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How to Lend Money to Strangers — Business
How to Lend Money to Strangers

A podcast about lending innovation and lending leadership in all the markets in which it takes place, however diverse those markets may be. In fact, it’s a case of ‘the more diverse the better,’ with guests from New York to New Zealand discussing everything from crypto-backed mortgages to crowd-funded loans for refugees to gamified loan journeys to AI-powered credit scores.

I am the host, Brendan le Grange, and I have spent the last twenty years working in – or alongside – lenders in Africa, Asia, and Europe and I’m using that experience to find and learn from industry insiders in a series of weekly interviews. Sometimes, those interviews discuss the inspiration behind a new start-up, sometimes they look back at a career spent at the lending coal face, and sometimes they explore where the latest technologies might take us. In the end, if it shapes a lending decision, we’ll talk about how. You can join us every Thursday here, or wherever you prefer to find your podcasts.

You can find more at www.HowToLendMoneytoStrangers.show

Or follow my other projects at https://confirmu.com/, https://www.joinhumoni.com/, https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Copyright: © Copyright 2021 All rights reserved.

Latest Episodes:

Machine learning to power a fintech revolution, with Jeff Keltner (Upstart) Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

The first really big event that I spoke at during my time in Asia was in Shanghai. I was at Lendit China speaking about the emergence of fintech lending in Hong Kong, following a template my US colleagues had first designed to explain the rise (and rise, and rise) of lending fintech there. So I’ve always been interested in the forces that came together to give fintech lenders their first footholds in the American personal loan space, and then allowed them to power the subsequent growth in that sector.

For a decade, Upstart has been one of the forces powering that growth I’d previously just studied from the outside - which is why I was so happy to get Jeff Keltner onto the show. Jeff has been with Upstart pretty much from the start, so we talk about their philosophy, the emergence of fintech lending, and where innovation is happening today.

And Jeff has his own lending podcast, Leaders in Lending, which you should listen to wherever you’re listening to this one or find its links at https://www.upstart.com/lenders/podcasts/

Then, if you’d like to learn more about Upstart and the work they’re doing, head over to https://www.upstart.com/lenders/

Finally, if it is me you're after, feel free to connect on my LinkedIn page, my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lending innovation in Moldova, with Bogdan Plesuvescu (Victoriabank) Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

I used to feel a little bit exotic knowing a person born in Moldova, but since he left as a baby, that’s actually all I knew about Moldova. It turns out, I should have been paying attention because it may be a small country, but Moldova is standing on the threshold of significant change: on the one hand, a formal push is now underway to bring them into the EU but on the other, there’s also the still-present threat of Russian aggression.

Moldova was once in the USSR, but arguably its historical and cultural links are stronger with its Western neighbour, Romania. In this episode, we explore those ties - and the broader state of the Moldovan banking landscape - with Bogdan Plesuvescu, CEO of Victoriabank.

If you’d like to start a conversation with Bogdan, you can find him on LinkedIn like I did, and although we didn’t really talk about it, if it his sailing you’re more interested in, which has somehow become a recurring theme among my guests, you might also want to check out his Twitter

You can read more about Victoriabank Moldova at https://www.victoriabank.md/en/ (including their VB24 Pay, Garmin Pay and Apple Pay offerings as mentioned)

Bogdan also spoke about all the help the people of Moldova have been offering to Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. I can’t personally vouch for Refugee Support EU, but if you’re interested in helping they seem to be a good place to start your search.

Finally, if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

P2P Lending is Not Dead, with Mukesh Bubna (Monexo) Jun 09, 2022

Show notes

I feel a strange affinity with peer to peer lending. I've never done it myself as a lender, borrower or connector but one of the first projects I ever did in my MBA, some 16 years ago now, was on Zopa and the emergence of the P2P model. But more recently, the headlines have been bearish, with Zopa and Funding Circle - two pillars of the form - both shutting down their retail P2P arms.

As a lending model, P2P felt all but dead.

Except that, as the tide pulled back, one or two gems were still lying on the beach: like Monexo, the Chennai-based P2P whose founder and CEO, Mukesh Bubna, joined me for this chat. Mukesh and his team have turned P2P into an alternative inflation-beating investment option for investors, and an affordable path to credit-building for borrowers.

You can read more about Monexo at https://www.monexo.co/in/ (and watch some of those videos Mukesh mentioned while you’re there)

Finally, if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ as well as on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lending in Thailand and SE Asia, with Marco Chu (TransUnion) and Phadet Charoensivakorn (NCB) Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

Thailand is one of my favourite markets. My main memories are of the fantastic food, the vibrant streets, and the perfect beaches but I also helped to roll out the first-ever national credit bureau score there and that’s what we’ll be talking about today. Thailand is a young country with a fast-evolving fintech scene, so I have pulled together Khun Phadet Charoensivakorn (COO of the National Credit Bureau) and Marco Chu (Business Development Director for TransUnion in SE Asia).

Together we discuss the state of the Thai market, how it fared during COVID, how it is changing, and the larger regional context as we touch on working with markets with contrasting risk baselines.

Phadet is on LinkedIn, if you have more questions about the Thai credit landscape, or email him at phadet@ncb.co.th (you can also read more at https://www.ncb.co.th/about-us/history-en)

While you can find Marco on LinkedIn, too, and read more about my old colleague's work in the region via https://www.transunion.hk/home

Finally, if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Lend Money to Charities, with Holger Westphely (CAF Venturesome) May 26, 2022

Show notes

Now, here is a topic I didn’t see coming. But why lend money to a charity, isn’t that a bit mean, to ask for your money back if they’re doing work you believe in? I spoke to Holger Westphely, Acting Head of CAF Venturesome, to find out how and why loans are sometimes better than donations.

It's very difficult to raise grant funding for anything that isn't directly related to a charity programme. Anything that has the word 'admin' in it is an anathema to many philanthropists. And that's where we come in, because we believe that a well run organisation needs OpEx, it needs CapEx… Secondly, from a philanthropist point of view, it can help the capital go further

And you can hear more of that on today’s episode. As mentioned, you can learn more about CAF Venturesome at www.venturesome.org and more about the parent organisation at www.cafonline.org

Holger also mentioned two very worthy causes in this chat, and you can learn more about both on each of their homepages - Ubuntu Pathways is at https://ubuntupathways.org/ and the Peaceful Change Initiative is at https://peacefulchange.org/

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback or questions, if you would like to participate in the show, or if you'd like to find full written transcripts with timestamps head on over to HowtoLendMoneytoStrangers.Show

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Building an all-in-one credit platform, with Ash Bhatt (Pillar) May 19, 2022

Show notes

As a three-time immigrant myself, I’m always going to pay attention when I hear that’s there’s a new fintech in town building credit that moves with you, doubly so when one of the co-founders of that fintech is Ash Bhatt who I first met when he was Head of Lending at Revolut, for the US and UK markets. Ash has used that international experience, and his own experience as an immigrant in London, to build Pillar as an all-in-one credit platform for anyone who finds themselves excluded from the traditional credit marketplace.

As you know, the person who has withdrawn cash on the credit card is deemed high-risk, but when the person is actually withdrawing the cash why wouldn't the credit card company give them a prompt saying, “hey, did you realise if you do this, your score may go down?”

Pillar will help consumers build credit scores, maintain those scores, and access credit all in one place, and you can learn more - and join their waiting list - at https://www.hellopillar.com/

This is also my first in-person recording, and while I need to improve my mic discipline, I hope the more interactive feel outweighs the little patches of poor audio.

If you’re interested in the risk-based pricing study I mentioned, you can read a summary on my LinkedIn page here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/increased-price-transparency-shake-up-hong-kong-loan-market-brendan/

And the full discussion with Misha Esipov of Nova Credit, where we cover related topics, is episode 11 - https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-11

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Consumer protection in Inclusive Finance, with Jayshree Venkatesan (Center for Financial Inclusion) May 12, 2022

Show notes

It used to be that developing markets suffered because they didn’t have physical bank branches. And as a result, a lot of innovation sought to find workarounds that the developed markets just didn't need.

But now that none of us have physical branches, the solutions built in the developing markets have the freedom to spread globally. I’ve spoken about this before in the context of fintech, but today we look at how what we learn about responsible lending and safe banking experiences in the developing world, might help us build the same in the developed world. Join me and Jayshree Venkatesan from Center for Financial Inclusion as we chat about her latest research on the topic. You can sign-up to the Responsible Finance Forum mailing list by clicking here and plan for Financial Inclusion Week (October 17 to 20) over at www.financialinclusionweek.org

That 99% Invisible episode on curb cuts can be found here: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/curb-cuts/

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Active credit building, with Sho Sugihara (Pave) May 05, 2022

Show notes

I’ve recently moved and now I have an electric stovetop, the old-fashioned type that stays hot for ages. When I inevitably place a stray hand on a still-hot plate, it’ll take my nerve impulses about 15 milliseconds to reach my brain, add a bit of processing time and allow for the return journey, and in under a fifth of a second, my hand will move away. The process is so fast because the brain wants to give my arm the instructions it needs while it is still useful to do so. Pave takes a similar approach to credit management.

Allow me to quickly repurpose that hotplate scenario: if you take an action today that will unknowingly harm your credit profile, it will take the ‘credit nerve impulses’ two to three months to reach the credit bureau, another month for the impact of that action to be reflected in your credit score for the first time, another couple of months to notice the downward trend, and then more time for you to investigate the true cause - so maybe six months.

That’s not fast enough to be useful, because even if you make a complete u-turn, you’ll have six months of negative impact still in the bank, as it were. So for the next sixth months, you’ll just have to trust that the compromises you’re making are paying off. That takes a lot of discipline. And it is worse than that because most of us have to follow a trial-and-error approach to credit building, so for many they’ll make the right change, see no impact, and try something else.

Sho Sugihara built Pave to try and fix this, providing credit feedback fast enough to influence outcomes, supported by human credit experts that remove the guesswork, and credit products that actively stop you missing a bill payment. Join us to learn more about the hows and whys.

You can learn more about Pave at https://www.paveapp.com/ (you’ll find a link for potential partners there, too, while their quite excellent blog is at https://www.paveapp.com/blog)

Or if you prefer the big social media platforms, they’ll be at LinkedIn / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter

And if you want to speak to Sho directly, you can find him on LinkedIn or email him at sho@paveapp.com

If your heartstrings were tugged, you can learn about The Big Issue here, while if it was your ambition that got all riled up, you can find Entrepreneur First here

Or if it is me you're after, you can find me on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), and my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Financing smart agriculture, with Allan Tollo (MyFugo) Apr 28, 2022

Show notes

I know the voiceover says this is my 38th show, but a quick reshuffle means it is actually the 40th, still, my message remains the same - MyFugo is possibly the best representation I've seen to date of the benefit that credit can bring to previously underserved markets.

I’ve gotten excited about mortgages as a tool for wealth creation, Ivy League student loans as a route to well-paying international careers, and SME loans as a root to economic progress, but MyFugo’s wraparound service for smallholder dairy farmers stands to benefit so many sectors of the Kenyan economy.

Join me and Allan Tollo, founder and CEO, to find out how.

You can find MyFugo on their homepage here - http://myfugo.com/our-team/ - but also, as Allan mentioned, on many of the big social media platforms, including Facebook where they are most active - https://www.facebook.com/myfugoApp/

You can also learn more about ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores at https://confirmu.com/ or on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The cards are alright... for now, with Liz Ruddick (FICO) Apr 21, 2022

Show notes

Liz Ruddick is the author of the UK Cards Report, FICO’s go-to resources for anyone working in the UK card industry. This means Liz is perfectly placed to put the latest card trends in perspective, and it’s another case of ‘it could be worse’.

The cost of living is rising around the world, so things may yet turn bad, but for now, consumers are spending relatively well and reigning in their balances. But… “lenders will need to be vigilant to any further increases in missed payments in the coming months and ensure that they are offering support to customers where it’s needed”.

Join us to find out more about these trends – and now covering the US and Canadian markets, too.

You can find Liz Ruddick on LinkedIn and her report on the UK card market in more detail at https://www.fico.com/blogs/uk-cards-trends-good-performance-despite-rising-living-costs

While you can of course learn more about FICO and their product/ services by visiting their home page at https://www.fico.com/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), while you can find my action-adventure novels on Amazon, some versions even for free.

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well,

Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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