We’re kicking off the second season of Connect with a very special guest: National Bank of Canada’s CEO, Louis Vachon.

A few notes before we start: this episode was recorded in January, so you won't hear anything about COVID-19 or our latest round of financing.

Also, National Bank of Canada is a major Flinks investor. And this is precisely why we were thrilled to have this conversation: when Louis Vachon became CEO of NBC, the iPhone didn’t even exist. For more than 14 years, he's been leading the organization — a 25,000+ people company — through a series of rapid market shifts.

In this episode, we discuss what it takes to successfully merge finance and tech, evolving as a leader, and using corporate ventures to generate innovation through partnerships.

You can learn more about Louis Vachon here:

EN https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/a-propos-de-nous/gouvernance/conseil-administration/bio-vachon-en.pdf

FR https://www.bnc.ca/content/dam/bnc/a-propos-de-nous/gouvernance/bureau-presidence/note-bio-lvachon.pdf

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

Open banking has the potential to transform the relationship between consumers and service providers, and fuel a powerful wave of innovation in finance. But while it revolutionizes finance in other global markets, progress is slower in Canada.

That may change soon, following a report published earlier this year by the Senate of Canada that moved the conversation forward and strongly urged the federal government to swiftly implement open banking regulations.

We sat down with one of the architects of that report, seasoned entrepreneur and independent Senator Colin Deacon, to talk about the merits of open banking, the end of digital serfdom and the cultural shift banks must make to become globally competitive.

You can learn more about Colin Deacon's views on open banking in a series of articles he published on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/senatorcolindeacon/detail/recent-activity/posts/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

Revolut's CTO Vlad Yatsenko shares how the challenger bank keeps all moving parts of a growing company focused and in sync.

This is the second part of our interview with Vlad. Missed the first part? Get it here: https://flinks.io/blog/revolut-vlad-yatsenko-scaling-and-expanding-globally/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

Revolut's CTO Vlad Yatsenko discusses what the challenger bank has learned scaling up and overcoming the challenges involved in cracking into new markets.

You can learn more about Revolut at www.revolut.com

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

Today, we interview Darren Fung, CTO and Co-Founder of Drop, for his perspective around being a builder, game changer, and enabler in the industry. Darren talks about disruption, the startup world, open banking, and “starting fast and breaking things”.

Drop is a personalized mobile rewards platform allowing users to earn cash rewards when they make both online and offline purchases from hundreds of merchant partners. One very interesting addition Drop brings to the rewards space is the use of machine learning to surface relevant and personalized offers to consumers.

You can learn more about Drop www.earnwithdrop.com/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

Alterna's CEO Robert Paterson discusses how he puts community before profits, partnerships before competition, and empathy at the center of product design — and still manages to grow his business.

You can learn more about Alterna https://www.alterna.ca/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

We sat down with Mark O’Connell, CEO of Interac — the backbone of Canada’s debit payment system. Mark recently scored a big win: a change in Interac’s corporate structure gives the company more freedom and resources to meet the evolving needs of the market in the digital era. We discussed how he is currently modernizing Interac — and, in doing so, making in impact on Canada’s payments system.

You can learn more about Interac https://www.interac.ca/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

We sat down with KOHO’s CTO Kris Hansen. If you could build a brand new bank today, how would you shape it? The folks at KOHO get to do exactly that — and find answers to that exciting and quite frankly dizzying question — ever since they’ve launched the digital ’neobank’ in 2014. Our discussion with Kris brought to open banking, working with existing systems, and customer experience in the data world.

You can learn more about KOHO https://www.koho.ca/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

We sat down with Equifax Canada's President, Lisa Nelson, to learn how a 100-year-old institution can drive relevant innovation, create an ecosystem of trust, and help people live their financial best.

You can learn more about Equifax Canada https://www.equifax.ca/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.

We sat down with EQ Bank’s CEO, Andrew Moor. He shared his vision of what customer-centric open banking could shape up to be — and it has something in common with Spring cleaning.

You can learn more about EQ Bank https://www.eqbank.ca/

Connect brings you deep dives into the world and mindset of innovators. If you liked this conversation and don't want to miss on future episodes, catch us on:

Apple Podcasts apple.co/2nvMfim

Google Podcasts bit.ly/2VrX9lP

Spotify spoti.fi/33hZ13a

or your favorite podcast app.