AI and simple tools widen access to fintech product creation

James Gibson left strategy consulting after seeing Revolut’s multi-currency app in 2016 and joined the company in 2017. He now leads Revolut Business and has argued that artificial intelligence and new developer tools have reduced the technical and time barriers to building financial products.

Gibson studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford and spent five years at strategy firm Oliver Wyman advising European firms on digital change. He said two factors drew him into fintech: the rapid pace of technological development in the United States and a personal interest in how products are made. A demo of Revolut’s currency feature in 2016 prompted him to question why many banks maintained complex processes when simpler technical solutions existed.

At Revolut he moved from business development into product work and learned to build software alongside engineers. Gibson contrasted the structured training and defined roles common in consulting with Revolut’s faster, iterative approach, where teams launch features quickly and refine them using real user feedback.

He described changes in business banking that are already in place: tasks that once required paperwork, branches or long waits can now be completed online in hours or days. Entrepreneurs can register companies, open accounts and serve international customers from a phone. Gibson said technology has removed many frictions and reset user expectations about speed and convenience.

Looking ahead, he pointed to generative AI and new developer tools as factors that shorten the path from idea to prototype. Ten years ago, building a new financial product typically required specialist teams, large budgets and long project cycles. Today an individual can produce a working prototype within days. He noted that easier creation will likely increase the number of failed experiments but will also allow many more people to try building products.

Gibson said the same trends are becoming available to small and medium-sized firms through automation, integrated finance systems and intelligent software. Greater access to those capabilities lets smaller companies use tools that were previously limited to larger organisations and reduces time spent on routine tasks.

Gibson recalled, “When I first saw money move seamlessly between currencies in 2016, it felt like a glimpse into the future.” He added, “Technology is not valuable because it is new. It is valuable because it changes what people are able to do.”