Fintech Takes

Co-founder of Bloom Money, Nina Mohanty, drops by the podcast to discuss just how many unsolved problems remain in fintech and financial services.

She and Alex talk about a few of the most notable unsolved problems including credit invisibility, the inaccessibility (and unsexiness) of home ownership, and why the Western banking system is largely unequipped to support migrants and refugees.

6:10 Unsolved Problems in Fintech & Credit Invisibility

17:40 Non-Consumer-Facing Credit Methods

20:33 Social Media, Money, and Happiness

29:00 Mortgages and Fintech

40:45 Immigration and Financial Services 

52:17 Outro

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 Nina:

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

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

With the benefit of some hindsight (finally), what are the big takeaways from SVB?

Kiah Haslett, managing editor of Bank Director, is in the studio to chat with Alex about why the SVB collapse is redefining how we think about “safe” banking. 

They explain how a herd mentality and poor time management culminated in SVB’s failure and dissect why a safe bank could actually contain so much risk. 

Plus, Kiah and Alex discuss why the stigma surrounding the Federal Reserve Window is so great and debate whether or not banks can be good at both innovation and risk management.

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 

0:00 Intro

6:29 SVB Failure

15:19 What Makes a Bank Safe?

19:36 Running Out of Time

24:12 Other Banks Facing Similar Issues to SVB

29:42 BaaS, Neobanks, and FinTech

34:50 Wait— what? (Federal Discount Window)

53:37 Choosing Between Innovation and Risk Management

What fintech companies should you be keeping a close eye on?

Kicking off season 3, Alex is joined once again by Simon Taylor, writer of the Fintech Brainfood newsletter, for another Not Fintech Investment Advice! Podcast.

The pair are live at the Fintech Meetup conference in Las Vegas.

Discover how Portabl is taking on Apple in the digital identity space, how Getmomo has entered the rental market at just the right time, and why underwriting is Parker’s secret sauce

Plus, Alex and Simon’s roundup of the Fintech Meetup event.

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 Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Simon: 

LinkedIn: .linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sytaylor

Join Alex and co-host Jason Mikula at the Fintech Meetup conference, live from Vegas.

They get into conversation with a very special guest, Jon Lear, the President and Co-founder of Fintech Meetup about issues surrounding trust in large financial institutions, the latest news on SVB, and the evolution of BaaS in Europe.

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 Jon:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jonlear/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonlear

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Jason: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikulaja

This is a special one as Alex gets into conversation with Nicole Casperson, host of podcast Humans of Fintech and founder of the Fintech is Femme newsletter.

Alex and Nicole talk community building at this online event, getting into questions around fintech inclusivity, discussing whether B2C fintech is dead (or should be), and how Gen Z and missional values need to align.

Plus you’ll also hear questions from the audience, including the unsexy parts of banking that fintech needs to look at next.

Follow Alex:

LinkedIn: .linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Nicole:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicole-casperson-0820a5133/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolecasperson

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 Friday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

00:00 Intro

03:36 Getting Into Real Talk

09:25 Is B2C Fintech Dead?

12:58 Habit Creation

19:09 Integrating Behavioral Finance

25:09 Paycheck-to-Paycheck Living

27:07 The DEI Transparency Report

33:26 The Generation That Cares

35:25 Aligning Mission To Work

41:53 Make Money, Solve Societal Problems

Why is fintech heading into a period of consolidation and contraction? Answering this question and more is Alex’s guest, Sarah Kocianski.

Sarah is an experienced fintech strategist and research analyst, based in London with over a decade of experience in fintech.

Alex and Sarah bounce around some ideas in the format of the game show, Jeopardy (which, being British, Sarah had to look up). They discuss potential increases in banking regulation, why macroeconomics are going to hurt the buy-now-pay-later space, and the types of companies interested in making acquisitions.

Follow Sarah:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkocianski/

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 Friday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

How can you fix a broken financial model? This question and more answered in the latest Bank Nerd Corner episode.

Alex is joined by Kiah Haslett, Managing Editor at Bank Director. They get into some of the headlines and news that have caught their attention over the last few weeks, including a worldwide chip shortage for bank cards, ModernFi’s fintech marketplace and why FIS can’t get Worldpay to work.

They also get to nerd out trying to answer an impossible fintech question on who, exactly, public utilities are 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 Friday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/

Follow Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Kiah:

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

This is part two of a special crossover episode with fintech friends Reggie Young and Matt Janiga, hosts of the wonderful Fintech Layer Cake podcast. 

In this episode, Alex, Jason, Matt, and Reggie dig into the weeds of the Durbin Amendment and its effect on competition, the harsh realities of account-to-account payments, and the changing relationship between fintechs and banks.

Plus, the four play their very own version of Who’s Coming to Dinner.

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 Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Jason: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikulaja

Follow Reggie:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/reginaldcyoung/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ReggieCYoung

Follow Matt:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mwjaniga/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/regulatorynerd

What fintech companies do you need to know about?

Alex is joined by Simon Taylor, writer of the Fintech Brainfood newsletter, for another Not Fintech Investment Advice! podcast.

Discover why now is an interesting time to build a credit workflow tool, why sometimes a corporate credit card isn’t necessary for an expense management product, and why franchising may be the key to scaling up proptech innovations.   

Plus, you’ll hear Alex and Simon’s Fintech wishlist.

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 Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Simon: 

LinkedIn: .linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sytaylor

Take a look back at all the big developments in fintech over February, from BNPL to crypto to outright ponzi schemes!

Alex is joined by Jason Mikula, writer of the Fintech Business Weekly newsletter. They take a deep dive into Affirm’s horrific quarter, the state of Apple’s BNPL offering, and the latest round of enforcement activity in crypto.

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 Alex: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Follow Jason: 

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikulaja