American Banker Podcast

Banks are underestimating the amount of work and education needed for blockchain technology to be adopted throughout the industry, says Steven Ehrlich, lead associate within emerging technologies at Spitzberg Partners, a New York City consulting firm.

It is easy for banks and fintechs who know that they need to innovate to get caught up in what looks innovative, or what sounds innovative, but ends up being more for show than for dough. To avoid the pitfalls, and help everyone invest in true innovation that can enhance customer experience and truly add value, we are talking about Innovation Theater- how to avoid it and find implement true innovation. Ron Shevlin guest hosts, with guests Nick White from Monotise, and Marc Hochstein and Penny Crosman from American Banker. Also Gaia Fasso joins to talk about the Anthemis Fellowship

This week, Brett and Breaking Banks were onstage with Antony Jenkins, CEO of 10x Future Technologies at the LendIt conference in NY! While we were at the conference, we decided to talk to some others that were making new waves in the lending space. We talked to Brock Blake, CEO of Lendio about their new "franchising" model to expand their reach in the US. We caught up with Christoph Reiche, CEO of iwoca about the affects of Brexit on the lending space for small business through the EU, and what kinds of data are proving useful to create new lending models. We chatted about the ideas of debt rehabilitation with Ohad Samet, from TrueAccord, and how machine learning and AI can help people fix their credit situations. Of course we talked with Peter Renton, who created the conference, and we wrap up by catching up with John Owens and Emmanuel Daniel! It was a full day at a great event! We want to thank the LendIt conference, Metro Multimedia, and all our guests!

Much progress has been made lately, for bitcoin and blockchain. Bitcoin is now worth, literally, as much as gold. Thai Stock Exchange is planning to use blockchain for a new startup marketplace. Banks have signaled bullishness toward blockchain tech. But bitcoin and blockchain purists say ignorance around distributed ledger and cryptocurrency technology is leading to ill-informed choices.

Professor Rahul Telang at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College analyzed the behavior of 500,000 bank customers over five years to observe their reactions to adverse events such as fraud on their bank account. It's a rare objective measure of the effect of fraud on customer retention.

Brett King, Marc Hochstein of American Banker, and Peter Renton, Founder of LendIt Academy, talk about the upcoming Digital Identity Crisis Webinar, The LendIt Conference at the Javits Center in NYC, and the proposed Fintech Charter and what that can mean for changes in banking in the US. Sam Maule takes the helm in the second half, and talks to Zeina Shuhaibar from the IRC, Ashish Gadnis, Founder/CEO of BanQu Inc., and Aneesh Varma, Founder of Aire (Credit scores for humanity @AireScore) to talk about fintech solutions to help refugees regain some economic stability and contribute to the economies of their new domiciles.

Trust and transparency can be strengthened and like-minded borrowers and banks can be brought together if transactions are "tagged" and investments are explained, argues Bruce Cahan, adjunct professor at Stanford University.

MPESA, the Swahili word for money, is Kenya's mobile money system developed by Safaricom. It has literally transformed the ability for people to work, save, pay for everything from groceries, bills, rents, and everything else. Kenya reports that use of MPESA has helped to lift 186,000 families out of poverty. That is nearly 2% of the entire population. And it has helped wealth grow across the board, helping to develop a stronger middle class. Today, Breaking Banks tells the story of MPESA, and how it came to partner with banks, particularly KCB, to give all people access to banking services, to easy movement of their money, increasing their ability to save and build wealth in their lives.

Hong Kong and Singapore have long been economic crossroads. China and India are economies with vast populations and huge potential. And Shenzhen is bursting with innovative creativity. All of these contribute to the Asian fintech market being far ahead in adoption and ecosystem creation.

Andrew Lo straps sensors to traders and watches how their pulses and body temperatures change when markets dive or trades go bad. The technology could be used elsewhere in a bank to address problems before they escalate.