Garry Reeder, the CEO of the newly formed American Fintech Council, discusses the big questions confronting members including the impact of a possible repeal of the OCC’s true lender rule, whether fintechs should have their own charter and if they should be subject to the Community Reinvestment Act.

Bill Briggs, a top official at the Small Business Administration during the creation and administration of the Payment Protection Program, talks about its impact, legacy and how banks and businesses can build on its momentum.

Kris Pease, chief financial officer of Cross River Bank, talks about the community bank’s unique B2B strategy, working with fintech – and fellow bank – partnerships to establish a nationwide footprint. The bank has seen tremendous growth with its plan, increasing its asset size by nearly five times to almost $10 billion by the end of last year.

The Senate voted last week to overturn the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s “true lender” rule establishing how and when national banks are considered the lender when a loan is sold. Hannah Lang and Brendan Pedersen, two reporters for American Banker, discuss the rule’s expected repeal and what it means for banks.

Ron Shevlin, managing director of fintech research at Cornerstone Advisors and a senior contributor for Forbes,  predicts what’s behind Walmart’s formation of a fintech. He also discusses why many banks are further behind on digital transformation than they think and how they can better improve their customers’ financial health.

Tony Repanich, a former community banker turned cannabis compliance expert, talks about the business opportunities available for banks—as well as the potential pitfalls. He also tackles the House’s recent passage of legislation to protect banks helping legal pot firms and its prospects in the Senate. 

Matthew Leising, a reporter for Bloomberg News, talks about his book “Out of the Ether,” which details a daring heist in which Internet thieves stole tens of millions of dollars worth of Ethereum. He talks about how they did it, the development of Ethereum as a cryptocurrency and what the heist says about its future.

John Ryan, the president and CEO of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, and Charlie Clark, the director of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, discuss state bank regulators’ new effort to retire the siloed state-by-state system of financial services oversight. The new system expands state regulators’ successful mortgage licensing system to cover the entire bank as well as nonbank companies.

Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub, talks in-depth about why the prominent fintech opted to buy Radius Bank earlier this year and how that move is transforming the company. He also talks about how competition will heat up in the peer-to-peer lending space as the pandemic ends.

Dominic Ng, the chairman, president and CEO of East West Bank, talks about the evolution of his institution from a small thrift serving Chinese immigrants to a regional powerhouse with a key window into China. He offers advice on how the Biden administration should approach China, as well as his views on the disturbing rise in violence and discrimination against Asian Americans.