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This special episode of Breaking Banks Europe at Money20/20 features insights from fintech and crypto leaders shaping the future of finance. Jeff Parker, CEO of Paymentology, outlines the company’s global, cloud-based card processing platform that supports fintechs and digital banks in over 50 countries. Emphasizing agile infrastructure, tokenization, and financial inclusion, Parker highlights innovations like instant virtual cards and kiosk-based banking access. Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Ethereum and Cardano, reflects on crypto’s journey from fringe to mainstream. He discusses decentralized finance (DeFi), stablecoins, and the need for automated compliance and global regulation, emphasizing the transformative potential of blockchain. Stani Kulechov, CEO of Aave Labs, discusses the evolution of DeFi through the tokenization of real-world assets (RWAs). He advocates for more accessible, programmable finance and collaboration between traditional and decentralized institutions, positioning DeFi as the next engine for scalable, transparent, and inclusive financial ecosystems.

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This week’s episode of Breaking Banks brings you insights from Cape Town, South Africa, and the Circle of Fintech event hosted by Crossfin. Africa accounts for a remarkable 70% of mobile money accounts globally, and over the past decade, fintech and mobile money have brought 1.1 billion Sub-Saharan Africans into the formal financial services system..

In the episode, Brett King is joined by Dean Sparrow and Anton Gaylard, Co-Founders of Crossfin to talk about next gen financial services infrastructure emerging from South Africa and extending across the planet. They explore the evolution of fintech across the African continent. the rapid adoption of mobile money, fueled by the limited legacy banking infrastructure and the widespread use of mobile technology. They then get into Crossfin’s investment strategy with focus on supporting founder-led businesses in Africa, particularly those developing payment-oriented solutions, and showcasing the agility and innovation within the African fintech ecosystem.

But first, Brett sits down with Barry Levett, CEO of Mypinpad, a fintech entrepreneur dedicated to creating secure and scalable infrastructure that transforms mobile devices into trusted platforms for commerce. As the founder of SmartPesa, Barry spearheaded the expansion of its payment and agency banking solutions across 11 countries. After a merger with Mypinpad in 2022, he assumed the role of CEO, bringing a unified strategic vision to the combined entity — a vision emphasizing digital infrastructure that enhances freedom and efficiency, enabling individuals and businesses to transact more securely and simply on their own terms. A key focus is “Soft POS,” a growing trend in finance that leverages the capabilities of ordinary mobile phones to accept payments, essentially turning a phone into a point of sale terminal.

Stay tuned for this insightful episode!

Talk to me – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Illuma Labs on their AI CX and authentication agent

Detailed Summary:

In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Milind Borkar, founder and CEO of Illuma, a two-time Best of Show winner at Finovate events. Illuma specializes in voice authentication and fraud prevention solutions for mid-market financial institutions like credit unions, community banks, and regional banks. The company has evolved from primarily focusing on authentication to becoming more of a fraud prevention company, developing advanced capabilities to detect deepfakes and other voice-based fraud attempts. During the interview, Milind explains how their technology works by running parallel engines – an authentication engine that matches voiceprints and a synthetic detection engine that identifies signatures of artificially generated voices.

Milind goes on to discuss how the financial industry’s response to AI-based threats has evolved. Initially, there was skepticism and fear when deepfakes first emerged, with many institutions paralyzed by uncertainty. Now, there’s growing acceptance that humans alone cannot detect sophisticated AI-generated voice fraud, and that “the only way to really battle the evil use of AI is good use of AI.” Financial institutions are increasingly interested in implementing AI solutions while also asking more questions about ethical AI use and governance frameworks, though many organizations are still determining what ethical AI implementation actually means in practice.

The conversation concludes on the note that fraud challenges are universal across different types of financial institutions and geographic locations. Whether on the East or West Coast, or whether dealing with small credit unions or large regional banks, the same fundamental problems exist – just at different scales. Milind notes that fraudsters are opportunistic and don’t discriminate based on region, making Illuma’s solutions equally relevant across the financial services spectrum.

More info:

Illuma Labs: https://illuma.cx/; https://www.linkedin.com/company/illuma-labs/

Milind Borkar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/milind-borkar-4197a917/

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

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

FinovateSpring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/

#Finovate #AIPodcast #FinancialServices #BankingInnovation #FinTech #voice #CX #security #DigitalTransformation #AI #innovation #finovatespring

This week Brett and Rob take a check on the latest in AI news diving into the growing requirements for AI infrastructure, and the advances being made in Agentic-AI. We dive into Anthropic and Open AI’s latest announcements including the $6.5Bn acquisition by Open AI of Jony Ive’s revenue-less and customer-less startup, and we look at investments in the UAE in the world’s largest AI data center.

In this episode, Paolo Sironi sits down with Patrick McConnell, author of “Digital Money: Operational Risks and the Threats to Operational Resilience”. They discuss the far-reaching impacts of emerging types of digital money upon financial institutions’ operational risk and resilience profiles. Many new operational risks could potentially arise as digital money innovations are integrated with existing systems. In addition to helping to manage existing risks, operational risk management (ORM) groups will have to become experts in technology and cryptography. Patrick’s comprehensive analysis of how the digital financial ecosystem is adapting covers: emerging types of digital money, evolving global and instant payments, cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins. They also discuss other financial and technology innovations, such as post-quantum computing.

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Patrick McConnell – https://www.linkedin.com/in/pjmcconnell/

Traditional banks just pocketed $268 billion in profit—even with loan growth stuck in first gear—while global fintech funding barely limped past $10 billion, thanks to a single blockbuster round. This week, Theo Lau and Greg Palmer join hosts JP Nicols, Brett King, and Jason Henrichs to untangle those contradictions and ask who’s really carrying the baton in the race for the future of money.

Brace yourself for a knife-fight over BaaS regulation, a land-rush toward instant payments, and an AI gold rush that could super-charge compliance… or automate you right out of a job (and maybe swipe your wallet on the way).

Add in deep-fake demos, a no-holds-barred scorecard of today’s leaders, learners, and laggards, and stark predictions of where they’ll be tomorrow. Whether you’re sprinting on a 150-year-old balance sheet or a Series A term sheet, the finish line is the same: deliver smarter, safer money experiences—before someone else does.

And whatever you do, try not to low-key suck.

I’m sold! – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Solda.ai on their award-winning solution.

Detailed Summary:

In this Finovate podcast episode, host Greg interviews Andrew Reese, the U.S. go-to-market lead for Solda.ai, a FinovateSpring Best of Show winner. Solda builds artificial intelligence sales representatives that help financial institutions boost revenue and cut costs by mirroring their best sales representatives at scale across phone, text, email, and chat channels. The technology resonated strongly with the Finovate audience because it addresses common challenges in scaling sales operations, including high costs, burnout, and inconsistent performance, while maintaining the human connection that’s essential in customer interactions.

For B2C applications, Solda’s AI can handle the entire sales process from initial outreach to closing deals, including post-call tasks like updating CRMs. For B2B scenarios, the AI focuses on initial conversations, qualifying leads, and setting meetings with human sales representatives. The company emphasizes transparency about AI use while noting that less than 1% of customers actually ask if they’re speaking with AI. Solda works closely with clients to train the AI on both what to say and what not to say, which is particularly important in heavily regulated industries like banking.

Looking to the future, Solda aims to improve its AI’s capabilities to consistently outperform human sales representatives and leverage conversation data to provide richer analytics for clients. The company had insightful conversations at FinovateSpring about potential applications in wealth management and insurance. Rather than replacing human teams entirely, Solda focuses on automating repetitive, mundane tasks that cause burnout and inconsistent performance, allowing human employees to focus on more strategic work like handling escalations and high-priority conversations. The goal is to help organizations transform to work alongside AI while giving human employees more purposeful roles.

More info:

Solda.ai: https://www.solda.ai/fintech; https://www.linkedin.com/company/solda-ai/

Andrew Reese: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewpreese/

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

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

FinovateSpring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/

#Finovate #AIPodcast #FinancialServices #BankingInnovation #FinTech #sales #data #AIExecution #DigitalTransformation #AI #innovation #financialservices #finovatespring

In the latest episode of the Social Currency podcast, Tony McGee, Senior Director, FI & Fintech Sales at Onbe, shares his insights on the evolving landscape of digital payments. As consumer expectations shift towards speed, convenience, and choice, digital payment systems are becoming more integral than ever. Tony discusses the current trends he’s observing, including the rise of embedded finance, the expansion of real-time payments, and the growing demand for sustainable and inclusive payment solutions. He also explores how businesses are adapting to these changes and what the future holds for digital transactions. Tune in to understand how these developments are shaping the way we pay and get paid.

Host Don Ginsel speaks with Jos van Kerkhof, Country Manager at Visa Netherlands, about key developments in fintech across Europe. They discuss Visa’s strong growth in the Dutch market, innovations in fraud prevention, and the rollout of Visa Debit to align with local payment habits. The conversation also covers broader industry trends, including the growing role of AI in commerce, such as Google’s new shopping agent and Visa’s own intelligent commerce initiative. Jos shares insights on the maturing crypto space, including Visa’s stablecoin initiatives and Coinbase’s commendable response to a recent data breach. They examine the rise of stablecoins, the impact of EU regulation like MiCA, and the potential for blockchain-based infrastructure to transform payments. The episode also highlights the importance of digital wallets, Europe’s push for greater payment sovereignty, and Visa’s vast global money movement network. Both guests look ahead to Money20/20 Europe in Amsterdam, where the industry will gather to shape fintech’s future.

Doug Shapiro, one of the leading analysts of trends in the media and entertainment industry, explains how Hollywood now faces a second phase of digital transformation. First, the Internet unbundled media distribution, and now AI is reshaping the creative process. No one will be spared: impact will be felt by major media companies, independents and the full range of professionals from screenwriters to directors, cast and crew.  Shaprio provides a summary of the changes that occurred in the past 20 years and his bold forecast of the AI-defined future that will lead to infinite content.  Topics covered in this episode: how the definition of quality is shifting;  how value is migrating to new control points in the media supply chain;  how YouTube and TikTok paved the way for GenAI; the demise of middlemen; the fragmentation of attention; the extreme power law of popularity;  the rise of new gatekeepers.