The 2015 Fintech Finance 35: Alex Batlin, UBS

A 1998 computer science graduate of the University of Bristol, Alex Batlin is no stranger to advanced technology. While in school he experimented with neural networks and sound-detection systems for locating fighter planes. As senior innovation manager of UBS, running the bank’s FinTech Innovation Lab in London’s Level39 acceleration venue, the 38-year-old is pushing well beyond what was until very recently considered leading-edge. “A lot of the stuff I do is well understood, whether introducing mobility or big data to banking,” he says. “You know the rough size of the prize.” Now the subject is blockchain: “We’re not proving the concept. We’re defining the concept at this stage. If our hypothesis is correct, then blockchain could be pretty important and potentially have a wide-ranging impact on the way we do banking and finance.” Determined to prove that, Zurich-based UBS in February funded Batlin’s Crypto 2.0 Pathfinder program, which grew out of an innovation initiative launched four years ago, with teams in Switzerland, the U.K. and U.S. looking into emerging technologies, start-ups and their potential impact on the bank. A companywide innovation board, set up two years ago by chief information officer Oliver Bussmann to invite proposals from senior business and information technology executives, green-lighted Batlin’s idea to create a blockchain center of excellence. Batlin, who worked earlier in his career at J.P. Morgan & Co. and Nomura International and joined predecessor bank UBS Warburg in 2001, says the lab has demonstrated how a bond can be issued, and aspects of the transaction automated, using blockchain and a virtual currency. UBS has joined Barclays, Credit Suisse and other top banks in backing New York–based blockchain consortium R3CEV. It also put up $300,000 in prize money for a Future of Finance Challenge, a single-bank version of entrepreneur competitions like the New York FinTech Innovation Lab (seeMaria Gotsch, No. 11).