Payments Innovation

In the US, it’s hard to top the pilgrims for a national identity story.

It’s an enduring symbol of a country worth struggling to live in.

But those struggles never really went away — they just modernized.

Modern problems require modern solutions, which Joaquín Ayuso de Paul, GM at Rayo, and his team are helping to provide with their global bank account. 

He came on the show today to explain the significant financial hurdles immigrants face and why modern fintechs are better equipped to solve them than legacy banks. 

What we talked about:

-The financial pain points immigrants navigate

-How Rayo is helping US immigrants solve them

-How to find the perfect partner and provide value to a niche audience

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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Do you ever use to think about the journey your $20 bill took to find your wallet?

The places it’s been. The things it purchased. The hands it passed through…

Well, I guess we’re all thinking about that last one now and opting for contactless payments. 

But that’s just one of the ways COVID-19 is ratcheting up existing financial trends.

That’s why we invited Jennifer Worley, SVP Product & Marketing at Meta Payment Systems, on the show today. She’s been studying the payments trends surrounding the COVID-19 crisis and came on to share what she has learned. 

Jennifer explained:

-How social distancing has renewed the urgency for contactless payments

-Why traditional distribution models don’t work under in today’s crisis

-Why businesses are rethinking how to get cash to people who need it

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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The pandemic is like an advertisement for the Boy Scout motto: Always be prepared.

Yet, financially, few Americans are. Most have less than $500 in savings!

They need to follow the Boy Scout credo. And they need Fintech to do it. 

And my guest today, Ahmed Siddiqui, Head of Product at Branch, is trying to help get American workers merit badges in financial wellness. 

Branch is a challenger bank making financial tools for the American worker to unshackle them from the two-week payment cycle limiting their financial success. 

What we talked about:

-Why Branch pivoted to payments

-How they are keeping the service free for employers and employees

-What the future holds for Fintech

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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In the wake of the sudden COVID-19 economy, we might forget the small-scale financial crises people face every day. 

In the huge segment of the workforce living paycheck-to-paycheck, any sudden expense can become a financial crisis. 

And until recently, their only option was to start a cycle of debt through expensive short-term loans.  

Our guest today, Frank Dombroski, Founder and CEO of FlexWage Solutions, is leading the charge — without the high charges — for an alternative.  His company offers a solution that provides people with early access to earned wages.

What we talked about:

-The genesis of Flex Wage

-Challenges to adoption

-Why early wage access appeals to HR and Benefits 

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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The COVID-19 crisis has hit everyone — often on multiple fronts.

For many, the only thing as scary as the pandemic is the economic side-effects.

And, unsurprisingly, this is causing major shakeups in the world of payments. 

On the show today, we spoke with Daniel Webber, Founder and CEO of FXC Intelligence to learn more about trends in the industry and get a forecast for what to expect as the crisis plays out. 

And, while much of the news is bleak, there are some notable silver linings. 

Daniel went over:

-How the hard-hit travel industry is responding

-The issues with remittances in the current climate

-The good news coming out of the industry

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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It’s hard to talk about anything these days without it somehow circling back to the pandemic.

But, since this is a show about innovation, it’s not all bad news — innovation thrives in challenging times.

Crises spur new ideas, creative spins on what we do already and demonstrate the value of thinking differently. And Fintech is no exception.

So says my guest today, Erica Dorfman. And when it comes to innovation, she should know. That’s because Erica is the VP of Cash at Brex, a company who consistently nails it when it comes to thinking outside-the-box.

We had a chance to talk about:

• The benefits to Brex owning its entire tech stack
• How Cash is innovating the high-yield business cash management account
• The positive possibilities a pandemic provides

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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As the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, our socially-distanced world has paradoxically revealed how connected we really are.

A pandemic that knows no borders has everyone realizing the borders our technology can cross just as easily. We’ve learned to work together, apart.

And payments are no exception. Technology has made it easier than ever to work, sell, pay or get paid internationally.  

We’re joined today by Iain McNicoll, Regional Head of SMB Americas at Payoneer, a company dismantling the barriers in international payments.

Iain covers:

• How technology like Payoneer is simplifying payments abroad
• Why small sellers are entering new markets
• Why international freelancing is booming

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here. 

Until next time!

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In the world of transaction technology, we all care about the same things:

• Security and Risk reduction
• Customer experience
• Friction minimization

Today commonly these concerns are handled by the use of EMV chips and NFC.  But what if there were a way to send and receive transaction data over a distance of several feet securely?

I sat down with Eric Allen, CEO of LISNR to find out if audio is becoming a disruptive force potentially taking over as the new standard and what the benefits are of this innovation.

What we discussed:

• The origin story of LISNR’s data-over-audio
• How the technology works
• Why audio is a great option
• Additional benefits

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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Paying bills is nothing new, and it's not likely to change. We will always have to pay bills, but should we be paying them like we did 100 years ago? Today, one in four bills gets paid in check or cash. 

It's 2020! Why is it so complicated for people around the world to pay a bill? And how can people who work abroad pay their bills back home instead of sending cash?

On today's episode of the Payments Innovation podcast, we invited Fabian Saide, CEO of Paykii, to talk about cross-border bill pay using his company's platform.

What we discussed:

• How the idea for Paykii developed
• The way the Paykii platform works
• The rise of superapps in economies that big banks are not serving well
• How Paykii structures partnerships so they work for remittance providers and financial institutions

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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Who's behind the boom in fintech startups? How are digital-wallet entrepreneurs, for instance, launching their ideas? How much of their products are they building in house? 

The front end of fintech garners a lot of attention, but the back end has often gotten ignored. Nevertheless, there's an infrastructure powering everything. What is it? Who is it? How will it change?

On today's episode of the Payments Innovation podcast, we invited Chris McCann, managing partner at Proof of Capital, to take us down the fintech rabbit hole by exploring these ideas from his popular article, The FinTech Infrastructure 101. Chris helps us understand the fintech ecosystem, specifically who does what and the value of the chain.

What we talked about:

• How the idea for The FinTech Infrastructure 101, Chris' article, got started
• The landscape of banking as a service and the "really, really, really new idea" of APIs
• What fintech companies are using to power their existing applications
• Trends that are fundamentally challenging the core assumptions of fintech
• How fintech ecosystems could develop differently around the world

To ensure that you never miss an episode of Payments Innovation, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, or here.

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