Enrico CamerinelliERMI Research
For banks & investors

Understand this market from the operational side

Every fintech in your pipeline can clear a financial and compliance review. Far fewer survive contact with a client's operations team. I help you read the difference, before you sign a partnership, commit a roadmap, or price a deal.

Transaction banking · Trade finance · Supply chain finance · Payments · Fintech due diligence

Where the costly misreads happen

Vendors get assessed the way a bank assesses anything: financial model, security posture, compliance, references, roadmap. All necessary. None of it especially predictive of adoption.

So a partnership is signed on a strong business case, and some months later the volumes aren't there. Suppliers were never onboarded. The integration needed work nobody scoped. The treasurer liked it; the people processing the transactions carried on as before.

The finance expertise in the room is rarely the gap. The gap is someone who has run a procurement function and can say, before you commit, whether this will be used or worked around.

That's the perspective I add - as an independent read, not as an intermediary for anyone selling to you.

What I advise on

For transaction banking teams building or partnering, and for investors assessing fintech targets.

Partnership and vendor evaluation

Whether a solution will be adopted in practice, which operational constraints the vendor has overlooked, and what reference clients tend not to mention. Written up so it can go to committee.

"Will this be used, or worked around?"

Operations intelligence

What corporate operations teams actually need, as distinct from what treasury reports they need - their constraints, how they judge a financial solution, and which of their problems you're positioned to solve.

"Who are we building this for, exactly?"

Product and build-versus-partner strategy

Which capability to build, which to buy, and which to leave alone. What competitors are missing operationally, and what drives adoption beyond a strong launch.

"Where does building actually beat partnering?"

Market due diligence

For investors assessing a fintech target: how the category is really moving, where the company sits competitively, and whether its traction reflects durable operational fit or a favourable early cohort.

"Does this thesis survive the operational detail?"

How we'd work together

Retained strategic advisory

An ongoing relationship rather than a procurement exercise. Independent, confidential, and not shared across clients, including where competitive dynamics are sensitive.

Each month

  • Market intelligence summary across your segments
  • Partnership or target evaluation memos on request
  • Product strategy input from an operations perspective
  • Stakeholder intelligence - what operations leaders weigh
  • Open access between sessions by email and shared documents

Each quarter

  • Strategy session on market position, partnership decisions and roadmap

Also possible

  • Fixed-scope due diligence on a specific target
  • Vendor selection support for a defined decision
Commitment
3–4 days per month
Typical term
6–12 months, then month to month
Capacity
A small number of clients at a time

Whether this is a fit

Worth establishing early, in both directions.

Likely a good fit

  • You lead or sit within a transaction banking, trade finance or payments team
  • You're an investor assessing fintech targets in these categories
  • You have live partnership decisions or a roadmap in motion
  • You want an independent read rather than a vendor's business case restated
  • You can act on the advice within your mandate

Probably not the right fit

  • You need a full RFP process run end to end
  • You want broad-coverage research more than specific judgement
  • You need implementation rather than advice
  • The decision is made and needs external endorsement

Why me

An operations background is rare on this side of the table - which is exactly why it's useful here.

  • 10 years managing supply chain operations with direct P&L responsibility
  • 25 years in commercial banking, trade finance and payments
  • Independent - no vendor commissions, no brokered introductions
  • UN/CEFACT delegate - international standards and regulatory expertise
  • World Bank advisor on trade finance and SME access to finance
  • European Commission study on supply chain finance - contributor
  • Datos Insights - senior analyst covering European wholesale banking
  • Published author and speaker at SIBOS, EuroFinance and EBAday

Start with a short conversation

Bring the partnership you're weighing or the target you're assessing. I'll tell you what I think holds up operationally, and whether I'm the right person to help.

Schedule a 20-minute call

Engagements are kept few and conflict-free by design.