The word ”scale” to startups typically means rapid growth after launching their product.  “Scale” progress is measured by subscribers per month or transactions per second. However, Yobie Benjamin, Global Chief Technology Officer of Citigroup ICG/GTS says “scale” has a much wider definition when applied to larger enterprises like financial service companies.

What can we learn from industry leaders in massive scaling? What technologies do you need to provide in order to partner with the global leaders like Citigroup?  Read our interview with Yobie to blow your mind on a whole new type of scaling.

Q: What is scale in your world?

A: In most large financial institutions, number of users, concurrency, and response time are just the beginning — table stakes.  Now add on:

1. Response to compliance matters in near real-time

2. Pronounced security for the entity, its regulators and customers

3. Reality that the world is not America and that each and every country no matter how small can affect global operations.

Think of a single multi-national client that operates in over a hundred countries that includes unstable governments. Now pretend that the financial company takes in and makes payments in massive retail volume. Now multiply that multi-national client by thousands and then by an extension of their customers in the hundreds of millions of individuals.

Q: What key things do companies need to address to scale globally?

A: Regulatory issues are at the top of the list but can be broken down into other matters that are no less important.   For example, in the EU privacy is a serious matter and is very different from the American point-of-view.

Another example are the discreet laws of individual countries — The crime of insulting a monarch, a throwback to a bygone era of absolute
sovereign power is still very much in force in Thailand. In a leading large important Asian country, promoting or “seen as facilitating” an “outlaw group” can lead to charter revocation.

Q: You mentioned latency challenges when companies try to scale in countries that have intense regulatory issues and government filtering.  How does a company best plan to expand in those types of countries?

A: Almost all countries monitor most communications that cross through their digital borders.  Some look at everything, every word, bit and
byte.  Some look for key words.  Financial transactions are generally tracked, particularly those that cross a threshold that triggers AML
(anti-money laundering), monitoring of terrorist financing, etc. Some filtering technologies used by countries are better than others
and inevitably affect response time performance. There is no way around it in some countries. In others, one can use adjacent networks
but it’s not easy and it can be construed as a violation of regulations.

Q: Many startups in the infrastructure and cloud services space are targeting financial institutions as partners and customers.  What do they need to address to meet your particular scaling needs?

A: Automated KYC (know your customer) and AML solutions would be an area of extreme interest.  It has to be in real time.