Podcast Summary: "The Investor With Joel Palathinkal – Sergey Balasanyan: Longevity Card"

Host: Dr. Joel Palathinkal
Guest: Sergey Balasanyan (CEO, Longevity Card), with regular co-host Bonnie
Date: October 13, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Dr. Joel Palathinkal interviews Sergey Balasanyan, CEO of Longevity Card, a fintech-healthtech venture focused on the intersection of financial services and the longevity industry. The discussion navigates Sergey's personal journey from Armenia to the heart of Europe’s fintech scene, explores the shortcomings of traditional banking for senior citizens, and drills down into Longevity Card’s mission to blend health and wealth—building a platform that caters specifically to the needs of the older population.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Sergey's Background and Entrepreneurial Journey

• Sergey was born in Armenia and later moved around Eastern Europe due to his father's work as an architect and mother’s as a doctor.
  • "All my childhood we were traveling a lot different countries... My mother is a doctor." (02:14)
• Professionally, Sergey started with project management, e-commerce businesses, and coworking space accelerators before transitioning into private and investment banking, ultimately gravitating towards fintech.
• At Deep Knowledge Group, Sergey led analytics efforts and observed the burgeoning overlap of health, aging, and wealth, prompting his move to found Longevity Card.
  • "Traditional banking is dead and the future, the health is the longevity industry." (04:04)

The Longevity Card: Vision and Launch

• Inspired by a “marriage of health and wealth,” Longevity Card is designed as a challenger bank with integrated health tech and a marketplace, targeting both consumers and businesses in the UK and EU.
  • "We're expecting the launch...in the end of September 2020. So we will have both consumer and business accounts..." (05:28)

Traditional Banking vs. Challenger Models for Seniors

• Classic banks and even most challenger banks do not serve the needs of the aging populace, particularly those over 60, who hold the lion’s share of global wealth.
  • "Traditional banks and even modern challenger banks...can't even give the adjusted technologies for [senior clients], adjusted like the high level of security for vulnerable people." (06:20)
• The pandemic exposed these gaps, with many seniors struggling to adapt to digital banking tech, much like they took time to adjust to WhatsApp and Facebook.
  • "[Telecom companies are] providing their 60 plus clients with a brochure on how to use mobile phone... The same should be done with banking." (08:10)

Security and Preventing Exploitation

• Sergey's team is building "Htech" features to prevent financial exploitation of seniors, emphasizing advanced security tailored to an older user base.
  • "Integration of HTAC to prevent like senior generation from financial exploitation. That's the main thing..." (10:13)
• Notably, when surveying over 20,000 people, they found strong interest from those aged 35+, prompting a broader remit for the product.

Health and Wealth Integration

• Longevity Card integrates mHealth features: tracking steps, nutrition, sleep, and heart rate (collected from user devices, not invasive medical data).
• Users earn "longevity points" by meeting health goals, redeemable in a health-focused marketplace (e.g., gene providers, blood testing, diabetes/pregnancy-related services, exclusive offers).
  • "Based on...achieving goals, you will be rewarded with longevity points..." (11:49)
  • "If you upload Big Mac, you will not be no points." (25:18)

Wealth Management and Contextual Banking

• Broader trends: contextual banking for tailored financial services and integrating wealth planning into the Longevity Card experience.
  • "The main thing that bank should be your friend. It should be your advisor...your one stop shop for your life." (15:19)

Expansion Beyond Basic Services

• Investment capabilities ("Investec") and lending products are planned for the future, subject to achieving full banking licensure.
  • "We aim to make a full banking license in the UK and of course once we get it we will integrate many interesting products..." (17:26)
• Insurance partnerships, starting with travel insurance, are a crucial part of the roadmap, with deeper insurance integrations forthcoming.
  • "Life insurance is one of the main part of our proposition...we will announce this partnership in a couple of months." (18:40)

Data Science and Predictive Analytics

• Data science and AI underpin Longevity Card’s personalized advice, with predictive modeling (e.g., correlating heart rate and health outcomes) seen as a future growth area.
  • "I even can't imagine modern company now without implementation or applying of data science." (21:49)

User Experience Design for Seniors

• The marketplace and health tracking interface are being designed to be highly visual and intuitive, minimizing the need for text or manual input.
  • "It will be more visual, you don't need to read, you don't need to put on your glasses. So it will be all understandable." (39:10)
• For nutrition tracking, users only need to photograph their food; AI assesses the meal's healthiness and awards points accordingly.
  • "You’re just taking a photo." (23:50)

The Seventh Continent: The Senior Economy

• Metaphorically, the world’s 1 billion retirees constitute a “seventh continent” with a $19 trillion+ economy (expected to reach $23T by 2026).
  • "If we Compare the like 1 billion of retired people we can see that they can form easily their own seventh continent..." (32:29)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Mission:

  • "Health is the new wealth...whereas health and longevity may get greater attention and start to be considered as the actual, tangible and most precious asset." (43:01)

• On Product Design:

  • "The best product is created by people of the same age." (42:57)

• On Overcoming Ageism:

  • "For me it's...a mystery why...big tech companies...are ignoring [seniors]. I can tell that it might be called ageism." (28:02)

• On Expansion & Positive Outlook:

  • "Everything is doable...when you are creating an impact and helping people." (52:19)

• On Regulatory Hurdles:

  • "You just need to do step by step, and there is no possible in our life." (52:43)

Important Timestamps

| Time | Segment / Quote | |-----------|-----------------| | 02:14 | Sergey's early life, family influence and education | | 04:04 | "Traditional banking is dead..."—reason for pivot | | 05:28 | Longevity Card: vision & near-term launch details | | 06:20 | Traditional banks failing the 60+ demographic | | 10:13 | Security and financial exploitation prevention for seniors | | 11:49 | Health-behavior tracking and rewards system | | 15:19 | Contextual banking and human-centric designs | | 18:40 | Insurance strategy and partnerships | | 25:18 | AI-based nutrition tracking—no points for Big Macs! | | 32:29 | "Seventh continent" metaphor and economic power of retirees | | 39:10 | Marketplace UI/UX designed for seniors | | 42:57 | Focus groups with 70+ generation – product co-creation | | 43:01 | Philosophy: "Health is the new wealth" | | 52:19 | On achievable regulatory progress and positive impact |

Future Outlook & Final Thoughts

• Sergey sees Longevity Card as part of a global shift: merging health and wealth for an underserved, often ignored demographic. Market expansion beyond the UK and EU is on the horizon.
  • "Of course we want to become not only a digital bank, but also a retail bank." (51:44)
• The journey is iterative, regulatory complexities abound, but Sergey’s optimism and sense of mission keep the project moving forward.
  • "When you are doing the right thing, when you are creating an impact, we're helping people. I don't see any problems." (52:19)

Closing

Sergey's appearance on The Investor highlights how the convergence of fintech, health tech, and user-centric design can address pressing needs for an aging population left behind by traditional finance. As the industry pivots to embrace longevity, Longevity Card positions itself to be both innovator and advocate—proving, as Sergey notes, that when impact leads the way, transformation is not only possible, but inevitable.