In this podcast, Lex interviews William (Bill) Capuzzi, CEO of APEX, a Fintech company transforming financial services. Bill talks about his journey from studying environmental science to working in the financial industry, first at the banking and trading divisions of DLJ, then at Pershing where he learned the "bowels" of the industry, and then at Convergex where he learned about the importance of disrupting the trading technology. He then talks about buying Apex from Peak6 and his understanding of what it means to custody, clear, and settle a trade. He explains that a custodian holds the assets of the end investor and provides the clearing of transactions through a central counterparty like DTCC. He also discusses the decentralized finance world and the lack of a central counterparty in the cryptocurrency world.

MENTIONED IN THE CONVERSATION

APEX Fintech Solutions website: https://bit.ly/3H0LgwE

CEO's Linkedin profile: https://bit.ly/3IIMD4k

Topics: fintech, custody, clearing, settlement, trading, investment, crypto

Companies: Apex, Pershing, DLJ, PEAK6, Convergex, SoFi, Stash, TD Ameritrade, Schwab, Betterment

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TIMESTAMPS

1’50”: A breakdown of Bill’s foundational experiences  

13’37”: Definitional breakdowns of custody, clearing, and settlement

19’19”: Unbundling custody solutions from broker-dealers and retail distribution, and the regulatory implications

27’04: The dynamic between digital wealth management platforms and either robo-advisors or traditional advisors using robo platforms that plug into their custody

31’07”: Joining Apex in 2010 - the customer profiles, tech stack, opportunities, and vision to where Apex is today

33’31”: Hyper efficiency - offering zero commission and fractional shares in 2015/16

36’52”: The current winning formula for B2C tech-enabled financial companies that Apex supports

40’27”: Channels to use to connect with Bill & learn more about Apex Fintech Solutions

Disclaimer here — this newsletter does not provide investment advice and represents solely the views and opinions of FINTECH BLUEPRINT LTD.

Contributors: Lex, Laurence, Matt, Farhad, Mike, Daniella

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