Fintech Takes

Welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner, featuring yours truly and #1 among all bank nerds, Kiah Haslett, Banking and Fintech Editor at Bank Director.

By the time you’re reading this, we’ve had ~3 weeks of “fun” updates from the CFPB, and we have a lot to unpack!

First up, who actually wants the CFPB gone? Gutting the CFPB won’t end consumer protection; it just shifts the burden. Funny how the loudest CFPB critics are the ones who profit most from consumer confusion. Even some bank execs admit the CFPB keeps markets fair. Referees are annoying, but you don’t want a game without them.

Next, it seems like regulators care again about de novo banks (a topic we touched on 18 months ago but hey, who’s counting?). Post-crisis regulations, slow approvals, and a weaker market for bank sales have made starting a new bank a very tough sell. Plus, new banks are facing VC-style growth pressure, often relying on risky funding just to stay afloat. But it’s not just community banks pushing for change—fintechs want in, too. So, why are fintechs suddenly advocating for more de novo charters? And did fintech and BaaS make them obsolete by offering a faster, more efficient path to scaling and returns?

Switching gears: debanking raises serious questions about how reputation factors into bank risk evaluations. If reputation matters, can’t it be weaponized? Crypto wasn’t changing the world, but regulators fumbled debanking. Transparency is key—if it’s a “no,” just say it, don’t dodge FOIA requests. Kiah nails it with this analogy: Crypto is like BaaS. Both used middleware to scale quickly, but while crypto’s risks were obvious, BaaS flew under the radar—until Synapse and cease-and-desists made it impossible to ignore.

And finally, the unanswerable question of the week: what’s FinCEN actually doing? Banks still can’t warn each other about fraud. FinCEN hoards data for law enforcement but isn’t required to use it. So, what’s the point?

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Kiah:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where instead of doling out investment advice (we’re not doing that), we spotlight interesting, new fintechs and share our perspectives. I’m Alex Johnson, creator of Fintech Takes, joined (as always) by my esteemed cohost Simon Taylor.

First up: Rail, aka stablecoin APIs for B2B money movement across borders. Though not a new concept (hello, Bridge and BVNK), Rail has 12 partner banks across 12 countries. If you know anything about cross-border banking, you know that’s a big deal. With $11B in processed volume last year, Rail isn’t Stripe, but it’s not small potatoes either. So, can stablecoins finally knock out legacy systems in B2B payments?

Next up is Anchor, an all-in-one platform for service-based small businesses that streamlines proposals, agreements, invoicing, and payments. Granted we’ve seen this model before, but Anchor integrates everything—plus, their $5 flat fee per transaction challenges subscription models as the pricing norm. Is this the future of financial automation?

Over in the UK, Sencillo is helping parents unlock home equity to cover rising childcare and private school fees. With education costs now rivaling mortgage payments, fintech is stepping in where banks hesitate. But can this scale, especially as tax hikes loom? And what happens when borrowing against your house to afford tuition becomes the norm?

Last and least (for this episode anyway!), ClosingLock tackles real estate wire fraud with a secure payments platform. Identity verification, document uploads, insured transactions—real estate needs this. But why hasn’t this level of security been the standard all along? And could this model expand to high-value sectors like luxury goods or auto sales?

Plus, how do we change the center of gravity in lending, so pricing can be smarter, more personalized, and fairer to the consumer?

00:02:34 - Rail

00:13:57 - Anchor

00:31:20 - Sencillo

00:43:35 - ClosingLock

00:54:16 - Manifesting Fintech Ideas 

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Simon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/

Substack: https://sytaylor.substack.com

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Companies featured:

https://rail.io/

https://www.sayanchor.com/

https://www.sencillo.finance/

https://www.closinglock.com/

Welcome to a special live edition of Fintech Recap! For the first time in 2025, your host Alex Johnson is joined IRL by Jason Mikula (Fintech Business Weekly) and Jason Henrichs (CEO of Alloy Labs and host of Breaking Banks). One Alex, two Jasons, diving into the latest fintech stories from the past month, without further ado.

First up, the Synapse saga drags on—now with a former employee seeking D&O insurance to cover legal fees from a DOJ subpoena. Are criminal charges coming? And why is the DOJ moving so slowly? Given how much money has been unaccounted for this long, it's hard to believe there wasn't an effort to obscure it.

Meanwhile, another fintech partnership, another small bank in trouble. Patriot Bank in Connecticut is facing serious regulatory problems with the OCC plus a rare “troubled condition” classification over BSA/AML failures. The bigger issue? Fintechs partnering with banks that can’t handle risk; if you can’t manage compliance, stay out of the game.

In a positive turn, Ramp just launched Ramp Treasury. It’s fintech’s take on Chase treasury, but for startups and SMBs. With, by the way, limits on deposits, external transfers, and payments outside Ramp (very Apple-esque in its closed ecosystem approach). This FDIC-insured, high-yield account is making waves, but can fintechs really be able to crack the code in small business banking?

Plus, we consider Chopra at the CFPB. He was supposed to be out on Day 1, but instead, he’s suing Experian, pushing open banking, and cracking down on BNPL like a player taking last shots before the buzzer. At 12 years old, the CFPB is still finding its rhythm. Will it become a regulatory powerhouse, or remain caught in the shifting political tides?

And yep, we rant about meme coins and gambling’s grip on society (looking at you, PolyMarket betting on Zuckerberg’s divorce). Join us!

00:01:18 - Return to BaaS Island 2.0

00:11:42 - Welcoming Ramp Treasury

00:16:49 - Chopra at the CFPB

00:23:10 - Can’t Let It Go

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ 

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Jason (Mikula) #1:

Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/

Follow Jason (Henrichs) #2:

Podcast: https://provoke.fm/show/breaking-banks/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhenrichs/

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

In this episode, Alex chats with Tim Bates, Principal at Efficient Frontier Risk Strategies, about his groundbreaking (forthcoming) report on cash flow underwriting—“Credit Risk Underwriting: A Practical Credit Risk Implementation Guide for Lenders”—which Alex is excited to announce is the first episode in a new Fintech Takes series featuring research reports by experts in the broader FT network. 

Here’s the big question: can traditional credit underwriting, built on static snapshots of income and assets, actually keep up with shifting cash flow today? Can a single point-in-time really predict someone’s ability to repay debt, or is it time for a rethink?

Open banking and real-time cash flow data promises to transform lending by offering a more accurate, dynamic view of a borrower’s financial health. But what does that mean for risk management, financial inclusion, and the future of credit?

And, will this innovation mark the dawn of a new era in lending…or get stuck in the “wait-and-see” limbo? 

Tune in for a lively chat about the future of lending and why cash flow underwriting might just be the stray puzzle piece we’ve been waiting for.

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Tim:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timbates2/

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where Simon Taylor and I bounce through fintech companies that have recently caught our eye.

We’re kicking off with Dakota, a Brex-Wise hybrid for SMBs, offering 24/7 global payments with a stablecoin twist. Deposits, stored as stablecoins, earn up to 4% yield and are issued by Dakota, raising questions about custody, resolution, and well…what happens if Dakota goes belly up? Instant, global payments without banking hours are perfect for cross-border businesses, but proceed with curiosity and caution when it comes to deposit safety.

Next up: ampersand, a post-SVB startup transforming deposit management. They optimize large cash deposits across banks for safety, rates, and values (focusing on FDIC insurance, top rates, and ethical alignment). Unlike, say, IntraFi, ampersand targets companies directly–not just banks–especially mid-sized ones lacking treasury teams. But post-SVB, why do uninsured deposits even exist? Banks may hesitate, but company demand is there; ampersand’s timing couldn’t be better.

Then there’s Auquan, which automates deep work in financial services—think credit memos, deal screening, and investment committee prep—in minutes. They’re not just making flashy demos; they’re delivering real results as vouched for by clients like MetLife and UBS. While most Gen AI tools overpromise, it seems like Auquan actually delivers consistent and quality results. And in capital markets—where grunt work once built expertise—AI like Auquan could be a real disruptor.

And finally, TymeBank is shaking things up for emerging-market neobanking. With 15M+ customers in South Africa and the Philippines, they’ve snagged a $250M Series D led by Nubank, securing a 10% stake. Think franchise neobanking—proven model, local twist. Nubank expands strategically, while TymeBank taps into its scaling expertise. This is modern fintech, not the old HSBC playbook.

Plus, who’s stepping up to lead supervisory tech? Let’s fix government inefficiency—no need to cut agencies, just make them work smarter (not smaller) to break up our banking bottleneck.

00:02:45 - Dakota

00:18:11 - ampersand

00:30:25 - Auquan

00:41:34 - TymeBank

00:52:21 - Manifesting Fintech Ideas 

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Simon:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/

Substack: https://sytaylor.substack.com

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Companies featured:

https://dakota.xyz/

https://trustampersand.com/

https://www.auquan.com/

https://www.tymebank.co.za/

Hello, and welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner, the first Bank Nerd Corner of 2025. I’m Alex Johnson, joined as always by the brilliant Kiah Haslett, Banking and Fintech Editor at Bank Director. 

Here’s what we’re unpacking this week.

First up, the CFPB has sued the biggest names in banking—Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase—along with Early Warning Services (EWS), the backbone of Zelle, for allegedly dropping the ball on fraud protections. With over $870M lost to scams since 2017, we’re asking: Are banks scapegoats for a bigger mess involving social media and telecoms? Ultimately, how much consumer protection is enough—and who pays the price?

Next up, two cases—Loper Bright (aka Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo) and Jarkesy (aka SEC v. Jarkesy)—are shaking up regulatory agencies like the Fed and FDIC. Are we going to see a power shift or a regulatory takedown? If the Fed blinks first, do banks get to rewrite the rules—and does "too big to fail" become DIY?

Then there’s the disclosure debate. Can companies like Zelle or the FDIC "warn away" liability with fine print? If streamlined experiences make users vulnerable, will regulators demand clearer disclosures? Is it the end of seamless user experience...and trust as we know it?

Finally, don’t miss our 2025 predictions. Could Capital One acquiring Discover signal a regulatory shift favoring big bank M&A? Will a fintech actually grab a bank charter this year? 

Oh hello, New Year; you’re going to be wild! 🤙

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Kiah:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Welcome to the first Fintech Recap of 2025. As always, I’m joined by Jason Mikula, publisher of Fintech Business Weekly and author of the shiny new book Banking as a Service (which I’m loving, by the way), as we catch up post-holiday to dive into the fintech buzz.

First pit stop: BaaS Island and the CBW Bank saga. This small player with a big history—partnering with pioneers Moven and Ripple—just got slapped with a major $20M penalty from the FDIC. But CBW is fighting back, challenging the FDIC in court. As fintech blurs the line between community banks and fintech giants, can a community bank charter truly handle nationwide payments and high-stakes BaaS? 

Next up, get ready for the IPO tidal wave in 2025. It’s shaping up to be a big one for fintech, and Chime is at the forefront, gearing up for its big debut. While there's chatter about their customer count—anywhere from 7M to 38M—one thing's undeniable: Chime boasts a solid customer base with impressive direct deposit adoption. Things are about to get interesting.

Moving on, Walmart and Branch are in hot water with the CFPB for allegedly opening accounts for Walmart Spark drivers without consent, forcing them to use Branch or risk termination. This raises huge questions about employers embedding financial services in their workers’ lives. Not to mention, the urgent need for tighter oversight on employer-sponsored fintech in 2025.

Plus, we rant about Vivek Ramaswamy’s unhinged tweet blaming the 90s pop culture—like Boy Meets World and Friends reruns—for America’s software engineer shortage. Yep, seriously.  It’s  Whiplash reruns or nothing for the "Department of Government Efficiency.” Here’s looking at you, 2025.

00:04:19 - Return to BaaS Island

00:23:59 - IPO Watch: Chime

00:40:59 - Walmart x Branch

00:56:35 - Can’t Let It Go

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ 

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Jason:

Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Financial advice: is it a human job or a tech problem? 

On this special episode of FinTech Takes, Alex sits down with Amias Gerety, partner at QED Investors (and like-minded fintech and bank policy nerd), to unpack this very question. 

Drawing on Amias’s compelling op-ed for Open Banking (“Freeing Financial Advice from Financial Advisors”), they dive into the challenges of scaling personalized advice. Is the real bottleneck the high cost of advisors, or the industry's sales-driven incentives? Could automation be the key to scaling advice—without sacrificing fiduciary standards?

Join us for an honest conversation about the tools and methods currently available in fintech to tackle these issues. 

From the promise of robo-advisors 2.0 to the metaphor of self-driving money, can LLMs finally deliver accessible, unbiased financial guidance for all?

While we’re not yet at a place where AI can fully replicate the nuanced judgments of a seasoned advisor, we’re getting closer—and Amias has some sharp insights on how the future could unfold.

Tune in to hear how the system might be shifting under our feet—and where the big opportunities for change could be.

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Amias:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amias-gerety/

Amias’s original op-ed: https://openbanker.beehiiv.com/p/amiasgerety

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Welcome to Bank Nerd Corner! This week, we’re making history. Our first-ever returning guest, Julie Hill—now Dean of the University of Wyoming College of Law—is back with Kiah and Alex to tackle a hot topic: reputation risk.

Is it the boogeyman of compliance, or a real force shaping banking decisions?

Here’s the puzzle we’re unknotting:

• When regulators say "reputation risk," do they mean actual threats to a bank's stability—or is it a way of saying, “Don’t do anything dumb”?

• Can bad press really sink a bank, or are customers too sticky to care? (Looking at you, Wells Fargo.)

• And why is the Supreme Court questioning whether this so-called "risk" even exists?

Plus, we explore debanking—the practice where banks cut ties with customers. Is it actually about managing risk or…just controlling the narrative?

Join us as we dig into the data, decode the headlines, and ask the uncomfortable questions regulators and banks wish we wouldn’t 😏

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Julie:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-hill-15929821/

Follow Kiah:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Hello and welcome back to our limited series podcast, Fintech in 2025, recorded live in Las Vegas during Money 20/20.

Sponsored by Marqeta, today’s final episode ties it all together—with bold predictions and spicy takes!

In prior episodes, we've talked about regulation and interest rates and new infrastructure. We've done deep dives into credit cards, BNPL, and the various ways those products are becoming fused together.

But where is the industry as a whole going in 2025? 

What trends and technologies for the next year should we be most excited about? Which should we be most dubious of? What ideas in fintech are we still not talking enough about? 

From AI-powered workflows to rethinking customer support, it’s a no-holds-barred dive into what’s next for fintech. 

Join Jenny Johnston (OpenAI), Fouzi Husaini (Marqeta), Simon Taylor (Fintech Brain Food), Lucinda Shen (Axios), and Tony Tom (TBD) for strong opinions and surprising insights. 

Transform your business with Marqeta's modern card issuing platform. Our open API platform allows businesses to instantly issue cards and process payments. Integrate end to end credit and payment solutions into your business processes using our modern card issuing platform. Learn more at marqueta.com

Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page.

Follow Jenny: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennycolgate/

Follow Fouzi: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fouzihusaini/

Follow Simon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/

Follow Lucinda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucindashen/

Follow Tony: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tony-tom-17b7073/

Follow Alex: 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson