Fintech Takes

Things in life rarely go as planned. But things in fintech? Well… 

They almost never go as planned. 

So how do you put yourself and your ideas into the fintech world when failure is almost certainly inevitable? What happens when grinding isn’t enough to keep your company afloat? And how do you cope with the potential loss of the idea (and identity) you loved so dearly?

In this special crossover series with Breaking Banks’ Jason Henrichs, he and Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson sit down with fintech’s biggest innovators, disrupters, and industry changers to glean lessons from their tales of failure, success, and all of the tough decisions they’ve had to make along the way.

Whether you simply have the spark for the next big idea, are a first-time founder, or somewhere in between, you won’t want to miss these incredible insights from some of fintech’s brightest minds. 

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.

Check Out Breaking Banks:

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-banks/id641357669 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4mhqSxyBCHZ1wTQwXlAvCG?si=2964cce20998440e 

Follow Jason: 

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

Follow Tamara: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamara-steffens/

Follow Alex: 

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

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

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

America’s favorite banking and fintech Editor, Kiah Haslett, drops by to unpack the latest, craziest, and hottest news in the banking world for another round of Bank Nerd Corner with Alex, and this week they’re weighing in on whether the fuss about New York Community Bank is warranted, if car dealers are conspiring to increase prices, and the unusual path of Panacea Financial.

First up, with New York Community Bank taking on a higher refi risk to have much safer credits, we have to ask — what’s got analysts so up in arms? Why is stock price suddenly a proxy for stability for banks in the public market?

Then, Alex and Kiah discuss Panacea Financial, a niche neobank focused on serving healthcare professionals, and its recent funding round before diving into the insane growth in car loans. With overly expensive loans being sold at overinflated car prices, is this the perfect storm for delinquency?  

Plus, Kiah raises several unanswered questions about the BSCA and its enforcement, highlighting the potential implications for fintech partnerships with banks before going off about why deposits, not stock prices, were the reason behind SVB’s failure.

3:28 AOBA Conference Highlights

9:30 New York Community Bank

26:35 Panacea Finacial

38:45 Auto Loan Delinquency on the Rise

51:37 An Unanswerable Question

1:12:10 Go Off, Kiah!

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

Simon Taylor’s back and fresh off writing his latest in-depth Q1 fintech report to chat with Alex about more potential fintech companies on the rise, including the instant cash electronic trade-in company offering a liquid market at your fingertips, an AI startup seeking to replace investment bank analysts, and the first travel card for Gen Z.

Meet the company that sounds like eBay but we swear isn’t: TipTop. The instant cash for electronics trade-in app is banking on the hopes that people will stop thinking of electronics as something they’ll own forever, and start imagining them more like rented assets. Is this app worth investing in? Let’s just say, that if they can solve 3rd party logistics problems and make the experience frictionless, keep your eyes glued on this one.

We hate to even ask, but… Do we really need another points/reward travel card, folks? Rove certainly thinks so, and we wish them the best of luck in the prison yard battle for points reward card supremacy they’re about to enter. Is their appeal to Gen Z enough to succeed in such a cutthroat market? 

And later, with  Lucite promising to produce investment banking materials and forms, Alex and Simon can’t help but wonder, what will AI do with proprietary data in the years to come? 

Plus, meet Prosper, the modern fund investment platform with a better lifetime maximum asset fee set to compete with Vanguard, and stay tuned as the guys manifest their best 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.

Read Simon’s special Q1 earnings newsletter here: 

https://sytaylor.substack.com/p/results-season-special-q1-2024

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

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this banking port aboard this tiny… okay, so we promise to give up on this BaaS island analogy eventually, but in the meantime, our cruise tickets over to BaaS island are non-refundable, so let’s dive into the latest happenings.

With Blue Ridge Bank strapped with a second enforcement action just 18 months after its first action, we have to ask— should consumers be alarmed? And with Choice Bank also disclosing its latest enforcement action, is this more of a reflection of the apps they’re associating with (*cough* Mercury and Synapse *cough*) or is it simply an indication that regulators don’t know how to handle the level of automation and scalability in BaaS?

Meanwhile, over in Buy Now, Pay Later land, Jason and Alex chat about the recent product offerings that Affirm and Klarna have vowed to provide, including subscription-based services and high-yield savings accounts. But more importantly, what is the point of this to consumers? Is it partially due to Klarna’s hopes to IPO or is this just pointless noise?

According to PayPal, PayPal shocked the world. Or, um... at least they shocked one person, somewhere with their latest announcement. Jason denounces PayPal’s latest aggressive PR push, while Alex plays devil’s advocate, suggesting the brand might be going back to the basics for the better.  

Plus, the guys discuss whether the $3.1 billion valuation of Bilt Rewards is justified, what’s up with God convincing a pastor to sell his worthless cryptocurrency, and who owns the .ai domain name. 

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

Frank Rotman, Chief Investment Officer at QED Investors, makes his triumphant return to the podcast to share his wisdom on all things lending. As the first Chief Credit Officer at Capital One (before this role officially existed), Frank has an incredibly rich and nuanced perspective on topics like cashflow underwriting, the value of traditional credit data vs alternative data, and payment protection insurance.  

In this conversation, Frank and Alex break down the importance of distinguishing willingness to pay for a loan from the ability to pay for a loan when assessing creditworthiness and wax poetic about what possibilities fintech might be missing out on when it simplifies the credit building down to these two characteristics.

And stay tuned because later, Alex asks Frank for his predictions for the future of fintech and financial services and Frank’s answers are unlike any other predictions you’ve heard! 

00:00:53 - From Lending to Writing: Frank's Journey

00:03:05 - The Nuance of Credit Underwriting

00:09:21 - Building Sophisticated Underwriting Models with Capital One

00:18:12 - Understanding Reg B: Equal Credit Opportunity Act Implementation

00:26:10 - Maximizing Accurate Pricing of Risk

00:29:49 - Why Companies Must Explain Declines

00:36:38 - The Unique Marvel of American Mortgages

00:49:10 - The Truth About Predatory Lending

00:55:18 - Innovating Credit and Insurance Delivery

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 Frank: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-rotman/

Follow Alex: 

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

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

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

We’ve all barely recovered from the frosty Arctic blast this past week, but that balmy -37-degree Montana weather isn’t slowing down our favorite fintech obsessive one bit. Alex joins banking and fintech editor at Bank Director, Kiah Haslett to discuss the latest and greatest news happening in the banking world. 

Kiah and Alex cover the potential challenges banks may face in 2024, including the impact of lower interest rates and the possibility of earnings conditions leading to "zombie banks." How fine are taxpayers with banks making some risk-free money from the Fed’s emergency funding program?

And there’s no evidence that industrial loan charters have ever wrecked any part of the banking industry… so why, then, is the Senate banking Chair looking to crack down on tech companies looking to expand into financial services through ILCs? Is this overkill?

Kiah and Alex also dive into the US Transportation Department’s scrutiny of frequent flyer programs—why are we treating them like banks?

Plus, what does the Fed have too many jobs? And should banks quit trying to make digital wallets happen? Is it ever going to happen? 

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

In this episode of Not Fintech Investment Advice, Alex is joined by the man, the myth, the legend, Simon Taylor, to discuss some of the latest, greatest fintech companies you should definitely not, but also maybe consider investing in. 

Homeownership feels like a pipe dream for young people everywhere, and with so much pessimism and hopelessness surrounding it, how do you hook people back into the home-buying process when they don’t even think it’s obtainable? Foyer is a fintech savings app promising help for home buyers, but can it build enough momentum for its product to take off? 

Then, Simon and Alex talk about the latest social shopping and rewards app targeted towards Gen Z called Claim. While it’s great to help people connect with brands they love, wouldn’t it be nice if the same user experience optimization efforts were applied to more than just apps designed for buying stuff? 

Plus, the guys discuss the pre-see stage company looking to redesign the banking integrated savings experience for families, the regulatory license and charter management AI helping compliance teams with MTLs and lending licenses, before manifesting some fintech ideas, like why their email accounts can’t read their stuff in a more secure way. 

00:01:43 - 2024: A Fascinating Year for Fintech Investment

00:02:42 - Foyer: The 401 for Homeownership

00:13:43 - Claim: The Social Shopping App for Gen Z Consumers

00:25:19 - Crew: Integrated Checking and Savings for Families

00:39:35 - Brico AI: Simplifying Compliance for Fintech

00:50:58 - Manifesting Fintech Ideas

Check out Simon’s 2024 State of Fintech article here: https://sytaylor.substack.com/p/fintech-brainfoods-2023-in-review

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

Alex and Jason are back at it again for the first time this year, and can we just say that it’s way too early for fintech to be doing so many crazy things already? 

On the bright side, the UK is cracking down to improve authorized push payments fraud. So, there’s that…

And then there’s Revolut, who’s yet again floating stories in the media about getting their banking license. Are they just the little fintech company that keeps crying, “Bank,” or will they become a real bank someday? Alex and Jason try to unravel Revolut’s constant state of quantum uncertainty.

Also, in “we never saw this twist coming” news, Jason signed up for Tomo Boost, and… he’s currently waiting to see if his promises credit line ever shows up. He and Alex discuss the morality (and legality) of the sketchy credit-building product.

Later, Jason reports from BaaS Island where Mercury and Synapse are fighting over who gets to hold the conch shell, and it looks like neither company is coming out of the intense legal battle looking good. 

00:00:03 - Walmart Boys vs. Target Guys

00:04:06 - UK Regulator Enhances Protections Against Payment Fraud

00:19:56 - Revolut's Profitability and Rapid Growth

00:26:50 - Scaling Across Jurisdictions: Banking Efficiency

00:32:13 - Unlocking Tax-Advantaged Bank Accounts

00:40:47 - Tomo Boost

00:49:13 - Tales from BaaS Land

00:52:38 - 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

We know, we know… Prediction episodes are so cliché. And somehow, experts have an incredible way of dramatically overestimating what we, as an industry, can accomplish in the next year while also dramatically underestimating what we can do in the next ten.

So, let’s reframe the way we do predictions; how about that?

Frank Rotman, the Chief Investment Officer at QED Investors who dislikes end-of-year predictions with all of his heart, gamely gives Alex his 10-year estimate of what the fintech landscape will look like… and can we just say — his answers are absolute dynamite!

He maps out what rapidly progressing AI capabilities mean for the stock market, why financial institutions will be forced to completely restructure their costs, and how the intrabank settlement process will, at long last, be modernized. 

And one last, final prediction? This episode will age like a glass of fine wine. Hopefully.

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 Frank: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-rotman/

Follow Alex: 

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

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

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

With the New Year quickly approaching, we’re finding it next to impossible to recall the sheer insanity that’s happened in the wild world of fintech over the past year… and trust us when we say, there’s been a lot that’s gone down. So we’ve brought Mary Ann Azevedo, a senior reporter at TechCrunch, onto the pod to help refresh your memory on everything that happened in 2023. 

From the shocking impact of the Silicon Valley Bank failure to the fraudulent JPMorgan Chase acquisition of Frank, and the difficulty major companies like Stripe faced in their managing their valuations, Alex and Mary Ann recap fintech in 2023. 

Plus, want to know what it takes to make a successful pitch to Alex or Mary Ann? Well, strap in tight because Mary Ann and Alex are sharing their most valuable insights on how to get your pitch past their inboxes. 

00:00:00 - Recapping the Year in Fintech

00:03:41 - Proptech Startup Mortgage.com Struggles After Going Public

00:07:14 - The Ripple Effect of Silicon Valley Bank's Failure

00:17:14 - Fintechs Face Lower Valuations in 2022

00:27:15 - Lula: A Lean Fintech Success

00:29:04 - Ramp's Talent Attraction

00:31:27 - The Trend of Acquisitions in Fintech

00:38:02 - Fraudulent JPMorgan Chase Acquisition Raises Concerns

00:42:36 - Improving Pitching Techniques for Success

00:49:26 - The Importance of Exclusive News in Fintech

00:52:23 - How to Get on a Podcast

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 Mary Ann:

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

Follow Alex: 

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

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

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