Duena Blomstrom is an evangelist for FinTech in banking and is passionate about helping banks to connect emotionally with their customers.
As Chief Marketing Officer for Meniga (and former Head of Sales) – Europe’s leading personal financial management provider – Duena has met with and discussed digital strategies with all the key banks.
Launched in Iceland in 2009, Meniga offers innovative solutions to help with all aspects of the user’s financial lives. They aim is to help banks and their customers think about and engage with their finances.
But psychologist Duena wants bankers to put customers back at the heart of their business and think about what their customers really want.
“I sat down with all bankers in Europe to see how digital strategy has been evolving and realised that banks need to step away from what they are doing and instead ask customers how they FEEL about their money”.
“I want to move their thinking towards Emotional Banking,” said Duena.
Meniga’s Personal Financial Management (PFM) won two key awards at Finovate Europe conferences in 2011 and 2013 when it showcased its consumer centric propositions that reached the very heart of how people feel about their finances – the hopes, the anxiety, the dreams around using their money augmented by clean, beautiful UX. Next year in Finovate Meniga is preparing to unveil an even more innovative proposition allowing banks to use wearable technology and the power of personal financial management and data to give their consumers tangible value that will strengthen that emotional connection that drives the relationship.
Meniga currently offers PFM solutions to 22 banks in 14 countries, including the newly rebranded mbank in Poland, the first online bank in the country.
Meniga does not use traditional PR campaigns. Instead the business is strong on social engagement channels, using these to build the brand.
In terms of the UK banking sector Duena believes it is lagging behind in terms of digital experience. She says many of the banks are so huge that they find it hard to step back and get a helicopter view of their business models.
“It is harder to get bigger banks to have meaningful, real conversations around what would be life changing customer experience as their sheer size and company culture can be paralysing,” she added.
Duena Blomstrom
Duena Blomstrom started as VP of International Sales at Meniga and is now leading Meniga’s marketing strategy as Chief Marketing Officer. She brings over 15 years of experience and an impressive track record of excellence in Sales, Marketing and Branding across industries such as Banking and Telecom and has been instrumental in building Meniga’s success as Europe’s leading PFM provider. In the past 5 years Duena has become a strong voice in the FinTech space.
Before joining Meniga, she worked for WSI Sweden where she built a successful sales organisation from scratch and increased sales over 900% during her tenure. Duena also established and led Lux.mentis, a sales oriented Management Consulting company that focused on training sales professionals in consultative sales, complex sales and Social Media based Sales.
Duena holds an MBA degree from Georgetown University and an MS degree in Psychology from New York University, is a speaker at international Banking events, a mentor for start-ups and an uncomfortably opinionated blogger.