Welcome to a special edition of Fintech Takes, recorded live from MX's Money Experience Summit in beautiful Park City, Utah.

Big shout-out to MX for letting me squeeze in some live podcasting–my favorite thing to do!

First up, I chat with Ashwin Vasan, senior advisor at FS Vector, and Kelvin Chen, head of policy at the Consumer Bankers Association—two ex-CFPB experts who help untangle the knots of financial services regulation. We dive into policy talk (recorded before the CFPB's open banking rule dropped), and the messy middle ground of banking and fintech. Plus, we explore how banks are scrambling to stay relevant as embedded finance and BaaS dominate, and why seamless customer experience is the new battleground.

Next, I sit down with Jesse Mecham, founder of YNAB, to unpack his philosophy of mindful money management. We chat about how YNAB encourages users to think intentionally about managing their money, challenging the usual fintech rush for speed and convenience that leaves users out of the loop on their own financial decisions.

And last but not least, MX founder and freshly returned CEO, Ryan Caldwell, joins to chat about MX’s real secret sauce: its culture. And his passion for culture is contagious. Ryan highlights how leadership, values, and intentional culture is the driver for team dynamics *and* customer outcomes: culture drives results, leadership makes the difference, and in fintech, both are non-negotiable.

00:01:34: Ashwin Vasan, FS Vector + Kelvin Chen, Consumer Bankers Association

00:28:01 Jesse Mecham, YNAB

00:53:45 Ryan Caldwell, MX

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Companies featured:

https://fsvector.com/

https://consumerbankers.com/

https://www.ynab.com/

https://www.mx.com/

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