Benzinga Fintech Focus

Benzinga Fintech Focus

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Benzinga Fintech Focus episodes

  • 26: Farhan Ahmad, Bento for Business
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we shine an underserved area of the business community: small and medium-sized businesses. Most banks gear their services to large businesses with a little extra help on the side for small businesses. That’s why our next guest on the podcast is a man with a plan to help out SMB’s.
    After years of working with big-name clients and handling digital payments for Europe and Africa at Barclays, Farhan Ahmad realized that small and medium-sized businesses needed more help from their financial service providers. He set out on his own with Bento For Business, a financial services company specifically-designed for SMB’s.
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    Links:
    Bento for Business: https://bentoforbusiness.com/
    Benzinga Trading Summit: https://benzingatradingsummit.com/
    Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference: https://www.benzingacannabisconference.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter/
    33 min
  • 25: Henri Arslanian, PwC
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast,  we’re going to take you on a little/big trip across the globe to Asia where the fintech business is a-booming. And what better way to learn about it than from someone who’s seen it grow from the ground up?
    We bring in Henri Arslanian, a man who wears multiple financial hats. He’s the head of fintech and crypto for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Asia, the chairman of the FinTech Association of Honk Kong, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Honk Kong where he teaches the only fintech university course in Asia.
    Arslanian advises anyone and everyone who wants to know about fintech policy and how to grow fintech—that includes government agencies, businesses and students. From crypto to the technology behind the technology, he’s your man.
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    Links:
    PwC: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/financial-services.html
    Benzinga Trading Summit: https://benzingatradingsummit.com/
    Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference: https://www.benzingacannabisconference.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter/
    33 min
  • 24: Craig Fuller, Freightwaves
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we’re hitting the road with Craig Fuller, CEO of Freightwaves. As of today, Freightwaves has officially launched Trucking Freight Futures, a futures product for the $726 billion freight industry.
    Why does freight need a futures product? Who is it for? How does one even go about creating a new futures market, and what even makes it successful? Craig has the answers.
    Listen to the podcast below to hear why Fuller and co. wanted to bring this idea—which has been years in the making— to life.
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    Links:
    Freightwaves: https://www.freightwaves.com/
    Benzinga Pro: http://pro.benzinga.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter/
    42 min
  • 23: Scott Coyle, ClickIPO

    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we dive into the world of IPOs and put you into the shoes of an average investor who’s looking to be more involved in the investing process of, say, something like Lyft, which is gearing up for its stock market debut this year.

    IPOs are already intriguing enough in their own right, but not everyone has access to the IPO process itself. If you’re a large investor, good for you—you’re probably getting shares at the original price. But if you’re someone who doesn’t have millions of dollars and still wants to get in on an exciting tech company, like Lyft, the best you can hope for is to wait until some profits come rolling in.

    That’s why Scott Coyle, a veteran who survived the 1980’s stock market roller coaster, created ClickIPO, an app that acts as the middleman between retail investors and IPO underwriters. ClickIPO lets would-be investors put their mark down on an IPO before it opens, which then turns into proof that there’s retail demand out there.

    Links:

    ClickIPO: https://clickipo.com/

    Benzinga Pro: http://pro.benzinga.com/

    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter/

    40 min
  • 22: Perry Rahbar, dv01
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we talk about the world of mortgage-backed securities and how one person who had an inside look at how everything went down on Wall Street during the Great Recession. If you’ve seen the movie The Big Short (so many great wigs in that movie) or had a stake in mortgage during that time, then this pod is for you.
    We sat down with Perry Rahbar, a Bear Stearns alum who traded said mortgage-backed securities that helped fuel the financial roller coaster in the middle of the last decade. After seeing everything happen firsthand, Rahbar wanted to build an infrastructure between lenders and the capital markets that wasn’t present at the time. So, he did, and wants to make sure the financial market doesn’t make the same mistakes twice.
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    **Links:**
    dv01: https://dv01.co/
    Benzinga Pro: http://pro.benzinga.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter/
    37 min
  • 21: Evan Daniels, AZ Fintech Sandbox
    This week’s episode of the Fintech Focus podcast is going local. We’re heading west to Arizona where fintech startups are being welcomed with open arms into the state’s fintech regulatory sandbox. 
    Last year, Arizona became the first state to launch a regulatory sandbox specifically for fintech. Spearheaded by State Attorney General Mark Brnovich and inspired by regulatory sandboxes in Asia and Europe, lawmakers are hoping the initiative will put the state’s fintech scene on the map.
    To talk us through the thought process behind it, which types of companies they’re looking for, and what the terms of the sandbox are, we caught up with Evan Daniels, the Arizona Fintech Sandbox’s in-house counsel. Enjoy.
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    **Links:**
    AZ Fintech Sandbox: https://www.azag.gov/fintech
    Benzinga Pro: http://try.benzingapro.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Newsletter:https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter
    30 min
  • 20: Brian Dally, GROUNDFLOOR
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we chat with Brian Dally, co-founder and CEO of GROUNDFLOOR.
    GROUNDFLOOR is an American real estate lending marketplace. It was the first real estate crowdfunding company to achieve SEC qualification utilizing Regulation A+ since the regulation became operable through the JOBS Act, becoming the only such marketplace open to non-accredited investors. (via Wikipedia)
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    **Links:**
    GROUNDFLOOR: https://www.groundfloor.us/
    Benzinga Pro: http://try.benzingapro.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter
    36 min
  • 19: Dov Marmor, Green Dot
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we chat with Dov Marmor, Head of Banking as a Service at Green Dot. Yes, Green Dot does push its pre-paid debit cards for sale at places like CVS, but it’s also expanded into a banking service that lets it facilitate payments with companies like Uber, Walmart and fellow Fintech-ian Stash Invest.
    Dov, who studied finance at Cornell, jumped into the financial services market around the time the country was falling apart in 2005\. He managed to keep his head above water in financial sales before he merged into fintech and then ultimately on to Green Dot. Listen to the podcast below to hear about his journey and what he’s doing to change the narrative behind Green Dot and its features.
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    Links:
    Green Dot: https://www.greendot.com/
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter
    Benzinga Pro: http://try.benzingapro.com/
    31 min
  • 18: Ana Sirbu, BlueVine
    In this episode of the Fintech Focus podcast, we chat with Ana Sirbu, Chief Financial Officer of BlueVine. Ana previously worked at UBS and Google Capital where she headed up fintech investing, which got her introduced to her new company, a fintech lender that focuses on offering financing for small- and medium-sized companies.
    It was a bit of a leap for Sirbu, going from Google to a somewhat unknown specialized fintech lender. Now, BlueVine works with more than 10,000 businesses, offering more than $1 billion in loans. Listen to the podcast below to understand her motivation behind the switch.
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    Links:
    BlueVine: [https://www.bluevine.com](https://www.bluevine.com)
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: [https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter](https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter)
    Benzinga Pro: [http://try.benzingapro.com/](http://try.benzingapro.com/)
    34 min
  • 17: Tom Eck, IBM
    This week's Fintech Focus podcast goes global and discusses IBM's strategic vision and API-first mentality.
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    IBM is a global technology and innovation company headquartered in Armonk, NY. It is the largest technology and consulting employer in the world, with more than 400,000 employees serving clients in 170 countries.
    IBM offers a wide range of technology and consulting services; a broad portfolio of middleware for collaboration, predictive analytics, software development and systems management; and the world's most advanced servers and supercomputers. Utilizing its business consulting, technology and R&D expertise, IBM helps clients become "smarter" as the planet becomes more digitally interconnected. (via Crunchbase)
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    Links:
    IBM: www.ibm.com
    Benzinga Fintech Focus Newsletter: [https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter](https://www.benzinga.com/fintech-focus/newsletter)
    Benzinga Pro: [http://try.benzingapro.com/](http://try.benzingapro.com/)
    44 min

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