Barefoot Innovation Podcast

One evening last October, I was pushing my way through the throngs of people at Money 2020 in Las Vegas, when someone called out my name. I turned and saw today's guest -- Albert Forkner. He is the Banking Commissioner of the State of Wyoming, and our conversation led to this podcast, because he is doing one of the most innovative regulatory experiments in the United States -- or maybe anywhere. O...

Today's episode of our special series on the future of regulation after the pandemic takes us   across the Atlantic (virtually) to talk with one of my favorite Barefoot Innovation guests. He is Christopher Woolard, the interim CEO of the UK Financial Conduct Authority. In our conversation, Chris talks about the opportunity to come out of this crisis and "build back better." He discusses how the FC...

Today in our special series on financial regulation in the pandemic and beyond, we are honored to have with us the Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Jelena Mc Williams. She opens a fascinating window into how the FDIC is conducting off-site examinations in the crisis, and especially into the impressive speed with which banks are adopting technology to handle flows of informati...

This morning, Brian Brooks is starting his new job as acting Comptroller of the Currency. I'm fortunate to know Brian well, and over the years he and I have spent many hours talking about all the themes that we explore here on Barefoot Innovation. As he takes on his new role, I'm delighted that we were able to sit down together (virtually) and share some of that conversation with you.

Today's show is both a fascinating story and a call to action. We're posting it as a bonus episode because my guest, Andrew McCormack of the Bank for International Settlements , is sharing an invitation to innovators throughout the world to apply to compete in the G20's global TechSprint -- and entries are due in just two weeks!

Welcome to the second in our series of special conversations about how the pandemic may change the shape of financial regulation. Last time we talked with former Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry. Today, my guest is another former Comptroller, and now the CEO and Founder of Promontory Financial Group, Eugene Ludwig.    Gene Ludwig has been a household name in the financial regulatory realm...

Today's show is the first in our COVID recovert series. My guest is Thomas J. Curry , who served as the US Comptroller of the Currency from 2012 to 2017. For listeners outside the United States, the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, or OCC , is the US regulator of nationally-chartered banks.

Trailblazing is hard work. It is not easy to carve out a path no one has followed before, knowing where you want to go but not precisely how to get there. That is exactly what today's guest has done. Colin Walsh is the CEO of Varo, and Varo is the first fintech startup to become chartered as a national bank.

Our guest today is Ellison Anne Williams , the CEO of Enveil . And she is an expert in the privacy technology known as homomorphic encryption .

Today's guest is David Reiling, CEO and Chairman of Sunrise Banks and author of the book, Fintech4Good . David likes to emphasize the business advantages of being a mission-driven, double bottom line company. He says, for example, that it gives him a huge edge in recruiting top talent. He also believes it also saves on compliance costs. It's a fallacy, he says, to assume that banks operate in a "s...

In this episode, I talk with Jerry Buckley and Sasha Leonhart of the Buckley firm, who explain how they did the project and what they learned. Jerry, Sasha and I also conducted a briefing on Capitol Hill last month, which was very well-attended and has engendered a great deal of constructive feedback and discussion. I want to thank the Buckley firm for undertaking all this work on a pro bono basis...

Jeff Dyer is a professor of strategy at BYU and the Wharton School. He and two co-authors, Nathan Furr and Curtis Lefrandt , have written the book, Innovation Capita l, which explores how to lead innovation work, whether for companies or for projects, in situations where the innovator lacks the formal "power" to cause the needed steps. What do you do, for instance, if your boss doesn't see the nee...

Greg Becker has been a champion of the innovation economy since he joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1993 as a banker to fast-growing technology companies. Today, he is the CEO of the world's only bank dedicated to the innovation sector around the world. Greg is optimistic about tech, including the power of fintech to drive down costs and therefore open financial access to nearly everyone -- he cites...

In a moment you will hear Jelena tell her story, and I promise, you will see what I mean. Last year the Wall Street Journal ran a profile on her called, America's Most interesting Bureaucrat. She was born in the former Yugoslavia, grew up in a Communist society, got herself to the US, bootstrapped herself into law school, worked in private practice, and at a bank, and at the Federal Reserve and th...

Joseph M. Otting was sworn in as the 31st Comptroller of the Currency on November 27, 2017.  The Comptroller of the Currency is the administrator of the federal banking system and chief officer of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). The OCC supervises more than 1,200 national banks, federal savings associations, and federal branches and agencies of foreign banks operating in the U...

Richard Teng is the CEO of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an award-winning International Financial Centre (IFC) in Abu Dhabi. Richard spearheaded the establishment of the financial regulations and financial centre, leading up to the successful launch of ADGM in October 2015.  He oversees the whole spectrum of financial services spanning the ba...

We have the perfect show to kick off the new year and new decade in 2020. This is one of the most interesting conversations we've ever had, in our hundred-plus episodes of Barefoot Innovation. My very special guest is Congressman Bill Foster, who represents the 11th District of Illinois. He is a member of the House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, and was appointed by Committee...

Lamine Zarrad is the co-founder and CEO of Joust. He began his entrepreneurial journey as a refugee, going on to serve in the U.S. Marines, and then building an expertise around banking regulations and financial services. With Joust, Lamine combines his passion for inclusion with his banking skills to create the nation's first, all-inclusive banking services app for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and...

Today's show is a bonus episode, giving a glimpse of an important project that's underway. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have funded an initiative to think through the future of central banks and how they will, and should, advance the goal of financial inclusion. To lead the work, the foundation selected two leading thinkers in the space. Michael Barr is the Dean of the Gerald R. Ford Scho...

Today's guest leads one of the most important institutions in that movement. She is Greta Bull, a director of the World Bank and CEO of CGap, the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor. In our conversation, Greta describes the progress and also the daunting work ahead. She talks about challenges in cyber-security. She talks about interoperability -- how to address fragmentation within and between m...

Today's show zeroes in on the most foundational question facing us all, not only in financial innovation but in our whole new world of ubiquitous data. That challenge is, how can we gain the benefits of this huge new universe of digital information, and at the same time, prevent it from hurting us. My very thoughtful guest on this dilemma is Vinny Lingham , CEO of Civic Technologies . Vinny's stor...

I think this is my all-time favorite episode of Barefoot Innovation. We have two guests. Nick Cook has been on the show twice before in his former role as head of regtech at the UK Financial Conduct Authority . He now leads the FCA's newly-created division-level unit on innovation. I believe this model is unique in the world-- a financial regulatory agency establishing a high-level unit that, when...

Today's show is amazing on two levels. First, my guests, Ida Rademacher and Jamie Kalamarides, explain new frontiers of thinking about how financial services, including insurance and retirement funds, can promote real financial health and inclusion. And second, the whole conversation is permeated by a critical theme, an insight that needs to be elevated from the background to the foreground in eve...

This is the second time I've sat down with Karen Mills for a conversation on Barefoot Innovation. Karen is a Senior Fellow at both the Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School (where I got to know her), and previously was the head of the US Small Business Administration. She is also probably the foremost expert, and most eloquent voice, anywhere, on using technology to strengthen small b...

In our conversation, Rob and Kathryn tell their story, on how they've built a company that has extended $6 billion in credit to 165,000 people in the United States. They explain how they started with e-commerce companies and now service all small businesses.  They describe their gradual realization that their loans can help these businesses manage cash flow -- a critical need. And they share their...