The #1 global fintech radio show and podcast. Every week we explore the personalities, startups, innovators, and industry players driving disruption in financial services; from Incumbents to unicorns, and from the latest cutting edge technology to the people who are using it to help to create a more innovative, inclusive and healthy financial future.
Are We Done With Digital Transformation in Banking?
Jan 15, 2026
In This Episode
Just as mobile was once a separate vertical within banking, has digital transformation simply become part of everything we do?
In this week’s episode of Breaking Banks, hosts Jason Henrichs, Brett King, and JP Nicols debate this and more as they discuss the current state of banking, the impact of fintech, and the evolution of digital banking. They cover the challenges posed by legacy systems, the rise of digital-only banks, and the role of AI and stablecoins in shaping the future of finance. The top 50 fastest growing FIs in the world are all digital direct players, pure players.
Is AI going to be a vector in the growth of banks? Will AI change how banks are structured?
Is it time to rewrite the rules? Think about things differently? Reimagine what the future of financial services looks like?
Brett, JP and Jason look forward to another year of exploring the future of banking and financial services together.
Reach out, send us your thoughts and any topics you’d like to see us address in a future episode of Breaking Banks.
Patterns of Success in Fintech: Leda Glyptis on Leading Through Digital Chaos
Jan 09, 2026
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, we spotlight our sister podcast, The Bankers’ Bookshelf, hosted by Paolo Sironi.
In this episode, Paolo sits down with frequent Breaking Banks guest Leda Glyptis to discuss her book, “Beyond Resilience: Patterns of Success in Fintech and Digital Transformation”. Drawing from candid interviews with leading entrepreneurs, Leda moves past the typical success stories to uncover the raw realities of building groundbreaking ventures. She offers an honest exploration of digital transformation, including the lessons learned, inevitable mistakes, course-corrections, and the personal and professional growth required to lead through the messiness of digital change.
Leading fintech transformation demands more than sheer resilience: it’s about wielding control amid chaos, maintaining consistency and integrity, and standing firm, whether solo or with a team.
This conversation is essential for anyone navigating the complexities of fintech transformation. Listen now!
Breaking Banks: The Holiday Movie Edition
Dec 18, 2025
In This Episode
What’s your favorite holiday movie? It’s a Wonderful Life? Miracle on 34th Street? Scrooged? Plot twist (literally): These are all banking movies.
This week on Breaking Banks hosts Jason Henrichs and JP Nicols invite you to an Alloy Labs virtual holiday gathering. Joined by Amber Frye, Pam Kaur, and Samer Saab, they share favorite holiday movies with good cheer and a twist — the need to tie the cinematic selections back to banking and fintech.
Tie back to banking and fintech, you say? Think fraud, legal contracts, loan workouts, wealth management, alternative investments, identity theft — you get the picture! It’s a lively and animated conversation.
No spoiler alerts, so let’s get this party started … listen and watch now!!
It’s not too late to check out some of the favorite recommendations and to let us know if you agree with their takes, or have suggestions of your own. We’re listening!!
Tom Sosnoff’s Fintech Innovation Aiming to Fix Compensation Inequity
Dec 11, 2025
In This Episode
What if someone told you you’ve been underpaid by more than two million dollars across your career?
In this episode, Jason Henrichs speaks with fintech entrepreneur Tom Sosnoff. You may know Tom from founding thinkorswim and tastytrade, two billion-dollar exits that transformed retail investing. His newest venture, Lossdog, launching this month, focuses onsalary transparency.
Traditional compensation platforms rely on legacy salary benchmarks and anonymous, unverified self-reports that create wide ranges. Lossdog’s approach to compensation data is one that uses AI and verified data sources to deliver personalized valuations rather than vague, crowdsourced ranges. Think of it as whole-person valuation meets Machine Learning — a worth engine combined with AI onboarding surfacing overlooked value in resumes, including skills, certifications, pivots, and even career gaps.
It’s all about fair value and knowing your worth! Lossdog aims to give individuals institutional-grade tools to negotiate salary on equal footing with employers by generating accurate compensation valuations.
Listen, share, and subscribe for more weekly fintech insights from Breaking Banks.
Inside Gaza: Arwa Damon on Crisis, Resilience, and Access
Dec 04, 2025
In This Episode
This week, Breaking Banks offers a human interest story from Brett’s conference travels. Listen as Brett connects with Arwa Damon, former CNN reporter based in Istanbul, and current President and Founder of INARA, an NGO working in Palestine. INARA, International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, is a humanitarian organization providing rapid response and treatment to refugee children, its mission to ensure every child has the agency to create a dignified life. Arwa provides a first-hand look at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and discusses how it impacts the basic needs and access to financial services for people living there.
Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Banking in the AI Era: What Every Institution Must Know
Nov 27, 2025
In This Episode
In this episode of Breaking Banks, hosts Jason Henrichs, Brett King and JP Nicols delve into the transformative impact of AI and technology on the banking industry, and share insights on what institutions must do to not only survive, but thrive as AI rewrites playbooks.
The conversation covers the role of stablecoins, agentic AI, the future of smart contracts, smarter digital infrastructure, and how accelerated innovation cycles are reshaping the global financial system.
They explore the structural changes they see coming and the potential of AI in automating cross-border transactions and business banking platforms, while discussing challenges and opportunities for larger and smaller banks in adapting to new systems of trade.
How best for bankers to get ready for this transition?
All banks, regardless of size, need to get their data house in order, ensuring better access to their data and data capabilities, and need to assess their cultural agility. The banking industry is entering a new era where data fluency, cultural adaptability and use of available AI tools and AI-driven automation will define the competitive frontier and spark innovation. As the hosts remind us, “Adapt or be left behind.”
Listen now to hear how leaders across banking and fintech can navigate the shift and prepare for what comes next.
Celebrating 6 Years of Breaking Banks Europe
Nov 20, 2025
In This Episode
Today, we turn the show over to our friends at Breaking Banks Europe, as we celebrate their 6th anniversary.
What began as a podcast experiment has grown to over 280 episodes, more than 570 guests, thousands of listeners from every corner of the world, and countless debates.
Over the past 6 years, the show has:
Shaped conversations around open banking, fintech, DeFi, payments, digital innovation and every trend and highlight you can think of.
Featured founders, heads of state, college students, academics, executives, regulators, dreamers, disruptors & troublemakers.
Connected Europe with the Middle East, Africa, Asia, LATAM and beyond
Helped spotlight voices that deserve to be heard
Today we’re celebrating with a special throwback episode. Host Matteo Rizzi welcomes back Serena Torielli, CEO and founder of WealthHype, who first joined the show back in Episode 3. In this new conversation, Matteo and Serena dive into Revolut’s explosive growth in Italy, the future of private banking, and how AI, Bitcoin, and gold are reshaping investing. They also explore regulation, stablecoins, and global market shifts, with Serena sharing her optimistic view on innovation in AI, energy, and biotech as drivers of the next financial revolution.
Driving Digital Growth in Africa: From Vision to Execution
Nov 13, 2025
In This Episode
Today on Breaking Banks we feature the newest addition to the Provoke.fm family, Breaking Banks Africa.
In this episode Breaking Banks Africa Host and Executive Producer Matteo Rizzi sits down with Sandra Yao, Ecobank‘s Group Head: Cross Border Remittance, Payments & BaaS (Fintech). With 20 years of experience driving fintech and payment innovation across Africa, Sandra brings a unique “builder’s mindset” into one of the continent’s largest financial institutions, operating in 39 markets.
From pioneering mobile money to tackling fragmented infrastructure and regulatory environments, Sandra shares how interoperability, accessibility, and digital transformation are reshaping the future of payments in emerging economies. Additionally, Sandra reveals how Ecobank is empowering young African talent, forming major tech partnerships (including Google), and creating API-first solutions to help fintech founders scale across borders.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about Africa’s digital growth story, inclusive innovation, and hearing about those turning vision into execution—from Nairobi to the world.
Why The Future Won’t Wait For Fintech
Nov 06, 2025
In This Episode
Markets are whipsawing, rate paths are murky, and headlines keep revising “the facts”, but no matter where we are in the economic cycle, the future presses on regardless. Our resident futurist Brett King and our resident “recovering banker” JP Nicols debate what that means for incumbent financial institutions and insurgent fintechs.
We unpack how AI is shifting from pilots to profit (and where it’s still hype), why deposit mobility and funding stability will be the quiet kingmakers of 2026, and how the inevitable continued rise of agentic AI and its insatiable need for energy collide with real world Monday morning priorities.
If you’re ready to retire the 2006 playbook and win in 2026, you’ll want to give this one a listen.
Money 2020: Take-aways & News from Starling Bank and Google
Oct 30, 2025
In This Episode
This episode of Breaking Banks features host Jason Henrichs sharing thoughts and key take-aways fresh from Money 20/20 USA.
Stablecoins, Agentic AI and especially Agentic Commerce dominated many conversations at this year’s Money 20/20 event. Cross Border Payments another big topic not to mention AI, how it’s changing the game and being used by financial institutions.
Jason had the opportunity to speak with Harriet Rees, CIO of Starling Bank (UK), who discussed the exciting announcement made at Money 20/20 regarding Starling Bank’s collaboration with Google on fraud detection. Through this AI-powered partnership, Starling Bank can now help customers identify warning signs of purchase scams. Their new tool, Scam Intelligence, allows customers to upload images of items and ads from online marketplaces. It then analyzes them for signs of fraud and provides personalized guidance within seconds. This tool, built with Google Gemini in collaboration with Google Cloud, is available today for personal, joint, and business account customers. This UK-first initiative by Starling and Google has the potential to save billions of pounds annually.
Listen now, and enjoy the episode!
Inside The Futurists X Summit: Preparing For An AI Powered Future
Oct 23, 2025
In This Episode
Inside The Futurists X Summit: Preparing For An AI Powered Future
This week Breaking Banks comes to you from The Futurists X Summit in Dubai, the world’s largest gathering of top-ranked futurists. This summit brings together leaders, innovators and policymakers from around the globe for meaningful dialogue on the future of technology, business and society.
Tune in as Breaking Banks and The Futurists host Brett King speaks with Mastercard’s J.K. Khalil, EVP and Division President of East Arabia, and Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard.
JK and Brett kick off the discussion with JK highlighting Mastercard’s partnership with the Ministry of AI in Dubai and their AI Center of Excellence in the UAE. Mastercard is always talking about the fast and accelerating pace of change and its impact on consumers’ lives. The AI Center of Excellence aims to demonstrate that AI is more than just a buzzword, helping people see the bigger picture and understand the broader implications — how this access to information and AI translates to daily life. The discussion also touches on exploring possible futures and enhancing the human experience.
Then, Raja joins Brett to share his perspective on an AI-powered future. As AI improves quality of life, helping to alter the work-life balance — working less, experiencing more — what does the world look like? With AI, chores can be delegated to the machine, you can let go of certain things and have more time for other things. Time to pursue your passions – a long-standing focus for Mastercard is helping elevate lives through experiences.
As technology levels the playing field—and everyone feeds similar briefs into the same AI tools—outputs will start to look alike. That’s exactly why this moment could become a new golden age of marketing: a chance to break through the sameness with real creativity, smart risk-taking and unconventional ideas. With advanced tools and the right mix of strategy and imagination, the possibilities are endless. And when you serve consumers with heart while driving revenue, that’s marketing at its best.
It’s an engaging and thought-provoking episode from leaders in the field….priceless!
Interested in hearing more about The Futurists X Summit? Follow our sister podcast, The Futurists.
From Data Overload to Decisions: Citizens Bank’s Playbook for Simpler, Safer Banking
Oct 16, 2025
In This Episode
Many bank leaders are currently grappling with the same paradox: despite having access to more data than ever, it’s increasingly difficult to discern what truly matters. Budgets are tight, initiatives are piling up, and the market sends conflicting signals, all while the imperative to remain relevant to customers persists.
Breaking Banks did a show on VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) three weeks ago (if you missed it, take a listen when you get a chance!). When there’s VUCA, the natural inclination is to add more—more dashboards, more projects, more committees—yet this rarely leads to clarity.
This episode of Breaking Banks features Catherine Lynch from Citizens Bank and Greg Palmer, host of sister podcast Finovate. They discuss the importance of human-centered innovation.
Catherine Lynch leads digital experience and human-centered design at Citizens, a super-regional bank with approximately 1,000 branches primarily in the Northeast and $220 billion in assets. With over 20 years in banking and prior experience at Accenture and various tech startups, Catherine has dedicated her career to leveraging technology to solve customer problems. At Citizens, she focuses on digital channel strategy and experience design for a diverse customer base, including consumers, commercial clients, and wealth management customers.
Catherine explains that all banking clients share three fundamental needs: seeing their money, moving their money, and protecting their money. However, these needs have evolved as people navigate cognitive overload, economic stress, and reduced community connections, leading to a demand for simpler and easier banking experiences. To meet these changing expectations, Citizens employs a human-centered design approach, placing customer needs at the core of their problem-solving process through empathy, collaboration, iteration, and testing. Their innovation lab, part of Green Pixel Studios, enables them to observe customer interactions and rapidly develop solutions for pain points.
With its human centered focus and work building the right kind of innovative community, the future looks bright for Citizens Bank as it continues to deliver exceptional customer experiences and help customers navigate today’s information overload. Listen now to learn more!
Inside Saudi Arabia’s Digital Banking Revolution
Oct 09, 2025
In This Episode
Dr. Antoine Khadige, Senior Partner at Strategy+ GCC, and Mohamed AlSabea, Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer at barq, join host Brett King for a special episode, live from The Money Pot studio at Money20/20 Middle East in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Together, they share insights on the Gulf’s fintech transformation and on Riyadh’s growing reputation as the gateway to one of the world’s fastest-moving financial markets, where global players and regional decision-makers come together to build what’s next.
It’s an interesting discussion as the trio unpack Saudi Arabia’s dynamic fintech ecosystem and share the success story that is barq. Barq is the fastest growing private wallet / digital bank in the world with 8M users in just 1 year. They share insights on barq’s success, some of its secret sauce and plans for the future.
Regulation, digital infrastructure, youthful demographics and public trust have made the GCC a fertile ground for next-generation finance. From embedded finance and AI-driven personalization to the region’s broader Vision 2030 transformation, this conversation captures the determination and optimism fueling Saudi Arabia’s emergence as a global fintech powerhouse.
Is the Gulf the “new Europe” for fintech innovation? With determination and bold leadership driving transformation, the region’s financial future is only beginning.
How Will U.S. Banks Survive the Branch Decline? Branch Tomorrow
Oct 02, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks we finish our series on Brett King’s new book, Branch Tomorrow where we’ve featured interviews with Brett’s contributing authors: Bruno Diniz, Efi Pylarinou, Jim Marous, Paolo Sironi, and Richard Turrin. Each author brings a specialty in a different market, giving Branch Tomorrow a multi-perspective look at banking, banking culture, changes in ‘branching’ and the future of financial services across the globe, from the US to India, China, and Latin America.
In this episode of Breaking Banks, Brett King and Jim Marous, banking industry leader, fintech influencer, publisher and podcast host, dive into the insights from Branch Tomorrow from the U.S. perspective. They explore the evolving landscape of banking, focusing on the decline of physical branches (with peak branches in the U.S. in 2008) and the rise of digital banking solutions. While some large banks still invest in branches, smaller banks often struggle to justify the cost. The shift to digital is driven by customer behavior and operational efficiency,
With a keen eye on the economics and sustainability of traditional banking models, Jim and Brett discuss the challenges and opportunities facing financial institutions today. Tune in to the episode to better understand the U.S. banking market, and why being digital-first is crucial for survival in the modern banking world.
Branch Tomorrow, available now!, is an invaluable resource for bankers, regulators, fintech innovators, and future-focused leaders dedicated to thriving in the digital transformation of finance. The future of banking is truly here and is built on digital realities. Lead the change before it disrupts you!
Reshuffle: Who Wins When AI Restacks the Knowledge Economy
Sep 25, 2025
In This Episode
This week onBreaking Banks, we spotlight the newest member of the Provoke.fm family, Bankers’ Bookshelf, hosted by Paolo Sironi.
This episode features Paolo’s interview with Sangeet Paul Choudary, author of the new book, Reshuffle: Who Wins When AI Restacks the Knowledge Economy.
Paolo and Sangeet discuss how AI is set to transform the global economy and company operations by redistributing power among key players. Sangeet explores four key tensions driving this transformation: tensions between workers and their software tools; tool providers and the organizations that use them; businesses consolidating power and the industries they disrupt; and empowered individuals and established incumbents.
Drawing on compelling examples, historical parallels, and innovative perspectives, this conversation uncovers the opportunities and challenges AI presents—and reveals who stands to succeed or struggle when AI restacks the deck.
Don’t get left behind! Listen now!
Surviving the VUCA Bazooka: Turning Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity into Competitive Advantage
Sep 18, 2025
In This Episode
Gyrating securities prices, perplexing consumer confidence numbers, multiple revisions of jobs numbers, varying interest rate forecasts- that’s VUCA: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity. Tim Mahedy is Founder and Chief Economist at Access Macro and serves as the Chief Economist at Alloy Labs, and his perspective, shaped by time at the IMF, as the Chief of Staff at the San Francisco Federal Reserve, and by advising leaders globally, comes at a critical moment.
He joins host JP Nicols to reveal why the old banking playbooks are dead, how the “VUCA Bazooka” is reshaping the landscape not just now, but for the foreseeable future, and what bold leaders must do now to turn chaos into their biggest competitive advantage. If you don’t want to be left behind, this is your wake-up call, and your blueprint to winning in 2026 and beyond.
JP Nicols and Tim Mahedy will be giving an executive briefing on their findings and recommendations on October 2nd. Learn more and register at AlloyLabs.com/events
The Futurists Takeover: A Fascinating Interview With Physicist Brian Cox
Sep 11, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, we feature a fascinating and thought-provoking episode from our sister podcast, The Futurists, where Brett King welcomes celebrated experimental astrophysicist Professor Brian Cox.
Professor Cox, an English physicist and musician, is widely recognized for presenting science programs such as BBC Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage and the Wonders of... series. He is also the author of two popular science books: Why Does E=mc²? (And Why Should We Care?) and The Quantum Universe. He’s selected to deliver the keynote address at The Futurists X Summit in Dubai on September 22nd.
In this episode, Professor Cox dives into how our understanding of black holes and quantum information theory could change our fundamental understanding of the universe, ushering in a new era of scientific advancement.
Professor Brian Cox is one of the most articulate scientists in the world today. This interview underscores that, in an era where science faces ongoing challenges from political forces and media, our future lies in embracing knowledge and applied intelligence. Are we at the event horizon of something new and extraordinary?
The Economics and Future of Banking: Branch Tomorrow
Sep 04, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks we’re continuing our series on Brett King’s new book, Branch Tomorrow, featuring interviews with contributing authors: Bruno Diniz, Efi Pylarinou,Jim Marous, Paolo Sironi, and Richard Turrin. Each brings specialty in different markets giving Branch Tomorrow a multi-perspective look at banking, banking culture, and the future of financial services across the globe, from the US to India, Europe, China, and Latin America.
In this episode, Branch Tomorrow co-author Efi Pylarinou, a leading global fintech and tech influencer, shares insights on branch transformation from the European zone. Efi delves into some of the uniqueness, challenges and opportunities of the European market — a great example of diversity and different ways of operating — one item of note, the large Post Office networks that can essentially compete with fintechs and offer services.
In looking at the evolution of banking and to the future of banking in Europe, Efi and Brett focus on the transition from traditional banking to digital-only models like Revolut, breaking down what makes them successful, taking a close look at the economics of the different models. They also explore how AI is reshaping customer experiences in banking, the impact of cashlessness, and the social implications of some of these changes.
How will regulatory challenges shape the future of banking? Will shared banking spaces emerge as a solution for branches? In the next five years, in Europe and globally, will we see new disruptors that will challenge existing disruptors from the last decade?
The future of banking is here. Branch Tomorrow, a must-read for future-focused leaders dedicated to thriving in the digital transformation of finance — available mid-September. Get a sneak peek by listening now!
The Rise of Digital Banking and Fintechs: Branch Tomorrow
Aug 28, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks we’re continuing our series on Brett King’s new book, Branch Tomorrow. We feature interviews with some of Brett’s contributing authors: Bruno Diniz, Efi Pylarinou, Jim Marous, Paolo Sironi, and Richard Turrin. Each author brings specialty in different markets giving Branch Tomorrow a multi-perspective look at banking, banking culture, changes in ‘branching’ and the future of financial services across the globe, from the US to India, China, and Latin America.
In this episode, Brett speaks with Richard Turrin, an industry leader in fintech innovation and digital transformation, and Author of Cashless: China’s Digital Currency. Brett and Richard delve into the robust digital financial services landscape in China which experienced significant digital disruption starting in the mid-2010s. You’ll hear how bankers there are still reeling from the unprecedented scale of disruption brought on by MYbank, WeBank, WeChat and Alipay.
Then, Brett connects with Paolo Sironi, Global Research Leader in Banking and Financial Markets at the IBM Institute for Business Value and host of Provoke.fm‘s Bankers Bookshelf podcast. Paolo shares insights from the Eurozone on branch transformation, highlighting how some European banks are embracing digitization by evolving their branches. He discusses how they are balancing digital and physical presence by adjusting their in-branch product offerings, with a focus on personalization, financial inclusion, and maintaining strong customer engagement.
Tune in now for these insightful conversations! Branch Tomorrow, available mid-September, is an invaluable resource for bankers, regulators, fintech innovators, and future-focused leaders dedicated to thriving in the digital transformation of finance. The future of banking is here!
The Rise and Fall of the Branch Bank: Branch Tomorrow
Aug 21, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks we’re excited to introduce Brett King’s latest book, Branch Tomorrow. This new book re-examines our understanding of bank branches, banking culture, and the future of financial services across the globe, from the US to India, China and Latin America.
In a special Breaking Banks series, Brett interviews contributing authors Bruno Diniz, Efi Pylarinou, Jim Marous, Paolo Sironi, and Richard Turrin to deliver a multi-perspective global look at banking. Each author brings specialties in different markets; all analyzing changes and data from the past decade to what’s been happening with branch banking and providing insights into the ongoing transformation in finance.
In this conversation, Brett speaks with Bruno Diniz, Financial Innovation Expert, Bestselling Author, Speaker and Professor specializing in fostering financial innovation in Latin America. They delve into the evolution of banking in Brazil and LATAM, particularly the decline of traditional bank branches and the rise of digital banks like Nubank with its rapid growth in Latin America (123 million+ customers). They also explore the impact of regulatory changes, the economics of digital banking, and the role of innovative payment systems like PIX while discussing the challenges traditional banks face in adapting to this rapidly changing financial landscape.
We encourage you to listen now and stay tuned for more in this series! Branch Tomorrow, releasing in September, is a must-read for bankers, regulators, fintech innovators, and future-focused leaders eager to thrive in the digital transformation of finance. The future of banking is here!
Building Financial Health Standards to Improve Lives and Institutions
Aug 14, 2025
In This Episode
In this episode, Breaking Banks delves into the evolving landscape of financial health standards, exploring how the Financial Health Network is pioneering a new set of standards aimed at designing financial products that prioritize consumer well-being. These standards, set to transform financial services by focusing on customer-centric outcomes, start with a focus on checking accounts and credit cards. encouraging people to spend well, and will be part of a library of standards around how financial institutions and fintechs can design financial products and services with the user’s financial health outcome in mind. A practical blueprint for building financial products with integrated financial health solutions.
Listen as Jason Henrichs and Brett King catch up with frequent guest Jennifer Tescher, President and CEO of the Financial Health Network and host of the EMERGE Everywhere podcast to discuss these new finhealth standards launched at the recent EMERGE conference. The trio explore:
Creating a financially inclusive global economy: challenges and opportunities
How financial industry standards shape consumer outcomes and institutional practices
Improving financial decision-making through standards and outcome-focused frameworks
Managing personal finances effectively with standardized financial practices
Understanding moral hazard in financial services and regulation
The impact of incentives and leadership priorities on financial system trust and performance
Do consumers trust artificial intelligence more than traditional financial institutions?
Small changes can drive big impact and improve financial decisions, management and ultimately financial lives. There is a lot that financial institutions and fintechs can do right now and make a difference, but there’s also a lot to get right — tune in now!
Is There A Crisis Of Trust In Financial Services?
Aug 07, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, we focus on a fundamental topic in financial services: trust. Trust is the cornerstone of any successful banking relationship. Consumers trust their financial institutions to protect their information and funds—and that trust is warranted. We have guarantees like FDIC insurance to back it up.
The importance of trust is acutely felt in community banking. In this episode, Jason Henrichs introduces us to Carie Kelly, Senior Vice President and Digital Banking Officer at Claremont Savings Bank, and Stephen Lewis, President and CEO of Thomaston Savings Bank. Listen in as they talk about trust, what their community banks are doing to build and enhance it, and how they’re preparing for advanced issues in banking.
A $124 trillion opportunity in the U.S. lies in the current transfer of intergenerational wealth. Emily Cisek, Founder and CEO of Paige—a comprehensive life planning and succession software platform for families and small businesses—joins us to discuss a recent partnership with both Claremont Savings Bank and Thomaston Savings Bank, helping them serve as trusted advisors in generational transitions.
It’s an engaging episode with implications and applications for all generations and age groups. Enjoy the episode, and let us know what you think!
Happy 15th Dodd Frank!
Jul 31, 2025
In This Episode
Today we celebrate the 15th anniversary of Dodd-Frank!
Tune in as Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes), Kiah Haslett (writer and former banking and fintech editor at Bank Director), and Dara Tarkowski (Tech on Reg host and Partner at Actuate Law) join host Jason Henrichs. They dive deep into Dodd-Frank, discussing its successes and shortcomings as the most significant piece of regulatory overhaul of the last century. Consider this a master class on the topic!
Does the GENIUS Act have similar potential? Don’t miss these “Sweet Takes” on legislation!
Listen now!
Smarter Lending: Expanding Credit Access and Improving Risk Decisioning at Scale
Jul 24, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, join us as we explore how real-time data is helping lenders understand financial behaviors beyond traditional credit scores, as Plaid, the largest financial data network, and Experian, a leading data technology company join forces via their new partnership.
Listen as Michelle Young, Credit Product Lead at Plaid and Ashley Knight, SVP of Product Management at Experian connect with host Brett King to discuss how this new partnership is providing proven risk insights and real-time cash flow data to banks, credit unions and consumer lenders, and the potential it brings for a major change in lending. Datos Insights’ Stewart Watterson also joins to offer insights on two critical industry challenges that the availability of real-time cash flow data addresses: creating pathways to credit for underserved consumers, and for financial institutions, expanding the consumer lending addressable market while improving the ability to manage credit risk. It’s a win-win!
This episode is not to be missed! Lend smarter and get ahead of the curve to learn how cashflow and credit data can fuel business performance and competitive advantages now!
Is Open Banking Dying—or Just Growing Up?
Jul 17, 2025
In This Episode
JPMorgan Chase has fired the first shot, announcing their plan to charge fintechs what some are calling exorbitant fees for access to customer data. It has the potential to shake the foundations of the open banking movement in the U.S. At the same time, the Section 1033 rule itself is under assault in the courts, and the future of consumer-driven finance hangs in the balance.
In this episode, host JP Nicols is joined by two power players with a front-row seat to the action: Phil Goldfeder, CEO of the American Fintech Council, and Penny Lee, President and CEO of the Financial Technology Association. Together, they debate the billion-dollar question: Should banks control and charge for access to your data, or is true open banking the only way to foster competition and innovation?
No topic is off-limits:
Are “data toll roads” an overdue necessity, or just a new barrier to competition?
Should financial data be as open and regulated as our power grid?
Who wins and who loses among big banks, community banks, fintechs, consumers, and small business.
If you care about the future of money, data, and consumer power, you can’t afford to miss this episode. Listen in for a spirited debate that could decide the next decade of financial innovation.
Fintech Tribute: Her Song Lives On
Jul 10, 2025
In This Episode
In June we lost a pillar of our community, Barb MacLean, a brilliant fintech mind and a beloved colleague. A guest turned co-host on Breaking Banks and an invaluable member of Alloy Labs. She was truly special, she never hesitated to pay it forward or to speak truth, albeit in the most polite Canadian way, whether on podcasts or the stages of Finovate.
Every week she curated a list of the most impactful things she had read and paired them with a song, publishing the Fintech Playlist. It was an honor to be included. She exposed us to new writers and new songs. For her, music was more than a backdrop — it was a language, a way to connect, to feel, to make fintech more human.
This week’s episode is a rerun of a favorite episode featuring Barb, JP Nicols and Alex Johnson discussing the invisible heist of business customers as part of our ‘Unbreak the Bank’ series.
We hope to honor her legacy the way she lived it: with meaning, creativity, and community.
Battling Fraud in Fintech: How Banks and Fintechs can Stay Ahead
Jun 26, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, we feature our sister podcast, Social Currency, powered by Sunrise Banks. Social Currency introduces us to some of the most innovative changemakers in finance, technology, and social impact—leaders who are dismantling barriers and reshaping their industries for a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable future.
Hosts Tyler Seydel, Chief Fintech Officer, and Eric Schurr, Chief Strategy Officer at Sunrise Banks, speak with those at the forefront of positive change through social entrepreneurship, unveiling the stories behind the revolution that’s propelling us toward a world where everyone has equitable access to opportunity.
In this episode, Tyler and Eric connect with John Barbella, Founder and President of Neighborli—a network of financial institutions aligned to prevent and fight fraud in fintech. With over 30 years of experience in financial services, John shares insights on compliance, the evolving fraud landscape, and how banks and fintechs can collaborate to stay ahead. Tune in to learn how Neighborli is bridging the gap between financial institutions and fintechs to build a more secure and innovative digital banking future.
Enjoy the episode, and check out other episodes of Social Currency at provoke.fm or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts.
Fintech FMK: Hot Takes on the Regulatory Wild West
Jun 19, 2025
In This Episode
Live from the main stage at American Banker’s Digital Banking 2025, this high-energy episode of Breaking Banks brings the regulatory heat. Host Jason Henrichs is joined by Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) and Dara Tarkowski (Actuate Law) for unfiltered, rapid-fire takes on the most urgent—and divisive—issues shaping digital finance regulation today.
In a fintech twist on the classic ‘90s game FMK, the trio tackles which regulatory bodies to “love, leave, or reform”—from the CFPB and OCC to the NCUA and beyond. No topic is off-limits as they debate the shifting landscape around Section 1033, Open Banking implementation, UDAP enforcement, and the growing tensions between innovation and compliance.
Plus: what do the STABLE Act, the GENIUS Act, and Stablecoin policy have in common? They all point to a regulatory future that’s as complex as it is critical to get right.
This episode is not for the faint of heart, but essential listening for anyone working at the intersection of fintech, policy, and consumer protection.
Breaking Borders: Africa’s Digital Leap and the Future of Global Payments
Jun 12, 2025
This week we bring you more insights from Cape Town South Africa as we continue to explore some great startups on the African continent and beyond from Crossfin’s Circle of Fintech event.
In our first segment, Brett speaks with Karl Westvig, CEO of TymeBank South Africa. Since receiving its banking license in South Africa in 2019, TymeBank has grown to 80 million customers globally, focusing on financial inclusion through accessible and frictionless banking. The expanding neobank has plans for further growth in several Asian markets.
Key motivations include the immense scale of the Asian markets: the Philippines with 120 million people and Indonesia with 280 million alongside South Africa’s 60 million. These regions boast young, digitally savvy populations that are largely underserved. Tune in as Brett and Karl discuss new opportunities, TymeBank’s innovative “phygital” distribution strategy, tech stacks, Agentic AI, new products, and more
Then, Brett sits down with Unitey Founder & CEO, Muzaffar “MK” Khokhar, for an engaging conversation about the payments ecosystem. Based in the UAE, Unitey’s mission is to democratize financial services and level the playing field.
MK is a veteran payments ecosystem player, creating and operating payment ecosystems for central banks and governments. With Unitey, he is focused on the serenity of the ecosystem. With our current system built back in the 60s / 70s, we now have better tech for more robust payment rails. Change is happening, efficiency is coming into the system, and interoperability with other rails coming up fast with RTP, mobile money, and more. Unitey specializes in demystifying the card payment rails but has clear roadmaps focused on creating interoperability with other rails, ensuring multiple rails can actually interoperate.
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Africa’s Fintech Revolution: Mobile Money, Soft POS, and the Next Billion
Jun 06, 2025
In This Episode
This week’s episode of Breaking Banks brings you insights from Cape Town, South Africa, and the Circle of Fintech event hosted by Crossfin. Africa accounts for a remarkable 70% of mobile money accounts globally, and over the past decade, fintech and mobile money have brought 1.1 billion Sub-Saharan Africans into the formal financial services system..
In the episode, Brett King is joined by Dean Sparrow and Anton Gaylard, Co-Founders of Crossfin to talk about next gen financial services infrastructure emerging from South Africa and extending across the planet. They explore the evolution of fintech across the African continent. the rapid adoption of mobile money, fueled by the limited legacy banking infrastructure and the widespread use of mobile technology. They then get into Crossfin’s investment strategy with focus on supporting founder-led businesses in Africa, particularly those developing payment-oriented solutions, and showcasing the agility and innovation within the African fintech ecosystem.
But first, Brett sits down with Barry Levett, CEO of Mypinpad, a fintech entrepreneur dedicated to creating secure and scalable infrastructure that transforms mobile devices into trusted platforms for commerce. As the founder of SmartPesa, Barry spearheaded the expansion of its payment and agency banking solutions across 11 countries. After a merger with Mypinpad in 2022, he assumed the role of CEO, bringing a unified strategic vision to the combined entity — a vision emphasizing digital infrastructure that enhances freedom and efficiency, enabling individuals and businesses to transact more securely and simply on their own terms. A key focus is “Soft POS,” a growing trend in finance that leverages the capabilities of ordinary mobile phones to accept payments, essentially turning a phone into a point of sale terminal.
Stay tuned for this insightful episode!
What if the race for the future of finance is a relay?
May 29, 2025
In This Episode
Traditional banks just pocketed $268 billion in profit—even with loan growth stuck in first gear—while global fintech funding barely limped past $10 billion, thanks to a single blockbuster round. This week, Theo Lau and Greg Palmer join hosts JP Nicols, Brett King, and Jason Henrichs to untangle those contradictions and ask who’s really carrying the baton in the race for the future of money.
Brace yourself for a knife-fight over BaaS regulation, a land-rush toward instant payments, and an AI gold rush that could super-charge compliance… or automate you right out of a job (and maybe swipe your wallet on the way).
Is a 3 % NIM so cushy that banks will never reinvent themselves?
Are stablecoins the rails of autonomous finance—or just more crypto hype?
Add in deep-fake demos, a no-holds-barred scorecard of today’s leaders, learners, and laggards, and stark predictions of where they’ll be tomorrow. Whether you’re sprinting on a 150-year-old balance sheet or a Series A term sheet, the finish line is the same: deliver smarter, safer money experiences—before someone else does.
And whatever you do, try not to low-key suck.
UK Investment Hubs & The Rise of Collaborative Fintech
May 22, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks host Brett King is joined by Chris Hayward, Policy Chairman of the City of London Corporation. As Political Leader of the City of London Corporation, Chris acts as a principal spokesperson and advocate for London as a global financial and professional services capital. In the segment, Brett and Chris discuss
The impact to date of the Trump presidency on the UK financial services sector.
Wider US-UK relations and the City’s view of the prospect of a UK-US free trade deal especially in services and tech.
How the UK is a global gateway for US companies to access capital and advice, and
Ongoing work with the UK Government to create an investment hub (a concierge service) to make it easier to channel foreign investment into the UK economy, and ongoing conversations on regulatory reform
Then, sister podcast, Finovate host Greg Palmer interviews Nick Evens, President and CEO of Curql. Nick shares his journey from working within credit unions to leading Curql, a strategic investment fund focused on credit union innovation. Curql invests in startups and fosters an ecosystem where over 130 credit unions collaborate and share resources, often co-investing in companies that serve both banks and credit unions. Born from a need to support credit unions in staying competitive with big banks by pooling resources to invest in transformative financial technology, Curql bridges a gap between fintech and credit unions, helping credit unions gain access to tech solutions they otherwise couldn’t afford on their own. More on the topic at FinovateSpring.
The Future Of Money & Machine Identity
May 15, 2025
In This Episode
This week’s episode of Breaking Banks features host Brett King in a one-on-one discussion with Dave Birch, speaker, author and internationally recognized thought leader in digital identity and digital money. Listen as they explore the future of AI-based payments, money, and the concepts surrounding Agentic AI.
Their conversation delves into key areas such as:
* KYA (Know-your-Agent, a counterpart to KYC – Know Your Customer) * How we’ll tell if specific agents have the authority to make payments * The utility problem of money in a highly autonomous world
This episode is the future of money, identity and payments all wrapped into one, featuring two of the most future-thinking people in the finance space today.
Breaking Banks’ Hot Takes, Live From The Alloy Labs Annual Member Meeting
May 08, 2025
In This Episode
Today, we bring you a special episode of Breaking Banks, live from the Alloy Labs Annual Member Meeting —a three-day event focused on critical discussions and deep strategy sessions for today’s bank executives. While we can’t disclose what was said behind closed doors, we can share some of the critical (and fiery!) conversations and topics that executives need to be thinking about and discussing, some of which we asked and addressed in this special recording.
Host Jason Henrichs brings the sauce and is joined by recognized industry voices and Hot Takes contributors Kia Haslett from Bank Director, Alex Johnson of Fintech Takes, and Chris Nichols, Director of Capital Markets at South State Bank and writer of South State’s Banker to Banker blog.
Leave us a comment on LinkedIn about what you liked, and you may just find yourself the winner of one of the limited-edition Hot Takes hot sauces the panelists enjoyed! First come, first served on the sauce (while supplies last). Don’t delay—listen now and join the discussion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr4Y_eTI_O8
Killing It: Nektarios Liolios on Fintech Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Community
May 01, 2025
In This Episode
It is 2014, and Breaking Banks host Jason Henrichs is having coffee with Nektarios Liolios, an early leader in financial services innovation. Jason is in London—the uncontested fintech capital of the world at the time—sitting in the shadow of the Tower of London, seeking advice during what feels like the wreckage of his life post-Perkstreet. Nektarios, today’s guest, was on a journey of his own. He joined SWIFT, the global payments messaging service, in 2007 and held various roles, from working with funds to collaborating with startups. He had recently left to co-found Startup Boot Camp Fintech and Rainmaking Innovation, a corporate innovation studio. He stepped away from both five years later for a period of reflection—which you’ll hear about—before co-founding another fintech venture, Radish Credit, which recently wound down. Along the way, he’s gathered an abundance of hard-earned wisdom.
For those unfamiliar with Killing It, the name comes from a private joke between Jason and his Perkstreet co-founder. When asked how things were going, they would say, “We’re killing it,” then mutter under their breath, “like putting a knife in it.” Perkstreet, founded in 2008, was one of the first neobanks and one that crash-landed when an acquisition fell through. Listen in as Jason and Nektarios continue the candid conversation they began years ago.
Breaking Banks’ Killing It series isn’t just about startup failures; it’s about transitions and changes in identity. It’s about founders who sell successfully, only to see their dream owned by someone else. It’s about entrepreneurs who step away or are forced to. Killing It is about the journey of reinvention. This episode is a masterclass in entrepreneurship from a seasoned fintech founder, ecosystem builder, and mental health advocate.
News From The Fintech Front: AI, Stablecoin Strategy & Fintech M&A
Apr 24, 2025
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, Don Ginsel, host of our sister show Breaking Banks Europe, takes our mic and brings the conversation stateside. Don is joined by Nik Milanović, founder of This Week in Fintech, for a wide-ranging and energizing discussion of the latest forces shaping the fintech landscape.
From the evolving role of traditional banks and increasing interest in stablecoins to the current state of fintech M&A, the rise of fraud, and the impact of AI on financial services, Don and Nik cover the topics on everyone’s mind.
Whether you’re a founder, investor, or financial exec, this overview of the trends, risks, and opportunities is not to be missed.
What The Future Looks Like in Finance and Fintech: Jo Ann Barefoot, Nick Hughes and Brett King Live From Virgin Unite
Apr 17, 2025
In This Episode
In a rare and inspiring crossover episode, Breaking Banks teams up with Barefoot Innovation to bring you a special dispatch from Necker Island, BVI. Hosted by Brett King and Jo Ann Barefoot, this episode captures the energy and insight of a one-of-a-kind fintech gathering organized by Virgin Unite: an event bringing together innovators from around the world, from a cross section of industry, exploring what the future of finance could (and should) look like.
Podcasts hosts and speakers Brett and Jo Ann share their talks and insights from this carbon neutral event, connecting with Dr. Nick Hughes, OBE, father of M-Pesa, co-founder of M-Kopa and now Managing Director 4rdigital.com, the fourth revolution is digital, to cover all things fintech. Listen as these leaders discuss applications of fintech in other markets and all that is possible if we come out of our silos and collaborate — the combination of problem solving perspectives, resources, networks and more can make an impact on some of the world’s toughest challenges. We have the tech to do what we need to do, the potential is enormous! If you’re looking for inspiration and forward-thinking ideas this episode delivers!
Insider Advice From A Serial Entrepreneur, Cokie Hasiotis
Apr 10, 2025
In This Episode
Killing It is back! Jason Henrichs’ series on banking and fintech entrepreneurs returns with Cokie Hasiotis
In this episode of Breaking Banks, Jason Henrichs connects with Cokie, serial entrepreneur and exited founder of Twali and drippi. Cokie candidly shares her entrepreneurial journey, providing insights into the emotional challenges and tolls inherent in entrepreneurship, and the stress of pivoting business. She also reflects on how these experiences have shaped her, underscoring the significance of community, the importance of self-awareness and filtering advice from others. Tune in to hear more about identity as a founder, navigating loss, soft landings, and transitioning to new opportunities.
This week on Breaking Banks, it’s a powerhouse podcast mashup you won’t want to miss.
What happens when two leading voices in fintech join forces? You get a fast-paced, insight-packed conversation on the future of finance, banking innovation, and emerging technologies—recorded live in Finland.
Breaking Banks host Brett King teams up with Pål Krogdahl and Ville Sointu, hosts of the Nordics’ #1 fintech podcast Fintech Daydreaming, for a high-level exploration of where the industry is headed next.
In this episode, they dive into some of the most important developments shaping the future of financial services, including:
*The rise of mobile money and how it’s reshaping economies
*The role of digital identity in secure, seamless transactions
*The concept of Q-Day and its long-term implications for cybersecurity in banking
*Smart contracts and business process in an autonomous algorithmic marketplace
*Agentic AI, KYM (Know Your Machine) and AI in Financial Transactions, and
*A sneak peek at Brett’s upcoming book, Branch Tomorrow
This wide-ranging conversation serves as both a primer and a deep dive into the innovations transforming fintech right now. Whether you’re tracking the next big trend or trying to stay ahead of digital disruption, this episode delivers high-value insights from three thought leaders at the forefront of change.
Listen now and get future-ready!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SjmoJZlY4
Foiling the Invisible Heist: The New Banking Playbook to Land and Expand Commercial Relationships through Digital Banking
Mar 27, 2025
In This Episode
There’s something happening beneath the surface of every pizza order, every childcare payment, and every invoice sent by businesses across America. A quiet revolution that most people— sometimes even business owners themselves— have barely noticed.
Traditional banks are being methodically extracted from the daily financial lives of businesses, replaced by something more streamlined, more embedded, as banking becomes just another node in a business operating system.
We dug into those threats last episode on “The Invisible Heist”. This week, Jorge Garcia, Founder and CEO of Linker Finance, and Samer Saab, SVP of Product for Alloy Labs, join host JP Nicols and co-host Barb MacLean as we look at some viable options for banks to foil the heist and create a competitive response.
We’ll look at the surprising opportunities sitting right in front of us, and how banks are rewriting the playbook to land and expand commercial customers through digital banking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX2D6ZE2DdM
The Invisible Heist: How Software Companies Are Quietly Stealing Your Commercial Relationships
Mar 20, 2025
In This Episode
Banking executives, your business customers aren’t leaving you for another bank—they’re leaving banking altogether— at least partially. For now.
As a part of our “Unbreak the Bank” series we dissect the most significant existential threat to community financial institutions since the 2008 crisis: the systematic extraction of business banking services into everyday business software.
Community banks are hemorrhaging 12-18% of operational deposits annually to companies that don’t even consider themselves “banks”, and they’re moving upmarket.
The competitive battlefield has shifted, and “relationship banking” is not enough to compete. Customers are integrating business solutions into their daily workflow, and banks risks being shut out altogether.
Discover why the future isn’t about being the best business bank – it’s about being a relevant layer in the best business experience.
Fintech Takes founder Alex Johnson and Velocita founder Barb MacLean join host JP Nicols to reveal how embedded lending is systematically dismantling banking relationships as Quickbooks, Square, Toast, and others integrate financial services directly into business workflows, and explore some options for how banks can respond.
https://youtu.be/FV5wUyhng6c?si=KpsHDtG0V4rRXSWt
Hot Takes on Banking Regulation, Standards, AI, and Fraud
Mar 06, 2025
In This Episode
Powered by U.S. Bank and recorded live at Fintech Xchange hosted by the Stena Center for Financial Technology, this episode dives into the most pressing issues shaping financial services today.
In our first segment, Jason Henrichs chats with Sima Ghandi, Sr Advisor FS Vector, Co-Founder of Coalition of Financial Ecosystem Standards (CFES) and Phil Goldfeder, CEO American Fintech Council (AFC). AFC, a standards-based organization representing large financial technology (Fintech) companies and innovative banks, promotes a transparent, inclusive, and customer-centric financial system supporting innovation and access to responsible financial products. CFES is a new (2024) industry-led organization with the goal of developing standards that promote safety and soundness for non-banks participating in financial services. They cover:
· The growing role of bank-fintech partnerships in innovation and growth, and expanding access to financial services. · The importance of clear risk management and compliance standards in maintaining operational and business viability in the fast-moving world of financial services
Then, the conversation shifts to AI and fraud prevention as Jason speaks with John Sun, CEO of Spring Labs, and Simon Taylor, Head of Content & Strategy at Sardine. Sardine offers an AI risk platform for fraud, credit and compliance, and Spring Labs provides an AI-Native conversational intelligence platform that turns chatter into actionable insight. Together, they explore:
· The future of financial services in a world increasingly reliant on automation and robots · The broader implications of AI and Generative AI in shaping the future of financial services
From standards setting in banking and fintech to AI and fraud this episode delivers hot takes and expert insights on the opportunities, risks, and evolving landscape of financial technology.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBdMjPG1rvE
Fintech Xchange ’25: Hot Takes into BaaS and the Future of Banking
Feb 28, 2025
In This Episode
This week, we bring you Part III of exclusive insights from Fintech Xchange ’25 at the Stena Center for Financial Technology and the University of Utah, powered by U.S. Bank. Host Jason Henrichs engages in a dynamic discussion with Jason Mikula of Fintech Business Weekly and Chris Black, CEO & President of Thread Bank. Their conversation spans topics from Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) and regulatory shifts under the new administration to the dual-edged nature of innovation in today’s financial landscape.
Chris delves into Thread Bank’s unique transformation as it evolved from the historic Civis Bank—established in 1906—into a fintech-enabled community bank. In 2021, new leadership recapitalized and revitalized the institution by adopting an industrial approach to BaaS and launching Thread. Thread’s goal is to deliver the unparalleled value of a community bank to individuals and businesses, leveraging intuitive technology to meet customers where they are. Maintaining two local branches, Thread is delivering on its mission of embedded banking — deposits, loans, and payments, and exemplifies the integration of traditional banking services with modern embedded banking solutions. By transcending geographical limitations and focusing on scalable, durable models, Thread collaborates with partners to manage risks and capitalize on the strengths of partnership banking.
In the second segment, University of Utah alumnus Rhett Roberts, CEO & Co-founder of LoanPro, joins “the Jasons” to discuss the evolving fintech ecosystem and APIs. Are they coming of age? Naturally they talk about cores, and how banks are in the process of conscious decoupling to build resilient infrastructures in order to weather future disruptions.
Rhett shares LoanPro’s journey from inception to powering some of the biggest lenders in fintech. LoanPro offers a scalable, API-first lending and credit platform that fosters innovation by streamlining origination, servicing, collections, and payments across various loan types, lines of credit, and credit cards. This narrative underscores the transformative impact of fintech solutions in modernizing financial services.
Listen and watch to explore these compelling stories!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RC9Gt9PodA
Hot Takes from Fintech Xchange: Diving Right in with U.S. Bank and Fintech Nexus
Feb 20, 2025
In This Episode
In this episode we continue the series powered by U.S. Bank and recorded at the University of Utah’s Fintech Xchange. CAUTION: The episode is hot!
Breaking Banks’ Hot Takes host Jason Henrichs, regulars Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) and Jason Mikula (Fintech Business Weekly) are joined by David Ness, U.S. Bank’s SVP Innovation, R&D and Peter Renton, Fintech Nexus, Chairman & Co-Founder. The newcomers jump right in, going straight for Fintech on Fire (#11 on a scale of 1 – 10), and comfortably deliver hot takes from the hot seats, recapping major themes from the event, and making predictions as to what 2025 brings to our industry. Plenty of insights are shared and there’s plenty for the risky spice-takers to tackle including BNPL (acronym for a popular industry term, of course, and also our new Burn Now Pay Later hot sauce). Two other clues as to what the group might have talked about….the RegTech Reaper and Stable Coin Scorch . Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where these came from!
Listen now on your favorite podcast platform!
It’s a hot conversation, worth being in the room for…to catch the visuals check it out on YouTube (@provokefm and while you are there, hit subscribe)!
Digital Banks and Founders Changing the World of Banking: bunq
Feb 13, 2025
In This Episode
This week we introduce you to a series profiling the digital banks and founders that are changing the world of banking. Focused on first hand accounts from founders all over the globe, the series chronicles the NeoBanking movement from the early days though to today, documenting the players building a new category of digital banking, reshaping the digital movement. Throughout our series we look at foundation stories, challenges each had, and the regulatory approach each took — a look at the pioneering history of the neo and challenger bank movement.
In this episode, Breaking Banks host Brett King connects with bunq’s Founder & CEO. Ali Niknam. bunq is based in The Netherlands, a small country doing big things. bunq, bank of The Free, offers mobile banking that makes life easy for every new chapter in one’s life, and for the digital nomad in everyone.
Born out of Ali’s interest in creating products that people like to use, bunq began in 2012 and its mobile app came out in 2015, all with the aim to help the world forward and do banking a little differently. bunq has brought lasting change to the European banking industry. Having built a product rooted in customer needs and wants, bunq quickly scaled to become the second largest neobank in the EU. Serving digital nomads across the European Economic Area, bunq makes life easy for location-independent people and businesses starting from the way they manage money: how they spend, save, budget and invest.
On a mission to build the first global neobank for digital nomads, bunq announced its bid to enter the US market (April 2023) by applying for a banking license.
It’s an intriguing story, not to be missed!
https://youtu.be/xflfJpM60NI?si=oKMhKcL13Q_eJM9s
Breaking Banks at fintechXchange: Ecosystem Building & Hot Takes for 2025
Feb 06, 2025
This week on Breaking Banks, we take you inside fintechXchange, hosted by the Stena Center for Financial Technology at the University of Utah. As a proud media partner of the event, we explore how industry, academia, and policymakers are coming together to drive the future of financial services. Host Jason Henrichs sits down with Meghan Kober, VP of Fintech Partnerships & Investments at U.S. Bank, Taylor Randall, President of the University of Utah, and Ryan Christiansen, Executive Director of the Stena Center for Financial Technology. Together, they discuss the power of ecosystem building, highlighting the incredible human capital fueling innovation: VCs, startups, and institutions of all sizes collaborating to shape the next wave of fintech growth and banking transformation.
Then, it’s time for the first Hot Takes of 2025, recorded live from ‘Silicon Slopes’! Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) and Jason Mikula (Fintech Business Weekly) are back in the hot seats with Jason Henrichs to break down the latest fintech headlines with sharp insights and no-holds-barred opinions. They dive into:
The latest in open banking, the CFPB and regulation
The fate of BaaS Island, Synapse, and Patriot Bank’s BSA & AML challenges
What really is possible with bankruptcy proceedings and what does it mean for fintech’s future
This episode is packed with insight, energy, and hard-hitting discussions you won’t want to miss!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ-bdJNLu60
Spotlight: Banker’s Bookshelf — Future Money
Jan 30, 2025
In This Episode
We are excited to introduce you to Provoke.fm‘s newest podcast….a-spinoff-of-a-spinoff of Breaking Banks. Bankers Bookshelf brings cutting edge banking and fintech research to life, sharing the stories and strategies behind financial innovation, bridging the gap between technology and finance — a perfect fit for the Breaking Banks family! Host Paolo Sironi, global research leader in banking and financial markets at IBM Institute for Business Value, is a trailblazer in fintech himself.
In this episode, Paolo connects with Ronit Ghose who runs the Future of Finance team in Citi’s thought leadership unit “Citi Global Insights”, and is the author of Future Money: Fintech, AI and Web 3.
The world of money is rapidly changing, but what does it all really mean? The duo discuss insights from the book with Ronit bringing technical topics to vivid life via narrative deep dives into selected founders and their companies. From London to Lagos, via Ahmedabad, Dubai, Hong Kong, Karachi and more, this episode pulls together the story of how money is changing in the internet era.
Banking Innovation: Journey and Insights from an Incumbent Bank
Jan 23, 2025
In This Episode
Getting digital right can be challenging for anyone –small banks, big banks, incumbents, challengers, you name it.
In this episode, Brett King meets up with Akbank’s Consumer Banking & Digital Solutions, EVP, Burcu Civelek Yuce to talk about Akbank and Akbank LAB, Akbank’s Innovation Lab. The discussion focuses on the incumbent bank ‘s digital engagement and excellence in collaborating and partnering with fintechs and big tech.
Turkey is the 18th largest country in the world in terms of population size, with Akbank one of the largest banks (77 years young) in Turkey. Akbank has nimbly undergone a smoothe digital transformation with the majority of its customers now coming through digital channels — be it new customer acquisition, servicing or sales.
Akbank LAB is the innovation center that coordinates Akbank’s pioneering fintech developments. Here, they study best working models and implement solutions to make the lives of Akbank’s customers easier. Fintech partnership and collaboration are key components of Akbank LAB’s success, with partners working hard to create value for their customers.
Akbank is embracing AI with Banking IQ, hyper personalized information on customers, and is actively reskilling employees to lead the way forward.
Listen to this engaging conversation to learn best practices relevant for all banks and financial institutions.
For further information: akbanklab.com or akbanklab@akbanklab.com
Chapter 1: Introduction – The Evolution of Incumbent Banks (00:00)
An introduction to the discussion on digital transformation in traditional banks. The host shares insights from a recent visit to Istanbul and the rapid changes observed in the Turkish banking sector.
Chapter 2: Akbank’s Digital Transformation and Growth (05:15)
EVP Bircu Sivilek shares key data on how Akbank has embraced digitalization, with significant growth in digital customer acquisition and engagement. The discussion covers the bank’s transformation into a digitally-led institution.
Chapter 3: Fintech Collaboration and Open Innovation (12:40)
How Akbank fosters partnerships with fintechs and big techs through Akbank Lab. The conversation explores how the bank accelerates innovation through strategic collaborations.
Chapter 4: AI-Driven Personalization in Banking (19:20)
A discussion on the role of artificial intelligence in banking, including how Akbank uses AI for hyper-personalized financial insights, enhancing the customer experience.
Chapter 5: Supporting SMEs with Fintech Innovations (26:30)
An exploration of how Akbank integrates fintech solutions to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) manage their financial operations, including a successful partnership with a Spanish fintech.
Chapter 6: The Agile Approach to Product Development (32:45)
Comparing Akbank’s development process to digital-first banks like Nubank and Revolut. Insights into how Akbank has reduced time-to-market for new banking products.
Chapter 7: Modernizing Banking Infrastructure for Agility (39:10)
A deep dive into how Akbank rebuilt its technology stack from the ground up to support seamless fintech integrations and AI-powered banking services.
Chapter 8: The Future of Banking – AI, Generative Tech, and Digital Strategy (45:50)
How Akbank is positioning itself as a leader in AI-driven banking, with a focus on generative AI, customer experience, and further digital transformation in the next three to five years.
Chapter 9: The Transformation of Branch Banking (52:30)
How Akbank’s digital push has reshaped the role of physical branches, transitioning to a cash-light model with a stronger focus on customer advisory services.
Chapter 10: The Global Perspective and Final Thoughts (58:10)
Final reflections on Akbank’s innovation journey and how fintech partnerships will continue to shape the bank’s future. An invitation for fintechs to collaborate with Akbank Lab.
Suze Orman | Rethinking How People Save
Jan 16, 2025
In This Episode
What’s the key to financial security today? As technology and a shifting economy reshape how we save, spend, borrow, and plan for the future, mastering the art of money management is critical for achieving financial health. Listen as Jennifer Tescher, host of sister podcast Emerge Everywhere and Founder of the Financial Health Network, speaks with Suze Orman – personal finance expert, author, Emmy Award winner, and Co-Founder of workplace emergency savings platform SecureSave – about the critical role of savings and an important step companies can take to support employees’ financial success today.
Dedicated to improving financial health for all, especially the most vulnerable among us, Emerge Everywhere tackles the complex issues intersecting the financial well-being of people across America while exploring how to build an inclusive economy.
Chapter 1: Introduction and the Changing Landscape of Personal Finance (00:00)
A reflection on how financial habits have evolved over the past two decades, with a focus on new tools, technology, and the challenges people face today.
Chapter 2: The Disconnect Between the Economy and Everyday Americans (05:20)
Suze Orman discusses the stark difference between national economic indicators and individual financial realities, emphasizing that many Americans are still struggling despite a strong stock market.
Chapter 3: Lessons from the 2008 Financial Crisis and Beyond (12:10)
A look back at how financial behaviors changed after the Great Recession, the long-term effects of financial fear, and how past economic crises still impact people’s financial decisions today.
Chapter 4: The COVID-19 Effect: A False Sense of Security? (18:45)
Examining how government stimulus during the pandemic created short-term financial stability, only for many people to fall into debt when support was removed.
Chapter 5: Financial Behavior vs. Systemic Barriers (24:30)
The debate between personal financial responsibility and the role of systemic challenges, including inflation, job access, and government policies in shaping financial well-being.
Chapter 6: Educating the Next Generation on Money (31:15)
Suze Orman raises concerns about how young people are learning about personal finance, questioning whether influencers and social media platforms are reliable sources of financial education.
Chapter 7: The Importance of Emergency Savings (38:40)
A deep dive into SecureSave, Suze Orman’s initiative to help employees build emergency savings, and why she believes savings—not investing—should be the foundation of financial security.
Chapter 8: The Role of AI in Personal Finance (46:20)
Suze speculates on the future of AI-powered financial advisors, discussing both the potential benefits and risks of AI replacing human financial guidance.
Chapter 9: The Changing Face of Retirement and Aging (52:10)
A discussion on financial security for aging populations, including how women often outlive their partners and the financial struggles they face later in life.
Chapter 10: Closing Thoughts – Financial Security for All (58:30)
Suze Orman shares her final thoughts on how individuals and businesses can take action to improve financial stability, and the need for a more holistic approach to financial education.
Will 2025 Be A Stellar Year? Top Banking and Fintech Predictions
Jan 09, 2025
In This Episode
2024 is a wrap! Listen as industry leaders and fintech influencers share insights on the year that was before turning the lens forward to 2025. What will be hot in this new year?
Back by popular demand, Breaking Banks hosts Brett King and JP Nicols assemble banking industry leaders and fintech influencers to get their takes and predictions on what 2025 has in store for the banking industry.
Joining the discussion are Jim Marous (The Financial Brand, Banking Transformed), Ron Shevlin (Chief Research Officer, Cornerstone Advisors and Forbes Contributor), and Mary Wisniewski (Cornerstone Advisors, Money Isn’t Everything). Together, they explore critical topics shaping the industry, from fraud, risk, and efficiency to cutting-edge innovations like Agentic AI and LLMs, as well as developments in open banking, 1033, and the CFPB.
And what about the lingering impact of the Synapse story from 2024? Will 2025 bring a reckoning, or are brighter days ahead for the industry? Tune in for a lively and engaging conversation packed with expert insights and bold predictions.
The discussion opens with reflections on the major events of 2024, from economic shifts to major fintech and banking milestones. The panelists explore how the industry evolved and what lessons were learned.
Chapter 2: The Fintech Reckoning and Market Optimism (07:20)
The fallout from the Synapse failure and regulatory challenges dominated 2024. The discussion highlights how fintechs have adapted, and why, despite hurdles, optimism is growing for 2025.
Chapter 3: The Rise of AI in Banking (15:45)
AI took center stage in 2024, from fraud detection to customer service enhancements. The conversation explores how AI’s role in banking is expanding and what that means for both traditional banks and fintechs.
Chapter 4: The Global Perspective on Fintech Innovation (25:10)
While much of the conversation is U.S.-focused, the panel examines key developments worldwide, including digital banking growth in Latin America, China, and Africa.
Chapter 5: The Future of Open Banking and Regulation (32:40)
With Section 1033 and the CFPB’s evolving stance, the discussion turns to the state of open banking and data ownership. What are the regulatory barriers, and how will they impact fintech innovation?
Chapter 6: Agentic AI and Banking’s Next Transformation (41:00)
The emergence of AI-driven financial agents is set to reshape personal finance. The panel debates how AI could soon manage customer financial lives better than traditional advisors.
Chapter 7: The Fintech IPO Landscape and Market Predictions (50:30)
With Klarna and Chime considering IPOs, the panel speculates on the first big fintech public offering of 2025. They also discuss when the first AI fintech unicorn might emerge.
Chapter 8: The Future of Financial Services in a Digital-First World (58:10)
The conversation wraps up with a bold look at how fintech, AI, and regulatory shifts will shape the financial industry. Will 2025 truly be a stellar year for banking?
Trust, Value & What It Means To Be Digital in Banking
Dec 19, 2024
In This Episode
Regular listeners of Breaking Banks are likely familiar with the Killing It series, hosted by Jason Henrichs and Alex Johnson, where they explore candid stories of success, failure, and the pivotal and sometimes tough decisions that drive the journey from VCs to unicorns in the high stakes world of entrepreneurship. (If you’re not, check it out!)
In this episode, Brett King shifts gears with a “Starting It” theme, sitting down with industry veteran Anthony Thomson —an entrepreneur, marketer, speaker, author, and founder of Metro Bank, Atom, and 86 400. Metro Bank challenged traditional banking in the UK, while Atom and 86 400 brought innovation as neo-banks in different markets, with 86 400 later acquired by NAB (National Australia Bank) and then merged into UBank.
Join this enlightening discussion as Brett and Anthony dive into the unique missions and lessons behind each of these groundbreaking ventures. And who knows? You might even get a sneak peek at the next big breakthrough in the industry!
Chapter 1: (00:00) – Introduction and Setting the Scene
Brett King and Jason Henricks open the episode, reflecting on their history of exploring financial disruption. Special guest Anthony Thompson joins from Abu Dhabi, sharing memories of past debates on the future of banking.
Chapter 2: (03:45) – The Genesis of Metro Bank
Anthony recounts his journey from marketing in financial services to founding Metro Bank. The discussion highlights how Metro Bank disrupted traditional banking by focusing on customer-centric value and trust.
Chapter 3: (12:30) – Cognitive vs. Associative Trust in Banking
The hosts and guest delve into the dual dimensions of trust: competence versus intent. Anthony explains how Metro Bank leveraged customer-centric policies, like dog-friendly branches, to foster associative trust.
Chapter 4: (20:15) – The Shift to Digital Banking
Anthony reflects on the rise of digital banking, including his transition to founding Atom Bank. The conversation examines how mobile banking became the cornerstone of modern financial services.
Chapter 5: (28:50) – Building Atom Bank
The discussion explores Atom Bank’s founding principles, focusing on delivering a superior mobile experience and balancing liabilities with assets. Anthony contrasts Atom’s approach with competitors like Monzo and Starling.
Chapter 6: (40:00) – Lessons Learned and 86 400
Anthony describes his move to Australia to establish 86 400. He shares how lessons from Atom influenced his strategy, particularly the importance of engagement and transaction accounts.
Chapter 7: (51:30) – Challenges in Traditional Banking Transformation
The conversation shifts to why traditional banks struggle with digital transformation. Anthony and Brett critique cultural and regulatory hurdles faced by legacy institutions.
Chapter 8: (58:10) – The Role of Regulators in a Digital World
Anthony discusses how regulators worldwide are adapting to digital banking innovations, emphasizing the importance of competition and better consumer outcomes.
Chapter 9: (1:06:20) – Reflections and Future of Banking
Anthony shares his hopes for the future of banking, emphasizing customer-centricity as the industry’s ultimate goal. Brett and Anthony speculate on the next breakthrough, pointing to adjacencies and AI in banking.
Chapter 10: (1:12:50) – Closing Thoughts and Takeaways
The hosts summarize the key themes of the episode, including trust, customer value, and the evolution of banking. They close with a call to action for listeners to engage with the podcast and its community.
Reimagining Digital Banking: Varo Bank’s Vision for Financial Inclusion
Dec 12, 2024
This week, host Brett King sits down with Colin Walsh, Founder and CEO of Varo Bank, to explore the journey of building the first all-digital, FDIC-insured de novo bank in U.S. history. Designed to improve financial health and serve a diverse range of customers—from those with financial abundance to those facing economic hardship—Varo Bank is on a mission to create a banking experience that truly works for everyone.
With the unique distinction of being the first consumer fintech to be granted a bank charter in US history, Varo is redefining banking with innovative products tailored to modern consumers’ needs. From managing fraud and credit risk to building trust and leveraging a cutting-edge tech stack, they delve into the strategies that power Varo’s ability to stay agile and customer-focused. Whether it’s delivering accessible savings and lending solutions or tackling the challenges of financial inclusion, Varo Bank’s story is one of innovation and impact.
Tune in for a wide-ranging discussion on how Varo is using digital banking to create financial inclusion by addressing the real financial challenges that Americans face every day.
Chapter 1: (00:00) – Introduction and Varo Bank’s Unique Path
Brett King introduces the episode and welcomes Colin Walsh, founder and CEO of Varo Bank, to discuss their journey as the first pure-play digital bank with a de novo charter.
Chapter 2: (04:15) – Navigating Industry Challenges
Colin reflects on the pandemic’s impact, funding market changes, and navigating regulatory challenges while focusing on profitability and customer-centric innovation.
Chapter 3: (10:45) – The De Novo Advantage
A discussion on Varo’s strategic decision to pursue a de novo national bank charter, contrasting it with fintech sponsorship models and highlighting its benefits.
Chapter 4: (16:30) – Building a Competitive Tech Stack
Colin details Varo’s proprietary technology investments, including AI, machine learning, and the migration to React Native, ensuring agility and innovation in product offerings.
Chapter 5: (24:50) – Lending Innovation and Financial Inclusion
Varo’s approach to cash-flow-based lending and leveraging technology to responsibly serve non-prime, paycheck-to-paycheck consumers is explored in depth.
Chapter 6: (32:10) – Tackling Fraud with Technology
The team discusses how Varo combats sophisticated fraud through advanced tech and the advantages of being a technology-first bank in risk management.
Chapter 7: (37:40) – Scaling with Discipline
A look at Varo’s approach to disciplined customer acquisition, organic growth, and creating high lifetime value customers through deep engagement.
Chapter 8: (44:00) – The Future of Financial Inclusion
Colin explains Varo’s mission to become a financial operating system for underserved Americans and discusses innovations like embedded financial tools.
Chapter 9: (50:30) – IPO Plans and Market Consolidation
The conversation shifts to Varo’s long-term goals, including profitability milestones, potential IPO timelines, and strategic opportunities in a consolidating market.
Chapter 10: (58:15) – Looking Ahead
Colin previews upcoming initiatives, including a new app launch and partnerships, and emphasizes Varo’s role in addressing financial stress for customers.
A Digital Banking Revolution in SEA: GXBank and Mastercard
Dec 07, 2024
In This Episode
Southeast Asia’s fintech revolution is here, and GXBank is leading the charge. From its roots as a ride-hailing service to becoming Malaysia’s first digital bank, GXBank is transforming how Malaysians access and manage their money.
This week on Breaking Banks, host Brett King sat down with GXBank’s Chief Commercial Officer, Kaushik Chowdhury, and Mastercard’s Senior Vice President & Country Manager for Malaysia and Brunei, Beena Pothen. They discuss the incredible journey of GXBank, the partnership with Mastercard, and how the bank is reshaping financial inclusion in Southeast Asia.
GXBank, a subsidiary of GXS Bank Pte. Ltd. (a joint venture between Grab and Singtel), officially launched operations September 1, 2023, introducing its app two months later. In a year, the bank has amassed over 750,000 customers, offering innovative and personalized solutions to support financial resilience and inclusion. Learn how GXBank is making banking accessible to all Malaysians while setting a new standard for digital banking in the region.
Discover how Mastercard’s cutting-edge technologies and deep fintech expertise are empowering GXBank to deliver smarter, more inclusive financial solutions. As fintechs look to build, launch, and grow their business, Mastercard is helping to drive smarter decisions for better outcomes through strong partnerships across the payments ecosystem.
Brett King introduces the episode, focusing on digital banking trends in Southeast Asia with GXBank and Mastercard as key players.
Chapter 2: 03:30 – GXBank: Building a Digital Bank from Scratch
Kaushik Chowdhury discusses GXBank’s journey, from user research to creating a mobile-first digital bank in Malaysia.
Chapter 3: 10:15 – The Evolution of Banking in Southeast Asia
Bina Pothan highlights the rapid adoption of digital banking in Southeast Asia, driven by smartphones, internet access, and changing consumer expectations.
Chapter 4: 18:00 – Financial Inclusion through Digital Innovation
Exploring how GXBank and Mastercard aim to serve underserved and financially vulnerable populations across Malaysia and the region.
Chapter 5: 26:30 – Leveraging Partnerships for Success
Insights into GXBank’s partnership with Mastercard, enabling rapid launches and delivering impactful financial products to consumers.
Chapter 6: 34:45 – Payments Innovation and Embedded Finance
Examining GXBank’s focus on payment solutions, including QR systems, debit cards, and embedded banking experiences with Grab.
Chapter 7: 42:00 – Overcoming Challenges in Digital Banking
Kaushik discusses the challenges of building a digital bank, including hiring, partnerships, and balancing innovation with trust and security.
Chapter 8: 50:15 – Future Plans and Scaling Ambitions
GXBank outlines its roadmap, aiming for profitability and becoming a top bank in Malaysia by leveraging its ecosystem and customer-centric strategies.
Chapter 9: 57:30 – Key Takeaways and Final Reflections
Bina and Kaushik emphasize trust, utility, and collaboration as essential elements for succeeding in the digital banking revolution.
Decentralized AI & Financial Inclusion
Nov 27, 2024
In This Episode
Good leaders drive day-to-day results. Great leaders share visionary ideas and then inspire organizations and stakeholders to find a way to get there. In today’s second segment, Jennifer Tescher, host of sister podcast Emerge Everywhere, introduces this year’s Financial Health Visionary Award honoree, Brian Moynihan, Chair and CEO of Bank of America. The Visionary Award recognizes those who have shown unparalleled leadership in building a more inclusive financial system and empowering the next generation of leaders to innovate solutions that improve financial health for all. Listen to hear about Brian’s commitment to financial health and the upcoming headwinds and tailwinds impacting customers’ financial health.
But first, bestselling author Michael J Casey, the chairman of DAIS (Decentralized AI Society), senior advisor on MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency initiative, and previous Chair of Consensus at CoinDesk, joins Brett to talk about the reality of decentralized and open source AI. The intersection of DeFi and DeAI appears to be a logical path if not for the hundreds of billions being invested in big tech efforts to create AGI. Is it possible to really make AI less centralized and still deliver the promise of a highly automated world? You’ll need to tune in to find out!
This week on Breaking Banks, host Brett King takes us to Shanghai for a riveting discussion with Jason Cao, CEO of Huawei’s Global Financial Services competency. In this eye-opening episode, they uncover how China is shaping the future with AI—not as a mere tool for profit, but as core infrastructure driving the world’s fastest-growing economy.
Discover why GenFi LLMs (Generational Financial Language Models) don’t exist yet—and what’s holding AI like ChatGPT back from transforming banking as we know it. Explore how China’s unique approach to technology infrastructure is setting them apart from the rest, helping them to create a Smart Economy of the Future.
Tune in for a conversation that could redefine the future of global finance and AI!
Fintech Visionaries and Revolutionaries & What’s Up With Bitcoin?
Nov 14, 2024
In This Episode
Strong partnerships and value creation can make even solid companies better!
Serving over 80% of the top digital payment and neobank fintechs on the CNBC Global Fintech list, Mastercard takes a collaborative approach to innovation. By viewing fintechs as true partners—and bringing data insights, market expertise, and solutions to the table—Mastercard helps fintechs scale by unlocking new opportunities and driving smarter decisions for better outcomes.
In today’s episode, Brett King connects with Jenique McNaught, Mastercard’s Senior Principal, Advisors & Consulting Services, UK & Ireland, and Revolut’s Fiona Davies – Head of Growth UK, Ireland & Nordics. Together, they discuss important market dynamics and the trends they see in the regions they cover.
One big takeaway is how customers want to have a meaningful relationship with their financial services provider. Trust is more than just a cool factor, it is earned through a solid track record of picking the right partner and interacting with customers in their preferred manner. Everywhere, customers are embracing innovative fintech solutions that embrace convenience and meet their changing needs, with many consumers multi-banked.
The trio then dive into Mastercard and Revolut’s exciting partnership and spotlight Revolut’s incredible growth story. Marking a major milestone — 50M customers in less than 10 years—Revolut is celebrating and sharing its success with “Revolutionaries,” a one-of-a-kind two-day experiential event for Revolut customers, highlighting revolutionary figures who have challenged norms and pushed boundaries.
Then, the latest on bitcoin…Bitcoin has seen a 42% increase in price in just the past month, lots of crypto is up. Listen as Brett King and Henri Arslanian, author, industry expert and speaker, share thoughts on the election impact on #bitcoin and #crypto markets.
Hear about this and more in this engaging and dynamic episode!
****************************************************************** Interested in learning more about how Mastercard Services can help you innovate? Explore https://go.mastercardservices.com/fintech
Bank-Fintech Partnerships, Open Banking and AI…oh my!
Nov 07, 2024
In This Episode
We kick off with a crossover segment featuring Fintech Takes host and fintech insider Alex Johnson, who joins Jason to break down major themes from Money20/20 2024. Together, they explore the hot topics shaping fintech right now: bank-fintech partnerships, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), open banking (1033), and the evolving role of AI.
Alex shares highlights from his on-stage interview with CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, where they discussed the finalized 1033 rule, the ongoing legal pushback from big banks, third-party risk management, and new BaaS standards aimed at creating more balanced partnerships. The duo also dives into the rapid-fire world of AI. Is it all just hype, or are we approaching real innovation? With regulation on the rise, there’s a lot for the industry to figure out—standards, safeguards, and perhaps even a looming digital divide.
Finally, Jason wraps things up with a lively chat with Mary Wisniewski, Editor-at-Large for Cornerstone Advisors. They discuss financial therapy, Mary’s perspective on the latest 1033 updates, and even squeeze in a bit of Texas Hill Country fun. Hit play and join us for a packed episode!
Shopify Finance: Fueling Merchant and Small Business Growth
Oct 31, 2024
In This Episode
How can merchants take control of their finances and fuel growth directly through their commerce platform? This week, Shopify unveils Shopify Finance, a powerful new hub that unifies financial tools for merchants directly within the Shopify admin and mobile app. In this episode of Breaking Banks, Brett King sits down with Vikram Anreddy, Head of Product, Financial Services for Shopify, to break down how Shopify Finance empowers merchants to manage their business, cash flow, and make strategic decisions on-the-go.
From Shopify Capital, offering flexible growth loans for merchants and lower costs for faster repayment, to Shopify Balance and Bill Pay for better cash management, Shopify Finance brings a comprehensive suite of tools to merchants. With Shopify Credit—a Visa card with 3% cashback on business purchases—and Shopify Tax for simplified tax compliance, this hub offers a complete view of financial health anytime, anywhere.
Good things in store!
******** Define your career in fintech with a Masters of Science in Fintech, NYU Stern To learn more stern.nyu.edu/MSFT-BreakingBanks
Brett King and Jason Henricks introduce the episode, highlighting the intersection of fintech and e-commerce with Shopify as the centerpiece.
Chapter 2: 03:15 – Meet Vikram Anredi: From Consulting to E-commerce Innovation
Vikram Anredi, Head of Product for Financial Services at Shopify, shares his career journey from engineering to building products that empower entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Chapter 3: 10:00 – Shopify’s Role in the Creator Economy
Discussion on how Shopify supports creators and influencers with easy-to-use tools for setting up merchandising stores and monetizing their online presence.
Chapter 4: 15:30 – Launch of Shopify Finance
Vikram explains Shopify Finance, a suite of financial services integrated within the Shopify platform, designed to simplify money management for merchants.
Chapter 5: 22:45 – Financial Barriers for SMBs and Shopify’s Solutions
An exploration of the difficulties small businesses face in accessing banking services and how Shopify Finance is addressing these challenges through tailored offerings like Shopify Balance and Shopify Capital.
Chapter 6: 30:20 – Embedded Finance: Credit and Risk Management
How Shopify uses its data and technology to offer customized credit solutions and manage risk, with examples of merchants scaling their businesses with Shopify Capital.
Chapter 7: 37:00 – Automating Complexity: Sales Tax and Bill Payments
Details on Shopify’s tools for automating complex tasks like sales tax management and bill payments, making operations seamless for merchants.
Chapter 8: 44:10 – AI and the Future of Shopify Finance
Discussion about the potential of AI to enhance financial services and support for merchants, including current tools like Sidekick and future plans for more AI-driven insights.
Chapter 9: 50:30 – The Platform Advantage in SME Banking
A reflection on the growing importance of platforms like Shopify in the SME banking space, where embedded finance offers a seamless experience compared to traditional banks.
Chapter 10: 58:00 – Closing Thoughts and Future Outlook
Final reflections on Shopify’s mission to empower merchants and the broader implications for the fintech and e-commerce ecosystem.
Episode 567: What Fintech Means To Us: Celebrating 250 Episodes of Breaking Banks Europe
Oct 24, 2024
In This Episode
This week, we’re shining a spotlight on our sister podcast, Breaking Banks Europe, as they celebrate their 250th episode! Host Matteo Rizzi marks the milestone by reflecting on five incredible years and 500 unique guests. He’s joined by six of the show’s hosts for an engaging conversation on what fintech means to them, each summing up the past 15 years with a single word.
From culture (which shapes fintech’s future) to strategy (the key to success), and foresight (looking ahead at how fintech is evolving), these hosts dive deep into the industry. They also explore the possibilities found in challenges, the rollercoaster ride that is fintech, inclusion in emerging markets, and the crucial role of talent and upskilling. Join us as we celebrate the show’s favorite moments and raise a toast to five more years of exploring what fintech means. Don’t miss out!
Podcast Chapters:
Chapter 1: 0:00 – Celebrating the Journey
A retrospective on Breaking Banks Europe’s journey to 250 episodes, highlighting key milestones such as 500 unique guests over five years and the evolution of fintech.
Chapter 2: 5:30 – The Role of Corporate Culture
Matteo and Matthias Krohner discuss the critical impact of corporate culture in fintech, reflecting on its evolution since 2019 and changes prompted by the pandemic
Chapter 3: 15:20 – Strategy in Fintech
Paolo delves into the importance of strategy in the fintech world, exploring themes from the platform economy to AI advancements, and shares insights from his segment, The Banker’s Bookshelf.
Chapter 4: 26:45 – The Future is Fintech
Roberto offers a perspective on the innovative potential of fintech, emphasizing blockchain, decentralized systems, and the evolving role of banks as software houses.
Chapter 5: 35:10 – Fintech for Good
Liz champions the social impact of fintech, focusing on its ability to create opportunities for the unbanked and its transformative potential in underserved markets.
Chapter 6: 44:00 – A Rollercoaster of Innovation
Don reflects on the ups and downs of the fintech industry, touching on rapid changes in payment systems and digital identities, and shares his optimism for future developments.
Chapter 7: 52:35 – Inclusion in Fintech
Francesca highlights inclusion as a core value of fintech, discussing ongoing initiatives to tackle financial exclusion and plans for the Inclusive Fintech Forum in Africa.
Chapter 8: 1:02:00 – Talent as a Catalyst
Matteo closes by emphasizing the importance of nurturing talent, particularly in emerging markets, and celebrates the team that brought Breaking Banks Europe to its milestone 250 episodes.
Episode 566: Gateway for Open Banking
Oct 16, 2024
In This Episode
This week cohosts Brett King and Jason Henrichs have a far reaching conversation, tapping into guest expertise on all things open banking and digital finance. John Pitts, Global Head of Policy at Plaid, Christy Sunquist, Head of Open Finance at Plaid, and Cameron Taylor, Chief Product Officer at Ninth Wave join Jason and Brett as they dive into topics from international open banking and the standards that we can expect out of open banking in the U.S., to how Plaid and Ninth Wave are partnering to assist financial institutions ahead of the rulemaking here in the States.
Plaid recently announced their Gateway Partner Program, which gives financial institutions a way to streamline their integrations ahead of open banking requirements, to make it easier for financial institutions to choose an approach that works for their unique needs as they enable open banking. Ninth Wave is Plaid’s inaugural partner for the Gateway Program, and will support financial institutions who want to simplify their API integrations while ensuring their customers have access to the thousands of apps and services in the Plaid network. Together, Plaid and Ninth Wave are solving open banking requirements for financial institutions who may be at varying stages of preparedness.
Hear about this and much more on this episode of Breaking Banks.
Podcast Chapters:
Chapter 1: 0:00 – Introduction
Title:Welcome to Gateway for Open Banking Brett King and Jason Henricks introduce the episode, highlighting the topic of open banking and featuring experts from Plaid and Ninth Wave.
Chapter 2: 2:15 – Lessons from Europe’s Open Banking Journey
Title:What Six Years of Open Banking in Europe Taught Us A discussion of Europe’s open banking progress, challenges, and the implications for U.S. implementation, including lessons from the UK and EU.
Chapter 3: 10:45 – Industry-Led vs. Regulatory-Driven Models
Title:How the U.S. Open Banking Model Differs from Europe Exploration of how the U.S. approach, driven by industry collaboration, contrasts with the more prescriptive regulatory frameworks in Europe.
Chapter 4: 17:30 – Compliance Challenges for U.S. Financial Institutions
Title:The Road to Open Banking Compliance Insights into how financial institutions in the U.S. are preparing for compliance, with a focus on challenges faced by smaller banks and credit unions.
Title:From Compliance to Competitive Advantage Discussion on how open banking can enhance customer experiences, reduce fraud, and position banks as digital leaders, rather than just meeting regulatory mandates.
Chapter 6: 35:40 – Partnerships Between Banks and Fintechs
Title:Building Bridges: Banks and Fintech Collaborations How partnerships like those between Plaid, Ninth Wave, and financial institutions are driving innovation and supporting open banking transitions.
Chapter 7: 44:25 – Data Control and Consumer Trust
Title:Consumer Data Rights and the Future of Open Finance Exploration of consumer data control, privacy, and the shift toward trust-driven ecosystems, emphasizing transparency and security.
Chapter 8: 52:10 – The Future of Open Banking
Title:What Open Banking Will Look Like in 10 Years Predictions on the evolution of open banking into a seamless, integrated part of financial services, fostering trust and innovation across sectors.
Chapter 9: 1:00:45 – Closing Thoughts and Call to Action
Title:Get Ready for Open Banking Final reflections from the hosts and guests, including advice for financial institutions on preparing for compliance and leveraging open banking for strategic growth.
Episode 565: Return to Normalcy? & Money’s Got Soul
Oct 10, 2024
In This Episode
The Fed just cut rates. The 50-basis point cut was welcome news for many financial institutions, but the pressures the industry faces are not going away. In fact, rate cuts may mask the underlying changes going on. In our first segment, Jason Henrichs connects with Lake Michigan Credit Union’s EVP, Chief Lending and Experience Officer, Eric Burgoon and James White, General Manager, Banking at Total Expert talk about the future of banking. Customers are always in search of highest yield and the best terms. It’s easier than ever to move money and customers have options. Institutions need to be reliable, relatable and credible. To do that institutions need an overarching organizational strategy and data to drive personalized products.
Where can you find everyone from the collective world of money? Vegas of course, October 27-30! To provide insight into Money 20/20 2024 and this year’s money and fintech story, Chief Strategy Officer Scarlett Sieber and Zach Anderson Pettet, VP of Global Fintech Strategy, connect with Brett King to talk about the conference and the dynamics as they see it shaping financial services. Keynotes from industry experts and rising stars lead the agenda with sessions on open banking, AI, borderless payments, embedded finance, fraud, policy & regulation and of course, they’ve built in lots of fun…no spoiler alerts here! If you are headed to Vegas, join us for the Fintech Luminaires reception. You can apply for an invitation with this link: https://lu.ma/p0zcx7ki See you in Vegas!!
Podcast Chapters:
Chapter 1: 0:00 – Opening Thoughts – The Fed’s Impact and Financial Pressures
Brett King introduces the episode, discussing the recent Federal Reserve rate cuts and their implications on the financial industry. The conversation highlights challenges like deposit pressures and the need for financial institutions to adapt to consumer behavior changes.
Chapter 2: 5:15 – Competitive Pressures in Banking
Eric Burgoon and James White explore how banks and credit unions face growing competition for deposits. They discuss the shift toward high-yield savings products, consumer behavior, and how institutions can leverage technology to remain competitive.
Chapter 3: 18:45 – The Role of Relationship Banking in the Digital Age
The focus shifts to the importance of relationship banking. The discussion emphasizes balancing personal relationships with technological advancements to provide value to customers at scale.
Chapter 4: 29:10 – Leveraging AI and Data for Strategic Advantage
James White and Eric Burgoon discuss the integration of AI and data strategies in financial services. They highlight the necessity of reliable, relatable, and credible interactions and how AI can help scale personalized services.
Chapter 5: 40:35 – Culture and Organizational Strategy in Financial Institutions
The panel underscores the importance of strong organizational culture and disciplined technological adoption. They explore how credit unions like Lake Michigan Credit Union differentiate themselves by focusing on member-first principles.
Chapter 6: 52:00 – Money 2020 and the Evolution of Fintech Events
Scarlett Sieber and Zach Anderson-Pettett join to preview the Money 2020 conference in Las Vegas. They discuss the event’s focus on AI, embedded finance, and cross-border collaboration, as well as efforts to promote health and wellness during the event.
Chapter 7: 1:07:25 – Building a Global Fintech Community
The conversation expands on how Money 2020 fosters global collaboration and community. Scarlett and Zach share insights into agenda planning, content curation, and the broader impact of the conference on the fintech ecosystem.
Brett wraps up the episode with final thoughts on the importance of forward-looking strategies in financial services and a preview of breaking news expected from Money 2020.
AI is simultaneously taking over the world and disappointing in it’s ability to take over the world depending on the publication you read. No doubt we are in the first innings. Today Derek Higginbotham, CEO of First Electronic Bank, Matt Bochenek CEO of Avant and John Sun, CEO of Spring Labs, and Jason Henrichs talk about why everyone needs to be getting up to bat with AI, no matter the size of institution you work for.
Spring Labs AI Native Banking and Fintech conference is next week and has a powerhouse lineup. Register at conferences.springlabs.com and use code SpringLabsXBreakingBanks for a discount.
Podcast Chapters:
Chapter 1: 0:00 – Opening Pitch – AI and Its Hype Cycle
Brett King and Jason Henricks introduce the episode, framing AI as both transformative and overhyped. Guests discuss how AI adoption mirrors the rise of past technologies.
Chapter 2: 5:30 – Narrowing the Field – Strategic AI Use Cases
Derek Higginbotham, Matt Bocinek, and John Sun explore how financial institutions are narrowing down AI use cases, emphasizing incremental steps over broad adoption.
Chapter 3: 17:10 – Building Organizational AI Muscles
The discussion highlights how organizations can develop “AI muscles” by starting with small projects, learning from them, and ensuring flexibility for future applications.
Chapter 4: 27:45 – Data as the Foundation of AI Success
Panelists delve into the importance of robust data infrastructure, the challenges of siloed data in financial services, and how AI reshapes data-driven decision-making.
Chapter 5: 39:20 – Cultural Shifts and AI Adoption
The conversation shifts to cultural challenges in financial services, exploring how to transition from report-driven approaches to hypothesis-driven and data-informed decision-making.
Chapter 6: 50:05 – AI and Regulatory Compliance
The group discusses how AI is being integrated into regulatory compliance, emphasizing augmenting human capabilities rather than replacing them outright.
Chapter 7: 1:02:15 – Rethinking Processes with AI
A discussion on how AI compels institutions to rethink legacy processes, addressing “process debt” and identifying opportunities for deeper insights and efficiency.
Chapter 8: 1:15:30 – The Divide in AI Adoption
Panelists explore the implications of early vs. late AI adoption in financial services, predicting winners, losers, and the creation of an AI digital divide.
Chapter 9: 1:25:10 – Lessons for Financial AI Development
The episode concludes with key takeaways about the unique challenges of deploying AI in financial services and the need for specialized knowledge in regulated industries.
Episode 563: Spanning the Globe: Thai Tech and Saudi Arabia’s Barq
Sep 26, 2024
In This Episode
Globetrotter and Host Brett King shares banking news and investment conversations from around the world
We start today’s podcast on banking with Brett’s one on one discussion on tech in Thailand with Dr. Supachai Kid Parchariyanon. Dr. Kid is CEO and Co-Founder of consulting company Rise, and managing partner for SeaX Ventures, a Thai venture capital firm with presence in Silicon Valley. Rise’s company goal is to drive 1% of the GDP in Thailand as well as reduce 1% of carbon emissions in all of Southeast Asia. Earlier in his career, Dr. Kid was a key figure responsible for bringing the social media app Twitter (now known as X) to Thailand, it was a technical challenge, and one that had legal barriers as well. Later, he and his team were also able to code software for the Nokia phone, creating in his words a “Robin Hood-like app” for Thailand. He speaks to us today about the Thai tech scene, what’s happening in fintech and the VC world, and specifically what’s helping drive the Thai economy — from fintech to health tourism to the Thai lifestyle movement and digital nomad visas, the conversation is wide-ranging as this small country slowly recovers from covid and faces demographic headwinds. With an aging society they are looking to attract new talent and people to the country, collaborate not compete and expand investment in deep tech, AI, agritech, medical, and tourism tech.
Then, from the 24 Fintech Conference in Saudi Arabia, Brett introduces us to Saudi Arabia’s Barq, making headlines around the region and other parts of the world, as he sits down with its Chief Business Officer, Saad Almuhana. Barq is the newest and fastest growing private wallet and challenger bank in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and potentially the world, having garnered 1.5M customers in 35 days — having hit the amazing milestone of 1M customers in 21 days. In Saudi Arabia, younger people represent 70% of the population, tech savvy, mobile banking is very successful in the Kingdom with mobile penetration off the charts. Consumer appetite is high for help with finances in a quick manner. Remittance is a big part of Barq’s offering, assuring customers that the optimal rail is selected at the right time for payment transactions. The journey started August 2024 with an EMI license (e-money), expansion plans are already in the works. In their second month, Barq is enhancing service offerings through multiple partnerships and hoping to hit 2M customers. If the evolution of the fintech is such, they have the option to upgrade to a full bank. It’s an interesting and unique journey, one of incredible growth.
But……one last thing before you listen to the latest episode of our financial podcast,,,,you know what season it is? Not just pumpkin spice, it’s conference season and there is a new show to add to your list. The AI-Native Banking & Fintech Conference is happening October 7 in Salt Lake City and Breaking Banks is proud to be a media partner. Our listeners get a 20% discount when they register at conference.springlabs.com and use the code SpringLabsXBreakingBanks. They have an outstanding set of speakers and this is not to be missed. Once again, you have the link http://conference.springlabs.com and the code is: SpringLabsXBreakingBanks, don’t forget to claim your discount!
Podcast Chapters:
Chapter 1: 0:00 – Introduction – Exploring Thai Tech and Saudi Fintech
Brett King introduces the dual focus of this episode: the evolving Thai tech ecosystem and the rapid rise of Saudi Arabia’s Barq.
Chapter 2: 3:15 – Thailand’s Economy and Demographic Challenges
Kid Pacharianon discusses Thailand’s economic position in Southeast Asia, its aging population, and its recovery post-COVID.
Chapter 3: 12:40 – Thai Tech and Startup Landscape
The growth of Thai startups, the impact of corporate venture capital, and the success of initiatives like PromptPay and e-commerce.
Chapter 4: 23:00 – The Future of Thai Innovation
Kid shares insights on emerging deep-tech trends, including AI, blockchain, med-tech, and agri-tech, and their potential for the Thai economy.
Episode 562: Hot Takes: Regulatory Headwinds for BaaS
Sep 19, 2024
In This Episode
Warning: Extra spice added — new sauces and participants!
The stream of consent orders against banks that offer BaaS continues. Fintech partner banks drew 1/3 of all formal enforcement orders by federal banking agencies in the 4th quarter of 2023, that’s quite a bit when you consider that fintech partner banks only account for roughly 3% of all U.S. banks.
BaaS is here to stay — it’s a great way for community banks to grow, big banks are already on board and will do more, and entrepreneurs will want to continue to create better banking experiences which means they’ll need to partner with banks.
Jason Henrichs brings you our latest Hot Takes with regulars Kiah Haslett, Bank Director; Alex Johnson, Fintech Takes; and Jason Mikula, Fintech Business Weekly, as they are joined by Barb MacLean, SVP, Head of Tech Operations & Implementation, Coastal Community Bank and Allen Denson, Partner, Litigation, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP. The flaming hot panel discusses why BaaS is facing regulatory headwinds, what banks should do, and how the North Star needs to be a BaaS solution that provides the optimal blend of technology and compliance, all while having some fun. From the stage of FinovateFall we bring you this episode of Breaking Banks.
Hosts Brett King, Jason Henricks, and JP Nichols introduce this episode, recorded live at Finnovate, featuring hot takes on banking as a service (BaaS) and the regulatory challenges surrounding it.
The panel dives into the year’s most challenging issues in banking and fintech, including broker deposit reclassification and cybersecurity breaches, setting the stage for a fiery discussion.
Chapter 3: 12:30 – Consumer Awareness: FDIC and Fintech Misunderstandings
Exploring whether consumers truly understand the risks when engaging with fintechs labeled as FDIC-insured and why traditional disclosures fail to inform effectively.
Chapter 4: 22:10 – Responsibility and Accountability in BaaS
Panelists debate how responsibility is allocated between banks and fintech program managers when issues arise, with differing views on splitting regulatory versus economic liability.
Chapter 5: 32:40 – Regulators and the Banking as a Service Landscape
A discussion of the evolving role of regulators in BaaS, from non-objection policies to potential frameworks for managing risk in fintech partnerships.
Chapter 6: 43:15 – Deposit Treatment: Old Rules, New Challenges
A deep dive into whether current deposit classification rules are fit for purpose in today’s fintech-driven banking environment, including the implications of reclassifying fintech deposits as brokered.
Chapter 7: 55:00 – FBO Accounts: An Aging Framework
The inefficiencies of the “for benefit of” (FBO) account structure and its limitations in a modern fintech ecosystem are dissected, with calls for innovation in banking frameworks.
Chapter 8: 01:05:30 – Banking Partner Standards: Who Should Participate?
Examining whether all banks should be allowed to partner with fintechs, considering the technical, regulatory, and operational complexities involved.
Chapter 9: 01:14:45 – Closing Thoughts and Audience Engagement
Final reflections on BaaS accountability and the role of regulators, along with opportunities for audience interaction and some lighthearted hot sauce giveaways.
Chapter 10: 01:18:00 – Outro and Credits
A wrap-up of the episode with producer credits, reminders to subscribe, and details on how to share and support Breaking Banks.
It’s a mashup between Breaking Banks and Dave and Dharm Demystify, a podcast that takes you on a journey through the ever evolving world of fintech and digital finance. In this episode triple hosts, Brett King, Dave Wallace and Dharmesh Mistry offer thought provoking discussion and insights, covering off the fintech movement and relevancy in this new state of banking. Integration is key in the new world order. Special shout out to JPMorgan Chase for all they are doing.
What will the banking experience look like in the future? When Q-Day comes there will be radical transparency, get those strategies in place.
Join the discussion, weigh in, share your thoughts and feedback!
Brett King and Jason Henricks welcome Dave Wallace and Darmish Mystery of the Dave and Darm Demystify podcast for a special mashup episode.
Chapter 2: 03:30 – Defining Fintech: A Movement or a Moment?
The panel discusses the origins and evolving definition of fintech, debating whether it’s a movement driven by technology or a transformative moment.
Chapter 3: 12:00 – The Future of Banking: AI-Driven Smart Economies
Exploring AI’s potential to transform financial services, from agency-based payments to smart contracts, and what a “smart bank” might look like.
Chapter 4: 21:45 – Fintech Evolution: From Startups to Smart Banks
A deep dive into how fintech companies are reshaping the financial landscape and how traditional banks can adapt to compete in a tech-first world.
Chapter 5: 34:15 – The Impact of AI and Quantum on Financial Systems
Discussing the game-changing potential of quantum computing and AI in finance, including radical transparency and the looming “Q-Day.”
Chapter 6: 45:40 – The Demise of Traditional Banking Products
How AI, cashlessness, and data-driven solutions are reshaping core banking products like credit cards and SME lending, with insights from global trends.
Chapter 7: 57:20 – Challenges for Legacy Banks: Innovate or Perish
Examining whether traditional banks can transition to a digital-first model, and the role of cloud, AI, and quantum in staying relevant.
Chapter 8: 01:06:00 – The Ethical and Existential Implications of AI
The group reflects on how AI will redefine humanity, consciousness, and what it means to be human in a rapidly changing world.
Chapter 9: 01:15:30 – Outro and Closing Thoughts
Final reflections from both podcasts, with insights into the future of banking, fintech, and technology, and a thank you to listeners.
In this week’s episode of Breaking Banks we bring you the next feature in our Killing It series as host Jason Henrichs connects with Ohad Samet, Co-Founder and CEO of TrueAccord. Several calls from unknown numbers and one unpleasant conversation about a forgotten credit card with a relatively small balance was the impetus for Ohad to reimagine the debt collection process and the genesis of TrueAccord. Prior experience as the Chief Risk Officer of Klarna, a European payments company, and experience with other start-ups in the area of risk and analytics served him well.
Development is an upward spiral and founding a company (companies actually) involves a lot of self-expression and is often less about the money and more about what you want to do. At some point, though, you may need to fire yourself.
Another candid and enlightening conversation in the series with relevance for all.
Episode 559: Hot Take: Brokered Deposits Join the Eras Tour
Aug 26, 2024
In This Episode
The FDIC recently issued a proposed rule change on how brokered deposits are treated. This isn’t so much a proposed change but a rollback. A roll way back. Way back to 1989 when the original brokered deposit rule was written. As Jason Mikula points out, that’s when Taylor Swift was born. Jason M, Alex Johnson, Kiah Haslett and Alex Barrage of Troutman Pepper have some hot takes with Jason Henrichs on how the business of banking has changed through the eras and the implications for the future. Also, the views expressed are those of the individuals and not their respective employers – the lawyers made us add that.
Episode 558: Fintech Visionaries Reimagining the Future of Finance: Start Path
Aug 22, 2024
In This Episode
Opening doors to high-potential fintech startups that share a mission to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions safe, simple, smart and accessible has been a goal of Mastercard’s with the founding of Start Path in 2014. Since its inception the program has helped over 430 startups in 57 countries.
With partnership in its DNA, Start Path is helping define how the company innovates for the future and creates meaningful, sustainable impact for society. Working with players large and small, Mastercard is helping fintechs push the boundaries of what’s possible, to foster innovation, expand access and ensure trust. This symbiotic relationship helps the partners innovate at scale and, together, change the game for the wider commerce ecosystem.
In this episode, Brett King connects with Sabrina Tharani, SVP, Global Fintech Programs at Mastercard and Jordan Wright, Co-Founder & CEO of Atomic Financial, a leader in payroll and merchant connectivity solutions, and a member of the Mastercard Start Path Open Banking program. Listen as they discuss Start Path and how their commercial partnership is enabling consumers to automatically switch their direct deposits and update recurring bill payments. A secure, seamless online banking experience through Mastercard Open Banking, solutions delivered in partnership with Atomic, ultimately helping drive account primacy for financial institutions.
As fintechs look to build, launch and grow their business, Mastercard is helping drive smarter decisions for better outcomes across the payments ecosystem.
Interested in joining Mastercard Start Path? Click here to learn more about the programs and apply online.
Brett King introduces this MasterCard-supported episode, highlighting fintech innovation and partnerships reshaping financial services.
Chapter 2: 03:15 – The Global Pulse of Fintech Innovation
MasterCard’s Sabrina Tarani discusses emerging fintech trends, the role of AI, data technology, and how consumer expectations are driving innovation.
Chapter 3: 08:30 – Meet Atomic Financial
Jordan Wright, CEO of Atomic Financial, shares insights on the company’s mission to transform deposit switching, payments, and financial access.
Chapter 4: 15:40 – AI Agents and Radical Personalization
The panel explores the role of AI in finance, highlighting wallet-based approaches, smart agents, and real-world applications for personalized banking.
Chapter 5: 22:20 – Inside MasterCard’s StartPath Program
Sabrina details the StartPath program’s mission, its global impact, and how it supports fintechs like Atomic to scale through partnerships and innovation.
Chapter 6: 30:10 – The Case for Bank-Fintech Collaboration
Why banks need fintech partnerships to stay competitive, including insights into how StartPath accelerates collaboration with speed and agility.
Chapter 7: 38:00 – Challenges and Opportunities in Fintech Partnerships
A candid discussion on overcoming hurdles in bank-fintech collaborations and the importance of aligning incentives for success.
Chapter 8: 45:30 – Scaling Success: Lessons from StartPath
Celebrating the achievements of StartPath, its impact on over 450 fintechs in 57 countries, and its contributions to global financial innovation.
Chapter 9: 52:00 – The Future of Finance
Closing reflections on the role of AI, open banking, and subscription management in shaping the next generation of financial services.
Chapter 10: 57:15 – Outro and Closing Thoughts
Final takeaways on fintech’s transformative potential, with resources to explore Atomic Financial and MasterCard’s StartPath program further.
Consent orders are dropping with increasing frequency. Historically consent orders were viewed as failing grades. It’s no surprise that bankers are a breed that don’t respond well to failing grades, it is the credit mentality around loss avoidance that leads to an overly developed risk-mitigation culture. Doing new things, by definition, requires taking on risk at some level.
In this episode, Jason Henrichs is joined by guests Gilles Gade, Founder & CEO, Cross River Bank, Phil Goldfeder, CEO, American Fintech Council, Clayton Mitchell, Managing Principal, Fintech, and Mandi Simpson, Partner, Accounting Advisory & Finance Transformation Leader at Crowe as they dive into the critical topic of organizational resilience for banks in the wake of receiving a regulatory consent order. Together they explore how financial institutions can not only comply with regulatory requirements but also use this challenge as an opportunity to strengthen their operations and culture.
Chapter 1: 00:00 – Introduction: Setting the Stage for Resilience
The episode opens with an overview of resilience in the financial world. Hosts introduce key topics, such as navigating regulatory pressures, innovation amid challenges, and how resilience shapes the future of financial services.
Chapter 2: 05:30 – Building Technology to Challenge the Status Quo
Gils Gade from CrossRiver Bank explains how outdated technology in banking inspired his vision for a tech-forward bank. The discussion dives into how CrossRiver built innovative solutions to replace legacy systems, ultimately serving fintech ecosystems better.
Chapter 3: 15:45 – Turning Challenges into Stepping Stones
The conversation explores CrossRiver’s encounters with regulatory consent orders and how they used these challenges as opportunities to strengthen compliance and innovate further. Gade emphasizes a philosophy of viewing stumbling blocks as stepping stones.
Chapter 4: 28:20 – Minimal Maturity Models for Risk and Compliance
Crow’s Mandy Simpson and Clayton Mitchell discuss strategies for balancing growth and risk in banking. They highlight the importance of incremental risk management and dialogue with regulators to build resilience.
Chapter 5: 38:15 – Resilience Through Consumer-Centric Design
The episode underscores how keeping customers at the center of decision-making helps banks build trust and resilience. CrossRiver’s efforts to address customer pain points through innovative tech and services are highlighted as a model.
Chapter 6: 47:10 – Collaboration: Banks, Fintechs, and Regulators
Phil Goldfeder from the American FinTech Council shares insights on collaboration between banks, fintechs, and regulators. The focus shifts to aligning regulatory practices with the fast-paced innovation demanded by customers.
Chapter 7: 57:45 – Overcoming Regulatory PTSD
A candid discussion on how consent orders can lead to “regulatory PTSD” within organizations. The panel explores strategies for fostering innovation while maintaining compliance.
Chapter 8: 1:08:30 – Preparing for the Future of Banking
The panel reflects on how banks can leverage their experiences to remain competitive and resilient. They emphasize the importance of innovation, risk management, and customer focus as the pillars of a sustainable banking model.
Chapter 9: 1:19:00 – Closing Thoughts: Resilience as a Journey
The episode concludes with a discussion on how resilience is not just about weathering challenges but thriving through them. The hosts summarize key takeaways and look ahead to the future of resilient banking.
Spoiler Alert: Lots of great quotes in this episode!
https://youtu.be/YJRPtez0pU0
Episode 556: Revolut’s UK News & It’s Tyme
Aug 08, 2024
In This Episode
Digital banking is reshaping market share. All the fastest growing banks these days are fintechs. After a three year battle, fintech challenger Revolut has provisionally secured a UK Banking License. With this, Revolut can now represent themselves as a bank, having the rights and obligations of a chartered financial institution in the UK. Revolut already had a license in the EU but the UK license could help with entry into the US. With 45M customers, revenue over $2B and profitable, they are making a mark for themselves. Listen as hosts Brett King and JP Nicols share their take on the news and implications for the industry.
Then, it’s Tyme….TymeBank, South Africa’s (and the African continent’s) most successful challenger bank aimed at the lower income market. Listen as Co-Founder, Coen Jonker, speaks with Brett to share Tyme’s origin story and progress. Tyme is challenging the notion of how neos might work in this space. It began with BaaS and several years later, 2019, TymeBank launched in South Africa (SA). Launching during CoVid taught Tyme (Take Your Money Everywhere) to build an anti-fragile business.One of three banks since 2000 to have been granted a SA banking license, TymeBank uses a phygital operating model to work towards it’s goal of financial inclusion and democratizing access to banking. In 2022 they expanded to the Philippines, GoTyme, and now, Vietnam. Via digital kiosks for onboarding in physical retail stores — you can open an account in 3 – 5 minutes and be issued a debit card — they are building trust and educating customers, integrating banking into the shopping proposition. TymeBank is in it for the long game.
Chapter 1: 00:00 – Introduction: Breaking News in Fintech
The hosts introduce the episode with key updates: Revolut’s provisional UK banking license and an exploration of TimeBank’s rapid growth.
Chapter 2: 03:15 – Revolut’s UK Banking License: A Game Changer
Revolut’s recent milestone is discussed, highlighting how the license impacts its global expansion strategy and positions it as a competitive force.
Chapter 3: 12:40 – Scaling Success: How Digital Banks are Outpacing Incumbents
An analysis of digital banks like Revolut and NewBank, comparing their customer acquisition strategies, scalability, and profitability to traditional banks.
Chapter 4: 24:30 – SME Banking and the Future of Commercial Services
The hosts discuss how digital banks are entering the SME sector, leveraging data to provide tailored services and disrupting traditional commercial banking.
Chapter 5: 33:45 – TimeBank’s Story: Building Financial Inclusion in Africa
TimeBank’s co-founder, Kuhn Yonker, shares the bank’s origin story, its mission to democratize access to banking, and its impressive growth in South Africa.
Chapter 6: 45:10 – The Hybrid Strategy: Digital Meets Physical
TimeBank’s unique approach of combining digital services with in-store kiosks is examined, showing how this model fosters trust and reduces acquisition costs.
Chapter 7: 55:20 – Expansion into Southeast Asia: TimeBank Goes Global
TimeBank’s entry into the Philippines and Vietnam is discussed, focusing on its strategy to replicate its African success in new, emerging markets.
Chapter 8: 1:05:30 – AI and the Next Frontier for Digital Banks
The role of AI in enhancing productivity, customer service, and personalized banking experiences at TimeBank is explored.
Chapter 9: 1:16:45 – Looking Ahead: What’s Next for Revolut and TimeBank?
The episode concludes with reflections on the future of digital banking, from Revolut’s growth trajectory to TimeBank’s upcoming capital raise and global aspirations.
Episode 555: Killing It… Again. With Bill Harris
Aug 01, 2024
In This Episode
Another thrilling episode of Breaking Banks’ special series Killing It!. Host Jason Henrichs connects with fintech superstar, dare we say fintech Olympian (Paris 2024!), Bill Harris, industry veteran, founder of 10+ tech and fintech companies, author, and current Founder & CEO of Evergreen Money. Together Jason and Bill look back at Bill’s career to date, the different companies, the lessons learned and the tough calls made. Among those hard decisions, the need, at times, to avoid prolonging a failing venture and the need to conserve resources. It’s a race to the finish where Bill shares details about his latest endeavor.
Integration is a team sport these days. There is a need for constant adaptation and innovation, it can be complex and expensive, a lack of standards in the U.S. has introduced a lot of competing standards and solutions challenging business and consumer adoption. Partnerships and tighter focus can be key to bringing down cost to exchange funds and complement the current payments system with $80 Trillion processed on the ACH system in 2023, $55 Trillion of it B2B payments. Listen as Brett King catches up with Dwolla’s CEO, David Glaser and CTO, Skyler Nesheim. Dwolla was first featured on Breaking Banks back in 2013, they bring us up to date on the innovative interfaces that Dwolla offers to the US banking system and their ability to work with innovators of all sizes. It’s an interesting discussion covering RTP payments, open banking, pay by bank, connections to the ACH Network and RTP Network for institutions of all sizes.
Then Jason Henrichs chats with veteran financial services executive, founder & CEO Sanjib Kalita, about fintech events from Money 20/20 to Fintech Meetup and beyond. From best practices to the need to create the right culture and maximize the value of content and improve ROT (Return on Time), differentiation is important as is contributing to greater knowledge. Are there too many events? It’s a master class in events!
Chapter 1: 00:00 – Introduction: Navigating Innovation in Fintech
The hosts kick off with an overview of the “Innovator’s Dilemma” and introduce returning guests from Doala, discussing the evolution of fintech.
Chapter 2: 05:15 – Doala’s Evolution: From Startups to Enterprises
Doala’s CEO and CTO reflect on their journey, highlighting the company’s shift from serving small businesses to becoming a payments infrastructure leader.
Chapter 3: 15:30 – Global Real-Time Payments: Lessons from PIX and UPI
A discussion on how countries like Brazil and India are leading real-time payments, compared to the U.S.’s slower adoption and the role of standards.
Chapter 4: 25:40 – Overcoming Legacy Challenges in Banking
Exploring how legacy systems create friction in innovation, and how fintechs like Doala provide solutions to modernize payment ecosystems.
Chapter 5: 35:20 – The Role of AI in Payments and Personalization
The conversation shifts to AI’s potential in payments, including personal assistants managing financial transactions and streamlining banking processes.
Chapter 6: 45:10 – Collaboration in Fintech: Banks, Platforms, and Ecosystems
The panel examines how fintechs, banks, and technology platforms collaborate to create scalable, integrated financial systems.
Chapter 7: 55:30 – Building a Future-Proof Bank in the Cloud
The episode highlights how cloud-native fintechs like Doala have a competitive edge, while legacy banks face significant hurdles in keeping up.
Chapter 8: 1:07:45 – Conferences and ROI: Fintech Events That Matter
The hosts discuss the importance of maximizing return on time at fintech events, sharing strategies to align conference participation with business goals.
Deposits are the aqua vitae of banking, the water of life.
The very core of the traditional banking business model is gathering deposits at no to low-cost and lending the money back out at higher rates. Bankers used to reference the “3-6-3 Rule”: bring in deposits at 3%, make loans at 6%, and be out on the golf course by 3:00PM.
Money is the primary raw material in the business of banking. The difference between what financial institutions pay for that raw material is subtracted from what they earn from lending it out right at the very top of their income statements. That difference is net interest income, and it is the largest component of earnings for virtually every bank. As much as 95% or more for some.
Expressed as a ratio, the net interest margin or NIM is a key metric in measuring bank performance, and it’s been under considerable pressure lately. The traditional levers have been trying to lower deposit rates and raise loan rates, and hope you don’t lose too much volume. As the business has become more complex, so have the tools and strategies to reduce that pressure.
Today we get into some of the hidden levers that banks are using to add non-rate value, one focus is SBA lending. How new approaches and new technology is expanding the market for banks large and small, and also for fintechs; and how the secondary market is helping to improve liquidity and improve NIM. Joining host JP Nicols in this episode are Steve Tanzer and Joel Updegraff, both Managing Directors at Brean Capital.
Chapter 1: 00:00 – Introduction: The Lifeblood of Banking
The hosts introduce net interest margin (NIM) as a critical metric for bank performance and set the stage for a discussion on strategies to manage NIM pressures.
Chapter 2: 05:20 – SBA Lending: A Hidden Lever for Profitability
Steve Tanzer from Breen Capital explains the role of Small Business Administration (SBA) loans in enhancing bank liquidity, profitability, and risk management.
Chapter 3: 15:45 – Expanding Beyond Local Markets
The discussion shifts to how banks can diversify geographically and leverage national lending platforms while maintaining strong customer relationships.
An overview of how the SBA’s secondary market enables banks to sell guaranteed portions of loans, generating fee income and freeing up capital for growth.
Chapter 5: 35:10 – Fintech Partnerships and Efficiency Gains
The panel explores how fintech and “Fintech Lite” solutions are streamlining SBA lending, boosting efficiency, and expanding credit access to underserved markets.
Chapter 6: 45:25 – Innovations Born from the Pandemic
Insights on how SBA modernized processes during COVID-19, including the shift from wet signatures to digital transactions, improving efficiency in loan settlement.
Chapter 7: 55:15 – Lessons from Leaders: Specialization and Technology
The hosts highlight examples like Live Oak Bank, showcasing how specialization in industry verticals and investment in technology yield competitive advantages.
Chapter 8: 1:05:30 – Getting Started with SBA Lending
Practical advice for banks new to SBA lending, including understanding the program’s economics, finding the right partners, and identifying growth opportunities.
Chapter 9: 1:15:40 – Non-Traditional Players in the SBA Space
The role of non-bank lenders and fintech innovations in reshaping the SBA landscape is examined, emphasizing their influence on efficiency and market dynamics.
Chapter 10: 1:25:10 – Closing Thoughts: The Future of NIM and SBA Lending
The episode wraps up with reflections on the evolving role of SBA programs and non-rate strategies in addressing NIM compression challenges.
This Breaking Banks episode’s Killing It guest went from software engineer to investment banker to founder of a community supporting the next generation of fintech founders to adviser then founder of the fintech team at Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) and now solo venture fund founder in the fintech space investing at the angel, pre-seed and seed stage. Meet Rex Salisbury, founder Cambrian Ventures, backing early-stage companies, as he shares his journey and founder stories — his path, motivation and the support that ultimately led him to being a solo fund founder after clearly being bitten by the fintech bug. He shares thoughts on putting talents and strengths to good use, creative destruction and how to think about failure to get you where you want and ought to be. In short, he’s killing it!
https://youtu.be/v8MC6xGc_lo
Episode 551: This Spot Looks Soft
Jul 03, 2024
In This Episode
Soft landings are a topic of hot conversation these days. The go-go days where you can always raise another round are gone. The ecosystem is littered with companies with little product market fit, less revenue and even less runway. Many of these are looking for a soft spot to land. Unfortunately M&A is hard in the best of times and many fintechs are now looking to banks as a potential exit.
In the first half of today’s show, Jason Zaler, partner at Oliver Wyman, joins Jason Henrichs to discuss Oliver Wyman’s new report on bank fintech M&A. In the second half, Robert Antoniades, General Partner at Information Venture Partners, and Jason H talk about 3 decades of venture cycles and M&A more broadly including strategies for big banks, community banks, fintechs and even VCs.
Come for the expert views on how the Synapse bankruptcy has led to regulatory consent orders for three banks (so far), stay to find out what happens when two regulatory lawyers and a self-declared ‘bank nerd’ editor break down the issues and the lessons for the rest of the industry.
Matt Janiga from Trustly, Jesse Silverman from Troutman Pepper, and Kiah Haslett from Bank Director dive deep into what went wrong on the bank side, and what banks need to do to avoid a similar fate. Jesse has ideas for a better regulatory system, and says banks need to think beyond disclosures. Matt says banks need to step up their AML/BSA compliance systems and not try to do too much at once. Kiah gives a little history lesson and goes on a rant about how much of banks’ risk management systems are anything but. Everyone agrees with JP that banks keep stumbling over well-known issues, and that the risks of inaction are too big to ignore.
Chapter 1: 00:00:00 – Introduction: The Fallout at Synapse and Evolve Bank
The hosts introduce the episode, setting the stage for the discussion on the Synapse collapse, Evolve Bank’s consent order, and broader fintech implications.
Chapter 2: 00:05:30 – Banking as a Service (BaaS): Growing Pains and Third-Party Risks
A look at the evolution of Banking as a Service, the role of middleware, and the challenges banks face in third-party risk management.
Chapter 3: 00:14:45 – The Synapse Saga: What Went Wrong?
Breaking down the Synapse bankruptcy, reconciliation issues, and the complex web of banks and fintechs involved in the debacle.
Chapter 4: 00:26:00 – The Regulatory Gaps: Whose Job Is It to Watch?
A discussion on the perceived regulatory gaps, the role of state regulators, and the absence of a unified oversight body for fintechs.
Analysis of recent consent orders issued to banks, recurring themes like AML, CIP, reconciliation, and what banks must address to stay compliant.
Chapter 6: 00:50:00 – Fintechs and Banks: Managing Risk, Partnerships, and Expectations
How fintechs and banks can work better together, focusing on due diligence, reconciliation processes, and board governance.
Chapter 7: 01:02:15 – State Regulation vs. Federal Solutions: Is a New License on the Horizon?
Exploring the potential for state regulators to create new license types for fintechs and why a federal framework might be needed.
Chapter 8: 01:12:30 – Advice for Banks Entering Fintech Partnerships
Practical advice for banks considering fintech partnerships: start small, evaluate processes, and ensure technology and compliance alignment.
Chapter 9: 01:20:00 – The Future of BaaS: From Crisis to Opportunity
A hopeful perspective on the future of Banking as a Service, predicting a “flight to quality” and stronger partnerships through better risk management.
Chapter 10:
Final reflections on the importance of effective risk management and why banks must embrace calculated risks to innovate and thrive.
It’s a Breaking Banks and Finovate collab! Fresh off of FinovateSpring hosts JP Nicols, Greg Palmer and Brett King talk trends, takeaways and best of show; bringing the best to you in this episode. If you missed FinovateSpring, enjoy the recap and themes, and some of the best fintech innovations covering artificial intelligence, open banking, future payments, CX and more. With new market entrants and the loosening of capital, creativity is coming back into the ecosystem, and the bar is being raised, pushing everyone forward. We also introduce you to one of FinovateSpring’s Best of Show winners, Maya Mikhailov, SAVVI AI, Founder & CEO. Meeting users where they are, SAVVI AI offers a powerful AI tool to unlock data and make finserv and fintech goal driven AI use cases easier, distilling data natively into excel, to offer insights for institutions on new product offerings to benefit customers and business.
In the coming weeks, tune into sister podcast Finovate for profiles, a deep dive and one-on-ones with all FinovateSpring ‘Best of Show’ winners: Bloom Credit, Remynt, Kobalt Labs, QuickFi, SAVVI AI, Cascading AI
Episode 548: Killing It: And then Paying It Forward
Jun 13, 2024
In This Episode
Jake Gibson, former investment banker, entrepreneur / co-founder NerdWallet, angel investor, now VC founder Better Tomorrow Ventures, who crossed career paths with host Jason Henrichs 10+ years ago, have an honest discussion about the twists and turns of co-founding a boot-strapping start-up particularly when you are young, on to something and quickly have to figure everything out. After years of hard work and being all-in, tough decisions needed to be made as NerdWallet continued to grow quickly. Jake knew it was time to move on, but so hard to do. The arrival of twins and focus on strengths, honesty, lessons learned, and giving advice to others in similar situations, helped Jake figure his calling and path forward, and has enabled him to keep many ‘cards in his wallet’.
Episode 547: The BaaS Bombs Drop + Synapse Bankruptcy
Jun 06, 2024
In This Episode
There’s more to episode 543 — Killing It: The Story Behind the Synapse Story — right here! The Synapse saga continues but we make it easy to stay current and benefit from expert analysis as host Jason Henrichs unpacks the latest news with Jason Mikula, publisher of Fintech Business Weekly. The two are watching the topic closely, offering insight into what it all means, from a Chapter 11 Trustee, to new account and financial resilience concerns, FDIC insurance disclosure, challenges and regulation not to mention potential risks and implications for banking and fintech. A takeaway from it all, the importance of regulation in promoting responsible innovation.
In this episode Jason Henrichs and Kiah Haslett, Bank Director’s Banking and Fintech Editor riff on FBO (For Benefit Of) accounts, implications for banks, banking as a service and the future of fintech.
Then, Jason connects with Paul Davis, Founder, The Bank Slate about fintech partnerships, future landscape, consent orders and AI in banking.
https://youtu.be/403ajB3n9mo
Episode 545: Buzzword Bingo
May 23, 2024
In This Episode
In this episode Brett King catches up with Ali Paterson, Editor-in-Chief, FF News about … fintech and banking!
Having been part of the architecture, or rather furniture, of the industry for many years, these two leaders, writers and influencers look at fintech — through rearview mirrors and what’s on the road ahead — in a lighthearted discussion from respective vantage points. There are standout moments (does anyone remember the literal payments race?), personalities, culture, and some favorite stories.
Episode 544: LatAm Fintech and Payments Boom
May 16, 2024
In This Episode
Brett King connects with industry leaders and influencers Joao Bezerra Leite, 2W Ecobank and former CTO, Banco Itau, and Bruno Diniz, fintech advisor, author, professor, speaker and top 10 influencer in Ibero America for another engaging episode of Breaking Banks about the fintech / payments boom in Brazil and Latin America. The trio focus on several success stories to include Pix pay; NuBank, the reasons NuBank has been so successful; Creditas, and other companies to watch. Can these successes be replicated elsewhere? How might the market react if / when NuBank becomes the largest market cap bank in LatAm? These are just some of the questions the industry veterans tackle in this episode.
The hosts introduce the episode and highlight the focus on Latin America’s fintech landscape, with a special emphasis on Brazil. They welcome experts Bruno Diniz and João Bezerra Letty to discuss fintech innovations, payments, and regulations shaping the region.
Chapter 2: 03:45 – Nubank: The Rise of a Challenger
A deep dive into Nubank’s meteoric growth, achieving 100 million customers, and its strategies that revolutionized the Brazilian banking sector. Discussion includes user experience, regulatory support, and its positioning as a mobile-first digital bank.
Chapter 3: 15:20 – Brazil’s Regulatory Innovation
João Bezerra Letty outlines the role of Brazil’s Central Bank in creating an enabling environment for fintech innovation, including key regulations like payment institution guidelines and the success of PIX, the instant payments platform.
Chapter 4: 23:30 – PIX and Payment Innovations
Discussion about PIX’s massive adoption in Brazil and its role in redefining payment systems. The conversation compares PIX’s success to the slow adoption of FedNow in the United States.
Exploration of other notable fintechs in Brazil, including Creditas and Cloudwalk, highlighting their innovative approaches to digital lending, DeFi, and payment systems.
Chapter 6: 40:50 – Market Challenges and Opportunities
The challenges traditional banks face in adapting to a digital-first economy and the opportunities for fintechs to address underserved segments. Discussion includes embedded finance and AI’s role in the ecosystem.
Chapter 7: 48:00 – The Future of Latin American Fintech
The experts discuss Brazil’s leadership in fintech innovation, the potential for exportable fintech models, and the next steps in tokenized economies and AI integration.
Chapter 8: 54:30 – Closing Thoughts and Resources
Final reflections on the future of fintech in Latin America, how listeners can stay updated on industry trends, and expert resources shared by the guests.
Episode 543: Killing It: The Story Behind the Synapse Story
May 09, 2024
In This Episode
It’s another engaging episode from Breaking Banks’ new series, Killing It. Host Jason Henrichs shares a candid conversation with Sankaet Pathak, Synapse CEO and Co-Founder, about Synapse’s just completed, very public bankruptcy and acquisition that came with highly opinionated social media commentary. Listen as Sankaet shares his personal story as well as a behind the scenes narrative of Synapse’s journey, the challenges faced, and what ultimately brought him to the decision to kill Synapse as a stand-alone entity. Sequencing is important.
Chapter 1: 00:00 – Introduction and Synapse’s Chapter 11 Journey
The hosts introduce the episode, diving into Synapse’s public bankruptcy and acquisition by TabaPay. Sankat Pathak, Synapse’s founder and CEO, joins to share insights on the process and misconceptions surrounding the events.
Chapter 2: 05:15 – The Misunderstood Narrative
Pathak clarifies the misconceptions about Synapse’s journey, emphasizing the deliberate decision for Chapter 11 to enable a strategic asset acquisition.
Chapter 3: 12:30 – Missed Opportunities and Strategic Shifts
Discussion on the $100 million term sheet veto and the strategic move to acquire a bank charter, highlighting the internal disagreements that sealed Synapse’s fate.
Chapter 4: 20:45 – Lessons in Building and Scaling
Pathak reflects on Synapse’s growth journey, the challenges of creating a middleware-focused company, and lessons learned about culture, market selection, and business scaling.
Chapter 5: 28:40 – Banking as a Service: Challenges and Future Directions
In-depth exploration of the complexities of banking-as-a-service models, the role of FBO accounts, and predictions for the evolution of the BaaS ecosystem in the next five years.
Chapter 6: 38:10 – Regulation, Culture, and Market Dynamics
Discussion on the role of regulation in shaping financial services, differences between tech and bank cultures, and how these elements influence business success.
Chapter 7: 47:20 – The Future of Banking and Fintech Models
Speculation on the future interplay between banks and fintechs, including trends toward fintechs acquiring bank charters and banks adapting to technological DNA.
Chapter 8: 55:00 – Closing Reflections and What’s Next for Pathak
Pathak shares his personal takeaways, his future plans, and how the lessons from Synapse’s journey will shape his next endeavors.
[00:00:00] Welcome to Breaking Banks. The number one. Killing it. Killing it.
There’s often a story behind this story. The explosion of social media, private Slack and WhatsApp groups, newsletters, make it difficult not only to decipher fact, but even put together a cohesive story. Synapse is just completing a very public bankruptcy and acquisition with highly opinionated social media commentary.
Sankat Pathak, Synapse’s founder and CEO, joins me on this episode to share his side of the story and the journey that brought him to the decision to kill Synapse as a standalone entity.
Well, thanks for agreeing to have a difficult if not painful conversation about the last chapters of Synapse’s journey as a standalone entity. [00:01:00] Building in public is hard and, you know, finding a soft landing is admirable and difficult enough without public commentary. I guess I should be thankful Twitter didn’t have the reach and vitriol in 2014 when we like tried to crash land, you know, Perk Street, same maneuver.
I sometimes tell people it’s like, we landed the plane. People were definitely on fire. But no one died, right? Um, I’m going to start with, you know, there are some of the experts on X saying, you know, all sorts of things, here’s what went wrong. Why don’t we start with, what are people getting wrong about the narrative in what transpired with Synapse and the TabaPay acquisition?
I think the biggest thing that people don’t realize is that We didn’t file for bankruptcy, and then somebody bought our assets. Uh, we filed for Chapter 11 because that’s what Tapupe wanted, uh, as a safe way to be able to acquire the [00:02:00] asset. Um, because of all the noise around the company, specifically with one of our, uh, Ex customers.
Um, uh, It starts with a capital M, maybe? Yeah, Mercury. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was the core of the reason, but I think a lot of people, uh, and again, like on Twitter, I think the mob mentality is vicious and it’s fine. Um, uh, sometimes it’s fun. Mostly it’s painful, but that’s okay. Um, their whole narrative was bankrupt Synapse has its Assets being acquired by TabaPay, but it’s kind of the opposite.
It’s more so the liability piece and sequencing is important, but that’s the piece that people missed. Yeah, well, I mean you did have two million dollars of cash still on the balance sheet It’s not like you were out of runway, you know There are other maneuvers that you could have executed and I don’t think that people really understand That asset purchase agreements are the way that a lot of tech companies are acquired [00:03:00] Just because the acquirers don’t want any lurking, you know, calm the iceberg liabilities that you don’t even know what they are.
And you have some that are above the surface, let alone below the surface, not lurking there in court papers that that’s actually way more common to do an asset purchase than people would think. Not always bankruptcy. Right. Yeah. Um, but I think that’s an important part of the narrative. Anything else that you’d add that you’re like, they’re just getting that it’s wrong.
Well, I think, uh, the piece that people don’t ask is why did have to, uh, why did we even have to sell? Yeah. Um, and what is the reason, because of which Synapse had to sell? Is it the market? Is it the bank partners? Is it customer churn? Is it reality? Yeah. You’re reading my cheat sheet. I don’t share questions with guests in advance, but yes, everything you just said, let’s go start talking about.
Yeah. Except all of those are not accurate. [00:04:00] It’s very plain vanilla. Uh, it is that We had a term sheet that we vetoed. It’s that simple. Like we had a hundred million dollar term sheet that, uh, the business plan going forward was going to going to be, we were going to acquire a bank charter. Uh, and we’re going to get in now, we were going to take control of our destiny because I was convinced that I could not make this into a billions of dollars of revenue company without owning a bank, because I was not touching the customer, the end users.
And then I was sitting in the middle and I wasn’t really like touching my own destiny with the regulator. So I wanted to be able to own that end to end, which was approved by the board, presented by me and vetoed by some investors. And as soon as that happened, the fate was sealed. The only thing we could have done at that point is sell nothing else.
It was, was the a hundred million dollar term sheet tied to like specific use of funds was to acquire a bank. And so there was no other taking the money [00:05:00] and move on. Or was it, you recognize strategically Like don’t continue down, take a hundred million dollars, you know, worth of capital that you in good faith, don’t believe you can generate a return on because of what you just outlined around controlling destiny.
No. So the capital was just like an equity investment, right? That was pretty, pretty straightforward. Uh, uh, in full disclosure, my desire to acquire bank charter at that point was, was seen as a controversial move by my existing investors and new investors. So they were like, are you sure you really want to do it?
And I was like, I’m absolutely convinced this is the only way to make this into a company that can be publicly traded. Otherwise it’s not going to happen. Uh, so they would have, at the end of the day, my sense was would have let me do what I wanted to do, which is get a bank charter because I had one lined up.
Um, but the, but the term sheet was straight up for like, it was an equity investment. That’s [00:06:00] it. But it sounds like. Had you actually gone forward, it’s the opposite of what I surmise, which is, had you gone forward to try and acquire a bank charter, they would have been upset because they were more enthralled with, you know, the dance that SoFi has trying to look like a tech company versus a bank, you know, does acquiring a bank make you actually look and get valued like a bank?
Yeah, I don’t, I don’t, I don’t know. Like, um, I don’t know what would have been, yeah, Because we never went on that path, right? Like, I had a bank charter lined up, I had a term sheet lined up. I was open and transparent with everyone that we were going to try to acquire a bank charter. Um, and I also, uh, uh, uh, the board was not investor controlled.
It was, it was, it was Uh, uh, common control. So me and other seed investors were on the board. So I feel like I would have been able to get this through, uh, regardless. Yeah. But it’s kind of like the path [00:07:00] never walked. So hard to tell. So you then started a lengthy journey to like, where do we land this?
Cause it seems like what I hear you saying is synapse is a standalone entity without a bank charter. Wasn’t going to make sense. I don’t think so. Yes. I don’t think so. So when did you start the journey and can you, I’m really curious, like how did it start? Cause you know, having experienced this both as a VC and as an entrepreneur, the best accents are the ones when you’re bought, not sold is like that edge, right?
Going out to sell without acting like you’re desperately, you know, looking to sell. That’s lengthy. And like, when did that start? Because I, I started hearing rumors of it like 2020 already. Is that accurate? No, uh, that didn’t start until last year. Okay. Yeah. So sometime last year, I, I don’t know the exact date.
[00:08:00] Um, that’s when we really started the conversation. Um, and you’re absolutely right. Like, uh, if you really want to make a high return on investment, you, you need to be bought, not sold. Um, but, uh, do you care about making a high return on investment when you vetoed a hundred million dollar term sheet? I, I don’t know.
I don’t think so. Because you made that decision. So at that point, um, uh, your only path has self or whatever. But even that, right there, because of incentives, when you are for sale, the buyer immediately begins to question what, if anything, is it worth, particularly when you have liabilities, very public ones, it’s the team and the technology and the licenses, right?
That’s what’s worth something. Um, but the rest of it. Not really, like, because they don’t, they don’t care about it as much. Uh, some, some acquirers care about the customers, in our case, the dude, right? So, um, uh, so your [00:09:00] customers, your licenses, your technology, your people, those are the pieces you’re selling at that point.
So as you reflect on the journey, You know, this is my Adam Grant question that I love when he asks this on the Rethink podcast. Are there mental models or assumptions you’ve made that, you know, given the nine years of this journey that you would go through and rethink? Yeah, that is, that is like a million dollar question.
Uh, and I have some answers for that and I think the rest of it I would have over time. If we completely eliminate the fact that I started Synapse when I was in college and let’s just assume that that was not the case, um, I would have started with buying a bag first. Okay. That’s what, that’s what I, that’s what I would have done.
Uh, I always wanted to buy a bank charter, even back then, uh, but obviously I couldn’t afford one. Um, uh, so [00:10:00] I think that is the first big thing. Um, uh, the other things are, that’s like the more strategy focused thing. I, uh, I still think there is a lot that can be improved and built in financial services that I think fundamentally transforms humanity is exciting.
Um, but you cannot do that without owning a bank. That’s just the, that’s my analysis, uh, at the end of the day. Um, so from a strategy perspective that I would have done differently, uh, from everything else, uh, It’s, it’s, it’s the learnings you would expect any founder to have, uh, the importance of culture, um, uh, learning more about who you are, what, what, what are your skills, what are your strengths.
And based on that, knowing exactly who to surround yourself with, uh, what kinds of people you work best with, what kinds of people you don’t work as well with, uh, how do you know if somebody’s [00:11:00] doing a good job? How can you tell if somebody’s in for the right reasons? Uh, so all of those things are, uh, painful lessons over time that you learn.
Um, and one thing that I’ve actually realized coming out of at least my experience with Synapse and seeing some of my other friends, um, Go through similar experiences, even though probably less painful and less public, it is that the most important thing in a startup is the rate at which your product is improving.
Nothing else. It’s how fast are you getting better? And all the other stuff, people really try to control like the bottom line. People really try to control, uh, uh, maximizing revenue, et cetera. The reality is if you just get the right team and the right culture and they’re in it for the right reasons, uh, by the time your strategy is sound, everything works out.
Um, now in case of synapse, I think there were a couple of [00:12:00] interesting things. Uh, I don’t think the middleware strategy is right. Having said that, we were going to pivot and change that anyways in 2020. Uh, so that’s kind of like the wrong premise. I found myself, uh, feeling on a constant basis that I was trying to rip open a market, which is I could only grow as fast as the market was growing.
Um, in hindsight. I, I should have picked a vertical that had a massive market from the get go, but the solutions were not optimal or ideal because then you’re not trying to rip open a market trade like everything that is That I can think of that is, that is a massive, massive company today. Tesla cars, already a market computers, already a market, um, gaming already a market, Airbnb, hospitality, already a market, Uber taxis, already a market, et cetera, et cetera.
Um, so do you think not indexing on [00:13:00] that, which is being very cognizant of how large the market is, is also probably, I’d be more mindful of going forward. Well, especially. In an environment with so much venture capital, it was a growing market that quickly became very crowded, right? Like you couldn’t just take the incremental growth and share you were competing with others.
So I think B2B businesses, I think should be divided in three different buckets. Uh, the first one is, uh, SMB B2B. Uh, which behaves more like consumer. Uh, the second one is enterprise B2B. That behaves at a much more different predictable rate. The third one that’s the most noisy one is the venture backed B2B in which mostly all of your customers are venture backed companies.
That has a couple of additional complexities to it. The first complexity is for you to be successful, you’re really relying on your customer to [00:14:00] be successful as well. Yes, because they’re not already successful. Um, uh, and then second, you’re really relying on the dry powder is still being available so that you can keep on growing without disruption.
Uh, it’s not that you cannot build a great business in that segment. Stripe has, for instance, they’ve made, they’ve built a phenomenal business in that segment. It’s just, those are additional risks to be mindful of, which is when you’re heavily reliant on a venture backed. Ecosystem, uh, actually, I would argue Stripe is not whole wholly reliant on a venture backed ecosystem, but I was going to say the same thing, right?
They have enough small businesses that also need to be successful, but don’t, I think, have the same demands that a venture business does, right? If I decide to start selling, you know, homemade soy candles out of the garage, yeah, I don’t, I’m going to keep at it even if it’s only working. So, so For much longer than if I have to explain once a quarter to my [00:15:00] VCs, why I’m not putting up, you know, 30 percent growth month on month.
Well, and there’s another additional complexity with, uh, having VC backed businesses as your primary customers. Um, it’s very vicious and mob like. AKA, if you’re in, you’re in. If you’re out, you’re out. There’s nothing in the middle, which is if, uh, you’re too hard to touch, uh, VCs are going to pressure their portfolio companies to not work with you.
And if they love you, they’re going to force, uh, they’re going to push their companies, portfolio companies to work with you. So it’s more so relationships driven, which isn’t something that I spend a lot of time on. I get to business pretty much right away, uh, not as much technology driven. At the beginning, it was very technology driven because, uh, you could not underwrite customers online adequately at a low cost.
So we have to be able to solve for that. All the payment processing was [00:16:00] outdated. We had to be able to solve for that. Uh, but then it turned into kind of a. More so a political business, not really like technical execution, which is what I’m good at. So let’s talk about the venture backed business for a second.
I think one of the greatest examples of this is the SVB failure, right? Yeah. As soon as, you know, that presentation went out, right. Yeah. Doing after hours, but no public commentary from SVB and social channels, but the Slack channels, and I’m guessing you and I are in some of the same ones, we’re on fire.
About, you know, we’re going to move. And when you saw people racking up, like we’re going to move our deposits. Yeah. Right. You know, exactly the mob mentality. Right. The in, but then it also became a self fulfilling prophecy. You’re like, you know, one of the Slack channels I looked at, I’m like, that’s close to 400 million.
If you just took the totality of their rounds of, you know, they’ve raised recently coming out of the [00:17:00] bank, no bank balance sheet can withstand that. Right. But it raises the question is we think of banking as a service and you, you know, I’m going to dig into the FBO account issue because that’s what we always borrow about, you know, does it work?
Like, should these deposits be counted for the banks as core deposits or brokered deposits? Yeah, I don’t think that’s the right question or paradigm in my opinion. Uh, the right question or paradigm is, are we going to move into an economy of faster payments? Or do we want to, do we think it’s better from an economy perspective to stay in a batch settlement windows, slower payments, liquidity moves a little slowly, which one’s the right and adequate thing for the civilization?
That’s the bigger question because it doesn’t matter if you get banked by a fintech or if you get banked by svb [00:18:00] if you can move money fast you can move money fast and then you have the same thing which is all money is hot money it’s not really it’s not really stable deposits you know i would say at a 50 000 feet point of view completely agree right and it fast gets faster the question becomes And it isn’t just banking as a service.
It isn’t just startups that are all in Slack and Telegram communities and WhatsApp communities together. Right? Like even if you think, you know, Kia Haslett from bank director and I had a whole episode called deposits hot or not. One of the things I look at is you could actually have the same concentration phenomenon around a community.
If you think of about a tight knit community bank. Where it is several families make up the majority of the wealth, small business and deposits. Right. And they all talk, right. Like, yeah. Yeah. They’re on the PTA together and right. You know, they go to the same coffee shop, right. They suddenly begin to feel like the bank’s unstable or [00:19:00] unhappy could see the same thing, but specific to Baz, right.
Like, cause I think that’s where it comes in and faster payments is, you know, just gas on that fire in terms of like money movement. Yep. If the banks can’t make use this as a way to solve their deposit problem, actually two questions out of this, if we can’t solve their deposit problem, one, do the economics and banking as a service make sense?
Yeah, second part of it is let’s talk about how do banks need to actually start thinking about the deposit problem? Because that’s part of where you started. Yeah, well, here’s what I’ll tell you. I don’t think this question is just about banking as a service. I think this is a question that’s more holistic of, um, our deposits really sticky.
And I’m not convinced that they’re really sticky unless the customer sentiment desires it to be sticky, which would apply to a FinTech or a bank like SVB. If the country, uh, if the customer [00:20:00] sentiment is, I don’t want to put my money here for whatever reason, uh, they can move money. pretty quickly. And that puts at risk, to your point, the bank’s viability on how can they monetize these deposits.
And I don’t, I think that’s an open question. Like, I don’t, I don’t think the answer is as straightforward. Uh, I think we have to answer some very basic questions first. Uh, the first one is, We want banking to behave dynamically as other products and services do. What I mean by that is, uh, do you really wanna hold banks accountable for providing quality service that customers want to use AKA If they’re not providing a high quality service, the customer leaves.
And if that dynamic is acceptable, which I think in a free market should be acceptable. So then it goes to the second question, okay? Uh, if, if, if our goal is to build the best inclusive products for everybody. A. K. A. they can access them easily. They can move money [00:21:00] easily. They can pay bills easily. It might be some customers have large deposits.
Some customers might have small deposits, but they get equally good service. Now, what does that do in terms of deposit reliability for the bank? Historically, the way deposit, uh, Reliability had worked with three things. One, you had really close relationships with large depositors and you felt comfortable that they were going to stick around.
It’s just client relationship management. Second, uh, it was very difficult to open up a new bank account. So the cost was very high. And third money moved slowly. So if If you’re going to remove the second and third pillars, then you’re only relying on the first pillar for money to be sticky. And I don’t think that’s an option for everybody.
Now, uh, I do still think FinTech and Bass. provides some kind of predictability and reliability. They behave like a large depositor, right? So if you have a good [00:22:00] relationship, your regulators are not giving you trouble or grief over the partnership. Uh, the company is growing and it’s mature, right? Not a startup, but something that is like chime for instance, or, uh, uh, a firm or somebody like that.
Then that is no different than you holding the balance sheet of Apple or you holding a large, like, net worth individual. And then the playbook for that is pretty much straightforward. It’s client management, making sure the customer is happy, making sure they can do what they need to do and the regulators are not unhappy with that relationship as well.
Right now, the issue in the industry has been that the regulators are unhappy with the relationship. Which is causing a lot of movement, AKA fintechs are getting fired. Fast providers are getting fired. Lots of churn and just cycling around that. At some point that would settle down. And then the question would just be relationship management.
And then the other two [00:23:00] questions, which is accessibility and speed. So let’s talk about accessibility and speed, and then we’ll come back to the regulation piece of this. Shouldn’t the free market stalled? Accessibility at some point, or if the market can solve it, shouldn’t it be a government service, you know, we’re back to the postal bank account or others.
Yeah, absolutely. That is absolutely true. I, uh, I do think free market has solved for large portions of accessibility issues. Um, the fact that when I came to the U. S. and I could not open up a bank account while I was, um, I could not open up a bank account online. I had to be in person in a bank branch to now I can open up a bank account pretty much with any fintech anywhere.
I still have to go to a bank branch for banks in some cases, right? So, um, that tells you that at least free market, uh, is working. In that sense, now [00:24:00] where I hesitate about banking being a fully free market enterprise is customer safety. which is people’s money, their health, even their education, I would argue, uh, those things are the very fabric of our society.
So when you shake one of them, uh, it creates a lot of unravel. Uh, so I do go back and forth, which is, should there be a postal service type bank account? Uh, and the whole industry around monetizing these deposits should be disincentivized. Um, Uh, I don’t know the answer to that, but I do see free market making good progress.
I would actually argue that regulators getting more active is a good thing, net net. Um, so maybe there is an equilibrium that gets established that works quite well for most people. Uh, so barring any major disasters. That have high customer harm. I think the free market might look just fine. [00:25:00] This show is brought to you by Alloy Labs.
As much as we love talking on the show, we believe that action is more valuable than talk. Alloy Labs is the industry leader in helping fearless bankers drive exponential growth through collaboration, exclusive partnerships, and powerful network effects that give them an unfair advantage. Learn more at AlloyLabs.
com. Alloy Labs, banking unbound. So let’s talk about the speed piece, right? Because that impact on the interrelated impact, Jennifer Tescher, and I talk about this all the time from financial health network, right? The reason they rebranded for financial service innovation to financial health is health in your financial situation are largely tied together in your educational system can have such a profound impact on that.
Yeah, regulation was created in each of those three things [00:26:00] independently for that very reason. And maybe they shouldn’t be independent since they’re intertwined, so intertwined, but that process tends to move very slowly. Which then also, tying back to your second pillar, also means, are we, because it’s moving slowly, because we care about safety, we’re not actually delivering at the pace to really solve the inclusion gap?
Yeah, I think that is very fair. Um, I do think we have long ways to go in the inclusion gap, even now, even though we’ve made progress. We still have a long ways to go. And the biggest hindrance to that are two things, technology and regulation, right? So being able to do something safely makes total sense, but being able to do it at all is also an open question.
And you always have that trade off. I don’t, I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. By the time it does follow like free market [00:27:00] principles. With, um, sound regulation, uh, you, you slowly nip at that problem. You won’t solve it tomorrow, but you’ll solve it in a couple of decades. You used a great phrase that regulators are being more active some others on social media have been saying Oh, they’ve changed the rule book or there was no rule book to me having been at this You know perksry was 2008 as we’re trying to figure out what the rule book was the rule book feels pretty consistent It just wasn’t being enforced I’m curious about that turn of phrase that you picked in terms of do you feel like the rules were changed?
I don’t think it’s black and white. I do think some rules have changed, which they should because you learn more about the market and how it’s behaving. But the other things were always in, in the rule books and regulators just decided to get more active on it. But it’s, it’s both. It’s, it’s not just one or the other.
Uh, I don’t think any of it [00:28:00] is necessarily bad. I think all of it makes total sense. Uh, I. I have not stumbled upon something that I would call, uh, regressive. I think everything is fair. That’s a fair criticism of the industry. That’s a fair question to ask. Are these products safe? Are these sound for the bank and also for the consumers and also for national security interests?
All those things make total sense, but I would say yes Majority is regulators getting more active minority is Uh, definitely some more clarification and distillation in how they want to see these partnerships be supervised by bank partners. Thus, the OCC memo, OC wrote a new memo precisely for that reason.
So it is, some of it just crystallizing our thoughts as to we we’re, I feel like the regulators are starting to understand how they want to regulate this space, which was not the case before, which would come with some [00:29:00] changes and that’s okay. Changes in a lot of it is clarification. Now, what’s your take on, I’d say, you know, all three of the bank licensing agencies have different views on how this should be enforced.
Is that creating a problem for the industry or is that bifurcation allow specialization? In last few years, I do think all three agencies have made a higher concerted effort to be more aligned on the big picture items. Which is helpful because they’ve also had this inner agency like the OCC memo had alignment with all three, right?
Wasn’t just the OCC. Um, so that piece is good. One thing that is, that I think, and this is probably a controversial opinion, uh, um, or contrarian opinion. I personally think having these three different regulatory bodies with slight dysfunction between them is a good thing. Here’s why [00:30:00] we can test out different hypotheses and see exactly what works well.
And then globalize it and build it central. That’s why having a Republic is great to state by state decisions on things to see how it really plays out, uh, for the welfare of the people is a good thing. And anything that works well, you turn them to a federal rule. So having a couple of different agencies trying slightly different things, not drastically different things, but slightly different things and slightly different mandates, I don’t think is a bad thing.
By the time you learn from it. Uh, and then based on that, figure out what needs to become a global mandate and what needs to still be an experiment that a regulator is running. Well, there is the, uh, poster statement from the conference of state bank supervisors on how they can act as mini incubators for these things.
Next controversial discussion, FBOs. Right. There’s, there are some issues that you are painfully aware of [00:31:00] that tally up to several tens of millions of dollars related to it. Yeah. Does it, do they work? And it might be actually worth, because I don’t think everyone nerds out as much on this topic as you and I do.
Why don’t we talk first about when did you make the decision to start using an FBO? You had six FBOs, you know, what was the problem you were solving? So FBO is a common account structure in the FinTech industry where the bank designates an account to either one, FinTech or to the BAS provider where all the activity habits, uh, uh, activity for the users, right?
So not, not corporate banking, but everything. Um, the issue isn’t as much with. The FBO structure and construct. It makes total sense. The issue is with, um, executing on an FBO account, like how you would. [00:32:00] with a checking account that is provided to a business. And what I really mean by that is, um, it, it gets into the same core banking system, it’s the same portal, it’s the same terminal, similar reporting that a business would get, et cetera, et cetera.
That makes reconciliation quite difficult. So the issue is less so the FBO account structure, more so the technology behind the continuous reconciliation process. Because what you’re really trying to do are a couple of different things. You’re trying to make sure that you have the right ledger of record based on the transactions you receive.
And then you’re trying to make sure that there are no more transactions on that GL, except the ones you received that you impacted on the ledger. And that’s where all of the reconciliation manual work and effort comes in. And some banks have done a better job at that than others. But that isn’t the core of the issue, less so the FBO account structure, in my opinion.
Well, in for those [00:33:00] who are wondering why you would take on this level of complexity, part of our demise at perk street is we were required by the O. C. C. And F. D. I. C. Back in perk street, ancient history. We had a one for one account on at the time. Metavon day, eventually open solutions, eventually five serve for everyone who opened an account, had an account and the economics killed us.
Particularly of inactive accounts. And so the clever move next was, Hey, what if you opened a single account or in your case, six accounts for account fees, and you had a second ledger, call it a meta ledger to capture all of this, to plug it into the archaic technology that Fiserv is charging you way too much money for.
Well, that and throughput, right? Like, uh, I’m pretty convinced because we tried to do cards at the beginning through the individual DDA setup. And the throughput was so poor that we would not have been able to scale that service altogether. So by definition, they’re like technology constraints and [00:34:00] using existing legacy core banking systems to be able to do some of these things at scale, because they’re not meant for scale.
They’re more so meant for community banks with the exception of. A couple of large banks that have seen real scale. This then, you know, begins to call into question, is the bank is a service industry with kind of the complexity of FBO. The questions about how the deposits work. What is your prediction about what banking as a service looks like?
Three to five years from now, both were in the, I’d love to hear from the program. Is there a middleware? What does that look like? And the bank? I think net two things are going to happen. Some banking as a service providers will become purely technology providers to banks, which is, Hey, we’re, it’s like a more customized core banking system.
We’re going to give you a solution. Then you run it. FinTech customers are your customers, cetera. Um, there are some people who claim [00:35:00] they do that, but they don’t actually do that. Like, they don’t actually just sell the software to banks. They sell software to banks and then bring FinTechs and then manage that relationship, which is the Synapse playbook.
Like, I built it, so I think I get it. That’s what people did. Um, and still do even though they call technically you have an agreement between the bank and the fintech. It doesn’t matter like the agreements less relevant. What’s really relevant is operationally what’s going on and what’s going on operationally is the best providers in most cases are managing all the complexity with the bank and all the fintechs are managing is onboarding.
Marketing, things like that. Uh, so I do think there’s going to be a shift where, uh, the BaaS tool will become more so a tool of the bank. So the bank will shop for a vendor and then FinTechs will engage directly with the bank and then use that software and essentially build out this integration, but it’ll be all like bank centric.
The second thing, which I am a [00:36:00] bigger fan of, which is what, uh, William from Plaid has done is getting a bank charter. Which is you have to get a bank charter and build the technology. Um, and that’s not for the faint of heart. You have to essentially be. a stoic person who’s like, I don’t care how much pain this gives, because this is the right thing to do.
And it is the right thing to do. The whole software angle is, is a less painful way of solving the problem. But it’s also an indirect way of solving the problem. If you really want to have the true impact of digitizing banking for everybody, so that it works for everyone, that is going to require, Regulatory oversight and modern technology and the modern technology being questioned directly by the regulators on a constant basis, if it’s adequate or not.
And that thing is painful and it’s not for everybody, but that is the right way to build it. But those are the two models that I think. Yeah. Well, and the question becomes, is it easier [00:37:00] to become a, be a FinTech that becomes a bank or acquires or a bank? Or is it a bank that basically changes out all of its DNA with a CRISPR to understand being tech?
Or is there a hybrid? Like, is there a way to solve this? Right? Because those are two very different animals. Yeah, those are two very different animals. And I think you’re going to see examples in both. I think you’re going to see some banks be really good at technology execution because that’s a function of the culture.
They’re willing to embrace and change the culture and make it more tech forward. Um, I do think the default state is a technology company getting a bank charter seems more adequate and ideal. So something like Column makes more sense. Something like Square buying a bank charter makes a whole lot more sense.
Um, uh, eventually maybe, uh, somebody like Chime buys the bank charter. Those things make more sense, uh, which is a technology [00:38:00] company acquiring a charter, uh, because now you have a modern technology that has, that you’ve been running in production for a while, it’s been slightly de risked because you’ve gone through a bunch of cycles of permutation and scrutiny, uh, and you survived the test of time.
So now being able to vertically integrate your backend with getting your own bank charter would make a whole lot more sense. The only complexity on the latter model is, uh, VCs not wanting to be beneficial owners of a bank holding company, because that opens them up. So it could be that you don’t see it, but not because it’s not academically the right thing.
It’s more so, uh, the politics of it makes it much harder to execute on. Oh, let me tell you, trying to get our venture backers when the regulators actually wanted the individual financial statements of the GPs of the funds. Right. Exactly. Went over [00:39:00] real well. Wow. So you, you brought up culture and I think this is a good spot for us to land because when we talk about.
Tech culture versus bank culture. They’re very different. And I think part of the value of middleware is actually is a bridge culturally between those two things. You can under one roof have people who talk bank and others who talk tech. How do in this world that you described where, you know, call it a FinTech becoming a bank, how do they manage those two very different worldviews into a single culture?
So I do think being this middleware is like having two divorced parents that never talk to each other, right? So, uh, I like where you’re going with this analogy. I haven’t heard it, but it’s like already resonates. Uh, it can be double the fun or double the pay and it’s mostly double the pay. What I mean by that is your customers.
Uh, which are your fintechs, want you to [00:40:00] move fast, solve problems much, much sooner and faster, expand the solution and offering, while the bank wants you to not move as fast and move slow, and they’re slow to make decisions. And the worst thing it did, and it does, is it impacts the NPS and customer sentiment for you.
For the bass provider, because at the end of the day, uh, especially when synapse got started because people weren’t as sophisticated in the middleware technology stack, um, um, we inherited all the problems. Right? Like, aka, we were the upholstery child of, oh, this payment didn’t process. Doesn’t matter if it didn’t process because bank, something happened on the bank side or our side.
It’s still our fault regardless. So, um, that did create, I think, that does continue to create, uh, this very weird divorced parent, double the pain. type scenario. Now you can change that if the fintech is working directly with the bank [00:41:00] and then the BaaS provider is just more so technology solution and then they’re talking to each other more and then the no’s are coming from the bank directly to the fintech and the yeses are coming from the bank directly to the fintech.
Um, and that’s the piece that really, really makes it less painful for the whole ecosystem. But obviously like I, I wasn’t doing that at Synapse, like I did the middleware piece, which is trying to solve for making these services easy and abstracting complexity away so that more and more people could become, more and more companies could become fintech companies.
And I think right now where we said that model still works, but I think it’s a little different. You have to be more no code. So you have to be more SDK is driven and people can plug in place things. And, uh, everything’s handled behind the scenes by you, including support and underwriting. Um, but putting that aside, because I call that more embedded finance, not bass, uh, for [00:42:00] embedded finance, I do think the ongoing model is going to be, uh, not even a tripartite relationship.
It’s going to be the bank and FinTech, uh, working. Together and using a middleware as a tool to be able to effectively work together. Just like compliance solutions, right? So just like, uh, unit 21, just like hummingbird. This is no different. It’s going to play the same role. Well, and it’s very clear. It is a vendor relationship, as opposed, as you said, it’s not a tri party.
It is a vendor to one side used to deliver the value. So you brought up culture and what you’ve learned about culture nine years in, you know, I’d say we, you can’t really attend a conference in banking or fintech or startup land where culture, culture, culture, doesn’t get thrown about. Yeah, it’s hard to define and it means different things to different organizations as it [00:43:00] should, right?
There’s not one universal culture. What would you say is the biggest learning that you had? And also, how did you get that learning? Because I’m gonna guess part of it is through some painful experiences You learn the hard way what culture should and shouldn’t be Yeah, I think what culture shouldn’t, should and shouldn’t be for me, right?
Like, because it’s different if you’re a different person. It’s very much so how I am. And for me, what is the right culture? There are a couple of basic things that are not controversial. They’re for everybody, right? Like have a caring, kind team that’s respectful to each other. Uh, have a team first mindset, uh, focus on few things that really matter.
Move fast, right? Um, by, by moving fast, I mean, make decisions fast, right? So being able to do those pieces, I think that’s non controversial. And I think that by and large works for everybody. [00:44:00] Here are a couple of things that are unique to me. And I realized that I need to surround myself and only hire people that thrive in that environment versus not.
The first one is, uh, I am on a constant lookout for what, what’s not working, so I’m just giving feedback and sometimes people think feedback means they’re not doing a good job while other people feedback, they thrive in feedback. So to me, it’s feedback first. I’m I, if something’s being done well, you’ll get praised less.
If something needs to be improved, we’re going to talk about that more, right? So like that’s, that’s kind of like a big thing that happens with me. Uh, second, uh, I, I really have a pet peeve against tribalism. So if you’re not thinking about the whole company or in not in it for the right reasons, It’s not ideal for me.
I don’t, I don’t enjoy working with you. Um, and the third one that I [00:45:00] think I had to, I struggled with a lot and I learned over time that I should just embrace it is I, for me, work is intense and fast paced and, um, I should only work with people for whom like the work is as important as their family. Not something you just do.
And that’s a big thing to ask for everyone. But that’s a very honest thing, which is like, I really, really care about highly dedicated teams that are working exceptionally hard and that’s. That’s the kind of culture that I thrive in because that’s how I function. I work mostly all the time. Can you scale that into a big business, right?
Like there are some Oh, totally. There are some roles where it can be really hard to find someone who like does FBO reconciliation, right? And like, That’s a job and they want to do it well, but they also aren’t going to start doing it at 10 p. m. Because, you know, a file failed. [00:46:00] Totally. I think it’s very possible to do this at scale.
Um, and I think the person who’s really demonstrated that it’s possible to do this at scale is probably Ilan. One thing that is common across all of his companies is hardworking culture. He’s very transparent about it. He’s, you know, He’s reformed, like he’s completely ripped open and reformed Twitter into X into a company that ships things fast.
And it’s his smaller team, but it’s a very dedicated team. And I do think it’s possible. I think most of the best work, you know, they, they say this about big companies, like most of the work is being done by like one out of the hundred people, right? Like it’s, so it’s, it’s a function of identifying those one out of hundred and really kind of like, Making sure they feel seen and making a culture of people that are, by and large, just them.
Now, to your point, there are some roles where you don’t have to work at 10 p. m. HR is probably one [00:47:00] of them. I don’t know what an HR emergency at 10 p. m. even looks like. Um, but there are some roles, like support. Like engineering and product, where if you’re on a deadline, you have two options. It’s just like, this is the hypothetical scenario that I put in front of people, right?
And this is one of my most, most telling questions at this point. Let’s assume you have said something you’re going to do by Monday. It’s Friday evening. You have not done it. It’s not done yet. What do you do? You finish it over the weekend or do you come on Monday and say, ah, it’s going to be a few more days before I do it.
And I want people who are in the formal bucket, not the batter bucket, which is again, not for everybody, but that’s a personal cultural preference. That’s fair. So what’s next for you? Going to help with the transition and integration. [00:48:00] So I will do that and, uh, explore more, more to come on that. All right.
Well, when you start the next Company will have you back on to one in retrospect lessons learned with more distance and two. How are you applying those but you know painful journey Appreciate you being willing to share some of the the hard and personal stories related to it. Thank you so much. Jason Thanks for having me That’s it for another week of the world’s number one fintech podcast and radio show, Breaking Banks.
This episode was produced by our US based production team, including producer Lisbeth Severins, audio engineer Kevin Hirsham, with social media support from Carlo Navarro and Sylvie Johnson. If you liked this episode, don’t forget to tweet it out or post a comment. Posted on your favorite social media will leave us a five star review on iTunes, Google podcasts, Facebook, or wherever it is that you listen to our show.[00:49:00]
Those actions help other people find out podcasts. And in return, that helps us build an audience that can be supported by sponsorship. So we can continue to provide you with our award winning content every week. Thanks again for joining us. We’ll see you on breaking banks next week.
Episode 542: Pay by Bank Poised for Growth in the U.S.
May 02, 2024
In This Episode
Pay by bank is gaining momentum in the U.S., it’s a natural evolution of how we pay with funds from our bank accounts. What will it take to get more people to use it and what about readiness for different use cases? Listen as host Brett King, Eric Sager, Plaid’s COO and Trevor Nies, Adyen’s SVP, Global Head of Digital discuss the state of pay by bank, what is driving it in the U.S., the value it delivers, the next segments to adopt, and how key challenges are being overcome to make it good for consumers and for businesses. Will we start seeing pay-by-bank in everyday e-commerce experiences? Listen to our latest episode of Breaking Banks to find out!
Chapter 1: [00:00] Introduction and Global Payment Trends
The hosts introduce the episode and explore the growing momentum of pay-by-bank systems worldwide, focusing on their adoption in emerging markets like Brazil and India.
Chapter 2: [05:20] Meet the Guests and U.S. Market Overview
Eric Sager from Plaid and Trevor Neece from Adyen discuss their roles and share insights into the complexities and opportunities in the U.S. payments ecosystem.
Chapter 3: [12:40] Lessons from Emerging Markets
Exploration of real-time payments systems such as PIX in Brazil and UPI in India. Insights into how these systems could shape the future of payments in the U.S. and Europe.
Chapter 4: [22:15] The Growing Appeal of Pay by Bank
Deep dive into the benefits of pay-by-bank for consumers and merchants, including lower costs, reduced churn, and access to underserved populations.
Chapter 5: [30:50] The Partnership Between Plaid and Adyen
Details on the strategic collaboration between Plaid and Adyen, its objectives, and how it simplifies merchant integration while offering value to consumers.
Chapter 6: [39:30] Overcoming Adoption Barriers
Discussion on the challenges of implementing pay-by-bank in the U.S., including consumer trust, branding, and incentives, and how to drive adoption across generations.
Chapter 7: [48:10] AI and the Future of Payments
Speculation on how AI will transform payments, from contextual credit to automated personal finance management, and its potential integration with pay-by-bank systems.
Chapter 8: [55:50] Wrapping Up and Future Outlook
Guests reflect on the potential for pay-by-bank to reshape the payments landscape, their plans for the partnership, and their excitement for the future.
Episode 541: Get in the Game with Embedded Banking
Apr 25, 2024
In This Episode
Embedded banking is reshaping the industry for those with the right approach. To succeed, banks of all sizes will need a strategy, tools, and technology.
Listen as host Brett King connects with Booshan Rengachari, CEO of Finzly, pioneering provider of modern money movement systems to financial institutions, as they uncover the opportunities and keys to success in embedded banking.
Attract more corporate banking customers with new advanced features, learn how to handle KYC & KYCC compliance for fintech partnerships, and how open APIs, virtual accounts and ISO 20022 nativity enable embedded banking.
Todays’ Breaking Banks spotlights sister podcast Finovate, featuring host Greg Palmer’s recent interviews on the Future of Real-Time Payments with The Clearing House’s, Jim Colassano, SVP Product Development & Strategy and a new report on Cost of Living, Lending and Insights from Tink with Jack Spiers, Banking & Lending Director, UK & Ireland.
Finovate Spring is around the corner, May 21 – 23, 2024 in San Francisco, CA. Check it out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIeYTZbXpQ
Episode 539: Reflecting on AI’s Risks and Rewards
Apr 11, 2024
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, we feature an episode from sister podcast EMERGE Everywhere.
Is artificial intelligence the key to providing personalized financial advice for all? While companies like Credit Karma are tapping into AI’s vast potential to help customers manage their money, the technology also raises weighty questions about how to use it responsibly. In this episode, Jennifer Tescher, host of EMERGE Everywhere speaks with Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin about how the company has embedded AI into its solutions, the biggest opportunities and challenges right now, and what an AI-enabled future might look like.
Chapter 1: [00:00] Introduction: AI in Financial Services
The hosts introduce the episode, highlighting discussions with Ken Lin, CEO of Credit Karma, about the transformative impact of AI on financial advice.
Chapter 2: [05:10] Credit Karma’s Journey and AI Evolution
Ken Lin shares the origins of Credit Karma, its integration into Intuit, and the company’s innovative approach to leveraging AI for personalized financial tools.
Chapter 3: [14:20] Generative AI vs. Machine Learning
Exploration of the differences between machine learning and generative AI, emphasizing AI’s ability to deliver tailored, conversational financial advice.
Chapter 4: [22:50] Real-World Applications of Generative AI
Ken Lin discusses the top use cases of generative AI on the Credit Karma platform, focusing on addressing consumers’ top financial questions with tailored insights.
Chapter 5: [33:15] The Promise of AI-Driven Financial Assistance
Discussion on AI’s potential to transform financial advice into actionable steps, aiming to reduce tedium and empower financial mobility for users.
Chapter 6: [42:00] Tackling Trust and AI Hallucinations
Addressing concerns around AI accuracy, bias, and “hallucinations” in financial advice, and the steps Credit Karma takes to ensure reliable guidance.
Chapter 7: [50:30] The Bottom 20%: Addressing Financial Exclusion
Ken Lin reflects on how AI can benefit underserved populations by increasing financial inclusion and providing equitable access to services.
Chapter 8: [58:00] Governance and the Future of AI
The episode explores the importance of AI governance, ethical considerations, and the long-term impact of AI on financial systems and societal equity.
This week, Jason Henrich connects with Mary Wisniewski to talk about her new podcast, Money Isn’t Everything, which will explore unconventional ideas and strategies within the financial services sector. In her biweekly podcast Mary will tap into her passion for uncovering counterintuitive concepts, sharing stories and looking at complexities, gaps and opportunities in our market with focus on the role banks and credit unions play in driving and improving outcomes,
The first episode of Money Isn’t Everything airs 4/18, catch it on Apple, Spotify or the Cornerstone Advisors website.
The hosts introduce the episode, highlighting the theme of money’s role beyond financial value. Special guest Mary Wisniewski previews her new podcast, Money Isn’t Everything.
Chapter 2: [03:50] The Philosophy Behind “Money Isn’t Everything”
Mary Wisniewski shares the inspiration and objectives for her new podcast, emphasizing how financial institutions can address broader human needs.
Chapter 3: [10:20] Challenges in Financial Literacy and Behavior Change
Discussion about the failures of traditional financial literacy efforts and how understanding erratic cash flow can improve outcomes for underserved populations.
Chapter 4: [18:30] Gamification and Nudges in Financial Services
Exploration of gamification and behavioral nudges, their effectiveness, and ethical considerations for banks and fintechs aiming to improve financial habits.
Chapter 5: [26:40] Aligning Incentives in Banking and Startups
Jason Henricks reflects on the challenges of creating consumer-aligned incentives in financial products, sharing insights from his experience with Perk Street.
Chapter 6: [35:15] Addressing Mental Health and Financial Stress
Highlighting the intersection of mental health and money, the hosts discuss the emotional toll of financial stress and its implications for financial services.
Chapter 7: [43:00] The Role of Creativity and Innovation in Finance
Mary shares personal anecdotes and ideas for fostering innovation in financial services, particularly for addressing volatile incomes and debt reduction.
Chapter 8: [50:25] Looking Ahead: Themes for “Money Isn’t Everything”
Preview of topics Mary plans to explore on her podcast, including AI, bold experiments in finance, and revisiting lessons from past economic cycles.
Chapter 9: [57:00] Closing Thoughts and Call to Action
Final reflections on the episode’s themes, the significance of money in our lives, and details on how to follow Money Isn’t Everything when it launches.
Episode 537: Socially Responsible Credit & Social Currency
Mar 28, 2024
In This Episode
Giving credit when credit is due is always appreciated and a good thing to do. In this case, it is also a solid base for a fintech, one that is socially responsible and financially inclusive. Meet Kashable’s Co-Founder and CEO, Einat Steklov, as she speaks with host Brett King about Kashable making its mark in financial services with low cost loans for employees, those with low or no credit scores. With its data models and ability to create new risk profiles and open up access to credit, Kashable underwrites consumers for unsecured loans based to a large extent on employment information. With Kashable’s ability to offer access to low cost credit, economic mobility, as an employee benefit with easy repayment — embedded financing — everyone benefits.
Then, Breaking Banks is delighted to introduce Social Currency, Provoke.fm‘s latest podcast powered by Sunrise Banks that will introduce you to some of the most innovative changemakers in finance, tech and ESG, and how they are dismantling barriers and reshaping their industries for a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable future. Spotlighting those at the forefront of positive change through social entrepreneurship, Social Currency unveils the stories behind the revolution that is propelling us toward a world where everyone has equitable access to opportunities. In the first episode, Ahead of the Curve, Strategic Foresight, Tyler Seydel, Chief FinTech Officer at Sunrise Banks and co-host Eric Schurr, Chief Strategy Officer, Sunrise Banks and certified practitioner in strategic foresight, get into just that, Strategic Foresight, how organization can solve market opportunity challenges using provocative questions to look at future challenges in new ways, reimaging opportunities. A planning oriented discipline related to futures studies, you’ll be surprised as new tools and this new way of future thinking begins to infiltrate projects and everyday work.
The hosts introduce the episode, exploring themes of socially responsible credit and the role of social currency in fostering equitable financial systems.
Chapter 2: [03:40] Cashable: Redefining Credit with Employment Data
Interview with Inet Steklov, founder of Cashable, discussing their innovative approach to using employment data for credit underwriting and financial inclusion.
Chapter 3: [15:20] The Flaws of Traditional Credit Scoring
The conversation dives into the limitations of traditional credit scores and how alternative credit models can expand financial access for underserved populations.
Chapter 4: [23:50] Embedded Financing in the Workplace
Insights into Cashable’s partnerships with employers to offer low-cost credit as an employee benefit, promoting financial wellness and reducing stress.
Chapter 5: [32:30] Regulating Fintech and Alternative Lending
Discussion on navigating the regulatory landscape for fintechs and how Cashable collaborates with state and federal regulators to ensure compliance.
Chapter 6: [40:45] Social Currency Podcast: Exploring ESG and Equity
Introduction of the new Social Currency Podcast, focusing on ESG principles, diversity, and the intersection of technology and social equity.
Chapter 7: [48:15] The Role of Foresight in Financial Innovation
Eric Schorr, a certified foresight practitioner, shares insights on trendspotting, strategic planning, and creating a more inclusive financial future.
Chapter 8: [57:30] Closing Reflections and Future Vision
Final thoughts on the importance of financial inclusion, the value of foresight in planning, and actionable steps for building a better financial system.
SXSW is a safari to the future according to Todder Moning, Lead Futurist at U.S. Bank. But, as Mike Bechtell, Chief Futurist at Deloitte, pointed out in his Fintech House fireside last year: futurists are always wrong.
Why attempt to predict the future if you are likely to be wrong?
This year Todder and Eric Schurr, Chief Strategy Officer at Sunrise Banks and host of the Social Currency podcast at Provoke.fm, have a fireside chat with Dara Tarkowski, Founder of Actuate Law and host of the Tech on Reg podcast, about which rules to break and which to keep when thinking about the future. From large bank to small, both use the tools of Foresight to gain a competitive advantage when thinking about a future, even when it is likely wrong. Listen in to learn how to break out of your current mindset and preconceptions, including Todder’s favorite: Future Safaris.
Chapter 1: [00:00] Introduction and Live from South by Southwest
The hosts set the stage for this live recording at the Alloy Labs Fintech House, introducing foresight as a critical tool for navigating the future.
Chapter 2: [03:50] What is Foresight?
Guests Tod Moning and Eric Scherr explain the practice of foresight, its methodologies, and its role in helping organizations navigate uncertainty and plan for multiple futures.
Chapter 3: [12:30] Applying Foresight in Financial Services
Discussion on how foresight is implemented within financial institutions, balancing innovation with the industry’s focus on safety, risk management, and compliance.
Chapter 4: [21:40] The Role of Regulators in Foresight
Exploration of whether regulators can or should engage in foresight, and how proactive planning could help address systemic risks and foster innovation.
Chapter 5: [30:20] Signals and Trends Shaping the Future
Guests highlight key signals and trends in technology, ESG, and societal changes, with a focus on how these factors impact financial services.
Chapter 6: [41:15] AI and the Future of Decision-Making
Discussion on the role of generative AI in foresight, its potential to support scenario building, and its limitations in predicting the unknown.
Chapter 7: [50:40] Crafting Preferred Futures
Eric and Tod emphasize the human-centric nature of foresight and the importance of defining and striving for preferred futures through deliberate actions.
Chapter 8: [59:30] Closing Reflections on Foresight’s Value
Final thoughts on why foresight is essential for financial institutions and individuals, encouraging proactive engagement with the forces shaping our world.
What happens when two financial futurists get together? They chat about money of the future and related topics worthy of debate.
This week, host Brett King connects with Chris Skinner, author, influencer, The Finanser blogger, and advisor to leading organizations, governments and firms across the world to talk about Chris’ new book, Intelligent Money, due out this summer. Lots of great banter and thought provoking discussion as they look at cross border payments, smart wallets / super wallets that act as an agent on your behalf, embedded intelligent financial services and payments, and of course AI, to name just a few of the topics they get into. What’s your vision for Main Street 2034? Is the need for growth at the heart of some of our problems? Enjoy the debate!
Hosts Brett King and Jason Henricks introduce the show and discuss its mission to explore innovations in financial services. They welcome regular guest Chris Skinner, a leading fintech thinker.
Chapter 2: [04:30] The Evolution of Payments
Chris Skinner and Brett King discuss the future of payments, predicting the rise of AI-driven “super wallets” and the eventual obsolescence of traditional financial tools like credit cards and cash.
Chapter 3: [12:45] Centralized vs. Decentralized Systems
A deep dive into centralized and decentralized finance structures, touching on the friction between cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and central bank digital currencies.
Chapter 4: [20:15] The Future of Identity and Security
The conversation turns to digital identities and their role in payments, healthcare, and government services. The hosts debate the feasibility of self-sovereign identity models.
Chapter 5: [30:00] Borderless Finance and Migration
Chris Skinner examines the intersection of global finance, migration, and technology, highlighting how digital wallets empower displaced populations and digital nomads alike.
Chapter 6: [40:10] AI and the Changing Face of Banking
The discussion shifts to how AI reshapes banking, turning institutions into algorithmic entities. Trust, the role of branches, and the generational shift in financial behavior are analyzed.
Chapter 7: [50:00] The Ethics and Economics of AI
A philosophical debate on AI’s impact on jobs, universal basic income (UBI), and the potential for capitalism to adapt to a world dominated by automation.
Chapter 8: [01:00:15] Reimagining Money and Society
Brett and Chris speculate about new economic systems and the role of technology in creating equitable and sustainable societies, touching on ideas like techno-socialism.
Chapter 9: [01:10:00] Preview of Chris Skinner’s New Book
Chris shares insights from his upcoming book Intelligent Money, which explores embedded AI in finance and its transformative potential.
Chapter 10: [01:15:30] Closing Thoughts and Future Episodes
The hosts wrap up with reflections on the discussion and preview future episodes of Breaking Banks and their collaborative podcast Beyond Banking.
Episode 534: Space, AI, Climate and Beyond Banking
Mar 07, 2024
In This Episode
What’s your legacy? Host Brett King connects with the 695th Lord Mayor of London, Michael Mainelli, who is the first American born Lord Mayor of London. A scientist, economist and accountant, as well as a self-proclaimed space junkie who studied aerospace at Harvard (fun fact his father was at one time involved with the Apollo capsule for Boeing), the Lord Mayor shares some of the key initiatives that will keep him busy during his mayoralty — climate change, space debris removal, a smart economy networks project, and most importantly that London is a partner when it comes to solving global problems, it is a solutions center for technology, science, engineering and finance.
Then, a new podcast Beyond Banking by CBD Talks! from the Commercial Bank of Dubai. Beyond Banking by CBD Talks! delves into trends that drive the UAE, middle east, and global economies. In the first episodes host Brett King has welcomed phenomenal guests, and covered topics from climate and sustainability to unicorns and the future of money and banking, while spotlighting leaders shaping financial services and the UAE, Frank Bisignano, CEO, Fiserv and Her Excellency Raja Al Mazrouei. Learn about the UAE and other regions by downloading Beyond Banking by CBD Talks! via Amazon, Apple, or Spotify. From digitization to decarbonization, through the evolution of AI, and the advent of smart economies, listen as we foster conversations Beyond Banking, with an eye towards the future. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/beyond-banking-by-cbd-talks/id1711240163
Brett King and Jason Henricks open the show, highlighting the Breaking Banks tradition of exploring innovation and introducing their guest, Michael Mainelli, the 695th Lord Mayor of London.
Chapter 2: [05:30] The Role of the Lord Mayor
Michael Mainelli reflects on his journey to becoming Lord Mayor, the responsibilities of the position, and the legacy of this historic role.
Chapter 3: [12:00] Space: A Personal and Global Perspective
Michael shares insights on his background in aerospace, his father’s work on Apollo, and how space exploration connects with global sustainability goals.
Chapter 4: [20:00] AI, Ethics, and Smart Economies
A deep dive into the role of AI in building smart economies, the ethical considerations, and the intersection of finance, technology, and global problem-solving.
Chapter 5: [30:45] Climate Change and Financial Solutions
The discussion shifts to climate finance, carbon markets, and how London plays a role in creating sustainable solutions to the global climate crisis.
Chapter 6: [40:00] Space Junk and Sustainability in Orbit
Michael introduces innovative approaches to solving the growing issue of space debris, including insurance bonds and technologies for debris removal.
Chapter 7: [50:00] London as a Hub for Global Collaboration
Exploring London’s reputation as a center for finance, science, and technology, and its potential to foster international collaboration on pressing global challenges.
Chapter 8: [01:00:00] Looking Ahead: Challenges and Opportunities
Michael outlines his vision for London’s future and the broader role of highly autonomous economies, post-scarcity economics, and evolving societal values.
Chapter 9: [01:10:30] Beyond Banking and Closing Remarks
The hosts reflect on the episode, preview the “Beyond Banking” podcast series, and share how listeners can engage with Breaking Banks and Michael Mainelli.
Episode 533: Killing It! Acceptance As The Fastest Path Forward
Feb 29, 2024
In This Episode
In this next episode of our special series, Killing It!, hosts Jason Henrichs and Alex Johnson sit down with Matt Harris, current coach, consultant, advisor and Bloom Credit (credit data solutions) co-founder. Starting a company is hard, at any age, Matt was 22 when he began his journey. It’s not just having an idea for your startup, financial backing, energy and good people around you, as most know, it’s all the hurdles and discoveries of everything you need to fix and do, that affects your idea, along the way. The journey, and roller coaster, comes with lots of stressors and takes its toll. It can be difficult to step away or step aside. How do you process? How do you separate your identity from the company after investing so much of yourself in it.
The founding journey is hard but doesn’t have to be. Accept what is. ‘Failure’ (whatever that may mean, and it’s different for everyone) is not the end of the story. This candid discussion is a master class for startup founders; coaching founders, rather than just investing in their businesses, has become an impactful and authentic way for Matt to make even more change in the world.
Brett King introduces the theme of the episode, featuring Matt Harris of Bloom Credit, discussing the entrepreneurial journey and mental health.
Chapter 2: [05:00] The Origins of Bloom Credit
Matt Harris shares how Bloom Credit started, its mission to tackle credit report inaccuracies, and the challenges of building a fintech infrastructure company.
Chapter 3: [15:30] The Emotional Toll of Startup Life
A deep dive into the psychological and physical impact of entrepreneurship, as Matt reveals his diagnosis of complex PTSD and its root causes.
Chapter 4: [25:45] Decoupling Identity from Work
Matt discusses the struggle of separating personal identity from his role as a founder, and the difficult decision to step away from Bloom Credit.
Chapter 5: [35:20] The Transition Year
Matt describes the year-long process of transitioning out of his CEO role, finding a new leader for Bloom Credit, and preparing for life beyond the startup.
Chapter 6: [45:00] Healing and Rebuilding
Insights into Matt’s recovery process, including movement therapy, breathing exercises, and the importance of restoring a sense of safety to his nervous system.
Chapter 7: [55:10] Coaching Founders: A New Path
Matt explains his transition to coaching, addressing mental health and productivity challenges for founders while helping them build sustainable practices.
Chapter 8: [01:05:30] Addressing Hustle Culture
A critique of grind culture, with Matt presenting evidence-backed strategies for improving productivity by working smarter, not harder.
Chapter 9: [01:15:00] The Importance of Acceptance
Matt reflects on the power of acceptance in overcoming failure and navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurial life.
Chapter 10: [01:25:00] Closing Thoughts
The hosts wrap up with key takeaways from Matt’s journey and advice for founders facing similar struggles, emphasizing resilience and self-awareness.
This week host Jason Henrichs hears about all that he unfortunately missed at Bank Director’s annual AOBA (Acquire Or Be Acquired) conference for bank senior leadership from Bank Director rock stars and conference session and track leaders, Emily McCormick, VP of Editorial & Research and Kiah Haslett, Banking & Fintech Editor. They cover it all from banking sector challenges, innovations, and market outlook to enthusiasm for balance sheets (yes!), deposits, and necessity of tech adoption for growth and the future.
The hosts introduce the episode, highlighting its focus on the Acquire or Be Acquired (AOBA) conference and trends shaping the banking industry.
Chapter 2: [05:15] Vibes from AOBA 2024
Discussion with Emily McCormick and Kia Haslett about the optimistic yet cautious atmosphere at the conference and key insights from industry leaders.
Chapter 3: [15:30] The Quest for Deposits
An exploration of the challenges banks face in attracting and retaining deposits, including the evolving importance of balance sheet strategies.
Chapter 4: [25:50] Technology Adoption as Mandatory
How digital transformation has shifted from optional to essential for banks, with practical strategies for prioritizing tech investments.
Chapter 5: [35:40] Talent and Leadership in Banking
The ongoing challenges of succession planning, talent retention, and the skillsets needed for leadership in a tech-driven banking environment.
Chapter 6: [45:15] The State of Bank M&A
Insights into why M&A activity has slowed, including the impact of balance sheet considerations, unrealized losses, and pricing challenges.
Chapter 7: [55:00] The Role of AI in Banking’s Future
How artificial intelligence is addressing efficiency and operational challenges, and its practical applications for modern banks.
Chapter 8: [01:05:30] Closing Reflections on AOBA 2024
The hosts reflect on the conference’s themes, including the necessity of proactive decision-making and the importance of aligning leadership with industry trends.
Episode 531: Killing It: A Simple Journey and Lending Without Bias
Feb 15, 2024
In This Episode
You heard it here last week, a new series from Breaking Banks, ‘Killing It’ with co hosts Jason Henrichs and Alex Johnson, Fintech Takes. In this first episode we feature a candid discussion with Shamir Karkal, Alliance for Innovation Regulation, Co-founder and CEO of Sila, formerly Co-founder of Simple (BankSimple), America’s first neobank which operated 2009 – 2021. A FinTech pioneer, he shares learnings, successes, failures and some of the tough decisions made along his ‘simple’ journey while reflecting on what it means for him today.
Then, Brett King connects with DIVINE, Victor D. Lombard, CEO & Founder, Solvent with tag line, The Future is Freedom. You may remember DIVINE from 2022 when we interviewed him about a venture with AWS’ Impact Accelerator. Today he is joined by Brent Chandler, CEO and Eric Lapin, President of FormFree to talk about their new partnership aligned around their missions to empower underserved demographics. The focus is lending, specifically the mortgage space, with new products to help underserved individuals get access to credit and a new two-sided marketplace, FormFree Exchange, connecting lenders and borrowers — helping credit invisibles get loans and institutions to lend without bias. Tech for good, who doesn’t love that!
Episode 530: Killing It & Investing in the Next Frontier
Feb 08, 2024
In This Episode
Drumroll…it’s a new series from Breaking Banks, Killing It, candid discussions with entrepreneurs sharing lessons, failures, successes and some of the tough decisions they had to make. From VCs to unicorns, it’s a high stakes game with high rates of failure. Not everything goes up and to the right, and success looks different for everyone — you can grind away and do all you are supposed to do, and get to the point that you have to deliver terrible news to your cofounder and employees who believed in you. There are lots of stories from awesome people who have been knocked to the mat multiple times and gotten back up. It’s not uncommon, but how do you bounce back and what does it take to walk away from it. Listen as hosts Jason Henrichs and Alex Johnson bring these stories to life.
Then, investing in the next frontier, we turn to Greg Palmer, host of sister podcast Finovate as he speaks with Tamara Steffens, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters Ventures, about her perspectives on what’s on tap for fintech and the funding ecosystem this year. Enjoy the show!
Chapter 1: [00:00] Welcome and New Series Introduction
The hosts introduce the “Killing It” series, focused on candid entrepreneurial stories, and preview insights into fintech investments with Tamara Stephens.
Chapter 2: [05:15] Killing It: Lessons in Resilience
A conversation with Alex Johnson about the emotional challenges of failure in entrepreneurship and the journey of rediscovering identity and purpose.
Chapter 3: [20:30] The Weight of Responsibility in Startups
Exploring the unique pressures founders face, including decision-making, downsizing, and the emotional toll of living with those choices.
Chapter 3: [35:00] The Value of Relationships in Entrepreneurship
A deep dive into how trust and relationships can influence future ventures, even after a business fails or pivots.
Chapter 4: [50:15] Investing in Fintech: A Venture Capitalist’s Perspective
Tamara Stephens of Thomson Reuters Ventures discusses trends, the importance of product-market fit, and the state of fintech funding in 2024.
Chapter 5: [01:05:30] The Rise of AI and Bootstrapping in Fintech
Tamara highlights the impact of artificial intelligence in tax and compliance and the renewed focus on bootstrapped startups amid funding challenges.
Chapter 6: [01:20:00] Predictions and Opportunities for Fintech in 2024
A look at the future of fintech, focusing on resilience, profitability, and emerging areas like cross-border payments and AI-driven compliance tools.
Chapter 7: [01:30:00] Closing Thoughts
Reflections on entrepreneurship, the challenges of fintech innovation, and the need to balance ambition with realistic, sustainable growth strategies.
Episode 529: Is 2024 the Year That BaaS Goes Boom?
Feb 01, 2024
In This Episode
Does BaaS go boom, and other predictions and projections for the year. Listen as host Jason Henrichs connects with hot takers Alex Johnson, Fintech Expert & Workweek Creator and Jason Mikula, Managing Director, Fintech Business Weekly about what they’ve been seeing and what they hope to see in our industry. For those that like analysis they jump into the current state of BaaS, theories on implications for the rest of the year not to mention any projections they think they might need a mulligan for and which are proving true!
Episode 528: Money in the 21st Century
Jan 25, 2024
In This Episode
This week on Breaking Banks, Money in the 21st Century, a special episode from sister podcast Breaking Banks Asia Pacific. Listen as Breaking Banks Asia Pacific host Charis Palmer sits down with economist and professor of economics Richard Holden to chat about his new book: Money in the 21st Century and why he believes that the US Fed needs to get going with a ‘Fedcoin’. They also cover the global economics of #crypto #cbdcs #mobilemoney and #cheapmoney, and how we’ll all transact in our future cashless world. Enjoy the episode!
The hosts introduce economist Richard Holden and his new book, Money in the 21st Century, exploring the future of money and payments.
Chapter 2: [05:30] Three Key Trends in Global Money
Richard discusses how low interest rates, mobile money, and cryptocurrencies are reshaping how we transact globally.
Chapter 3: [15:15] The Case for a Fed Coin
Richard makes a compelling argument for the U.S. to create a digital currency, emphasizing its necessity in a race against China and private digital currencies.
Chapter 4: [25:45] The Phasing Out of Cash
Examining the inevitability of a cashless future, Richard outlines a phased approach for governments to reduce reliance on physical currency.
Chapter 5: [35:30] CBDCs and Financial Inclusion
A discussion on how central bank digital currencies can address issues of financial inclusion, particularly for the unbanked in developing economies.
Chapter 6: [45:15] Private vs. Public Currencies
Exploring the tension between decentralized cryptocurrencies and government-controlled CBDCs, with insights into their potential coexistence.
Chapter 7: [55:45] China’s Digital Currency Strategy
Richard evaluates China’s rapid progress in developing the ECNY and its implications for global monetary dominance.
Chapter 8: [01:05:30] Global Financial Blocks and Collaboration
A look at the role of regional financial blocks like Enbridge in shaping international money transfers and blockchain-based systems.
Chapter 9: [01:15:00] Future Roles of IMF and World Bank
Closing thoughts on how international institutions might adapt to a world dominated by central bank digital currencies.
Excitement over new technologies, new capabilities, new business models, and new companies often turns to hype, but what goes up, must come down. We seem to be working through hype cycles faster and faster, but what’s on the other side is rarely a return to the status quo. In this episode, Simon Taylor, Fintech Brainfood, Jim Marous, The Financial Brand and Theo Lau, Unconventional Ventures join hosts Brett King and JP Nicols to share insights and debate what upward and downward forces will most impact fintech and banking in the next 12 months, and what that new reality looks like.
Brett King and Jason Henricks introduce the episode, set the stage for the 2024 outlook discussion, and highlight the themes of hype cycles and industry realities.
Chapter 2: [03:15] Hype Cycles and Disruption
J.P. Nichols discusses the acceleration of hype cycles in fintech, the trough of disillusionment, and how technologies like AI are impacting the space.
Chapter 3: [10:45] Traditional Banking’s Challenges
Jim Maroos explores the pressures on traditional banks, deposit flight, and the stark differences in how fintech challengers like Monzo and Nubank are gaining ground globally.
Chapter 4: [20:10] Emerging Markets vs. Developed Markets
The panel compares fintech growth in emerging markets like Brazil with developed markets, highlighting the unique opportunities and obstacles each faces.
Chapter 5: [32:30] AI’s Dual-Edged Sword
Theo Lau and others delve into the risks and opportunities of AI in financial services, from fraud mitigation to ethical dilemmas like deepfake scams.
Chapter 6: [45:20] Generative AI and Regulation
Brett King and Simon Taylor discuss the slow progress in generative AI applications for banking, legal challenges, and regulatory frameworks worldwide.
Chapter 7: [55:00] Venture Capital and Fintech Evolution
The conversation shifts to the fintech funding landscape, the implications of down rounds, and how AI integration presents new opportunities for startups.
Chapter 8: [01:07:15] The Wallet as a Super Tool
Brett King outlines the rise of the “super wallet,” integrating identity, health, and financial data, and its transformative potential for consumer behavior.
Chapter 9: [01:20:30] The Future of Personalization in Fintech
The panel explores how AI is driving hyper-personalization, reshaping customer experiences, and embedding financial services into everyday life.
Chapter 10: [01:30:00] Closing Thoughts and Predictions
The hosts summarize key takeaways, speculate on potential black swans in fintech, and discuss how regulation and geopolitics may shape the future.
Episode 526: Investment in an Age Where Climate is Disrupting the Planet
Jan 11, 2024
In This Episode
2023 was the hottest year on record in terms of temperature. ESG, sustainability, clean tech / green tech and corporate responsibility have been hot topics. Are we at war with climate? This week we feature Brett King’s recent sit down in Bangkok, Thailand with former banker, fintech investor and now venture capitalist, Paul Ark, with The Radical Fund, an early-stage VC fund investing in founders who are delivering climate resilience for Southeast Asia. Where are investment dollars going? Climate mitigation (how to prevent the world from getting warmer) and climate adaptation (dealing with a warmer world) and what it means for infrastructure resilience and food insecurity, to name some areas of concern, are top of mind. Climate is a complex systemic issue and requires a buffet of technologies to address, improve and help us reclaim our environment. It’s an enlightening conversation with The Futurists!
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