Provoke.fm Media

August was hosted by Matteo Rizzi and the conversation features Ian Horne, Head of Content at Saxo Bank, and Sarah Kocianski, fintech consultant and former CEO of Fintech Wales, discussing major developments in the sector. They begin with AI-powered browsers, weighing opportunities for personalization against serious risks to privacy, data usage, and transparency. Klarna’s evolution from buy-now-pay-later to a full shopping ecosystem, its regulatory positioning, and plans for an IPO are explored, alongside broader BNPL growth. The panel highlights stablecoins, with Tether’s investment in Juventus and African startups signaling their role in remittances, cross-border payments, and the need for banks to provide liquidity. They also address implications for global currencies and financial infrastructure. Discussion then shifts to “agentic” AI in insurance, examining benefits of automation versus risks of mis-selling and lack of human empathy. Finally, they reflect on Africa’s rapid fintech growth, reduced U.S. funding, and Europe’s opportunity to increase investment.

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Connect with our guests:

Sarah Kocianski: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahkocianski

Ian Horne: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-horne-86335399/

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JOIN THE GLOBAL SME FINANCE FORUM – SEP 15-17, Johannesburg, South Africa: https://registration.globalsmefinanceforum.com/sme/begin?c_5950203%5B0%5D=33877891&c_5950819=33888776®_type_id=856543&ref=GSMEFF25-IND-PTNR-BBE02&code=GSMEFF25-IND-PTNR-BBE02

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This week on Breaking Banks we’re excited to introduce Brett King’s latest book, Branch Tomorrow. This new book re-examines our understanding of bank branches, banking culture, and the future of financial services across the globe, from the US to India, China and Latin America.

In a special Breaking Banks series, Brett interviews contributing authors Bruno Diniz, Efi Pylarinou, Jim Marous, Paolo Sironi, and Richard Turrin to deliver a multi-perspective global look at banking. Each author brings specialties in different markets; all analyzing changes and data from the past decade to what’s been happening with branch banking and providing insights into the ongoing transformation in finance.

In this conversation, Brett speaks with Bruno Diniz, Financial Innovation Expert, Bestselling Author, Speaker and Professor specializing in fostering financial innovation in Latin America. They delve into the evolution of banking in Brazil and LATAM, particularly the decline of traditional bank branches and the rise of digital banks like Nubank with its rapid growth in Latin America (123 million+ customers). They also explore the impact of regulatory changes, the economics of digital banking, and the role of innovative payment systems like PIX while discussing the challenges traditional banks face in adapting to this rapidly changing financial landscape.

We encourage you to listen now and stay tuned for more in this series!  Branch Tomorrow, releasing in September, is a must-read for bankers, regulators, fintech innovators, and future-focused leaders eager to thrive in the digital transformation of finance. The future of banking is here! 

Fighting crime through collaboration – lessons from a retired DEA Special Agent.

Detailed Summary:

In this Finovate podcast episode, host Greg Palmer interviews David Tyree, a retired DEA special agent now serving as a senior advisor with Valid8 Financial. Tyree shares his extensive career journey from joining the DEA in 1998 to working in various locations including New Mexico, Oregon, Europe, West Africa, and Wyoming. Early in his career, he discovered the effectiveness of targeting criminal organizations’ financial assets, which led to developing strong relationships with financial institutions. Tyree emphasizes that successful investigations require humility and collaboration between law enforcement and banks, noting that both sides benefit when they share information openly rather than remaining guarded.

Throughout the conversation, Tyree highlights the importance of understanding criminal typologies in financial crime detection. He discusses technological advancements that have improved financial crime investigations, including CSV files, online typology resources, and third-party monitoring software. Despite these technological improvements, Tyree consistently returns to the human element as critical, stressing that banks should focus on making their customers “the heroes of their stories” by educating them about fraud risks and empowering them with information to protect themselves, particularly vulnerable populations like the elderly.

In his current role at Valid8, Tyree helps law enforcement make sense of money movement patterns, with the platform having helped him discover an additional million dollars in a case where he had initially seized $200,000. He advises financial institutions to prioritize understanding criminal typologies across various crimes including human trafficking, drug trafficking, fraud, and elder abuse. Tyree concludes by emphasizing two key elements for effective financial crime prevention: understanding what criminal activity looks like in financial data and fostering greater collaboration between banks and law enforcement agencies to share emerging trends and patterns.

More info:

Report: https://www.valid8financial.com/money-laundering

Valid8: https://www.valid8financial.com/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/valid8-financial/

David Tyree: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidatyree/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #financialcrime #moneylaundering #fintech #fraud #antifraud #money #innovation #startup #banking

Think about the place where you live. Every inch of every city and suburb has been designed by other humans. For better or worse, their choices determine how the world around you works, and how you live and navigate through it.  Jeff Speck is the world’s leading exponent of the concept of the “walkable city”, human-centered urban centers.  In this episode of the Futurists, Jeff shares his inspiring vision of the city of the future. Topics include; the New Urbanism, how cities foster society, the impact of the automobile on the organization of society, the goals of city planning and urban design, organic neighborhood evolution versus top-down zoning, the consequences of the 1969 World’s Fair, how lifespans increased when factories were separated from living quarters, how mass transit systems shape the growth of cities, and how automation and robotics will shape the city of the future.

In this episode, Breaking Banks delves into the evolving landscape of financial health standards, exploring how the Financial Health Network is pioneering a new set of standards aimed at designing financial products that prioritize consumer well-being. These standards, set to transform financial services by focusing on customer-centric outcomes, start with a focus on checking accounts and credit cards. encouraging people to spend well, and will be part of a library of standards around how financial institutions and fintechs can design financial products and services with the user’s financial health outcome in mind. A practical blueprint for building financial products with integrated financial health solutions.

Listen as Jason Henrichs and Brett King catch up with frequent guest Jennifer Tescher, President and CEO of the Financial Health Network and host of the EMERGE Everywhere podcast to discuss these new finhealth standards launched at the recent EMERGE conference. The trio explore:

Small changes can drive big impact and improve financial decisions, management and ultimately financial lives. There is a lot that financial institutions and fintechs can do right now and make a difference, but there’s also a lot to get right — tune in now! 

Supporting the gig economy and ethical AI – two massive components you can’t afford to ignore.

Detailed Summary:

In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host interviews Tamara Laine, founder of MPWR, who shares her unique journey from professional ballerina and choreographer to documentary filmmaker, investigative journalist, and finally tech entrepreneur. Laine discusses how her extensive experience as a gig worker—spanning over half her career—revealed significant financial barriers despite earning good income. Even while making six figures at times, she couldn’t obtain credit cards or loans because traditional financial systems aren’t designed for workers without W-2 income, highlighting a critical gap affecting over half the U.S. workforce.

The conversation goes on to explore how the financial industry needs to innovate for gig workers by understanding their unique cash flow patterns and developing alternative credit assessment methods beyond traditional FICO scores. Laine emphasizes that while gig workers may have inconsistent monthly income, their annual patterns are often stable and predictable, suggesting that financial products could be redesigned to accommodate these differences. The discussion highlights how younger generations are increasingly credit-thin as they move away from traditional employment and credit products, creating an urgent need for financial inclusion.

The podcast then shifts to ethical AI, drawing from Laine’s Emmy-winning investigative reporting on activist investors—notably a group of nuns—who pushed major corporations to implement ethical AI frameworks. She describes how this experience informed her approach to developing AI tools at MPWR, emphasizing the importance of preventing bias in financial technology. The conversation concludes with a discussion about responsibility for ethical AI development, with Laine advocating for diverse teams and multiple perspectives rather than relying solely on regulation, noting that we’re in the “wild west” of AI development where today’s decisions may impact financial systems for decades.

More info:

MPWR: http://www.MPWR.money ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/mpwrai/

Tamara Laine: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tamaralaine/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #bankingInnovation #fintech #alternativecredit #gigeconomy #credit #ethicalai #AI #innovation #startup #banking

What happens when lazy humans outsource their thought process to machines?  You get a society that vibes its way into a blurry, sub-optimal future. The surge of slop means that AI is creating more work for humans instead of stealing our jobs.  Mark Pesce returns to The Futurists to cut through the hype and the skepticism about modern tech. He calls out AI mediocrity and reminds us why human learning remains painful. Topics include: Chat GPT psychosis, why we need a generation of PhDs to revisit eternal questions about Truth, the perpetual dawn of AGI,  what happens to the political economy when the populace is siloed into bubbles, why Kremlin propagandists produce propaganda for machines instead of people, why experience cannot be generated, why autocracies need accurate data, and the real reason why people get lost in untruth.

This week on Breaking Banks, we focus on a fundamental topic in financial services: trust. Trust is the cornerstone of any successful banking relationship. Consumers trust their financial institutions to protect their information and funds—and that trust is warranted. We have guarantees like FDIC insurance to back it up.

The importance of trust is acutely felt in community banking. In this episode, Jason Henrichs introduces us to Carie Kelly, Senior Vice President and Digital Banking Officer at Claremont Savings Bank, and Stephen Lewis, President and CEO of Thomaston Savings Bank. Listen in as they talk about trust, what their community banks are doing to build and enhance it, and how they’re preparing for advanced issues in banking.

A $124 trillion opportunity in the U.S. lies in the current transfer of intergenerational wealth. Emily Cisek, Founder and CEO of Paige—a comprehensive life planning and succession software platform for families and small businesses—joins us to discuss a recent partnership with both Claremont Savings Bank and Thomaston Savings Bank, helping them serve as trusted advisors in generational transitions.

It’s an engaging episode with implications and applications for all generations and age groups. Enjoy the episode, and let us know what you think!

The importance of human-centered innovation – one banker’s thoughts on building the right kind of innovative community.

Detailed Summary:

In this Finovate podcast, Greg Palmer interviews Catherine Lynch, who leads digital experience and human-centered design at Citizens, a super-regional bank with approximately 1,000 branches primarily in the Northeast and $220 billion in assets. With over 20 years in banking and previous experience at Accenture and tech startups, Lynch has built her career around leveraging technology to solve customer problems. At Citizens, she focuses on digital channel strategy and experience design for a diverse customer base that includes consumers, commercial clients, and wealth management customers.

Lynch explains that regardless of customer type, banking clients have three fundamental needs: seeing their money, moving their money, and protecting their money. She notes that customer needs have evolved as people face cognitive overload, economic stress, and reduced community connections, creating demand for simpler, easier banking experiences. To meet these changing expectations, Citizens employs a human-centered design approach, putting customer needs at the center of their problem-solving process through empathy, collaboration, iteration, and testing. Their innovation lab, part of Green Pixel Studios, allows them to observe customers interacting with their services and quickly develop solutions to address pain points.

Looking toward the future, Lynch emphasizes the importance of partnerships with fintech companies, which focus on specific customer problems that Citizens might not have the resources to explore independently. She highlights their involvement with Mass Fintech Hub, which connects financial institutions with academia, startups, and government to address industry challenges collaboratively. By maintaining these connections and leveraging evolving capabilities, Citizens aims to deliver exceptional customer experiences while addressing the information overload many customers face today.

More info:

Citizens Bank: https://www.citizensbank.com/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/citizens-bank/

Catherine Lynch: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-lynch-42678510/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #bankingInnovation #fintech #fintechpartnerships #digitaltransformation #AI #innovation #startup #banking

In this episode, Paolo Sironi interviews Kevin Govender, author of “The Rise of the Sharing Economy”. Together, they discuss the sharing economy—a concept that Time magazine named one of the “Ten ideas that will change the world” in 2011, and which has since grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Kevin breaks down the evolution of sharing platforms, key consumer trends, and alternative business models. These insights empower us to view access as a powerful cultural and socio-economic force that creates savings in time, money, and space. Filled with real-world business examples, the conversation reveals how the sharing economy is fundamentally transforming the way we live, work, learn, and consume.

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Kevin Govender – https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevingovender/