Ep. 146 - The AI-Empowered Consumer: Why Banks Can't Sit This One Out, with Theodora Lau

Justin Hanna (0:05)

Welcome back to The Payments Shed Live here at Fintech Meetup Lisbon. We are with Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Ventures. Theodora, thank you so much for joining us. This has been a long time coming. We're big fans of what you've been up to.

Firstly, introduce yourself and tell us a little bit more about how you got into this crazy industry.

Theodora Lau (0:22)

Oh, whoa. That is actually accidental.

I spent 20 years in Tokyo, so I was building systems and tearing systems apart. That's always been my thing. And I accidentally ended up in NGO, and that's how I came into financial inclusion and looking at how can we use AI and data technology to help people live a longer and more financially secure life. That was 12 years ago.

Justin Hanna (0:46)

Amazing. I mean, people talk about AI 12 years ago, right? We were. And we still have a buzzword as we sit in 2026

What does an AI-empowered consumer actually look like as we sit here right now?

Theodora Lau (0:57)

So I think right now what's been interesting is over 50% of consumers have been using a lot of these generative AI tools for financial advice. Even yesterday when I was on the flight coming over here, the gentleman next to me, who works for the IRS, he said he's been using ChatGBT to manage his real estate, and he's been plugging his bank accounts with ChatGBT.

So the act is real, but I think more often what we're at is people are discovering, they're looking for advice, but they are not yet in the, I want to execute, I want to change things. But I think that's coming.

Justin Hanna (1:37)

It's interesting because people want to trust AI as much as possible, right? And you can only trust it as the information it's giving you. And if it's positive information, most people think they want to use it again, because it's telling them what they want to hear.

How much of the traditional banking playbooks kind of still assumes a passive customer?

Theodora Lau (1:53)

I think a huge part of it, if you hear banks talk about customer retention, right? Oftentimes, they say, oh, you know, we have such a high retention rate, and people have been banking with us for so long. They've been our primary bank for so and so years.

But I would caution that that's not a full story, because what does even a primary bank mean? Normally, now, consumers have, what, at least three to five financial relationships, right? When the money comes in, which is your paycheck, it doesn't mean that it stays there. Oftentimes, it's like a tube map. It comes in and it goes out, and it forms out to so many different other accounts that are creating value.

I would say a lot of what we're looking at right now is inertia. Inertia, not because consumers love their bank accounts. Inertia, because it's just too much work to move it.

Justin Hanna (2:42)

And how does that difference between banking relationships maybe differ from neo-bank relationships? Do you have any thoughts on that?

Theodora Lau (2:48)

Ooh, that's interesting.

I don't know. For me, if you ask me, right, which is probably not the best way to think about it. If that's why I parked my money, that's why I moved my money. Well, that's where it matters.

Justin Hanna (3:00)

And where are fintechs already pulling ahead of banks on this shift?

Theodora Lau (3:05)

I would say, you know, some of the newcomers, right, the likes of Newbank, for example, they are pulling ahead, not because they're waving the flag and say, oh, you know, look at how cool we're using AI to do things. But more so is what do you need? And how can we meet you where you are?

How can we create more value for you? That's where they're pulling ahead.

Justin Hanna (3:26)

And what happens to kind of to loyalty as you talk about consumers and their use of AI? What happens to loyalty once AI is doing the shopping around for people and kind of finding the blue trainers that you want without you having to go and look on the website for the blue trainers?

Theodora Lau (3:39)

I think that becomes really interesting. If you ask me, I believe AI will create the shift where loyalty will rest with the agents that consumers own.

Because for me, a bank is where I park my assets. But if my agent is able to find me a better place to generate value for me, that's where my loyalty lies. The loyalty is the tool that I'm using.

Justin Hanna (4:04)