Fintech Business Podcast

Hey all, Jason here.

Well, there was no shortage of late-breaking news on Friday — like the Fed’s report on SVB’s failure, the FDIC’s report on its supervision of Signature, and what appears to be the collapse of troubled First Republic Bank.

Given you’ll have no shortage of content covering those developments (and to give me time to read all of them and develop an informed opinion), I’m bringing you something else entirely this Sunday morning.

While in New York for NY Fintech Week, I had the chance to sit down with Current’s cofounder and CEO Stuart Sopp. We discussed:

* How Current is differentiating itself in a crowded market

* Current’s unique marketing activations, including partnership with YouTuber MrBeast

* Whether or not an interchange-dependent business model is sustainable

* Why Current built its own tech stack and the benefits of doing so

* Current’s plans to launch credit products, beginning with a secured card

* and much more!

Speaking of NY Fintech Week, I had an amazing and productive time in the city. Many thanks to everyone who worked hard to organize events during the week, including Empire Fintech and especially Jon Zanoff.

I had the chance to participate and speak at a number of events, including at Barclays Rise, alongside Walt Cox (Valley Bank), Amanda Swoverland (Unit), Nick Farrow (Modern Treasury), and Neepa Patel (Themis); at Empire Fintech Conference alongside Cable’s Chief Product Officer Katie Savitz; and with Unit21’s Aditya Vempaty and Alex Faivusovich, Bangor Savings Bank’s Diane Porter, and Modern Treasury’s Jeff Nowicki.

Keep an eye out for some additional podcasts from the events in the coming weeks. Until then, here’s a couple quick shots wrapping up a great week:

Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly podcast, Fintech Recap, where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto.

This month, we had the chance to talk about:

* In case you didn’t hear… Apple launched a high-yield savings feature!

* Dutch neobank Dutch, profitable in European market, applies for a US charter

* Plaid offers “Instant Payouts” through TCH RTP integration

* as always, what Jason & Alex just can’t let go of

* and… windmills?

Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday:

Welcome back to Fintech Business Podcast. In this episode, I talk to Jesse Silverman, formerly an attorney at the Connecticut Department of Banking and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, before working in legal roles at fintechs like LendUp, Steady, Nuula, and his present role at payments platform Highline.

We had a chance to talk about:

* Our time working together at failed startup LendUp, what we learned, and lessons other companies should take away from it

* Why regulators always seem to be trailing behind innovation in financial services

* Whether or not fintech is actually “expanding access and inclusion” or “democratizing” anything

* The CFPB under Director Chopra

* and more!

If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode or appearing as a guest, drop us a line.

Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday:

Hey all, Jason here.

Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you a very special episode of Fintech Recap — live from Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas. We were joined by Jon Lear, President & co-founder of the event.

We had the chance to discuss:

* Key takeaways & what we heard around the conference

* Yes, SVB — I know everyone’s tired of discussing it, but we had to!

* EU BaaS companies also facing regulatory scrutiny

* Cash App’s “World”wide ambitions

* and, what Alex & I just couldn’t let go of!

Huge thank you & congrats to Jon and the entire Fintech Meetup team on putting together an amazing event — I’ve already marked my calendar for next year’s.

Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday:

In this episode, I talk to Shmulik Fishman, the founder and CEO at Argyle. Argyle provides payroll connectivity infrastructure that powers solutions like income & employment verification, deposit switching, payroll-linked lending and earned wage access.

We had a chance to talk about:

* Top take aways from last week’s Fintech Meetup conference in Las Vegas

* Thinking through the fallout from SVB, Signature, First Republic & more

* How payroll data and connectivity can improve lenders’ ability to underwrite

* The differences (and similarities) between “open banking” and payroll connectivity

* The opportunity from achieving improved regulatory clarity

* and more!

In this episode, I talk to Alex Baydin, founder and CEO of PerformLine, a platform for regulatory and compliance monitoring for brand marketing.

We had a chance to talk about:

* The complexity of managing marketing compliance in today’s digital advertising ecosystem

* Managing workflows and communication in fintech/Banking-as-a-Service relationships

* Key takeaways from analyzing millions of CFPB complaints

* What Alex is keeping an eye from a regulatory perspective this year

* and more!

Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you a very special episode of Fintech Recap with special guests Matt Janiga and Reggie Young.

This month, we focused on the theme of competition in discussing:

* Durbin amendment, interchange, debit routing & neobanks

* Account-to-account payments

* Fintech infrastructure & the Bank Service Company Act

* Our picks for top regulator and industry participant we’d each want to have dinner with

* and more!

This month, we had the chance to talk about:

* It’s quarterly earnings season and it’s been brutal for some companies. Alex and I unpack Affirm’s rough quarterly earnings report.

* Apple is getting ready to launch Apple Pay Later. What we know and what we’ll be watching for when it’s live.

* Regulators across the banking and securities spectrum have ramped up their attention to crypto. Is this the industry’s “Dodd-Frank moment”?

* and what Alex & Jason just can’t let go of!

Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday:

In this episode, I talk to Kurt Lin, cofounder & CEO of Pinwheel, a fintech infrastructure company that enables startups and banks to make sense of real time income and employment data.

We had a chance to talk about:

* Where the “Plaid for payroll data” analogy breaks down

* The greater complexity of the payroll and employment data vs. bank account data

* Opportunities and risks for integrating payroll and employment in underwriting and managing credit

* Evolving macroeconomic risks

* and more!

If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode or appearing as a guest, drop us a line.

In this episode, I talk to Alain Meier, the Head of Identity at Plaid. While I imagine most readers/listeners are pretty familiar with Plaid’s core capabilities, the company moved into the identity verification space through its acquisition of Meier’s startup Cognito about a year ago.

We had a chance to talk about:

* Alain’s experiencing starting and selling Cognito

* Use cases for identity verification outside of financial services

* Emerging identity tech, like mobile driver’s licenses

* The potential and challenge of “self-sovereign” and decentralized identity

* and more!

If you’re interested in sponsoring an episode or appearing as a guest, drop us a line.