Propagate Fintech Podcast

With AI reshaping financial services, banking as a service is having a major moment. Roland Howard sits down with Jared Robinson of Legend Bank, a 140-year-old community bank in Bowie, Texas, to unpack what happens when a bank stands up a fintech partner banking program. It holds up a mirror to the institution. Jared shares how Legend Bank launched during the toughest stretch BaaS has seen, why they read every consent order, how they underwrite fintech partners, and why few moments in a banker's career drive learning and upskilling this fast.

Key Takeaways

•BaaS extends a bank's charter, rails, and FDIC insurance to fintechs that excel at UI, marketing, and customer acquisition.

•Most community banks lean on net interest margin. BaaS adds non-interest income and a new deposit channel.

•AI agents that shop for the best savings rate or cheapest loan could compress bank margins quickly.

•Start with an honest assessment of people, processes, technology, and analytics. If customer service tops your strengths list, get an outside opinion.

•Legend Bank used published consent orders as its roadmap. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.

•Bring regulators in early and treat them as a key stakeholder.

•Underwrite fintechs like an investor: product, team, economics, compliance maturity, and character.

•Every company is dying until it isn't. Financials, burn rate, and real in-person time tell the story.

Timestamps

00:00  Defining banking as a service

02:50  Why a 140-year-old bank got into BaaS

04:40  AI agents and the threat of margin compression

07:09  How BaaS changed the way the bank works with fintechs

11:01  Fintech partner banking vs. banking as a service

14:35  Where a community bank should start

19:38  Lessons from launching in 2022 and 2023

22:19  What a productive regulator conversation looks like

24:13  How regulators view AI-driven fintechs

26:51  What broke first inside the bank

30:33  How Legend Bank underwrites a fintech partner

35:17  Spotting a fintech on life support

39:17  A partner who nailed the onboarding process

41:26  Do people need banks or just banking?

43:41  The anatomy of a BaaS setup

46:17  What banking looks like in five years

48:21  Advice for breaking into fintech

50:35  Advice for community bank executives

52:27  How to connect with Legend Bank

Resources Mentioned:

•Conducting Due Diligence on Financial Technology Companies: A Guide for Community Banks (interagency guidance)

Connect with Jared and Legend Bank

•Email: [email protected]

•LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jared-robinson-a9719a154/

Listen and Subscribe

•Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6uQG5hQufhHLVDilxuXUuq?si=803c17eb7c5c4919

•Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

You ever leave a conference totally inspired, only to forget everything a few days later? Too much of what gets said on stage is theoretical. It's heavy on vision and light on the playbook.

In this episode, Roland sits down with Jade Mitchell, who leads content at FinTech Meetup, one of the first major fintech shows of the year. Jade walks through how she builds an agenda with the industry, not just for it. She explains why trust became the theme for the upcoming show and how FinTech Meetup's double opt-in meetings program brokers around 50,000 meetings in three days.

We also get into Fintech in 5, a new open mic format that gives anyone five minutes on stage. Jade covers what it takes to win one of two $50,000 SAFE notes in the startup pitch competition. She also shares how the Signal Week acquisition brings a larger digital assets summit to the show.

Plus, we talk about The Network, FinTech Meetup's 15-part comedy series about the pitfalls of corporate office life. It's a great example of a brand willing to use humor to stand out. The series was produced by Failure Island, directed by Dorea Slagle, and written by Lucinda Sweazey. New episodes drop every Thursday at 9 a.m. ET on LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram.

If you're planning your team's conference calendar or you're a startup looking to get in front of bankers, this one's for you.

Oh, and if you're wondering about that intro track, it's "Meeting of the Minds" by Matt Large. Go show him some love.

Timestamps

00:00 How the FinTech Meetup agenda gets built
 02:08 Why attendees forget what they learned, and the push for tactical content
 04:47 Fintech in 5: an open mic for anyone in the industry
 06:53 FinTech Feud and experimenting with new session formats
 08:18 Humor in marketing and The Network comedy series
 11:25 Why trust is the theme of the show
 14:26 The double opt-in meetings program
 17:05 Around 50,000 meetings in three days
 17:36 How bankers can get the most out of their meetings
 19:19 The startup pitch competition and the $50,000 SAFE notes
 21:27 How startups get selected to pitch on stage
 22:42 The Signal Week acquisition and the digital assets summit
 24:31 Why FinTech Meetup belongs on your conference calendar
 27:12 Where to watch The Network

Links

FinTech Meetup: Click here
The Network series: Click here

Credits

Intro Music
"Meeting of the Minds" by Matt Large

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Private label credit cards are losing ground, and Buy Now Pay Later is a big reason why. Grace Broadbent, payments analyst at eMarketer, joins the show to unpack why store card originations have stalled since 2021, why average interest rates on those cards just crossed 30 percent, and why retailers, not banks, end up taking the blame when balances go bad. We get into how BNPL expanded into card linked installments at Chase, Citi, and Amex, why the experience economy, think stadium lounges and early access to Taylor Swift tickets, has become a real driver of card acquisition, and how eMarketer is tracking which brands show up when consumers ask ChatGPT and Gemini for financial advice.

What We Cover

• (00:00) Grace Broadbent on eMarketer's payments research and proprietary data
• (01:27) Why private label credit card originations have stalled since 2021
• (02:25) Private label APR risk, now averaging above 30 percent
• (03:25) Why retailers, not banks, take the blame when balances go bad
• (05:48) Chasing loyalists with data instead of chasing new accounts
• (07:19) Buy Now Pay Later's rise, and why younger consumers are avoiding credit
• (09:13) How BNPL expanded through Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and card linked installments
• (11:51) The experience economy: rewards, live sports, and stadium exclusives
• (14:37) The Taylor Swift and Capital One story
• (14:59) How Gen Alpha is entering the payments ecosystem years before they can open a card
• (17:26) Stablecoins and tokenized deposits: threat or opportunity for card issuers
• (20:08) How consumers use AI to research credit cards and BNPL providers
• (21:47) Inside eMarketer's AI Visibility Index
• (23:25) Where to find Grace and eMarketer's research

Notable Quote
“Until a stablecoin payment can get you into an airport lounge or to the front of the line at a stadium, credit card issuers do not have much to worry about.”
Grace Broadbent, eMarketer

About Our Guest:
Grace Broadbent covers payments at eMarketer, where she researches credit cards, digital wallets, and Buy Now Pay Later trends. She also works on eMarketer's AI Visibility Index, which tracks how brands show up in AI-generated financial recommendations. Find more of her research at eMarketer.com and connect with her on LinkedIn, linked below.

Links & Resources:

• eMarketer: emarketer.com
• eMarketer's AI Visibility Index, Financial Services: emarketer.com/content/ai-visibility-index-financial-services-leaders-movers
• Grace Broadbent on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/grace-broadbent
• Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts
• Follow Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech
• Learn more: propagatefintech.com

Want to Be a Guest?

• Grab 30 minutes with Roland: calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Steve Shaw spent ten years at Fiserv working across product, marketing, and go to market before helping build out SRM's AI-powered consulting practice. In this episode, Roland and Steve get into how AI is reshaping fintech consulting, why SEO is giving way to AEO and GEO, and why marketing without product in the room is just a task list.

Timestamps

00:00 – Steve's ten years at Fiserv and how SRM wove AI into its enterprise consulting practice

00:14 – Using 30+ years of industry data as an AI-powered consulting input

01:23 – Turning institutional knowledge into something semantically searchable before it walks out the door

02:18 – Are fintech orgs still struggling to find a beachhead for AI, or is everyone on board now

03:07 – The shift from SEO to AEO and GEO, and what it means for fintech marketers

04:38 – Are blogs dead? Why proprietary insight and proof points still matter

05:57 – Why go to market has to be a shared responsibility across product, sales, and marketing

08:31 – Fiserv's Pragmatic Marketing Framework and what it looked like when product led GTM

10:57 – How product's direct access to customers shapes better roadmaps and messaging

12:45 – Steve's one piece of advice for lean fintech marketing teams

14:19 – Where to follow Steve Shaw

YouTube Shorts
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/M3BGQ2Bz7m0

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs

Book a spot on the show: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/podcast-recording-session

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Most banks think they've solved personalization because a customer's first name shows up in an email. Jeffrey Wright, Digital Communications and Strategy Manager at a community bank, makes the case for something deeper: knowing a CD is about to mature, knowing the renewal rate before the customer asks, and reaching out before it becomes a problem.

We get into what Jeff calls the Frankenstein data problem, the same customer showing up as three different records across insurance, mortgage, and the core. We talk about why attribution is one of the hardest things in bank marketing, from billboards to abandoned forms sitting in the wrong system. And we cover the operator's side of the job: choosing channels, earning executive buy-in, and running an AI agent inside Monday.com that's slowly becoming the bank's entire campaign operating system.

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Real personalization vs a first name in an email
02:04 - Inside the CD renewal campaign: 14-day, 7-day, and 4-day triggers
04:51 - What happens to the money when a CD matures
06:16 - Turning one product's end into the next conversation
07:30 - Why banks lag behind credit card aggregators on remarketing
09:38 - Not all data needs to sync in real time
11:23 - The Frankenstein data problem
13:06 - Centralizing on Salesforce and Data 360
16:56 - Trusting the data over the gut
18:59 - How to evaluate a new channel before jumping in
22:32 - What's hardest to attribute in bank marketing
24:41 - Finding a distinct voice without going off brand
30:37 - Humor as an underused tool in bank marketing
31:38 - Getting executive buy-in for something untested
35:16 - Running an AI agent inside Monday.com
39:26 - Technical debt and the fragmented campaign problem

OTHER EPISODES

Why Most Digital Transformation in Banking Fails, with ICBA's Justin Dunmyer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt-BRZK1BdA

What Happens When Credit Scores Meet Cashflow, with American Banker's Melinda Huspen https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-propagate-fintech-podcast-321066386/episode/what-happens-when-credit-scores-meet-321910552/

YOUTUBE SHORTS

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z2Wq8uA5eVg https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rdY1Q1vzPFI

LISTEN ANYWHERE

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6uQG5hQufhHLVDilxuXUuq YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-WE52Kq2dzXCTaL6SWbYRQ

Book 30 minutes with Roland: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Greg Palmer has coached thousands of fintech founders through Finovate's seven minute, no slides, live demo format. In this episode, he breaks down what separates a demo that lands from one that dies on stage, why saying "we use AI" stopped being enough, and how stablecoins and tokenized deposits are moving from novelty to strategy for banks. Greg also shares the exit sign trick he teaches nervous first time presenters, what actually happens when a demo crashes live in front of an audience, and how to get the most out of Finovate whether you are a banker, a startup, or walking the floor for the first time. Plus, a discount code for anyone thinking about attending.

Chapter List

00:00 - How Finovate decides which banks, credit unions, and fintechs to feature

02:13 - Why competitors are willing to share openly on the show floor

03:48 - Why "we use AI" doesn't impress anyone anymore

07:37 - The regulatory pressure banks face when experimenting with new tools

08:55 - Stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and the World of Warcraft gold origin story

13:01 - What a first time banker should prepare before attending Finovate

16:01 - How early stage startups can get the most out of the event

19:14 - Working the booth after your demo without losing anyone in line

21:33 - Greg's theater background and the most common coaching fix he makes

26:48 - Why founders still need to go back to basics on the seven minute pitch

29:58 - The exit sign trick for staying calm on stage

33:19 - What panic attacks and total confidence both look like from the audience

34:58 - What to do when your demo crashes live on stage

38:10 - How to decide if Finovate is worth your one show a year

41:21 - Discount code: PROPAGATE20 for 20% off registration

41:45 - Where to find Finovate and reach Greg directly

42:25 - Greg's coaching work outside of Finovate

Discount Code

Use code PROPAGATE20 for 20% off Finovate registration.

Links

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com

Propagate Fintech: https://www.propagatefintech.com

Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech

Book 30 minutes with Roland: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min

YouTube Shorts

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Z2Wq8uA5eVg

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rdY1Q1vzPFI

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Lending technology is still running on infrastructure nobody would build from scratch today.

I sat down with Mike Dunleavey and Gino Angeli from LASER Credit Access this week. About twenty minutes in, Mike described the average loan origination system as feeling like a 747 cockpit. Buttons, panels, widgets everywhere. Nobody designed it. It just accumulated over forty years.

LASER's whole thesis is doing one thing well inside Salesforce: pulling credit data, bank statements, and identity verification into one clean decision, with the compliance trail built in automatically. Not trying to be the whole loan origination stack. Just the front door, done right.

A few things from the conversation worth pulling out on their own.

Episode timestamps:

• 0:00 Intro and what LASER Credit Access does for lenders
• 1:42 How lending compliance has changed over the last decade plus
• 6:52 Why LASER stayed focused on the front end instead of building a full loan origination system
• 7:54 Why lending technology still looks like a 747 cockpit
• 11:14 The range of lenders LASER works with, and where their needs differ
• 14:00 Managing change fatigue during implementation
• 18:11 Branding, storytelling, and how LASER thinks about marketing
• 26:25 Staying visible for over a decade without a big marketing budget
• 28:40 The fraud landscape, and the fake ID demo that stunned the room
• 31:27 A real client story: forged bank statements and a fifty thousand dollar loss
• 34:38 Where AI fits, and does not fit, inside LASER's own operations
• 39:44 Rapid fire: automation wish lists and vendor evaluation advice
• 44:59 Where to learn more about LASER Credit Access

On fraud, and how fast it's moving

Gino told me about a client who got hit with fully AI generated bank statements, pay stubs, and W2s. The borrower got a fifty thousand dollar loan and then vanished. And the tools behind it aren't specialized or hard to find. Gino showed a room full of Salesforce partners how to generate a realistic fake driver's license using nothing but a LinkedIn photo and Gemini. Took him about a minute.

That's not a hypothetical anymore, and it's part of a bigger shift in how fast AI is reshaping the tools everyone in fintech and banking reaches for day to day.

On why they've barely spent a dollar on marketing

Gino said something I've been chewing on since the interview: their growth has come almost entirely from referral sources, Salesforce consultants and implementation partners, not from campaigns. And when I asked why they've stayed away from broader marketing, his answer was blunt. A random lender scrolling TikTok isn't the decision maker at a loan shop. They'd rather be the trusted answer a consultant gives when someone says "I need something for this."

It's a good reminder of a pattern I see constantly in fintech. Most pitches fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the product.

On compliance, and where the regulatory ground is shifting

A big part of what LASER solves is the audit trail. Permissible purpose, consent language, retention windows, all tracked automatically so a lender isn't scrambling when a bureau or regulator comes calling. Worth watching alongside a separate conversation we had recently on just how much the ground under federal regulatory independence is moving right now.

On AI inside their own shop

Mike and Gino don't let AI anywhere near their production code, and they were clear about why. They're sitting on personally identifiable information for hundreds of lenders, and one bad update is not a risk either of them is willing to take. Where AI has earned a seat is documentation, internal knowledge base work, and organizing thirteen years of support history. Useful, bounded, and nowhere near the parts of the business that can't afford a mistake.

If you're evaluating lending technology, or just curious how a thirteen year old company stays lean and referral driven without a marketing department, worth a listen.

More on what LASER does: https://www.lasercreditaccess.com/

Related watches: Claude becoming the de facto AI option for fintechs and bankers: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uphn9BlsPS8 Why most fintech media pitches fail: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/E4DMgreeDZ4 The death of federal agency independence: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tk4nzXXrJqs

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

For decades the Federal Reserve operated like it sat on its own island: insulated, untouchable, above the political fray. Two Supreme Court rulings, Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook, just rewrote the rules on whether a president can fire the people who run the nation's monetary policy. Kyle Campbell, who covers the Fed and bank regulation for American Banker, joins the show to break down what these rulings really mean, what happens if Trump succeeds in removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook, and whether Kevin Warsh can keep the institution independent, or if he becomes what one senator has called a sock puppet.

What We Cover

(00:09) The pair of Supreme Court rulings that left the Fed as the last agency standing on independence

(02:00) Why the Fed got an exception when the Court said no other agency gets one

(03:54) What happens if Trump succeeds in removing Fed Governor Lisa Cook

(08:19) The safeguards still standing between the White House and the FOMC

(12:47) This week's FOMC meeting, set against an escalating war in the Middle East

(14:05) Whether there is any backchannel between the Fed and the Department of War

(16:00) What a harmonized, single-minded regulatory era means for financial services

Notable Quote

"Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it. And if you push the Fed and the economy tanks, everybody knows it was by your design." — Roland Howard

About Our Guest

Kyle Campbell covers the Federal Reserve and bank regulation for American Banker. His July 20th article, “What comes next for the Fed's regulatory independence,” sparked this conversation and is linked below.

Links & Resources

● American Banker: What comes next for the Fed's regulatory independence

● Listen on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/propagate-fintech-podcast/id1874648654

● Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts

● Follow Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech

● Learn more: propagatefintech.com

Want to Be a Guest?

Grab time on Roland's calendar: calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Most fintech brands play it safe with their marketing. Static image, motion graphic, list your differentiators, call it a day. Nobody gets in trouble for that. But safe doesn't fail loud, it fails quiet, and quiet is the real risk.

In this episode, Roland breaks down why humor is one of the most wide open lanes in fintech marketing and almost nobody is fighting for it. He walks through a real project where his team had fifteen thousand dollars and sixteen seconds of screen time to work with, no audio, at a major trade show. What happened next, including killing the idea, reviving it, and testing it against real bankers, is the whole episode.

0:00 – The fifteen thousand dollar thought exercise
1:15 – Why humor is the most wide open lane in fintech marketing
2:40 – Where the industry's "safe" instinct comes from
3:50 – Why playing it safe is the real risk, not the joke that misses
5:10 – How AI lowered the cost of testing a bold idea
6:20 – Three tactics for building this muscle on your team
9:00 – The real client story: sixteen seconds, no audio, $15K on the line
11:45 – Killing the fun idea, then bringing it back
13:00 – What happened when they tested it with real bankers and execs
14:20 – The ask: pick one project this quarter

Links: 

 💼 Follow Propagate Fintech on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/propagatefintech 

🎬 More clips on YouTube Shorts: https://www.youtube.com/@PropagateFintech/shorts 

🌐 www.propagatefintech.com

Want help building a bolder content strategy for your fintech brand? Book time with Roland: https://calendly.com/roland-propagatefintech/30min

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com

Powell's out. Kevin Warsh is in. And it's not just a new name at the podium, it's a completely different communication philosophy for the Federal Reserve.

Kyle Campbell, who covers the Fed for American Banker, joins the show to break down what Warsh's "say less, smile more" approach means for banks, fintechs, and markets that got used to the Fed spelling everything out.

What We Cover...

The Philosophy Shift:

Kyle explains why Warsh's first press conference looked so different from the Powell era, and what it means when the Fed intentionally pulls back on forward guidance.

Why is the fed saying less?

The Fed's policy statement went from three or four hundred words down to about 130. Kyle breaks down what got cut and why.

What are Reserve Bank Presidents?

A look inside how the FOMC actually votes, who rotates on and off, and why regional perspectives matter more than people realize.

Is Warsh a "Sock Puppet" for Trump?

Kyle's take on Warsh's independence, and how his first vote compared to what happened under short-term board member Stephen Miren.

What is Greenspan's legacy?

The Great Moderation, the subprime years, and what Kyle's sources including former Fed vice chairs Don Cohn and Alan Blinder say about Greenspan's gift for telling the right story at the right time.

How does the Fed look at AI?

What Kyle would ask Warsh off the record about AI as a productivity driver, and why that answer matters for inflation and the deficit.

Key Takeaways

• The Fed under Warsh favors reacting to markets over directing them
• Less forward guidance can mean more uncertainty for lending and credit conditions
• Regional Reserve Bank presidents play a bigger role in FOMC decisions than most people assume
• Greenspan's era shows both the upside and the risk of a Fed chair with real cultural influence

Timestamps

• 00:00 – The philosophy shift under Warsh
• 02:37 – What got cut from the Fed statement
• 10:23 – How reserve bank presidents vote
• 15:45 – Warsh's independence from Trump
• 18:12 – Alan Greenspan's legacy
• 28:34 – What Kyle would ask Warsh off the record

More Episodes You'll Like

• What happens when cash flow underwriting meets AI?
• CIO Survival Guide for AI - Claude Entitlements,AI Semantic Model, Clean Data
• Culture Before Digital Transformation

About Our Guest:

Kyle Campbell covers the Federal Reserve and bank regulation for American Banker, with a growing focus on emerging risks across AI and crypto in the financial system.

Want to work with Propagate Fintech? Fill out a contact form at www.propagatefintech.com