Wharton FinTech Podcast

In our latest podcast, Meghna Sreenivasan (WG ’20) is joined by Richie Serna, CEO and Co-Founder of Finix (https://finixpayments.com). Richie discusses the inspiration behind Finix: seeing the difficulties companies faced when creating payments infrastructure in-house, and the opportunity this presented. He also shares his thoughts on other innovative payments companies, the future of the industry, and lessons learned from his journey as an entrepreneur. Richie co-founded Finix with Sean Donovan in 2015 to redefine the economics of payments. Finix allows growing businesses to own and make money from their payments systems (vs. paying “rent” fees to third-party processors). Finix’s software allows companies to bring payments in-house, a process that previously took 2-3 years and cost millions of dollars. With Finix, they can do the same in as little as one month, and at a fraction of the cost. Finix is trusted by companies that process $50 million or more in payments like Lightspeed POS Inc. and Clubessential to build and scale their payments infrastructure. Finix is headquartered in San Francisco, with an additional office in Cincinnati, Ohio. Finix has raised funds from Bain Capital Ventures, Homebrew, Insight Venture Partners, Visa and several others.

In our latest podcast, Keane Ehsani (WG ’20) is joined by Robert Krugman, Chief Digital Officer at Broadridge (https://www.broadridge.com). In this extensive interview, Robert explains how Broadridge helps its customers enrich client and shareholder engagement. Robert also discusses how digital transformation, changing consumer preferences, and an evolving regulatory landscape are changing the way in which Broadridge’s clients communicate with their customers to provide a better user experience. Broadridge began as the brokerage services division of ADP in 1962. Since becoming independent in 2007, Broadridge has grown into a global Fintech company with over $4 billion in revenues and is recognized as an invaluable partner for the world’s leading companies and financial institutions. Broadridge helps drive business transformation for their clients with solutions for enriching client engagement, navigating risk, optimizing efficiency and generating revenue growth. Broadridge handles millions of trades a day involving trillions of dollars, support communications that reach 75% of North American households, and manage shareholder voting in 90 countries. As Chief Digital Officer for Broadridge, Robert leads the digital strategy and innovation for the customer communications group. His team ensures banking, telecom, utility, insurance and healthcare brands are engaging with their customers where consumers already frequent online. By supplementing traditional channels with new and emerging digital ways of engaging, the customer communications team helps businesses reduce costs, improve customer relationships, and make every touchpoint a meaningful interaction. We would like to thank the team at Money 20/20 USA (https://www.money2020.com) for hosting Wharton FinTech in Las Vegas during their annual conference to meet with and interview thought leaders in the FinTech Industry. Money20/20 is the premier global event on Payments, FinTech, and Financial Services where C-Level Executives, renowned speakers, innovators and disruptors from across the world unite to drive change in the future of money. We would also like to thank Wharton FinTech's platinum sponsor, the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at Wharton (https://stevenscenter.wharton.upenn.edu). The Stevens Center is the premier research, education, and thought leadership institution in the world for financial technology.

In our latest podcast, live from Money20/20, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) speaks with Tim Chen, the CEO and co-founder of NerdWallet. NerdWallet is a leading personal finance content platform with over 100 million users that provides users clarity around all of life's financial decisions. In addition to leading NerdWallet, Tim sat on the most recent Consumer Advisory Board of the CFPB, and was appointed to the board of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). In this extensive interview, Tim shares: • NerdWallet's founding story and how he's grown the company from an $800 investment into a $500 M company serving 100 M+ customers • The future vision for NerdWallet and how Tim is using machine learning to better understand and serve customer needs • Lessons learned from his experience as an entrepreneur, particularly on how he finds and evaluates talented executives • Advice for investors or young executives choosing FinTechs that will be successful in the long-run Prior to NerdWallet, Tim was a hedge fund analyst and also worked in equity research at Credit Suisse First Boston. We would like to thank the team at Money20/20 USA for hosting Wharton FinTech in Las Vegas during their annual conference to meet with and interview thought leaders in the FinTech industry. Money20/20 is the premier global event on Payments, FinTech, and Financial Services where C-level executives, renowned speakers, innovators, and disruptors from across the world unite to drive change in the future of money. We would also like to thank Wharton FinTech's Platinum Sponsor, the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance. The Stevens Center is the premier research, education, and thought leadership institution in the world for financial technology.

In our latest podcast, Shompa Choudhury (WG ’20) is joined by Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder and CEO (formerly Chief Strategy Officer) at BankMobile (https://www.bankmobile.com/index). In this extensive interview, Luvleen explains how BankMobile is leading the way in mobile-first banking by making banking more accessible and affordable. Luvleen also lays out the landscape for digital banking in the U.S. and explains how BankMobile’s B2B2C white label model allows them to create high volume customer acquisition at a low cost through partnerships with large consumer aggregators. Established in 2015, BankMobile is a division of Customers Bank and among the largest and fastest-growing mobile-first banking platforms in the U.S., offering checking and savings accounts, personal loans and credit cards. BankMobile employs a “Bank-as-a-Service” (BaaS) model, which enables BankMobile to acquire customers at higher volumes and substantially lower expense than traditional banks. Its low-cost operating model enables it to provide low-cost banking services to low/middle-income Americans who have been left behind by the high-fee model of “traditional” banks. Today, BankMobile provides its BaaS platform to universities and large consumer aggregators, such as T-Mobile, and currently serves over 60 million members as a top 15 bank in number of consumer checking accounts. Luvleen Sidhu is the Co-Founder and CEO (formerly Chief Strategy Officer) at BankMobile. She is also a member of the BankMobile Board of Directors and Director & Founder of the BankMobile Foundation, where she identifies and funds budding entrepreneurs and organizations that promote financial literacy. Prior to becoming a well-recognized name in the industry, she earned her MBA here as part of The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania as part of the Class of 2013.

In our latest podcast, Ronak Mehta (WG ’20) is joined by Sergio Furio, Founder and CEO of Creditas (www.creditas.com.br). In this extensive interview, Sergio explains how Creditas improves the lives of Brazilians by providing access to affordable credit. Sergio also provides context on the Brazilian retail banking and lending industry, shares his vision for Creditas’ future, and reflects on key learnings from his journey as an entrepreneur. Creditas is the leading secured lending platform in Brazil. With 1,000 employees and $315 million USD in VC funding, Creditas is one of the top fintech companies in Latin America. Creditas’ backers include Softbank, Kaszek, Redpoint eVentures, Vostok Emerging Finance, QED Investors, the IFC, Quona Capital, Santander Innoventures, among others. Creditas reduces the high interest rates paid by the Brazilian population by using borrowers’ assets, such as home and automobile, as collateral for loans. Before founding Creditas in 2012, Sergio was an executive at The Boston Consulting Group and in Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division.

In our latest podcast, Keane Ehsani (WG ’20) is joined by Amias Gerety, Partner at QED Investors (https://qedinvestors.com). In this extensive interview, Amias describes QED’s investment philosophy and how they selectively provide capital and add value to emerging financial services companies. Amias also dives into his experiences at Treasury, the current US regulatory landscape for emerging FinTechs, and how QED’s portfolio companies are disrupting financial services. Amias joined QED as a Partner in 2017 focusing on supporting the portfolio and finding new investment opportunities with a focus on back office technologies and infrastructure companies. Amias brings a deep background in financial markets, compliance, and RegTech to the QED team.  Prior to joining QED, Amias served as the President’s nominee and as Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that role, he was the lead advisor to the Secretary on policies affecting financial institutions.  He also oversaw a number of programs focused on supporting small business lending and community development. Prior to Treasury, Amias was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman.  Amias is a recipient of the Alexander Hamilton award, the Treasury’s highest honor. Amias graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard with a BA in Social Studies. QED Investors is a leading boutique venture capital firm based in Alexandria, VA. QED focuses on investing in early stage, disruptive financial services companies in the U.S., U.K. and Latin America. QED is dedicated to building great businesses and uses a unique, hands-on approach that leverages their partners’ decades of entrepreneurial and operational experience, helping their companies achieve breakthrough growth. Notable investments include Credit Karma, ClearScore, SoFi, Avant, Nubank, Remitly, GreenSky and LendUp. We want thank Wharton FinTech's platinum sponsor, the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance at Wharton (stevenscenter.wharton.upenn.edu). The Stevens Center is the premier research, education, and thought leadership institution in the world for financial technology.

In our latest podcast, Anna Li (WG’20) is joined by Dr. Jing Wang, the Assistant Professor of Interactive Media & Business at NYU Shanghai. As China has been in the forefront of financial innovation and received a lot of venture funding in the FinTech space, the Wharton FinTech Club invited Dr. Wang to discuss the FinTech landscape in China as well as the evolving regulatory environment in the region. Dr. Wang focuses on studying how information technologies reshape the financial domain in the global context. At NYU Shanghai, Professor Wang teaches the course "Understanding Financial Technologies" and mentors students in the Program on Creativity and Innovation. Prior to joining NYU, she taught at Tulane University in Louisiana. Her writings are published on peer-reviewed journals and business and financial news.   In this interview, Dr. Wang covers the following:  1. Overview of the rapid financial innovation that has taken place in China over the last couple of years and how the regulatory environment has supported and then contained the rapid development of FinTech companies  2. Overview of the main regulatory bodies in China for FinTech (see details in Dr. Wang's forthcoming article in The China Quarterly) 3. Comparison of the FinTech companies in the US versus China and how the regulatory framework differs in the two countries 4. The difference in regulatory controls between China and Hong Kong 5. How social scoring is implemented in China and how the government collaborates with FinTech/Tech firms to set those standards 6. Chinese government oversight on different sub-sectors within FinTech (i.e. P2P, payments, wealth management, etc.) 7. Regulation of virtual currencies in China 8. Types of companies that will experience headwinds and tailwinds from Chinese government policies

In our latest podcast, Meghna Sreenivasan (WG ’20) is joined by Sankaet Pathak, CEO of Synapse (https://synapsefi.com). In this extensive interview, Sankaet explains how Synapse offers developer-facing APIs for companies building innovative financial products and bank-facing APIs so banks can automate their back-end operations. Sankaet also does a deep dive in how customers interact with Synapse, the trend from enablement to high fidelity user experience in financial services, and his journey as an international entrepreneur. Synapse provides payment, deposit, lending and investment products as APIs to FinTech companies who build and launch their financial innovations on top of their banking infrastructure. Synapse enables everyone around the world to access best-in-class financial products, regardless of their net worth. Sankaet Pathak came to the US from India to study computer engineering at the University of Memphis.  His experience of not being able to open a bank account due to his immigrant status, prompted him to launch a financial services company that could reduce barriers of entry for underbanked or unbanked folks. Through his efforts, Sankaet found that the true barrier to entry was an outdated infrastructure that kept everyday people from accessing best-in-class financial products. Today, Synapse services over 1.8 million end-users and processes over $10 billion in deposits. Many of Synapse’s clients are small FinTech companies offering innovative financial solutions that are both accessible and affordable for end users.

In our latest podcast, Shompa Choudhury (WG ’20) is joined by Pranav Barthwal, Co-Founder of Save Abhi. In this extensive interview, Pranav discusses the evolution of payments in India and how Save Abhi has re-envisioned savings and wealth management for millennials in India. Save Abhi enables easy building of savings by rounding transactions to the nearest rupee and saving the change for investment. Previously, Pranav was in the payments space, heading a joint venture between ICICI Bank & First Data - a leading FinTech payments player providing POS terminals to over 400,000 merchants across India. Pranav studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and completed his MBA from INSEAD. Overall, Pranav has over 17 years of experience across payments, consumer goods and online learning organizations like First Data, Amex, and Reebok.

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Omer Ismail, the head of Goldman Sachs' US consumer business. In this role, Omer oversees the Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Clarity Money businesses as well as the Goldman Sachs/Apple credit card partnership. Omer was originally the consumer business' first employee, and under his leadership, Goldman Sachs' US business has grown to over 4 million customers, $5 B in loan balances, $50 B in deposits, and 1,300 employees.*   In this extensive interview, Omer dives into: • The story behind Goldman's decision to enter consumer banking and how it went about understanding consumer pain points to deliver a unique value proposition • How the consumer business operates as a distinct business within the broader Goldman umbrella, and how its focus on constant iteration of design and UX delivers a differentiated customer experience • Surprises and challenges that Goldman tackled as it scaled its consumer business • Thoughts on what's next for Goldman in the consumer banking space, as well as Omer's view on opportunities/challenges in the market   Prior to launching Goldman's consumer business, Omer spent a decade in the private equity division at Goldman Sachs, focused on investing in technology-enabled businesses in the financial services, media and healthcare sectors. Omer grew up in Karachi, Pakistan and earned a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Forbes, Fast Company and American Banker. He has been recognized as one of Business Insider’s 100 People Transforming Business, Crain’s 40 under 40 and Bank Innovation’s Innovators to Watch. Omer lives in New York with his wife and two kids. * Stats mentioned in audio may slightly differ; podcast was recorded at start of summer 2019.