Building trust with those who never opted-in and those who opted-out of the system is central in today's conversation with three founders from two neobanks that are making a difference, Obsidian Bank's Damon Kirk and Steven Farrar, and Totem’s Amber Buker. Each neobank has it's unique needs and challenges, but there is commonality. Obsidian Bank serving the Black Community and Totem the Native American community. The segment is enlightening, each is an active participant in the community they serve, For Us By Us!

Then, Jason Henrichs connects with Asra Nadeem, Draper University -- it's not a college or university -- it's an accelerator for entrepreneurs. They talk about Draper's mission, programs and success as well as Draper Startup House's participation in Fintech Islands (Barbados, startup event), spotlighting founders of a diverse group of early-stage fintechs. The fintech ecosystem in the Caribbean is relatively new but evolving rapidly, the islands representing a substantial market opportunity and an attractive environment for building new fintechs and the expansion of existing companies globally.

https://youtu.be/rcwnFZxtmdg

Interested in both a positive, beneficial relationship with information and excelling at work and other ventures? Listen as Ross Dawson and Brett King discuss Ross's latest book, Thriving on Overload, and cover topics like flourishing in an accelerating world. Achieve superior outcomes in all aspects of your life by developing 5 powers that together enable extraordinary performance:  purpose, framing, filtering, attention, and synthesis. Become an information master!

But first, fresh from Fintech DevCon, Jason Henrichs speaks with Jared Jones (Ecosystem Lead, Moov) about the importance of vulnerability, even for developers in our space, and the need to humanize tech.

https://youtu.be/45oOSa0fVRI

In Episode 444, we feature a segment on what makes Australia a great environment for fintech innovators. Our series continues with this episode’s focus on payments.

First, Brett connects with Paul Byrne, CEO of Zai, a paytech company boldly transforming the future of financial services, powering mid-market and enterprise level business customers, and automating payment workflow so executives can focus on running their businesses. Then Brett speaks with Damian Kassabgi, Head of International Public Policy at Block, parent company of Afterpay, a phenomenal Australian success story. Damian’s business acumen and strong grasp of public policy offer a valuable combination that makes for an insightful conversation.

Finally, Brett connects with Henri Arslanian at Consensus 2022 to discuss Henri’s latest book, The Book of Crypto: The Complete Guide to Understanding Bitcoin, Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xl4nS74UVQ

Learn about 5 practical strategies to unlock innovation, connect with customers and grow. In this week's episode Jason Henrichs and Jim Marous, The Financial Brand, interview Allison Netzer and Liz High about their book Think Like A Brand Not A Bank. Maybe you don't necessarily put the customer first. Great brands get great returns every time.

Then Brett King takes over the mic with his The Futurist co-host Robert Tercek as they speak with Glenn White about the Metaverse as a Branding Statement. In the digital domain, marketing is technology. Glenn White builds advertising systems for brand managers inside game worlds. In this segment, Glenn explains the complex strategic decisions that govern how brand advertising will evolve in the Metaverse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCCtHLUatNI

In This Episode

In this episode, host JP Nicols connects with Greg Palmer of Finovate about new entrants in the fintech space, companies spotlighting new launches who are eager to share their tech and what they can do for our industry at Finovate Fall. Finovate is all about showcasing cutting-edge banking and financial technology, supporting new companies and new ideas, particularly those not exactly in the mainstream now but looking to tackle upcoming challenges.

We finish with Fintech Fight Club Cage Match Edition with MC Greg Palmer, referee JP Nicols, and fintech fighters Wade "Moov and Groove" Arnold, Lindsay "Knockout" Davis, Ambika "The Bay Area Bruiser" Sharma, and Ron "The Shiv" Shevlin. It's a battle of ideas and perspectives...pros and cons...an entertaining and thought-provoking format. Enjoy the match!

https://youtu.be/ZsGpvKXgB9g

In This Episode

In this week’s episode Brett King and Robert Tercek, Brett’s The Futurists cohost, interview two-time presidential candidate, entrepreneur, journalist and futurist, Zoltan Istvan. We dive into how the species might evolve to adapt to living with AI, a changing climate and even to life off-planet. It's controversial, dynamic and the philosophy and ethics of humanity are front and center in the debate. We’ll see you in the future!

https://youtu.be/8ocmx8IS33o

https://youtu.be/H1e-ga57Aio

Today, Brett King and David Birch connect with two executives from FIS about bank board-level conversations they are having. Listen as Himal Makwana, SVP Head of Product Strategy & New Initiatives and Fiaz Sindhu, VP Mid-tier and Community Banks cover discussions andstrategies for banks to be competitive in the crypto space, how bank clients are engaging with crypto today, and how banks can be moreinvolved in the sweeping changes that crypto and blockchain are having on tradfi.

Then Amber Buker speaks with Parker Graham, CEO of Finotta, a fintech helping banks personalize their mobile experiences with financial journeys that take the friction out of cross selling. Parker's background as former tackle with the Baltimore Ravens and then aprivate banker provides a colorful backdrop to his founder story. Parker formed Finotta after a sharp pivot from wealth tech, reemergingjust months later with a key customer and new funding.

https://youtu.be/jHOPz7iKXa0

This week on Breaking Banks hosts Jason Henrichs and Brett King catch up with DIVINE, Victor D. Lombard CEO & Founder, about his new startup Solvent, an AIO financial empowerment and wealth building platform for the system impacted, and Denise Quashie head of AWS Impact Accelerator for Black Founders, with Solvent one of 25 in this cohort, where black founders get the resources, training, tech and support needed to scale their startup faster, the accelerator works with startups in and out of the fintech space.

Then Jason connects with Ben Borodach -- Co-Founder and CEO, April Tax and Ronen Assia, Managing Partner, Team8 Fintech on ways to make taxes, well, less taxing.

https://youtu.be/SRoP-Px0Leg

Techcrunch reports fintech accounted for 21% of all venture capital dollars raised in 2021. When things go up, they also have a Newtonian way of coming down. The same article says that 10% of all layoffs in Q2 came from the fintech sector. Neobanks such as Chime, Nubank, Klarna and Revolut were rocketships that now have pulled IPOs and taken massive valuation haircuts. Does this signal the end of neobanking? Ron Shevlin, Chris Skinner and Jason Henrichs debate what's next for the neos. In the second half, Amber Buker, former partner at Alloy Labs where she led strategic insights, decided a global economic meltdown was the perfect time to start, wait for it, a neobank. Tune in to hear it isn't crazy as it sounds. She even convinced Alloy Labs Alchemist fund to invest. That's both a disclosure and vote of confidence. This week on Breaking Banks - is it the end or the end of an era?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRREcQRMxqQ