Breaking Banks

In This Episode What’s your favorite holiday movie? It’s a Wonderful Life? Miracle on 34th Street? Scrooged? Plot twist (literally): These are all banking movies. This week on Breaking Banks hosts Jason Henrichs and JP Nicols invite you to an Alloy Labs virtual holiday gathering. Joined by Amber Frye, Pam Kaur, and Samer Saab, they share favorite holiday movies with good cheer and a twist — the need to tie the cinematic selections back to banking and fintech. Tie back to banking and fintech, you say? Think fraud, legal contracts, loan workouts, wealth management, alternative investments, identity theft — you get the picture! It’s a lively and animated conversation. No spoiler alerts, so let’s get this party started … listen and watch now!! It’s not too late to check out some of the favorite recommendations and to let us know if you agree with their takes, or have suggestions of your own. We’re listening!!

In This Episode What if someone told you you’ve been underpaid by more than two million dollars across your career? In this episode, Jason Henrichs speaks with fintech entrepreneur Tom Sosnoff. You may know Tom from founding thinkorswim and tastytrade, two billion-dollar exits that transformed retail investing. His newest venture, Lossdog, launching this month, focuses onsalary transparency. Traditional compensation platforms rely on legacy salary benchmarks and anonymous, unverified self-reports that create wide ranges. Lossdog’s approach to compensation data is one that uses AI and verified data sources to deliver personalized valuations rather than vague, crowdsourced ranges. Think of it as whole-person valuation meets Machine Learning — a worth engine combined with AI onboarding surfacing overlooked value in resumes, including skills, certifications, pivots, and even career gaps. It’s all about fair value and knowing your worth! Lossdog aims to give individuals institutional-grade tools to negotiate salary on equal footing with employers by generating accurate compensation valuations. Listen, share, and subscribe for more weekly fintech insights from Breaking Banks.

Arwa Damon, a former CNN reporter and founder of INARA, shares her profound insights from the conflict zones she's covered, particularly Gaza. She discusses the immense challenges in communicating the humanitarian crisis to global audiences. Arwa highlights the resilience of Gazans, showcasing their everyday courage and generosity amidst adversity. She also delves into the struggles of accessing financial services and the complexities of digital payments in a resource-strapped environment. Her mission with INARA focuses on providing essential medical support to children affected by war.

Explore the transformative effects of AI and technology on banking. Discover the promise and challenges of stablecoins and smart contracts. The hosts debate how AI reshapes business banking and its implications for institutions. Learn the importance of data readiness and cultural agility in the evolving landscape. They discuss how rapid AI adoption could impact financial inclusion and societal inequality. Tune in for practical insights on preparing banks for this dynamic shift in the financial ecosystem.

In a celebration of six years of impactful conversations, guest Serena Torrelli, CEO of WealthHype and expert in fintech, discusses Revolut's explosive growth in Italy, now boasting 4 million clients. She emphasizes the trust and features driving Revolut's move into private banking. The dialogue spans the intriguing battle between Bitcoin and gold as portfolio hedges, the transformative power of AI in wealth management, and regulatory challenges. Serena remains optimistic about innovation in AI, energy, and biotech, heralding a thrilling financial future.

Sandra Yao, Ecobank's Group Head for Cross-Border Remittance and Payments, shares her 20 years of fintech expertise. She discusses the critical need for interoperability across Africa's payments landscape and how Ecobank tackles challenges in reaching underserved users. Sandra highlights their innovative API-first platform and strategic tech partnerships, including with Google, to empower local talent and support fintech growth. With a focus on embracing startup agility within a bank, she sheds light on the future of Africa's digital finance.

The conversation dives into how AI is evolving from hype to profit, reshaping finance. The hosts explore deposit mobility's critical role and the future of digital banking amidst economic uncertainty. They highlight the energy demands of automation and the need for banks to adopt AI to stay relevant. A generational shift in choosing financial services by app functionality signals a new era of customer expectation. Personalization, practical tech initiatives, and adaptive strategies are essential for banks to thrive in the rapidly changing landscape.

Harriet Rees, the Chief Information Officer at Starling Bank, discusses the bank's groundbreaking collaboration with Google on AI-powered fraud detection. She reveals how the Scam Intelligence tool allows customers to upload images to identify potential scams within seconds, saving billions. They delve into trends from Money 20/20, like stablecoins and agentic AI, while exploring how such innovations can reshape user experiences in banking. Harriet also sheds light on the importance of regulatory engagement and Starling's commitment to evolving AI practices.

In This Episode Inside The Futurists X Summit: Preparing For An AI Powered Future This week Breaking Banks comes to you from The Futurists X Summit in Dubai, the world’s largest gathering of top-ranked futurists. This summit brings together leaders, innovators and policymakers from around the globe for meaningful dialogue on the future of technology, business and society. Tune in as Breaking Banks and The Futurists host Brett King speaks with Mastercard’s J.K. Khalil, EVP and Division President of East Arabia, and Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard. JK and Brett kick off the discussion with JK highlighting Mastercard’s partnership with the Ministry of AI in Dubai and their AI Center of Excellence in the UAE. Mastercard is always talking about the fast and accelerating pace of change and its impact on consumers’ lives. The AI Center of Excellence aims to demonstrate that AI is more than just a buzzword, helping people see the bigger picture and understand the broader implications — how this access to information and AI translates to daily life. The discussion also touches on exploring possible futures and enhancing the human experience. Then, Raja joins Brett to share his perspective on an AI-powered future. As AI improves quality of life, helping to alter the work-life balance — working less, experiencing more — what does the world look like? With AI, chores can be delegated to the machine, you can let go of certain things and have more time for other things. Time to pursue your passions – a long-standing focus for Mastercard is helping elevate lives through experiences. As technology levels the playing field—and everyone feeds similar briefs into the same AI tools—outputs will start to look alike. That’s exactly why this moment could become a new golden age of marketing: a chance to break through the sameness with real creativity, smart risk-taking and unconventional ideas. With advanced tools and the right mix of strategy and imagination, the possibilities are endless. And when you serve consumers with heart while driving revenue, that’s marketing at its best. It’s an engaging and thought-provoking episode from leaders in the field….priceless! Interested in hearing more about The Futurists X Summit? Follow our sister podcast, The Futurists.

In this discussion, Catherine Lynch, the Head of Digital Experience at Citizens Bank, shares her extensive banking background and insights into human-centered design. She pinpoints the three core customer needs: seeing, moving, and protecting money, highlighting how cognitive overload shapes customer expectations. Catherine discusses innovative strategies like partnerships with fintechs and the importance of observational research from their innovation lab. She emphasizes the power of empathy and rapid prototyping to streamline banking experiences in a complex environment.