In This Episode Brett King connects with industry leaders and influencers Joao Bezerra Leite, 2W Ecobank and former CTO, Banco Itau, and Bruno Diniz, fintech advisor, author, professor, speaker and top 10 influencer in Ibero America for another engaging episode of Breaking Banks about the fintech / payments boom in Brazil and Latin America. The trio focus on several success stories to include Pix pay; NuBank, the reasons NuBank has been so successful; Creditas, and other companies to watch. Can these successes be replicated elsewhere? How might the market react if / when NuBank becomes the largest market cap bank in LatAm? These are just some of the questions the industry veterans tackle in this episode. https://youtu.be/0sMFejq_TQk

In This Episode It's another engaging episode from Breaking Banks' new series, Killing It. Host Jason Henrichs shares a candid conversation with Sankaet Pathak, Synapse CEO and Co-Founder, about Synapse's just completed, very public bankruptcy and acquisition that came with highly opinionated social media commentary. Listen as Sankaet shares his personal story as well as a behind the scenes narrative of Synapse's journey, the challenges faced, and what ultimately brought him to the decision to kill Synapse as a stand-alone entity. Sequencing is important. https://youtu.be/tkIwAiaI2dA Full Show Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome to Breaking Banks. The number one. Killing it. Killing it. There's often a story behind this story. The explosion of social media, private Slack and WhatsApp groups, newsletters, make it difficult not only to decipher fact, but even put together a cohesive story. Synapse is just completing a very public bankruptcy and acquisition with highly opinionated social media commentary. Sankat Pathak, Synapse's founder and CEO, joins me on this episode to share his side of the story and the journey that brought him to the decision to kill Synapse as a standalone entity. Well, thanks for agreeing to have a difficult if not painful conversation about the last chapters of Synapse's journey as a standalone entity. [00:01:00] Building in public is hard and, you know, finding a soft landing is admirable and difficult enough without public commentary. I guess I should be thankful Twitter didn't have the reach and vitriol in 2014 when we like tried to crash land, you know, Perk Street, same maneuver. I sometimes tell people it's like, we landed the plane. People were definitely on fire. But no one died, right? Um, I'm going to start with, you know, there are some of the experts on X saying, you know, all sorts of things, here's what went wrong. Why don't we start with, what are people getting wrong about the narrative in what transpired with Synapse and the TabaPay acquisition? I think the biggest thing that people don't realize is that We didn't file for bankruptcy, and then somebody bought our assets. Uh, we filed for Chapter 11 because that's what Tapupe wanted, uh, as a safe way to be able to acquire the [00:02:00] asset. Um, because of all the noise around the company, specifically with one of our, uh, Ex customers. Um, uh, It starts with a capital M, maybe? Yeah, Mercury. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was the core of the reason, but I think a lot of people, uh, and again, like on Twitter, I think the mob mentality is vicious and it's fine. Um, uh, sometimes it's fun. Mostly it's painful, but that's okay. Um, their whole narrative was bankrupt Synapse has its Assets being acquired by TabaPay, but it's kind of the opposite. It's more so the liability piece and sequencing is important, but that's the piece that people missed. Yeah, well, I mean you did have two million dollars of cash still on the balance sheet It's not like you were out of runway, you know There are other maneuvers that you could have executed and I don't think that people really understand That asset purchase agreements are the way that a lot of tech companies are acquired [00:03:00] Just because the acquirers don't want any lurking, you know, calm the iceberg liabilities that you don't even know what they are. And you have some that are above the surface, let alone below the surface, not lurking there in court papers that that's actually way more common to do an asset purchase than people would think. Not always bankruptcy. Right. Yeah. Um, but I think that's an important part of the narrative. Anything else that you'd add that you're like, they're just getting that it's wrong. Well, I think, uh, the piece that people don't ask is why did have to, uh, why did we even have to sell? Yeah. Um, and what is the reason, because of which Synapse had to sell? Is it the market? Is it the bank partners? Is it customer churn?

In This Episode Pay by bank is gaining momentum in the U.S., it's a natural evolution of how we pay with funds from our bank accounts. What will it take to get more people to use it and what about readiness for different use cases? Listen as host Brett King, Eric Sager, Plaid's COO and Trevor Nies, Adyen's SVP, Global Head of Digital discuss the state of pay by bank, what is driving it in the U.S., the value it delivers, the next segments to adopt, and how key challenges are being overcome to make it good for consumers and for businesses. Will we start seeing pay-by-bank in everyday e-commerce experiences? Listen to our latest episode of Breaking Banks to find out! https://youtu.be/HDybRTh0mmE

Booshan Rengachari, CEO of Finzly, discusses embedded banking with host Brett King. Topics include attracting corporate banking customers, handling KYC & KYCC compliance, and utilizing open APIs, virtual accounts, and ISO 20022 for success in embedded banking.

In This Episode Todays’ Breaking Banks spotlights sister podcast Finovate, featuring host Greg Palmer’s recent interviews on the Future of Real-Time Payments with The Clearing House's, Jim Colassano, SVP Product Development & Strategy and a new report on Cost of Living, Lending and Insights from Tink with Jack Spiers, Banking & Lending Director, UK & Ireland. Finovate Spring is around the corner, May 21 - 23, 2024 in San Francisco, CA. Check it out! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yIeYTZbXpQ

In This Episode This week on Breaking Banks, we feature an episode from sister podcast EMERGE Everywhere. Is artificial intelligence the key to providing personalized financial advice for all? While companies like Credit Karma are tapping into AI’s vast potential to help customers manage their money, the technology also raises weighty questions about how to use it responsibly. In this episode, Jennifer Tescher, host of EMERGE Everywhere speaks with Credit Karma CEO Ken Lin about how the company has embedded AI into its solutions, the biggest opportunities and challenges right now, and what an AI-enabled future might look like.

In this Episode This week, Jason Henrich connects with Mary Wisniewski to talk about her new podcast, Money Isn't Everything, which will explore unconventional ideas and strategies within the financial services sector.  In her biweekly podcast Mary will tap into her passion for uncovering counterintuitive concepts, sharing stories and looking at complexities, gaps and opportunities in our market with focus on the role banks and credit unions play in driving and improving outcomes, The first episode of Money Isn't Everything airs 4/18, catch it on Apple, Spotify or the Cornerstone Advisors website. https://youtu.be/3PsqPUDBmO8

In This Episode Giving credit when credit is due is always appreciated and a good thing to do. In this case, it is also a solid base for a fintech, one that is socially responsible and financially inclusive. Meet Kashable's Co-Founder and CEO, Einat Steklov, as she speaks with host Brett King about Kashable making its mark in financial services with low cost loans for employees, those with low or no credit scores. With its data models and ability to create new risk profiles and open up access to credit, Kashable underwrites consumers for unsecured loans based to a large extent on employment information. With Kashable's ability to offer access to low cost credit, economic mobility, as an employee benefit with easy repayment -- embedded financing -- everyone benefits. Then, Breaking Banks is delighted to introduce Social Currency, Provoke.fm's latest podcast powered by Sunrise Banks that will introduce you to some of the most innovative changemakers in finance, tech and ESG, and how they are dismantling barriers and reshaping their industries for a more inclusive, equitable and sustainable future. Spotlighting those at the forefront of positive change through social entrepreneurship, Social Currency unveils the stories behind the revolution that is propelling us toward a world where everyone has equitable access to opportunities. In the first episode, Ahead of the Curve, Strategic Foresight, Tyler Seydel, Chief FinTech Officer at Sunrise Banks and co-host Eric Schurr, Chief Strategy Officer, Sunrise Banks and certified practitioner in strategic foresight, get into just that, Strategic Foresight, how organization can solve market opportunity challenges using provocative questions to look at future challenges in new ways, reimaging opportunities. A planning oriented discipline related to futures studies, you'll be surprised as new tools and this new way of future thinking begins to infiltrate projects and everyday work. https://youtu.be/B0iLiO6Sy54

In This Episode SXSW is a safari to the future according to Todder Moning, Lead Futurist at U.S. Bank. But, as Mike Bechtell, Chief Futurist at Deloitte, pointed out in his Fintech House fireside last year: futurists are always wrong. Why attempt to predict the future if you are likely to be wrong? This year Todder and Eric Schurr, Chief Strategy Officer at Sunrise Banks and host of the Social Currency podcast at Provoke.fm, have a fireside chat with Dara Tarkowski, Founder of Actuate Law and host of the Tech on Reg podcast, about which rules to break and which to keep when thinking about the future. From large bank to small, both use the tools of Foresight to gain a competitive advantage when thinking about a future, even when it is likely wrong. Listen in to learn how to break out of your current mindset and preconceptions, including Todder's favorite: Future Safaris. https://youtu.be/VJ5OvH-f-00

In This Episode What happens when two financial futurists get together? They chat about money of the future and related topics worthy of debate. This week, host Brett King connects with Chris Skinner, author, influencer, The Finanser blogger, and advisor to leading organizations, governments and firms across the world to talk about Chris' new book, Intelligent Money, due out this summer. Lots of great banter and thought provoking discussion as they look at cross border payments, smart wallets / super wallets that act as an agent on your behalf, embedded intelligent financial services and payments, and of course AI, to name just a few of the topics they get into. What's your vision for Main Street 2034? Is the need for growth at the heart of some of our problems? Enjoy the debate! https://youtu.be/DC03x1pySWg