Fintech Takes

Matthew Goldman (founder of Totavi and author of CardsFTW) joins Alex and Jason to talk through the never-ending challenges of banking-as-a-service, why Evolve hasn’t managed to earn itself a consent order yet, and the growing complexity of BaaS thanks to middleware platforms.

The trio then talk about the eternal struggle over interchange fees and why most of the rhetoric around the issue is wrong before quickly touching on Varo’s new P2P payments feature and Affirm’s planned subscription service.

Plus, stay tuned as the guys delve into the sad end of the NFT era. Alas, poor Bored Apes, we knew them well!

And if you're attending Money 2020, be sure to catch Alex and Jason in person!

00:00:00 - Fintech Recap Returns with Jason Mikula and special guest Matthew Goldman

00:02:50 - The Challenges of Banking-as-a-Service

00:08:55 - Rapid Growth in BaaS

00:18:29 - Visa and Mastercard Increase Interchange Fees

00:22:19 - The Cost of Accepting Payments

00:26:54 - KLM Implements Credit Card Surcharge

00:32:08 - Varro's New Product: P2P Payments

00:37:59 - Affirm Tests Subscription-Based Loan Service

00:43:42 - The Rise and Fall of NFTs

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.

Attend Money 2020 here.

Follow Matthew: 

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

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  

00:00:00 - Fintech Recap Returns with Jason Micula

00:02:50 - The Challenges of Banking as a Service

00:08:55 - Goldman Evolve's Rapid Program Expansion

00:18:29 - Visa and Mashcard Increase Interchange

00:22:19 - The Cost of Accepting Payments

00:26:54 - KLM Implements Credit Card Surcharge

00:32:08 - Varro's New Product: P2P Payments

00:37:59 - Firm Tests Subscription-Based Loan Service

00:43:42 - The Rise and Fall of NFTs

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.

Attend Money 2020 here.

Follow Matthew: 

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

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  

All rights reserved. Crowe LLP, a member of Crowe Global, a Swiss verein. For more information, please visit www.crowe.com/fintech

You can’t disrupt fintech unless you fully understand its storied history. So what are the biggest lessons we can take away from the past? 

Join Alex for a fascinating conversation with Charles Birnbaum, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners and author of the article “The Five Waves of Fintech,” as they dive into the five major phases of disruption in the financial services industry.

From before the term “fintech” was coined to the impending technological ripples in the future and beyond, Charles shares his insights on the different segments within fintech and the proof points needed for fintech companies to succeed in the coming years. 

And later, Alex and Charles discuss the embedded fintech wave and its slower-than-expected progress, as well as the potential catalysts for a new wave of innovation. 

00:02:55 - Understanding the History of Fintech

00:08:44 - Wave One

00:17:47 - Wave Two

00:21:29 - The Future of Valuing Fintech Businesses

00:29:38 - The Slow Rise of Fintech

00:34:07 - Navigating Sales in the Financial Industry

00:40:30 - Wave Three

00:41:35 - Wave Four

00:50:50 - Wave Five

00:56:07 - New Waves in Real-Time Payments

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 “The Five Waves of Fintech”:

Website: https://www.bvp.com/atlas/the-five-waves-of-fintech

Follow Charles: 

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

Follow Alex: 

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

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

For more information, please visit www.crowe.com/fintech

Get ready for another episode of Not Fintech Advice with Simon Taylor! 

In this episode, Alex and Simon dive into the world of generative AI and its potential as a disruptive innovation. How is AI revolutionizing middle and back-office processes?

Alex and Simon also divulge their thoughts on the corporate spend management space and the broader world of ERPs (isn’t it time we finally reinvent the ERP?) 

Selling to banks as a fintech company can be challenging, but Alex has a solution. Plus, meet Chargeflow, a company using AI and machine learning to automate chargeback fighting. And find out why Alex is making the case for CDs to bring sexy back.

00:00:00 - Fintech Takes: Not Fintech Investment Advice

00:03:00 - Parallel and the Corporate Card Space

00:09:23 - Rippling Launches Runway: Spend Management Platform

00:13:03 - Regulated Companies Use Chart to Ensure Compliance with Chatbots

00:18:36 - The Power of Context in Marketing

00:24:12 - Automating Chargeback Fighting with AI

00:28:19 - The Rise of Friendly Fraud: Explained

00:37:55 - Automating Banking Processes with AI

00:47:30 - Reviving the Sexiness of CDs

00:52:41 - Challenges of Bank-Fintech Partnerships 

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/

Follow Simon:

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

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

Follow Alex: 

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

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

For more information, please visit www.crowe.com/fintech

Get ready for another deep dive into the world of banking and fintech with this month’s “Bank Nerd Corner” with the brilliant Kiah Haslett, the banking and fintech editor at Bank Director. 

In this episode, Kiah and Alex are diving into the challenges of defining unsecured deposits before tackling Alloy’s latest benchmark report, which revealed the compliance expectations from various fintech companies. 

Why can’t Fintech companies get charters? And is doing the bare minimum when it comes to compliance actually a positive thing when it comes to running your fintech company? 

And in this week’s “Wait… But Why???” segment, Alex and Kiah debate why everyone can’t just agree on what an uninsured deposit is. Then, stay tuned to find out what’s really irking Kiah this week and the answer (or non-answer) to an unanswerable question.

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/

Follow Kiah:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

All rights reserved. Crowe LLP, a member of Crowe Global, a Swiss verein. For more information, please visit www.crowe.com/fintech

On this week’s Fintech Recap, Alex and Jason unravel the latest industry buzz and breakthroughs in fintech.

And in this episode, they’re diving into neobank Current’s unique credit-building charge card— how is it reshaping spending dynamics, and how will regulators manage to prevent losses? Plus, discover the intricacies of Plaid's partnerships with Pinwheel and Atomic.

Later, Jason and Alex discuss the platform, Synapse, exploring BaaS deposits and their regulatory implications before getting into Roger's niche neobank tailored for military members and recruits. 

And finally, it wouldn’t be an episode of Fintech Recap without a bit of crypto insanity to liven up the podcast, would it?

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/

0:00 Intro

2:20 Current’s Credit Building Card

13:00 Plaid’s New Partnership

24:35 BaaS and Risk

35:21 Roger’s Military Recruit Neobank 

44:45 Crypto Transactions

Follow Jason:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-mikula-1809a5126/

Substack: https://substack.com/@fintechbusinessweekly

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

For more information, please visit www.crowe.com/fintech

In this month’s special episode of “Not Fintech Investment Advice,” Alex sits down with fintech guru Simon Taylor to talk through some fintech companies that have recently caught their attention.

They delve into how AI is reshaping risk assessment and unpack how platforms like Chorus are utilizing custom GPT models to screen for risks, allowing financial professionals to focus on what truly matters most and leave the mundane paperwork behind. Is fintech a more creative process than most give it credit for? 

Plus, Simon and Alex explore the potential of Grounded Technologies, a new-age platform aiming to reshape community banks' access to deposits and other assets. In a world where demand isn't the problem, but supply is, can community banks find their way to profitability without necessarily scaling up?

And, with PayPal stepping into the stablecoin arena, Simon sheds light on his decades’ worth of crypto insights. For a deep dive into the future of finance and the innovations at its forefront, this conversation is a must-listen.

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/

Follow Simon:

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

Newsletter: https://sytaylor.substack.com

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Chief Payments Executive of the Federal Reserve, Mark Gould, stops by the studio for this special episode of Fintech Recap with Alex and Jason to chat about the evolution of instant payment and how FedNow is attempting to make the clearing and settling of payments instant and final. 

Are checks obsolete? How much money does the Fed clear daily? And has the amount of money in circulation increased or decreased within the last ten years? 

Mark’s answering all of Alex’s and Jason’s questions and unraveling what a successful rollout of FedNow will look like in the imminent and distant future. 

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/

Follow Mark:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-gould-7241098/

Follow Jason:

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

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

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

It’s time for another episode of Bank Nerd Corner with America’s favorite banking and fintech editor, Kiah Haslett, and there’s only been one bank failure since she Alex last talked!

This week they’re discussing Apple’s latest savings product and the company’s complete disinterest in playing the deposit gathering game the way that the big banks do.

Then, what’s causing credit card balances to spike? Is it the weird ripples in the economy, or do consumers simply feel overly confident they can pay off their balances? Could it be a sign that consumer financial health is deteriorating?  

Plus, Kiah and Alex also tackle government lending programs in fintech, what makes The Bancorp’s business model so great, and the case for making CDs sexy again. And last but not least, Kia goes off on why these absurd fintech acronyms need to stop. 

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/

Follow Kiah:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Was Zelle a stupid way of introducing real-time payments? Is OpenAI’s CEO going all in on making Minority Report a reality? And has Alex secretly been a Swifty this whole time?

On this month’s Fintech Recap, Alex and cohost Jason Mikula, dissect the right way to add monetization and value to real-time money movements and debate if Zelle missed a valuable opportunity to drive revenue. Should instantaneous money movement be a basic human right? 

Then, the guys discuss the battle of credit card interchange fees, debit card processing for marijuana dispensaries, and Sam Altman’s vaguely dystopian vision of the future. Do we really need crypto incentives for a retinal-based global form of identification to separate us from artificial intelligence when we’re living off universal basic income? Can we just agree we’re not there yet, Sam? 

And stay tuned for this week’s “Can’t Let it Go” segment!

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/

Follow Jason:

Substack: https://substack.com/profile/4867166-jason-mikula

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikulaja?s=20

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

The number of independent workers in Brazil is surging, but still, full employment benefits elude most contract workers. How can this problem be fixed? 

In this week’s pod, Alex is taking a deep dive into the world of Brazilian fintech to unpack the state of embedded insurtech with Isaac Matzner, co-founder of Teddy.  

They discuss the differences between employment benefits in America versus Brazil, dissect the reasons why both Brazilian and Western insurance companies need to find value beyond pricing, and envision what a sustainable model should look like for the future of embedded finance.

Then, the two spend a few minutes chatting about the joys of fatherhood. 

0:00 Intro and Explaining Teddy

8:35 Fintech in Brazil

15:32 Adding Value to Insurance

24:16 Embedded Insurance

34:26 Believing in an Embedded Finance Future

42:40 Lessons From a Startup

42:40 Parenting and Outro

Check Out Teddy: 

https://www.teddy.com.vc

Follow Isaac:  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaac-matzner-78b9633/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

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/