feel it on a day day basis, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:34.679 but you believe it or not. Um AI is just 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.960 at the forefront of everything that we're doing. So when 0:19:38.000 --> 0:19:41.800 you're banking, whether you're talking about your credit card transactions 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:46.640 are actually transferring money into different payment system like there's 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:51.679 the wallets right venmo um cash up where we just 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:55.920 have so many options now and you could also trade, 0:19:56.359 --> 0:20:01.680 you know, equities and bitcoins with our banking and then 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:03.480 at the same time you get a credit card and 0:20:03.480 --> 0:20:06.879 a debit card. So you're seeing this integration of these 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:11.399 solutions happening and at the at the same time, UM, 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.080 I'm very concerned as a tech analyst to see what 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.000 are the industry doing. Are they doing enough to to 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.919 prevent fraud? And what type of data are they collecting? 0:20:23.640 --> 0:20:27.080 And are we going to have this world where every 0:20:27.119 --> 0:20:31.840 transaction that we're making, um where it's while it's going 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:35.000 to be personalized types of transaction and solutions that's going 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.280 to be coming to us, but in terms of marketing, 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:41.200 are we going to get flooded? Right? With marketing? You know, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:46.000 whether it's a spam or alert notification throughout text, it's 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:49.440 really it's we're coming at a level where we're industries 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:51.720 really embracing technology. But are they going to be smart 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:53.960 and be thoughtful and how they're going to use the data? 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:56.560 I mean just writing just writing the New York City subway. 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.000 In my lifetime, I've gone from using the tokens um 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.760 to then swiping the metro card and now I just 0:21:02.840 --> 0:21:05.679 tap my iPhone to the turnstyle and boom, I'm in, 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.359 So that's the good news. The bad news is I 0:21:08.359 --> 0:21:11.040 think the MTA knows where I'm going at all times 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.240 now and that's a little scary. So it kind of 0:21:13.240 --> 0:21:17.440 goes to your point of uh, security, are are there 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:21.400 are there some companies that are focusing on that? Yes, definitely, 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:24.159 UM there are many companies that are whether private and 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.919 public that's really helping with the either cybersecree types of 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.720 solutions or data protection and also fraud prevention. So right now, 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:38.760 um a I can figure out whether um, you can't 0:21:38.760 --> 0:21:41.640 be definitely in two places at once. So it's basically 0:21:41.680 --> 0:21:45.119 where there it's AI analyzing the feelings of transactions are 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.440 crying each day, so um while the financial service industry 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:51.680 is and I published for the last ten years. So 0:21:52.160 --> 0:21:55.280 what we're seeing the instruction innovation is that AI application 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:58.600 is a really expanding and a very quick level. So 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:02.000 you're they're using predictive analytics to really improve the accuracy 0:22:02.080 --> 0:22:05.320 levels and there's a lot of data around this where um, 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:07.720 if you've ever been in a store where your credit 0:22:07.760 --> 0:22:11.000 card is getting declined, it's a terrible experience and and 0:22:11.040 --> 0:22:13.199 the retail stories don't want to lose you as a customer. 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:15.159 The banks don't want to lose you. But some of 0:22:15.160 --> 0:22:18.240 the data around it's really shocking that UM over a 0:22:18.320 --> 0:22:21.680 hundred and twenty billion dollars a year of transaction credit 0:22:21.720 --> 0:22:26.000 card transaction UM is from false decline and over a 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:29.840 third of that customer stopped shopping at that retailer after 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:33.600 being falsely declined. So that's that's really shocking number. And 0:22:33.600 --> 0:22:36.720 according to MasterCard data, over twenty percent of customers also 0:22:36.760 --> 0:22:39.919 switch to their bank after experiencing some type of frauds. 0:22:40.280 --> 0:22:43.639 So you're seeing companies like Fara ISAAC that has whether 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:47.480 it's credit you know, kind of score monitoring systems UM 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.240 services like Psycho scores, and you've got company like fly Serve. 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:53.040