WITH three decades of success in the financial services industry behind him, NCB Financial Group Chief Executive Officer Patrick Hylton has earned the descriptors astute, formidable, and seasoned financial leader. But tech start-up founder?

“We’ve been a successful bank for many years but when I looked around, many of the companies that were doing exceptionally well were digital. They have new ideas and were disrupting established business models — we needed those competencies,” Hylton admitted.

Ever the visionary innovator, Hylton has never been constrained by popular perception. He led National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCB) to become the largest and most profitable bank locally before transitioning into the leadership of the NCB Financial Group, a regional entity in over 21 territories.

While the group has become a force in finance, technology beckoned.

Although the National Commercial Bank has long begun shifting towards a digital business model, start-ups require a new skill set and outlook. Lynk, the NCB Financial Group’s fintech app, offers an expanded market and a digitally native financial solution. It is a laboratory — a testing ground for technology infrastructure, products, ideas, and much more.

In a recent McKinsey Digital feature, Hylton shared the digital path: “To transition to being digitally native demands the development of true digital operations to generate and grow new businesses and to leverage those capabilities for other parts of the business.”

Nevertheless, for a veteran business leader to muster the audacity to disrupt the business model he leads requires extraordinary courage and focus on what works and what does not. Hylton explained: “We cannot control external trends, but we can control the transformation of our business model — and with Lynk we are doing so deliberately. Blockbuster and Kodak could not control the technological shifts but could control the changes in their business model.

“Transforming one’s business model means introducing solutions that compete with your existing business model. The failure to adapt ultimately resulted in the demise of both companies. The lessons from Blockbuster and Kodak were clear,” Hylton reasoned.

Once the company decided to develop a fintech operation Hylton led his team on the journey. “I presented the choices — we could wait to be disrupted or we could disrupt the model. The disrupter has a first-mover advantage, but I had to get everyone on board,” Hylton elaborated.

“I explained that we had a real opportunity because of our size in the market and our relationships, that we could reach various socio-economic brackets through our digital payment solutions. We could also leverage our reputation for being successful and trustworthy to help the new business succeed,” Hylton said.

However, he emphasised that, though you can present analysis, show projections, and identify markets, still, in the end, it is hard to get people at the senior management and board levels to believe in a dream.

“I had to go beyond the dream. I’ve changed how I gain support through an approach called ‘sources of meaning’, which is particularly useful for dealing with divergent stakeholders” he shared.

The depth of Hylton’s new-found knowledge and its application are evident in the achievements to date.

“I took the time to understand each stakeholder’s interests, align the rationale accordingly, and advocate on an individual level. I was involved in hiring the CEO, I am still involved in the business today. I spend nine to 10 hours weekly on Lynk and talk to the CEO daily. I read the traffic on social media and try to build a perspective from multiple vantage points. However, with Lynk I see myself as a mentor — I can’t ask someone to run the business if they’re not accountable,” Hylton added.

With over 120,000 users and 2,000 vendors in just a few months, Lynk has become the top financial app in the country. The bold leap has been validated, but Hylton insists there is a long journey ahead.

“I have huge ambitions for Lynk. I want it to rival and even surpass the incumbent, and that’s just the beginning,” Hylton concluded.