Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

Pricing pressure on commissions isn’t new in the brokerage and equity trading space. But it does feel like it’s accelerating. Just over the past few weeks every major brokerage — Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and E-Trade, eliminated commissions over a span of a couple of days.

JMP Securities’ Managing Director Devin Ryan joins us on the show to talk about all the moves in pricing in the investment industry and more importantly, where this is all headed. We discuss how investment firms will compete if not on cost and what the impact will be of many new competitors in the space.

Devin Ryan joins me today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen.

The following disclosures are applicable to SCHW:

JMP Securities currently makes a market in the security of The Charles Schwab Corporation.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

Smaller financial institutions are finding a way to compete in a world of too big to fail banks. The Central Bank of Kansas City is an interesting case study. The bank is one of a small number of FIs in the US certified by the Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution, serving people of modest means who may not have had the benefit of affordable and accessible financial products. A little over five years ago, the company launched Central Payments, a division that leads the bank’s nationwide presence in the payments industry.

Trent Sorbe is the president of Central Payments and joins us on the podcast to talk about how his firm has been able to punch above its weight in issuing activities, headquartered near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Central Payments recently announced the creation of its Falls Fintech accelerator and Trent describes how the new program will continue to service the ecosystem Central Payments is building. We also discuss the company’s new Open API platform, CPX and how that fits into all the moving pieces.

Trent Sorbe is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen.

Here’s my interview with Trent.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

Moven was founded in 2011 by Brett King. It was really early in the move to standalone digital banks, what we like to call Challenger Banks. Without branches and transacting via a telephone, the company was an early pioneer. Fast forward to 2019 and Moven is now lead by Marek Forysiak and has added on a new part of its business: Banking as a Service. Moven Enterprise powers digital banking functionality for traditional financial institutions around the world, like TD Bank and Westpac.

CEO Marek Forysiak joins us on the podcast today to talk about Moven’s evolution as a digital bank and how its customers — both retail and now increasingly enterprise — have changed over time, as well. We talk about Moven’s customer acquisition strategy and what the firm is cooking up for the future.

Marek Forysiak is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

We’re kicking off a new series here on the podcast called Blocks. In this series, we’re turning to entrepreneurs and professionals who are building the next generation of financial services leaders to understand better how they did it. How did they start with an big audacious idea and execute on it? What were the techniques and tools they used to take their businesses to the next level?

We want to drill down and understand the building blocks of their business — from their first target audience, to building the tech, to acquiring customers, making partnerships and expanding internationally.

Our first guest is MoneyLion’s founder and CEO ,Dee Choubey. MoneyLion’s roots were in personal finance management and the firm rode its early success into an expansion into general banking services. Dee discusses how he determined what would be his initial target audience and where the opportunity was to serve them. We talk about how important this early focus is and how it helps serve the business as it grows.

MoneyLion’s Dee Choubey is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

We’ve interviewed quite of few large incumbent financial firms about their innovation programs. They may be structured differently with different activities, metrics, and incentives, but they all have one thing in common: an attempt to combine the best internal and external resources to improve the evolving customer experience.

That’s true at Aflac, as well. Th firm’s VP of US innovation Keith Farley joins us on the podcast today to talk about how the insurer’s defines innovation and how the structure of the program helps them achieve their objectives. We discuss the Hatch Lab that the company runs and how its relationships with local universities contribute to the innovation program. Lastly, Aflac has a corporate venture arm and we talk about its activities and the types of companies it invests in.

Keith Farley is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Before we jump into the podcast, we’re winding up submissions for our Tearsheet Innovation Program Awards. We’re looking to hear about the best and most creative innovation programs that are more than just innovation theater. Does your organization have a good story to tell? Head on over to our website and click on the Awards button to let us know.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

On the heels of a closing of a $250 million credit facility, LendingPoint’s Tom Burnside joins us on the show today. The consumer lender has originated $1.4 billion in loans to individuals, targeting an underserved population of people with FICO scores in the range of 580-680. Tom talks about the growth potential in servicing this population. We also discuss the firm’s point of sale loan product and how that’s expanded their reach and broadened the definition of LendingPoint’s target borrower.

Tom Burnside is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

Ricky Knox is my guest today on the show . A five time entrepreneur and the founder of international money transfer firm Azimo, Ricky continues to compete in fintech. His latest venture, Tandem, is a strong competitor in the UK challenger banking market.

There aren’t many entrepreneurs who keep coming back to fintech and Ricky describes why he thinks financial services is so ripe for disruption. Tandem’s approach to helping its customers make financial decisions uses AI and we talk about technology’s role in managing money. We discuss how he’s handling growth and scaling and how he’s positioning Tandem — with products and services -- to compete in the future.

Ricky Knox is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

There’s an interesting convergence going on right now. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify are getting into retail and payments, while payments firms like Square are going after powering the entire transaction. That’s definitely playing out in the evolution of the firm’s developer platform. Square recently rolled out an Orders API that illustrates the shift towards powering commerce functions for the company.

On the show today, we have Square’s Carl Perry, the head of its developer platform. We discuss where the platform is today and where it’s headed. Carl shares how companies like Shake Shack are developing highly customized seller experiences with Square. Lastly, we chat about where Square’s developer platform fits within the company’s broader product ecosystem.

Carl Perry is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

A new study from Escalent, a research consulting firm that does a lot of work in financial services, shows that growth is slowing across the digital ecosystem. It may be easy to wave this off but for fintech firms, this is extremely troubling. Startups that fail to consistently grow frequently pivot away from their original market or product or fade away into the ether.

Chris Barnes, chief product officer and managing director at Escalent, joins us on the podcast to talk about his firm’s findings. Specifically, we discuss growth trends and trajectories in payments, robo-advisers and micro investing, and cryptocurrencies. Chris also shares what he thinks fintech firms competing in these fields need to do to reinvigorate growth.

Chris Barnes is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller.

It’s been 5 years since Citizens’ IPO. A lot has happened during that time and the bank continues to evolve and make changes. Today, Citizens is announcing its new “Made Ready” brand platform. As part of the launch, the bank is partnering with eclectic artist and musician Questlove. Behind the message of the brand pivot and all the activities behind the launch is the positioning of Citizens’ commitment to enabling every unique financial journey.

Joining me on the podcast today is Beth Johnson, chief marketing officer and head of virtual channels at the bank. She straddles a range of the bank’s customer-centric initiatives and is driving how Citizens leverages tech, big data, content, design and delivery. We talk about the new branding and what it means for the institution and its customers.

Beth Johnson is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.