Bank Nerd Corner

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Matthew Goldman, the founder of credit card advisory firm Totavi. Kiah and Matthew are both what Kiah calls “maximizers” and they discuss the dozens of cards they have between them before moving onto the meat of the conversation: The Totavi 2025 recap and 2026 trends report.  Debit and credit cards are important but ubiquitous products in the financial ecosystem and in co...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Michael Ohlrogge, a professor of Law at New York University’s School of Law, to talk about the realities of uninsured deposits, deposit insurance and bank failures.  Professor Ohlrogge’s paper, “Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?,” explores how usual, or unusual, it is for uninsured depositors to take losses when a bank fails.  Ohlrogge’s research foun...

In this December episode of Bank Nerd Corner Squared, Kiah and Alex bring their “end of the year” energy to recap 2025 and look ahead to 2026. They chat about the present Alex secretly hopes he receives, as well as their gift-giving approaches. For those curious: Many stores on Etsy offer photo-realistic pillows of pets and here are the Japanese bread lamps — both hit presents Kiah has gifted! 202...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Andrew Grant, a regulatory attorney at Runway Group, to discuss the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp.  This seminal banking case involves national banks, interest rate exportation across states and the important question of where a loan is made. This decision and a subsequent act of Congress made interest r...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Shawn Main, chief business architect at Vantage Bank, for this episode of Banker’s Hours.  Banker’s Hours explores the personalities in banking for some real talk on important, interesting and fun topics.  Many banks in the United States are wondering about the potential implications of digital assets and stablecoins for their institutions. Not Vantage Bank. Shawn shares...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Adam Mustafa, president and CEO of Invictus Analytics.  Adam sets the stage for what’s been going on with the Federal Open Market Committee this year, including how President Donald Trump is changing the board’s dynamics, and how that has played out in two big meetings this fall. Kiah and Adam then talk about the two recent interest rate decisions before spending the bulk...

Kiah and Alex catch up ahead of the inaugural Fintech Takes: Builders Summit to discuss how to dress for an event that cold as well as potentially plan to play a nerdy board game that could be about banking while they’re there. They then break down the news. First up is the public (and Alex’s) confusion around the proposed skinny master account from Fed Gov. Christopher Waller, which could either...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Dan McGonegle, a senior manager at Crowe and the former manager of the novel activities supervision program at the Federal Reserve Board. Kiah and Dan chat about their Money 20/20 game plan before moving into a broad conversation about bank chartering activity and the application process. It can be a lot to keep up with: A number of companies have applied for charters ran...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Trent Sorbe, chief payments officer at First International Bank and Trust, for this episode of Banker’s Hours.  Banker’s Hours explores the personalities in banking for some real talk on important, interesting and fun topics.  Trent has specialized in payments over his career, and that has led him into the land of payments technology and banking as a service. First Intern...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes BJ Sanford and Matthew Lambert to discuss the 2019 case, Vullo v. OCC, an important and somewhat-unsettled case that continues to have downstream impacts in the financial services space today. BJ is a partner at Sivon, Natter & Wechsler. Matthew is deputy general counsel at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. Together, they explore the history of the proposed specia...

It’s finally Alex Johnson’s turn to be a guest on Bank Nerd Corner for a monthly download and recap of interesting items in the banking and fintech universe. He and Kiah record for the first time together, in the Washington, DC, offices of Canapi Ventures, ahead of the Fintech Takes Coworking day. In a lively conversation, we talk about banks getting together in the form of M&A, including why buye...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Todd Phillips, an assistant professor at the Georgia State University’s Robinson College of Business, to discuss a not-so-theoretical thought experiment about the intersection of artificial intelligence, deposit stability and bank liquidity,  Todd’s paper, “When Siri Becomes Deposit Broker,” explores the implications for banks if consumers and businesses widely adopt agen...

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Chris Nichols, the director of capital markets at SouthState Bank Corp., for the inaugural episode of Banker’s Hours.  Banker’s Hours explores the personalities in banking for some real talk on important, interesting and fun topics.  Chris is a writer in addition to being a banker. He shares why he gives so many secrets away in his popular financial blog “Banker to Banker...

Bank Nerd Corner is back with Kiah Haslett returning … not just as co-host, but as an official member of Fintech Takes!  That’s right, big news: Bank Nerd Corner will soon be its own podcast feed, with Kiah hosting (and Alex dropping in monthly as a guest).  Kiah’s podcast launches this September alongside her new weekly newsletter, Fintech Takes Banking! If you’re listening to this episode, you b...