Fintech One-On-One

In this episode, we are talking personal financial management, but with a human twist. Sam Lewis is the CEO and Founder of Fruitful , a fintech company reimagining financial advice for millennials and Gen Z. Fruitful offers a $98 monthly membership that combines certified financial planners (actual humans) with AI-powered technology to create personalized "money systems" that automatical...

One of the fintech investing pioneers is Arjan Schütte , the founder and managing partner of Core Innovation Capital . He has been around fintech for more than two decades and has been an active investor for most of that time. I am way overdue in getting him on the show. In this conversation, we explore why 50% of Americans still live paycheck to paycheck despite fintech's growth, the dramati...

In this episode, I'm joined by Tim Newell, CEO and founder of GreenFi , a climate-focused fintech that emerged from the ashes of Aspiration's consumer banking business. Tim brings a fascinating fintech and climate tech pedigree, having previously sold a solar financing company to SolarCity, run financial products at both SolarCity and Tesla, and even survived five years working for Elon...

In today's episode, we have Carol Hamilton, Chief Product and Strategy Officer at Provenird. She discusses how AI-powered decisioning platforms are transforming risk management across financial services. She explores the critical balance financial institutions must strike between managing evolving risk threats and maintaining seamless customer experiences, a challenge that has become increasi...

To say it has been a busy year for fintech policy folks would be a gross understatement. With the change in administration to Trump 2.0, we have a 180-degree different perspective on most fintech issues than the previous administration. And there have already been many actions taken by the Trump White House that will have far-reaching implications for fintech. To help us unpack all these issues, I...

Africa is quietly becoming one of the hottest areas for fintech investment. I am overdue to focus on Africa here on the podcast, so when the chance to interview the CEO of the largest African fintech presented itself, I jumped at the opportunity. In a similar way to Latin America, Africa has leapfrogged from offline financial infrastructure to mobile-centric and the one company that has made much...

Streamlining international B2B payments is a complex undertaking. TreviPay has been taking the complexity out of this process for several decades now. In my conversation with CEO Brandon Spear, we explore TreviPay's transformation from MSTS, its rebranding inspiration, and its global reach across 30 countries. Our discussion highlights TreviPay's various services, including trade credit...

In this episode, Anthony Soohoo, CEO of MoneyGram , shares his vision for transforming one of the world's largest global payments networks through what he calls a " refounder mindset ." Drawing from his experience leading digital transformations at major companies like Walmart and CBS, Soohoo discusses how MoneyGram is modernizing its platform while leveraging its incredible assets:...

When it comes to fintechs getting bank charters we are entering a golden age. With zero fintech-oriented bank applications approved in the Biden administration we already have several fintechs with shiny new bank charters just a few months into the new administration. So, if you are a fintech and are thinking about bank charters now is the time. To break all this down, I was delighted to chat rece...

Moving money internationally is mission-critical for many businesses in the world, particularly those outside the U.S. But, today, for businesses using traditional banks, moving money across borders is often expensive, slow and a terrible user experience. Wherever you have that combination you can be sure a fintech company is attacking the problem aggressively, which is certainly the case here. My...

One of the big challenges for community banks and credit unions is that they often have a very concentrated base of customers. The vast majority of their accounts could be with people and businesses within a 100-mile radius. While setting up digital tools can allow these banks and credit unions to expand beyond their home base, this comes with a lot of expense and complexity. When it comes to lend...

Most fintech companies, and increasingly banks, rely on API integrations to run their business. Yet, building and maintaining these integrations can be time consuming and complex, particularly when it is only a part of what an engineering team does. Today, you can outsource these integrations to companies that specialize in this type of connectivity with a unified API platform. My next guest on th...

Welcome back to the occasional series on the podcast called Fintech Revealed. This is a sponsored show where we take a deep dive on one topic with a couple of industry experts. Today, we have Nico Simko, CEO and Co-Founder of Clair and Dan Loomis, the General Manager and Head of Product for the Money Group at Gusto . The topic we are doing a deep dive in today is Earned Wage Access (EWA) - one of...

There are not many US-based fintech companies that are global from day one. Nearly every company starts in the domestic market, gets established and after a few years starts looking at overseas markets. That was not the case for today's podcast guest.  My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is John Mitchell, the CEO and Co-Founder of Episode Six . John started the company, which is b...

Most of us have heard the term "AI agent" but it is only the minority of banks and fintechs that have done any kind of implementation. This is partly because it is not a trivial task and there are real risks to getting this wrong. What is needed is some kind of framework that helps reduce these risks and provides best practices for implementing AI agents in financial services. My next gu...

Many of us have used virtual credit or debit cards and haven't given them a second thought. In today's world of contactless payments, there is no difference between a virtual and physical card. But a virtual card is actually a piece of software and as such it can be programmed to act in very specific ways.  My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Andrew Jamison, the CEO and Co...

Every bank and fintech company has a suite of anti-fraud tools that they use to keep the bad guys out. Few tools are 100% effective, however, and often the implementation of these tools, along with their interfaces with other system leave gaps. And the fraudsters will exploit these gaps. So, how do you get a holistic view of your anti-fraud arsenal and discover where these gaps are? My next guest...

Everyone in fintech knows about the Starbucks reloadable wallet. It has become wildly successful for Starbucks, to the extent that they now have over $1.6 billion in balances on these wallets. Now, Starbucks has unique scale that made this kind of tech investment feasible. But I have been wondering for many years why so few corporations have copied Starbucks' lead here. Enter Ansa . My next g...

Every bank that decides to get into the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) space already has an existing legacy business. Most of those legacy businesses have very little crossover with fintech and BaaS, so internally at the bank, there is a completely new skill set that needs to be developed. But then there are those banks that were born digital and for which BaaS is a natural extension of their existin...

If you have ever tried to rollover a 401(k) from a previous job you know what a painful process that can be. Another big problem with 401(k)s is that many people will move jobs and ultimately forget about their old 401(k). Both of these problems are hurting people trying to maximize their wealth in retirement. Enter Capitalize . My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Gaurav Sharma, the...

In the last year I don't think there is any area of fintech that has received more attention than the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) space. And it is not just the Synapse debacle, it is all the consent orders that have come out of the bank regulators. We have a banking system that pretty much demands that fintech companies partner with banks and we are still yet to figure out what the optimal bu...

While text is a big part of our daily communications most corporations, particularly those in financial services, use it sparingly. Why is that when texting gets many times the engagement of email? We explain why in this interview. But this is all changing, in large part due to the work of my next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast.  Dave Baxter is the CEO of Solutions by Text (SBT), a text a...

The co-branded credit card space is a mature market. Chase and American Express have large deals with airlines and hotels as well as the likes of Amazon and Disney. These are typically huge programs with not just millions but tens of millions of customers. But what about those Fortune 500 companies that are not big enough for Chase or Amex but still want to do their own co-branded credit card? Tha...

Despite the challenges and the obvious risk of failure, Americans are starting small businesses in record numbers. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well but the difference today is that the tools have become so much better. And they are going to continue to improve, particularly as small business owners start taking advantage of the latest AI tools. My guest today on the Fintech One-on-One...

In an article last year, the International Monetary Fund said that the global private credit market topped $2.1 trillion globally in 2023, with 75% of that in the U.S. That number has been rising rapidly for many years as more companies look beyond banks and the public debt markets to raise capital. Along with this rise in private credit, some fintech companies have taken advantage of this growth,...