Behind Green Dot's embedded finance business with Amit Parikh

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m your host, Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. This following is part of a new series we’re running. It’s called the Big Bank Theory, and it’s all about the future of banking. We see three options going forward: in the march towards digital, people will gravitate towards the digital arms of incumbent banks, give their business to new upstart challenger banks, or the biggest opportunity, which is to bank with the brands they love. Through embedded finance, people are increasingly turning to companies they frequent often -- whether it's a big retail player like Walmart or SMB accounting software like QuickBooks -- to plan, store, and move money around. The following series includes content from Tearsheet’s Big Bank Theory Conference, held in November 2021. Green Dot’s an interesting player in the Embedded Finance market. It already powers financial service for firms like Apple, Uber, and Walmart. Combine that with an extensive prepaid business, a direct bank, and its own banking license and you can begin to see where the business is headed. Green Dot already banks tens of millions of customers and you can get a sense of the scale – it almost feels like it’s just getting started. I spoke with Green Dot’s Amit Parikh who heads up the firm’s platform business. He has an extensive payments background, most recently at Apple. We chatted about Green Dot’s platform strategy and the role it plays in brands’ financial ecosystems. Amit shared some of what he saw are the drivers of innovation in embedded financial services and where the opportunities exist for further growth. Here’s my interview with Green Dot’s Amit Parikh.