Welcome to a special edition of Fintech Takes, recorded live from MX's Money Experience Summit in beautiful Park City, Utah. 

Big shout-out to MX for letting me squeeze in some live podcasting–my favorite thing to do!

First up, I chat with Ashwin Vasan, senior advisor at FS Vector, and Kelvin Chen, head of policy at the Consumer Bankers Association—two ex-CFPB experts who help untangle the knots of financial services regulation. We dive into policy talk (recorded before the CFPB's open banking rule dropped), and the messy middle ground of banking and fintech. Plus, we explore how banks are scrambling to stay relevant as embedded finance and BaaS dominate, and why seamless customer experience is the new battleground.

Next, I sit down with Jesse Mecham, founder of YNAB, to unpack his philosophy of mindful money management. We chat about how YNAB encourages users to think intentionally about managing their money, challenging the usual fintech rush for speed and convenience that leaves users out of the loop on their own financial decisions.

And last but not least, MX founder and freshly returned CEO, Ryan Caldwell, joins to chat about MX’s real secret sauce: its culture. And his passion for culture is contagious. Ryan highlights how leadership, values, and intentional culture is the driver for team dynamics *and* customer outcomes: culture drives results, leadership makes the difference, and in fintech, both are non-negotiable.

00:01:34: Ashwin Vasan, FS Vector + Kelvin Chen, Consumer Bankers Association

00:28:01 Jesse Mecham, YNAB

00:53:45 Ryan Caldwell, MX 

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 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://fsvector.com/

https://consumerbankers.com/

https://www.ynab.com/

https://www.mx.com/

In this special guest episode, Alex catches up with founder and CEO of Bloom Money, Nina Mohanty, about a pressing yet overlooked issue: first-party fraud. 

They kick off by exploring the viral "infinite money glitch" trend on TikTok—yep, it’s first-party fraud, whether people know it, admit it, or not…and it’s on the rise.

During the pandemic, neobanks like Chime, PayPal, and Cash App saw explosive growth, but that came with an explosive surge in fraud and disputes, too. In their quest for top-line numbers, many overlooked rising first-party fraud, exploiting gaps like the ACH settlement window. While traditional banks clamped down on this behavior, fintechs allowed it to thrive.

This shift in consumer behavior poses major concerns. How do we balance protecting consumers while holding them accountable? What impact does this have on product development, customer communication, and overall trust in fintech? 

What does it mean for the wider ecosystem when people are being encouraged to engage in first party fraud? 

Tune in for a candid discussion on fraud and its broader implications for financial services.

Raising the standard of quality for embedded finance infrastructure, Newline™ by Fifth Third is an API platform that enables enterprises to launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank.  

Learn more at newline53.com

00:07:29 – Chase ATMs meet the infinite money “glitch” trend 

00:20:01 – The explosion of disputed credit card transactions 

00:35:31 – Authorized Push Payment (APP) fraud in the UK  

00:45:23 – Who bears responsibility: financial services or consumers?

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 Nina:

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

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 spotlight new and exciting fintechs. 

This time, we're diving into how AI is shaking up customer service, banking, homeownership, and procurement—and where to draw the line. Because knowing when NOT to use AI in financial services? That’s *the* real art.

First up: KatoHQ. Their AI-powered voice agents decode customer intent and cut through the IVR hell. No more “Press 1 for misery”—just state your issue, and you're directed to the fix, no shouting required. It’s an idea that could even revolutionize collections by reaching pre-delinquent customers before they spiral.

Next up: FlowX.AI, automating digital transformation for banks. Their AI agents streamline workflows and build the infrastructure banks need to compete with fintech disruptors like Nubank. After pouring billions into modernization and cloud migration, FlowX.AI might be the boost banks need to fix unit economics and crank up feature velocity.

Then there’s Mesa, targeting homeowners with a credit card that rewards essential payments like mortgages and utilities. It’s like Bilt for homeowners—but can Mesa pull off Bilt’s pandemic-era success without the same tailwinds? Homeownership is our biggest asset, yet there’s no “operating system” to manage it all.

And finally, Cavela: slashing procurement costs with AI-driven sourcing and price negotiation, saving businesses 40% on wholesale goods. An AI agent that finds and seals the deal—no human needed? Yes, please!

Plus, how do we ensure AI-driven consumer agents serve user interests while enhancing fairness and explainability? Could Australia’s "action initiation" model redefine trust in financial services?

Raising the standard of quality for embedded finance infrastructure, Newline™ by Fifth Third is an API platform that enables enterprises to launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank.  

Learn more at newline53.com

00:02:28 - KatoHQ

00:14:02 - FlowX AI

00:24:33 - Mesa

00:37:58 - Cavela

00:46:21 - 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://katohq.com/

https://www.flowx.ai/

https://www.mesamember.com/

https://www.cavela.com/

Welcome back to the grand finale of What Customers Want, a limited 4-part series from the Fintech Takes podcast, hosted by me and Corey Besaw, President of APAC and co-founder of Ubiquity.

In Episode 4, Corey and I are joined by Aditi Shekar and Mike Forsyth at Zeta, a company that’s building a "multiplayer" financial experience for families, offering adaptable joint banking. Their mission, in other words? Exceptional customer service.

We’ve added complexity with each episode, but this time we're diving into the juiciest layer of all: how AI, especially generative AI, is reshaping customer experience and where it’s headed next.

Highlights include:

• Exploring Zeta’s concierge model—a compelling blend of generative AI and human support that dials down customer anxiety. Gone are the frustrating “We’re closed until Monday” moments! Here, AI serves not only as a stand-in, but as your savvy financial coach, ready to unravel transaction data and fine-tune your spending strategy.

• By leveraging generative AI like ChatGPT, fintechs such as Zeta can handle 30-40% of basic inquiries, freeing human agents to tackle more complex issues. But this balancing act brings challenges; compliance and security are crucial in financial services. How do we find the right mix between constant availability and necessary filtering?

• The pivotal role data infrastructure plays in this equation. While LLMs excel in the “last mile” of communication, they rely on robust systems for accuracy. Given the exorbitant computational costs of snapshotting an insane number data points per customer, how can organizations ensure effective AI deployment?

• Imagining a future with micro-models that tailor interactions to individual behaviors. Can AI juggle basic requests while knowing when to tap a human agent? Will generative AI step up as your personal financial coach, or will we hit a plateau like the one Tesla faced with its self-driving promises—remember 2015, when they said fully autonomous cars would hit in...two years?

In short, early AI models were a chaotic free-for-all, drawing from the wild west of the internet. Now, we're refining that data for smarter models, but AGI remains an open question.

What's clear is that with innovations like GPT driving the bus, fintech is poised for explosive growth. In customer support, cutting-edge tech could be the silver bullet that transforms how customers get what they want in financial services.

Enjoyed this series? 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 Alex: 

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

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

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

Follow Corey:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-besaw-8004182/

Follow Aditi:

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

Follow Mike:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mf11/

Learn more about Ubiquity here:

https://www.ubiquity.com/

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

First up, we’re breaking down the FDIC’s latest proposed rule, which tightens the screws on custodial accounts. Spoiler alert: Kiah's got some strong opinions on whether smaller banks should be held to different standards in the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) space—and trust me, she’s not buying it. In BaaS, complexity is part of the deal—size doesn’t matter. Just look at SVB’s crash when it tried to level up its asset thresholds. 

Next, we're diving into the flood of fintech “ecosystem standards” cropping up everywhere. Are these self-policed initiatives legit or just smoke and mirrors? 

And don’t miss Kiah’s spicy rant about Mercury joining the Coalition for Financial Ecosystem Standards (CFES) and claiming they "take compliance seriously." Instead of owning up to their growth obsession, they should be saying, "We messed up, but now we get it—compliance matters!" It's time for fintechs to be accountable for their remediation efforts. Compliance isn’t just lip service—step up and pay up.

We’ll round it off with two burning questions: What exactly qualifies as a “bank service company,” and do fintech innovations like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and Earned Wage Access (EWA) count as loans? 

The answers might surprise you, but one thing’s for sure—getting your paycheck faster shouldn’t come with a price tag.

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.

Raising the standard of quality for embedded finance infrastructure, Newline™ by Fifth Third is an API platform that enables enterprises to launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank.  

Learn more at newline53.com

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 What Customers Want, a limited 4-part series from the Fintech Takes podcast, hosted by me and Corey Besaw, President of APAC and co-founder of Ubiquity.

In Episode 3, Corey and I are joined by Ahon Sarkar, SVP & GM at Helix, to dive into the natural tension points between fintechs, banks, and those ever-evolving customer expectations. 

Financial services are leaning hard on self-service automation, but fintech moves at lightning speed—constantly innovating to craft the perfect solution. So, what happens when customer expectations and fintech's rapid pace don’t quite sync up?

Highlights include:

In the tug-of-war between innovation and regulation, tune in to hear how these growing pains may create a brighter future for customer experience in financial services.

And don’t forget to subscribe and catch more insights on what customers want in upcoming episodes.

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 Alex: 

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

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

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

Follow Corey:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-besaw-8004182/

Follow Ahon:

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

Learn more about Ubiquity here:

https://www.ubiquity.com/

Alex teams up with Jason Mikula, now Head of Industry Strategy for Banking & Fintech at Taktile (ooh la la!) to unpack the latest in fintech.

The FDIC has proposed a new rule on custodial deposits—the "Synapse Rule." It requires banks to meticulously track custodial account owners and transactions, aiming for crisis prevention, but does it truly plug the gaps exposed by past failures? Will regulators enforce compliance if the rule passes, especially given Evolve's shaky history?

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) nears finalizing a personal financial data rights rule, the industry braces for a shift from screen scraping to APIs. But can we trust the big banks to play fair?

Plus, don’t miss the latest installment in the Visa antitrust suit, and don’t be fooled: this isn’t just a Visa problem. It turns out notions of good vs. evil in the payments space aren't all that black and white.

And to top it off? A rant about the CFPB's consent order against TD Bank, a perfect example of “how not to” furnish credit. Plus, a friendly headline tip for Forbes from Alex! What could it be? 

Tune in to find out.

Raising the standard of quality for embedded finance infrastructure, Newline™ by Fifth Third is an API platform that enables enterprises to launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank.  

Learn more at newline53.com

00:03:14 - FDIC’s New “Synapse” Rule

00:09:04 - Compliance Conundrums 

00:22:13 - Open Banking in the End Zone

00:39:32 - The Visa Antitrust Suit: A “3?-Minute Overview”

00:45:59 - 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

Welcome to What Customers Want, a limited 4-part series from the Fintech Takes podcast, hosted by me and Corey Besaw, President of APAC and co-founder of Ubiquity.

In Episode 2, Corey and I venture back into fintech's overlooked frontier–customer service–as we sit down with Chime’s first full-time fraud manager, Marcus Vinson.

Join us behind the scenes to discover how, as an early-stage fintech, Chime navigated explosive growth while prioritizing a customer-first approach.

Highlights include:

Tune in as we unpack these big questions and more, exploring how fintechs can scale their customer support without losing the human touch.

And don’t forget to subscribe and catch more insights on what customers want in upcoming episodes.

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 Alex: 

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

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

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

Follow Corey:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-besaw-8004182/

Learn more about Ubiquity here:

https://www.ubiquity.com/

Welcome to a special edition of the Fintech Takes podcast. I'm Alex Johnson, here with Colton Pond, Chief Marketing Officer at LoanPro.

We’re recording live from the Salt Flats outside of Salt Lake City during LoanPro's customer advisory board meeting. I’m excited to dive into one of my favorite topics—loan servicing—and co-interview a few attendees with Colton.

In this episode, we’ll consider what happens after a customer says “yes.”

First up, we speak to Jeff Yim, CFO at Borrowell, one of Canada’s largest fintechs, helping 3.5M members navigate credit. In a landscape shaped by rising mortgage rates, Jeff speaks to how stellar onboarding and customer service are essential for a competitive edge.

Next, we chat with Jared Jones from Moov, a payment platform that’s evolved into both an acquiring and issuing processor. As ACH payments decline, they offer competitive fixed interchange rates for debt repayment, focusing on user-first innovations.

Then Nick Pesce from Happy Money, dedicated to unsecured personal loans in partnership with credit unions, shares how they’re scaling to meet demand for flexible loans, leveraging personalized approaches and credit union partnerships as credit card debt hits record highs.

That’s followed by Kamal Rajan and Anthony Navarro, who are building business banking at Golden 1 Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in the U.S. They reveal how they’re overcoming legacy challenges as they prep to launch ten new products.

Raising the standard of quality for embedded finance infrastructure, Newline™ by Fifth Third is an API platform that enables enterprises to launch and scale payment, card and deposit products directly with Fifth Third Bank.  

Learn more at newline53.com

00:10:34 - Jeff Yim, Borrowell

00:24:42 - Jared Jones, Moov

00:41:43 - Nick Pesce, Happy Money

01:00:00 - Kamal Rajan and Anthony Navarro, Golden 1 Credit Union

01:15:54 - Greg [undisclosed]

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 Colton Pond:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colton-pond-469b11ba/

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://www.loanpro.io/

https://borrowell.com/

https://moov.io/

https://www.golden1.com/

Welcome to What Customers Want, a limited series from the Fintech Takes podcast, hosted by yours truly.

In this 4-part series, I’ll be cracking open one of fintech’s most puzzling topics: customer service. And I’ll be joined by Corey Besaw, President of APAC and one of the founders of Ubiquity, a company that knows a thing or two about scaling up a customer service operation. 

While fintechs are famously customer-obsessed —- from early paycheck access to compliance emails so spectacular they can move regulators —- that obsession hasn’t always extended to customer service.

Fintechs love to "engineer around" customer service, but as they compete more directly with banks, this will shift. FAQs and chatbots can’t solve everything. Sometimes, people need to talk about their money, and that builds trust. 

So, what’s the sweet spot between automation and human touch for fintechs? This series dives into what works and what doesn’t. 

Over the next four episodes, we’ll explore customer service challenges, from BaaS and Reg E to generative AI, all while keeping in mind the human side of money.

In this episode, episode 1, Alex and Corey explore how fintechs and traditional banks approach customer service and what customers actually want when they pick up their phone and try to solve a problem.

Highlights include:

Is tech convenience enough, or is the reassuring voice of a real person still king? Tune in to find out.

And don’t forget to subscribe and catch more insights on what customers want in upcoming episodes!

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 Alex: 

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

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

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

Follow Corey:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-besaw-8004182/

Learn more about Ubiquity here:

https://www.ubiquity.com/