Episode 80

From Roaming Fees to Retention Engine: The Telecom Layer Your Neobank Is Missing | Vince Vissers Co-Founder at Fristy

Recorded live at Money20/20 Bangkok, 2026

What if the next big embedded finance opportunity isn't payments or lending, but connectivity?

In this live conversation from Money20/20 Bangkok I sit down with Vince, Co-Founder of Fristy, to unpack why the world's leading neobanks and super apps are quietly embedding telecom into their product stack.

Fristy is building what Stripe did for payments and Wise did for FX; but for global telecom infrastructure. Already live with Grab, Uber, GXS Bank. Firsty is turning connectivity from a consumer pain point into a retention and revenue driver for FinTechs.

In this episode:

  • How Grab and Uber are using embedded connectivity to reduce revenue leakage from traveling users
  • The B2B infrastructure layer that lets neobanks offer seamless global connectivity without building it themselves
  • Why connectivity should be on your product roadmap
  • The founder mindset on failure: VInce shares how he turns setbacks into forward momentum

We cover:

(00:00) Telecom meets FinTech: The opportunity nobody's building for

(01:30) The consumer pain point: roaming fees, SIM swaps, and broken experiences

(02:30) The B2B problem

(03:30) Why neobanks should embed telecom; the Grab and Uber case study

(05:30) How Fristy works: one connection, every operator, local pricing globally

(06:30) Where to access Fristy today: Grab, GXS Bank, KBC

(07:30) The commercial case: retention, revenue, and user experience metrics

(09:00) Founder mindset: How Vince approaches failure and keeps moving forward

👉 Connect with Vince & Fristy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vince-vissers/

Website: https://www.firsty.app/

👉 Connect with Monica

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares

Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/

Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com

Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

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About your host

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Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.