Fintech Takes

Chief Payments Executive of the Federal Reserve, Mark Gould, stops by the studio for this special episode of Fintech Recap with Alex and Jason to chat about the evolution of instant payment and how FedNow is attempting to make the clearing and settling of payments instant and final.  Are checks obsolete? How much money does the Fed clear daily? And has the amount of money in circulation increased...

It’s time for another episode of Bank Nerd Corner with America’s favorite banking and fintech editor, Kiah Haslett, and there’s only been one bank failure since she Alex last talked! This week they’re discussing Apple’s latest savings product and the company’s complete disinterest in playing the deposit gathering game the way that the big banks do. Then, what’s causing credit card balances to spik...

Was Zelle a stupid way of introducing real-time payments? Is OpenAI’s CEO going all in on making Minority Report a reality? And has Alex secretly been a Swifty this whole time? On this month’s Fintech Recap, Alex and cohost Jason Mikula, dissect the right way to add monetization and value to real-time money movements and debate if Zelle missed a valuable opportunity to drive revenue. Should instan...

The number of independent workers in Brazil is surging, but still, full employment benefits elude most contract workers. How can this problem be fixed?  In this week’s pod, Alex is taking a deep dive into the world of Brazilian fintech to unpack the state of embedded insurtech with Isaac Matzner, co-founder of Teddy.   They discuss the differences between employment benefits in America versus Braz...

In this month’s “Not Fintech Investment Advice” with Simon Taylor, where Alex and Simon dissect the latest and greatest fintech companies on the market, the guys dissect Noodle.shop’s ploy to be the premier mobile-first solopreneur super app. While it’s reminiscent of the early days of Square, can it develop its own set of creator incentives and create a unique experience? Then, Alex and Simon dis...

It’s time for another round of Bank Nerd Corner with Alex and special guest host Kiah Haslett, and thankfully, only one bank has collapsed since its return. Kiah and Alex are geeking out on all the latest news, like MOVEit’s massive data breach, which highlights the relevance of third and fourth-party risks. With over 140 organizations hacked and 15.5 million people’s data compromised, exactly how...

Our favorite fintech obsessive is back from parental leave, and he’s ready to tackle all of the latest fintech news you might have missed from the last couple of weeks with fellow obsessive and fintech newsletter writer, Jason Mikula.  Alex and Jason break down the latest announcement from Goldman that they’re in talks to offload their partnership with Apple to American Express. What’s the reasoni...

What happens when $270 billion of commercial mortgages expire and mature?  In this week’s Bank Nerd Corner, Alex chats with Managing Editor at Bank Director, Kiah Haslett, about the latest in fintech news, and today they’re tackling what might happen to small banks now that commercial real estate companies are faced with refinancing at significantly higher interest rates.  Plus, what’s the outcome...

On this week’s podcast, Alex is joined by the wise and powerful Simon Taylor, who’s taking a break from the dreary UK weather to break down a few of the most promising fintech startups and banking as a service platforms. How does Zamp’s outsourced treasury and finance team have a structural advantage in the marketplace? Can ProductFi deliver on its promises to reach underserved communities and sti...

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores payroll connectivity from a variety of perspectives.    In this episode, Argyle GM Justin Stolzenberg and Column Tax co-founder Gavin Nachbar sit down to chat about the next generation of income tax products and how payroll APIs pave the way for a myriad of innovative use cases.   They discuss how tax products like Column Tax...

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores payroll connectivity from a variety of perspectives.   In today’s episode, John Hardesty and Kyle Green talk with Alex about how payroll connectivity streamlines the mortgage lending process, making it more straightforward than ever before for borrowers and lenders alike.    As a GM of Mortgage at Argyle, John gives his insigh...

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores the wide-reaching implications of programmatic, consumer-permissioned access to payroll data.    In this episode, Alex chats with Matt Gomes, GM of Consumer Lending and Banking at Argyle, and Jonathan Katz, VP of Client Development at Amount, about how payroll data is transforming the lending process and unlocking innovative n...

Fintech Business Weekly publisher Jason Mikula joins Alex to discuss the latest news in fintech and banking.   In this week’s episode, they dissect Apple’s high-yield savings account, discuss how the Netherland-based neobank Bunq will do in the U.S., and name their big takeaways are from Plaid’s newly launched real-time payment capability.   And Jason brags about windmills.   Sign up for Alex’s Fi...

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores payroll connectivity from a lending, mortgage, and emerging technology perspective.    In part one, Alex sits down with Argyle founder and CEO Shmulik Fishman to dissect the evolution of the modern payroll and discover how payroll connectivity companies like Argyle are pushing the boundaries of data sharing between consumers a...

Co-founder of Bloom Money, Nina Mohanty, drops by the podcast to discuss just how many unsolved problems remain in fintech and financial services.   She and Alex talk about a few of the most notable unsolved problems including credit invisibility, the inaccessibility (and unsexiness) of home ownership, and why the Western banking system is largely unequipped to support migrants and refugees.   6:1...

With the benefit of some hindsight (finally), what are the big takeaways from SVB?   Kiah Haslett, managing editor of Bank Director, is in the studio to chat with Alex about why the SVB collapse is redefining how we think about “safe” banking.    They explain how a herd mentality and poor time management culminated in SVB’s failure and dissect why a safe bank could actually contain so much risk. ...

What fintech companies should you be keeping a close eye on? Kicking off season 3, Alex is joined once again by Simon Taylor, writer of the Fintech Brainfood newsletter, for another Not Fintech Investment Advice! Podcast. The pair are live at the Fintech Meetup conference in Las Vegas. Discover how Portabl is taking on Apple in the digital identity space, how Getmomo has entered the rental market...

Join Alex and co-host Jason Mikula at the Fintech Meetup conference, live from Vegas. They get into conversation with a very special guest, Jon Lear, the President and Co-founder of Fintech Meetup about issues surrounding trust in large financial institutions, the latest news on SVB, and the evolution of BaaS in Europe. Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis...

This is a special one as Alex gets into conversation with Nicole Casperson, host of podcast Humans of Fintech and founder of the Fintech is Femme newsletter. Alex and Nicole talk community building at this online event, getting into questions around fintech inclusivity, discussing whether B2C fintech is dead (or should be), and how Gen Z and missional values need to align. Plus you’ll also hear qu...

Why is fintech heading into a period of consolidation and contraction? Answering this question and more is Alex’s guest, Sarah Kocianski. Sarah is an experienced fintech strategist and research analyst, based in London with over a decade of experience in fintech. Alex and Sarah bounce around some ideas in the format of the game show, Jeopardy (which, being British, Sarah had to look up). They disc...

How can you fix a broken financial model? This question and more answered in the latest Bank Nerd Corner episode. Alex is joined by Kiah Haslett, Managing Editor at Bank Director. They get into some of the headlines and news that have caught their attention over the last few weeks, including a worldwide chip shortage for bank cards, ModernFi’s fintech marketplace and why FIS can’t get Worldpay to...

This is part two of a special crossover episode with fintech friends Reggie Young and Matt Janiga, hosts of the wonderful Fintech Layer Cake podcast.  In this episode, Alex, Jason, Matt, and Reggie dig into the weeds of the Durbin Amendment and its effect on competition, the harsh realities of account-to-account payments, and the changing relationship between fintechs and banks. Plus, the four pla...

What fintech companies do you need to know about? Alex is joined by Simon Taylor, writer of the Fintech Brainfood newsletter, for another Not Fintech Investment Advice! podcast. Discover why now is an interesting time to build a credit workflow tool, why sometimes a corporate credit card isn’t necessary for an expense management product, and why franchising may be the key to scaling up proptech in...

Take a look back at all the big developments in fintech over February, from BNPL to crypto to outright ponzi schemes! Alex is joined by Jason Mikula, writer of the Fintech Business Weekly newsletter. They take a deep dive into Affirm’s horrific quarter, the state of Apple’s BNPL offering, and the latest round of enforcement activity in crypto. Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the la...

Sorting out hype from reality is one of the hardest jobs in fintech. Frank Rotman, Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer at QED Investors, joins Alex on today’s episode to do exactly that. Alex and Frank dig into what went wrong with a recent fintech acquisition by JP Morgan Chase and how investors can do a better job spotting founder fraud. They apply first principles thinking to a bunch...