One Vision Podcast — Fintech, Banking, and AI with Theodora Lau

At the end of 2018, the Impact investing market had grown to $228 Billion. The standard ways of measuring performance of an investment using Risk and Returns is being enriched by another dimension of performance measurement - it's Impact. The three dimensional methodology of measuring the outcome of a business is gaining popularity amongst the younger generation.

In this episode of Shades of Grey, Arun Krishnakumar and Theodora Lau speak to John Lloyd. John is the Chief Marketing Officer at ClearlySo, Europe’s leading impact investment bank, working exclusively with businesses and funds delivering positive social, ethical, and/or environmental impact as well as financial return.

John discusses his journey to ClearlySo and how he moved to London from Florida, after an MBA at Columbia. They also discuss the opportunities and trends in impact investing, and the differences between Europe and Americas in this field. 

Listen in for John's insights on impact investing.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fraud detection is complex and the amount of data that needs to be mined and analyzed is massive. AI shows great promise in being able to move from detecting fraud after the fact, to predicting and preventing it before it happens. This will serve to minimize the financial exposure of the older adults, and preserve their dignity.

In this episode of Shades of Grey, Theodora Lau and Arunkumar Krishnakumar talk to Liz Loewy, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at EverSafe. Eversafe leverages historical financial behavior across different bank accounts to build personal profiles, and analyzes daily transactions to identify anomalies including missing deposits and late bill payments, which can be indicative of potential cognitive decline, and likelihood of falling victim to financial exploitations. Suspicious activity alerts are then sent out to both the older adult and his/her designated “trusted advocates”. 

Liz, Theo and Arun discuss how critical it is to protect the ageing population from financial frauds. The age and the amount of assets held by older adults make them prime targets for financial exploitation: the 50-plus account for thirty percent of the U.S. population, holding over seventy percent of deposit balances. In addition, 10,000 people turn 65 on a daily basis – so much as that by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older. 

Listen in to hear more interesting insights on Fraud prevention in a growing market.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As Ron Shevlin eloquently puts it, “consumers are not looking for a new savings account; they are looking for help to save”. 

Joining us in this episode of Shades of Grey, Sarah Morgenstern, Principal at Omidyar Network. Theodora Lau and Arun Krishnakumar discuss the Impact investment landscape and Sarah's thoughts on investment opportunities focused on longevity.

Gone are the days where we work in the same full-time corporate job and retire with pensions. Across all generations, more than a quarter of workers in the U.S. are engaging in freelance or short-term work arrangements in some capacity, sometimes with multiple employers. And the number is expected to increase.

Mary Meeker reported that freelance workforces is growing three times faster (at 8.1%) than the growth of the total workforce (at 2.5%). Financial services must move beyond being deposit gatherers to actively solving the day-to-day financial challenges of consumers, and shepherding them towards a more financially secure future. 

After all, this is what financial services should have been about. Listen in to an exciting chat with lots of insights

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to AARP, more than 10 million people aged 50 and above live in poverty in the U.S., and more than 37 million are just one life event away from slipping into it. Amongst those who are 65 and older, more than twice as many women as men live in poverty. And the problem is even more acute for African American, Hispanic, and Native Americans.

In this episode of Shades of Grey, Theodora Lau and  Arunkumar Krishnakumar talk to Paolo Narciso, VP AARP Foundation. After 36 years of leading companies in the Education, Financial Services, Technology, and Government sectors to drive rapid revenue growth and scale, Paolo still has so much enthusiasm with a vision to eradicate poverty and inequality.

To move the needle on poverty will require partnership between private and public sectors, including vehicles to help workers earn a living wage and save more. It will also require a change in mindset, and a substantial increase in financial literacy that must begin at younger age.

Listen in for insights from Paolo's four decades of experience and his enthusiasm to effect purposeful change.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“When you get to be my age (93), just to hear another person’s voice gets you through the day. I never thought I’d get to see this in my lifetime.”

When it comes to the next big disruption, voice technology is undoubtedly one of the most
talked about. And no one is more enthusiastic about this than Dave Isbitski, Chief Evangelist, Alexa at Amazon. 

Theodora Lau and Arun Krishnakumar speak to Dave about how voice is now starting to be the new user interface. According to Dave, voice will be transformative in how we conduct our day-to-day lives. Not only does voice technology allow us to meet people in the moment, it brings generations that were not exposed to technology together – the young and the aged. It provides children with access to information even before they can read or write, and older adults with a digital companion and connection to the outside world. Above all, it provides them a sense of empowerment that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

While voice is the new user interface – it is only one of multiple modalities through which we
communicate. Just as there are different shades of grey, there will be different integration points where voice technology will play an increasingly important role along the various stages of our lives. Although we are far from being able to hold a true conversation with our virtual assistants, the progress we have made to-date has been remarkable. Studies have shown the benefit of smart speaker adoption to combat loneliness and isolation experienced by older adults. And the revolution for voice has just begun.

Maybe that in itself is a lesson for us all. As I often said, innovation isn’t about making
incremental changes or shiny new gadgets. The true value of AI and other emerging
technologies lie in their ability to create new customer value. It is about bringing positive
changes in the way we live and interact with each other.

Listen in for all that and more with Dave Isbitski, our special guest for the week

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shades of Grey is a podcast about living. This season of Rhetoriq is hosted by Arun Krishnakumar, Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer.

It is a collection of stories from a diverse universe of entrepreneurs and thought leaders, using their collective power and intellect to change the narrative of aging. It is a testament that technology and innovation should be inclusive and age-agnostic. It is a call for action – for the society to not to just focus on the short-term gains, but on what can be done for the long-term well-being of all.

If all aspects of our lives are changing, then why not the way we plan and manage our finances? As innovators, how do we design products with all people in mind as we age – so that we can bring communities and generations closer together? And how do we leverage emerging technologies such as voice, artificial intelligence, and advanced data analytics to create solutions that address the challenges of an aging demographics – where nearly a quarter of all caregivers in the U.S. are millennials?

The future of aging should not be a story of survival – but one of living

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Blockchain and Financial Inclusion, Arun Krishnakumar and Efi Pylarinou talk to Kavita Gupta - Managing Partner at Consensys Ventures. In her role at Consensys, Kavita also manages Tachyon - an incubator programme for Blockchain startups using Ethereum.

The discussion covers the core areas of focus for Consensys Ventures, and some of the investments they have made in the past, and the overarching thesis they have for their investments. 

Kavita touches upon her views of Blockchain in the emerging markets, and highlights that many firms they have worked with at Consensys ventures and Tachyon are based out of emerging markets, and have tremendous technology potential along with a market to go after.

Kavita also shares her vision of Blockchain in Governments, and how a Blockchain based tax system could potentially have significant impact in markets such as India. We close the conversation with her views on the cryptocurrency ban in India, and why she felt Blockchain was still a big opportunity in the subcontinent.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our special guest for this episode of Blockchain and Financial Inclusion is Sandra Ro, the CEO of Global Blockchain Business Council (GBBC). Sandra, who is ex-banker, with several years of experience on the trading floors of London, became a believer of Blockchain in 2012. She wears several hats in her journey within Blockchain for Social Impact.

Efi Pylarinou and Arun Krishnakumar discuss several topics with Sandra starting from her involvement in Blockchain for farmers. Sandra explains how the on-the-ground challenges faced by farmers in Africa was an eye opener for her, and provides insights based on hands-on experiences in these markets.

The discussion touches upon a practical example of how farmers in Senegal benefited from getting their assets on Blockchain. The transparency and trust that the information sitting on a network, allowed them to access further opportunities, globally.

Sandra discusses the origins of GBBC - in Sir Richard Branson's island in 2016, and how the working model has benefited enterprises and governments across the world. We close off the discussion with the possibilities of Blockchain based alternate ecosystems, when a particular region is excluded from main stream financial services.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luis Buenaventura joins us for this episode of Blockchain and Financial Inclusion. Efi Pylarinou and Arun Krishnakumar join Luis, who is the Chief Strategy Officer at Bloom Solutions also an avid Crypto-Cartoonist.

In this episode, they discuss the "reBittance" market in Asia - particularly Philippines. The term reBittance was coined by Luis years ago. Philippines is one of the biggest markets in the world for remittance with an annual volume of $2.5 Billion. 

Luis highlights the challenges that small ecommerce businesses face in the Philippines due to the lack of payment infrastructure at the end consumer. Through his personal experiences, Luis and Bloom identified a gap that Blockchain could resolve. Initially starting with Bitcoins, Bloom subsequently moved on to Stellar Blockchain.

Bloom have now managed $100 Million in Remittances in the corridor, and have expansion plans across other remittance corridors. The discussion also covers why in its current state, the remittance market still requires some of the middle men, and how Bloom plan to fit into the ecosystem.

We close the episode discussing the overarching challenge of Financial Inclusion, and Luis' passion for Crypto Cartoons.            

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Blockchain and Financial Inclusion, Eduardo Salazar, Founder of Forctis joins Efi Pylarinou and Arun Krishnakumar. 

Eduardo shares his views on the impact of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in Latin America. With on the ground experience in the inflation hit continent, Eduardo explains the challenges that businesses and people there face. 

The experience in 2001 when crisis hit Argentina was going through hyper-inflation, was the driver for Eduardo to look at the merits of Blockchain. We discuss the concept of getting assets on to a Blockchain and how a token representing different assets can eventually be used as a medium of transaction.

The discussion moves on to Stablecoins, and the reasons that Eduardo and his team are looking at it for their platform. That is then followed by the controversial Petra, and what impact it could have on Venzuela's economy - if any.

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, digital banking, financial inclusion, and the future of money — with founders, analysts, venture capitalists, technologists, and operators building the next chapter of financial services. New episodes weekly. Featured guests include leaders from Ant, bunq, J.D. Power, Forrester, IBM, Microsoft, Salesforce, SAS, SAP, and Wall Street Journal. Recognized in American Banker's Top 20 Most Influential Women in Fintech.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.