Compliance That Makes Sense

Welcome to episode 100! In celebration of reaching this milestone, I have dedicated this episode to explaining why I do what I do, and what I love about my job. Thank you for being a part of the Compliance That Makes Sense journey so far! 

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:34] Welcome to episode 100!

[00:49] The inspiration behind this episode. 

[01:31] What I love about working in the FinTech space. 

[02:59] Two of the most important lessons I learned during a challenging period of my life.

[04:40] Why the FinTech industry exists. 

[04:57] Restrictions that traditional banks have put in place with regard to the flow of money. 

[06:00] Challenges that small businesses face in the traditional finance world. 

[06:38] My feelings towards the injustices in the traditional financial system.   

[06:54] What I aim to achieve through the work that I do.  

[08:12] Thank you for being here for this milestone! 

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

In the old-fashioned world of traditional finance, it was beneficial for risk and compliance teams to provide as much information as possible in a risk assessment. In today’s Fintech environment, the core role of risk and compliance teams has changed, and the old ways of doing risk assessments are no longer a recipe for success! Tune in today to hear my advice on how you should be approaching risk assessments as a Fintech founder and don’t forget to join my Risk Assessment workshop where i walk you through the methodology of creating the risk assessment and give you all the templates needed.

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[02:07] Various issues associated with the old ways of doing risk assessments.  

[03:52] Information that companies gather from your risk assessment.

[04:30] How companies determine whether a risk assessment is “good” or “bad.” 

[05:33] Factors that make a risk assessment difficult to understand. 

[07:29] The core role of risk and compliance teams in the old fashioned world of traditional finance, and how this impacted their approach to risk assessments. 

[09:13] How the role of risk and compliance teams has changed with the evolution of the Fintech space.  

[11:05] My advice preparing and presenting risk assessments that are likely to have a successful outcome. 

[12:05] Why you should think about risk assessments as a tool of influence. 

[12:29] Value in simplifying risk assessments. 

[13:34] How to structure a risk assessment. 

[14:23] Details about the workshop I am holding on August 23rd. 

Show links:

• Risk Assessment Workshop
• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!
• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

Fraudulent activity and security incidents are inevitable. The important thing is that you know what to do if it happens to you. Tune in for today’s episode where I share my key pieces of advice on how to approach these situations.

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[01:31] The first step to take when you suspect a security incident: block all withdrawals. 

[02:09] What to do after you have completed step number one. 

[03:26] Why you should never try to cover up a security incident. 

[05:04] How fraudulent activity is typically discovered. 

[06:39] Why you need to find out which financial institutions received and authorized the payment instruction from the suspected fraudulent user. 

[08:08] The importance of understanding the contractual liability framework relating to fraud.

[08:21] Why the timing of your responses matters when it comes to dealing with fraud. 

[09:02] Why it makes a difference whether the fraud victim is a natural person or a legal entity. 

[10:08] What to do once you have confirmed a case of fraud. 

[13:55] Everybody experiences security vulnerabilities and fraud, you are not alone! 

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

Running a company is not easy; it requires pragmatism, discipline, sometimes a cold heart, and learning to master the difficult art of delegation. Tune in for today’s episode which is all about the importance of finding a compliance team that shares your risk appetite so that you don’t waste valuable time and resources! 

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:50] Super Pumped: the book that inspired today’s episode.

[02:23] Some of the challenges of being a FinTech CEO.

[04:39] Why I disagree with many peoples’ opinions on why Travis Kalanick was removed from Uber. 

[06:21] The benefits of experiencing security breaches in the early days of your company.

[07:19] What the risk management strategy of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” looks like.

[10:23] Why I don’t recommend a conservative risk management approach. 

[11:51] One of the biggest mistakes that founders make with regard to compliance. 

[13:23] The importance of ensuring that you, as a founder, have the same approach to risk as your Chief Compliance Officer.  

[14:20] Examples of compliance “noise” that you should ignore. 

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

I’ve been asked by many different people about how to choose a banking-as-a-service partner and the differences between banking-as-a-service partners and FinTech-friendly banking partners. So, I’ve put everything you need to know about this topic into this podcast episode! 

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:45] The reason why I chose banking-as-a-service as today’s topic. 

[01:31] An explanation of what banking-as-a-service is (hint: it’s not just a bank that offers services to FinTech startups).

[03:23] Some of the most popular banking-as-a-service providers.

[04:00] Another term for banking-as-a-service. 

[04:28] The difference between banking-as-a-service and cards-as-a-service platforms.

[00:39] Comparing banking-as-a-service and open banking.

[06:04] How a FinTech-friendly banking partner differs from a banking-as-a-service partner.

[06:54] Examples of conditions that some banking-as-a-service partners have put in place in relation to their potential clients.  

[10:17] The best way to get in touch with a banking-as-a-service partner. 

[10:47] Best of luck! 

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

Every now and then, opportunistic people join forces to build hype around a compliance topic with the aim of creating confusion so that they can swoop in to “save” you. Today I’m going to explore why the current hype around unhosted/private wallets is a perfect example of this kind of unjustified hype.  

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[01:02] Where the unjustified hype around unhosted wallets originated.

[03:04] An analogy that explains why people may choose to use unhosted wallets.

[05:32] Exploring how private wallets work. 

[06:49] Examples of unnecessary ideas that have been gathering momentum around unhosted/private wallets.

[07:36] Why obligations to collect information about senders and recipients do not apply to unhosted/private wallets. 

[09:22] Why I don’t think there is cause for concern around ownership of privately held wallets being made publicly available. 

[11:28] The convergence of crypto and fiat regulations.

[12:45] Why unhosted wallets aren’t the problem that some people are making them out to be. 

[13:26] My recommendation: don’t over-invest in solutions around private/unhosted wallet compliance. 

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

If you want to understand the difference between inflation and a bubble, and how each of these circumstances impacts the FinTech industry, this episode is for you!

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:39] Introducing today’s topic; the difference between inflation and a bubble, and how this relates to the FinTech industry. 

[01:03] An overview of what the FinTech industry does. 

[01:42] Demand-led inflation versus supply-led inflation. 

[03:08] Measures that have been taken to curb inflation. 

[03:50] Why these measures will not impact supply-led inflation.

[04:27] 3 lessons from one of my favorite books, Zero to One:  

[05:10] The benefits of incremental progression and agnostic experimentation during a bubble.

[06:01] Why market research is so important. 

[06:31] When to focus on product quality versus when to focus on growth. 

[09:42] The difference between inflation and a bubble.

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

When people feel that money is easy to get, it destroys incentivization. Today’s episode is about the issues that FinTech startups are now experiencing due to the availability of easy money. 

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:42] Introducing today’s topic: the problem of easy money. 

[01:14] Why airports are experiencing so many issues at the moment. 

[03:08] How people often behave when they feel that money is easy to come by. 

[03:42] Factors that have led to the creation of an illusion of financial abundance.

[05:07] My thoughts on some of the startup valuations that I have been seeing. 

[05:55] Examples of mistakes that some of my clients have made as a result of the illusion of abundance.

[07:00] Business elements that investors are interested in right now. 

[07:46] What the future holds for many FinTech startups.

[08:24] Reasons that signal that we are not yet at rock bottom.

[10:24] Don’t let bad news get you down, use it as fuel to enhance your productivity! 

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

Today’s episode is a lesson in trade finance, which is an emerging trend in the Fintech space. Trade financing is a financial intermediary that sits between imports and exports and facilitates international trade. Tune in today to hear about how Fintech’s are disrupting trade financing!

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:39] Trade finance: the focus of today’s episode.

[01:42] My favorite thing about trade finance. 

[02:32] An overview of what trade finance is. 

[03:10] Examples of trade finance products and services.

[04:40] How trade financing differs from traditional bank lending.

[05:38] The percentage of international trade that relies on trade finance intermediaries.

[06:00] Why trade financing helps companies improve efficiency and boost revenue. 

[06:45] The high volume of rejected trade finance applications (many of which are from SMME’s). 

[07:48] Examples of how Fintech’s are successfully disrupting the trade financing space.  

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.

Professional gamblers and start-up founders have a lot in common! The inspiration for today’s episode was an interview that I listened to recently with Nate Silver (a respected statistician and successful poker player) which taught me a lot about the similarities between these two career paths. Listen today to hear it all! 

If you found value in this episode, I would really appreciate if you could leave a review! My mission is to help and support as many FinTech startups as possible, and when you leave a positive review, more people can find this podcast and help their companies! If you are on Apple, just click here to review, select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” and tell me what your favorite part of the podcast is. 

Today's episode:

[00:37] The inspiration for today’s topic.

[02:14] Probabilistic thinking: one of the most valuable traits for a professional gambler and a start-up founder. 

[03:36] Skills that professional gamblers and start-up founders are continuously learning throughout their careers.  

[04:31] Reasons that professional gamblers and start-up founders do what they do. 

[05:14] Common characteristics of professional gamblers and start-up founders. 

[06:36] Why emotional management is so important for gamblers and founders alike. 

[07:53] Risks and uncertainties aren’t going anywhere!  

Show links:

• Interested in FinTech compliance? - consider investing in the FinTech Compliance Self-Starter Package!

• I would love to invite you to sign up for my newsletter. If you are interested, please click here.