Raphael Golan, Board Director and Business Development Director at MoneyNetint, has a seasoned history in the world of finance and economics. We sat down with him to talk about his experiences, the lessons he’s learned in his 35+ years in the financial sector and his tips and recommendations for staying relevant as the industry shifts into the ever evolving digital era.

Growing up in Israel and economics

I was born in 1959 in Jerusalem to immigrant parents - my father is from England and my mother is from Germany. After secondary school I went to the army, where I served as a tank commander and then went on to study economics in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I graduated with a BA in Economics in 1982 and almost immediately started working at one of the biggest banks in Israel, Bank Hapoalim.

Economics was something I found interesting and was a natural fit for my abilities. I’m very glad to have had and continue a long career doing something that interests me, on both a large and small scale.

The landscape of the global economy is changing rapidly, but at the core of every business transaction, one thing has, and always will, hold true - the need for ease, trust and security. These are integral for every human interaction whether it is face to face or through electronic devices.

This is especially true with the rise of ecommerce solutions, where companies depend on reliability to collect payments, pay vendors, and serve an international audience of customers in a timely manner. At the end of the day it all about people and how they interact, people do business with people, even if it’s on a computer, tablet or mobile.

We sat down with Yishay Trif, CEO of MoneyNetInt, to chat about fintech, ecommerce and how the financial world has had to adapt to meet the growing need for a borderless economy.