Breaking Banks

In This Episode Identity, and the future of it, continues to be a hot topic as digital adoption increases in all aspects of our lives. When you are verifying your identity, you want to do it with as little friction as possible and expect it to be fast, secure and compliant. In this episode, host JP Nicols speaks with Incode Technologies' Domingo Guerra, EVP of Trust, and industry veteran with a strong background in cybersecurity and data privacy, about the latest innovations in verifying identity. User expectations are bigger than ever. Positive user experiences and biometric acceptance can make what once seemed scary less so, but are all biometrics created equal? Read the entire transcript here. Podcast Content: Chapter 1: [00:00] Welcome and Introduction Brett King and J.P. Nichols introduce the episode, welcoming Domingo Guerra from ENCODE to discuss identity verification and fraud prevention. Chapter 2: [03:45] The Evolution of Biometrics Domingo explains how biometrics have shifted from being perceived as futuristic to a mainstream method of secure authentication. Chapter 3: [12:30] AI's Role in Identity Verification A look at how AI enhances identity verification processes, speeds up fraud detection, and keeps pace with evolving attacker tactics. Chapter 4: [22:00] Battling Fraud in a Digital Age The discussion delves into synthetic identities, deepfakes, and the arms race between fraudsters and security technologies. Chapter 5: [32:15] Building a Global Identity Network Domingo shares ENCODE's vision of an "identity bureau," enabling privacy-preserving collaboration across financial institutions. Chapter 6: [42:40] Beyond KYC: KYB and KYE Domingo outlines the shift from traditional Know Your Customer (KYC) practices to Know Your Business (KYB) and Know Your Employee (KYE) models. Chapter 7: [51:20] Industry Lessons and Applications Insights from various industries, including gaming, gig economy, and social media, on identity verification and fraud management. Chapter 8: [01:02:15] Privacy vs. Surveillance A critical discussion on balancing user consent and privacy with the growing capabilities of biometric and identity technologies. Chapter 9: [01:15:30] The Future of Digital Identity Domingo envisions a world where reusable digital IDs reduce fraud, enhance convenience, and empower user ownership of personal data. Chapter 10: [01:28:00] Closing Thoughts and Resources Brett wraps up the episode with information on ENCODE's services and Domingo Guerra's insights into the future of identity verification. Related Content: Episode 337: Winners and Losers in a Post-Pandemic World Identities Merging Episode 477: Breaking Traditions & Future of Money and Identity Digital Identity- FinTech keeping ahead of fraud Episode 517: Expectations vs. Reality: Latest Global Findings for Financial Services & Digital Identity https://youtu.be/pDr66sLB8Jw

In This Episode Iceland is a small country doing big things in fintech, but also in healthtech, renewable energy, gaming, and the ocean-based blue economy. Few countries fared worse during the 2008 global economic crisis, which had a profound impact on the country’s financial system, currency, and overall economy. The economy gradually recovered, and by the 2010s, Iceland experienced steady economic growth. Today Iceland has a high standard of living. Its citizens enjoy access to quality healthcare and education with a relatively low level of income inequality, and it is the global leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion. JP Nicols visited Reykjavik to meet with some of the people innovating to drive these outcomes, including the country’s First Lady who is proud of her country’s achievements, yet declares that “good enough, is not good enough”. Read the entire transcript here. Podcast Content: Chapter 1: [00:00] Welcome to Iceland Brett King introduces the episode from Reykjavik, highlighting the TCI Global Conference and the unique challenges and opportunities in Iceland. Chapter 2: [05:20] Iceland’s Innovation Story A historical perspective on Iceland’s evolution from cod fishing to a diversified economy driven by innovation in the blue economy and beyond. Chapter 3: [15:45] Lessons from the 2008 Crisis Reflections on how the financial collapse reshaped Iceland’s banking system, fostering resilience and growth in fintech innovation. Chapter 4: [25:10] The Fintech Cluster at Groska A deep dive into Reykjavik’s fintech hub, featuring Gunnlaugur Jónsson’s insights on fostering collaboration in Iceland’s small but vibrant ecosystem. Chapter 5: [38:20] Blockchain Innovation in Iceland Sven Valfoss discusses Monerium's pioneering efforts in issuing fiat on blockchain and bridging the gap between Web3 and traditional finance. Chapter 6: [50:45] Combating Financial Crime with AI Insights from Lucidity on how generative AI and privacy-enhancing technologies are revolutionizing anti-money laundering and fraud detection. Chapter 7: [01:05:30] Health Tech Meets the Blue Economy Exploring innovative health tech solutions like Kerasys, Iceland’s first unicorn, and its groundbreaking use of fish skin in medical applications. Chapter 8: [01:18:10] Diversity and Inclusion in Icelandic Tech Highlighting initiatives like the Nordic Women in Tech Awards and the innovative DEI platforms of Pay Analytics and Alda. Chapter 9: [01:32:00] Bridging Gaps and Building Futures Reflections on Iceland’s role as a bridge between industries, cultures, and geographies, creating a global model for innovation and collaboration. Chapter 10: [01:45:00] Closing Notes from the Land of Fire and Ice Brett shares final thoughts on Iceland’s unique spirit of collaboration and innovation, and his experience with Icelandic culture and hospitality. Related Content: Fintech: Mission Diversity Disruptive HealthTech Episode 227: Fintech4Good - Diversity and Gender Equality in Business at G20 Healthtech -- Innovative Treatment for Opioid Addiction Episode 441: The Three Trillion Dollar Economic Opportunity Hiding in Plain Sight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atOEvLoB8dQ

The podcast discusses the next era of banking with a focus on a new digital bank wallet called Paze. Paze aims to simplify and secure online payments by tokenizing credit and debit card numbers. The speakers explore the challenges of competing in the crowded digital wallet market and the importance of adapting to the changing fintech industry. They also discuss lessons learned from the rollout of Zelle and the integration of merchant ecosystems into a payment system.

In This Episode This week we begin our episode with the third in our special series on fintech visionaries reimagining the future of finance. Brett King is joined by Jayesh Patel, CEO of Wio Bank, and Thomas Kuncheria, EEMEA Senior Vice President for Advisors Client Services at Mastercard. Wio, the UAE's first platform bank with a mission to transform banking in its region, is focusing on three core capabilities -- digital banking applications, embedded finance and BaaS. Through partnership with Mastercard, Wio is helping customers thrive in this digital world, offering personalized features and seamlessly integrated services with a goal to make banking simple, transparent and secure, offering customers access to tools to manage their finances effortlessly and at lower cost than other alternatives. It's another interesting piece in the series spotlighting the benefits of partnership and empowering partners to disrupt and revolutionize. Then, are non-traditional loan underwriting criteria -- i.e. market, environmental, community data -- important when painting a picture of a SMB loan applicant? JP Nicols speaks with serial entrepreneur Ron Benegbi, Founder & CEO of Uplinq Financial Technologies who believes so, and whose latest venture, a global credit assessment platform for SMB lenders, has built, in part taking a page from his own personal story. a platform to empower lenders to distill different kinds of data and information for credit decisioning that might enable SMB lenders to approve and manage risk on loans that they might have otherwise declined based on traditional loan underwriting criteria. https://youtu.be/ikalSI19V6A

In This Episode Opening Minds and changing legacy behaviors can be challenging. This week JP Nicols connects with Jim Perry, Senior Strategist, Market Insights about new perspectives young cohorts bring to money in the digital age, not just in practice but in ways the industry can better align its leadership with today's general demographics. Rechanneling, retooling and meeting customers where they are today, to better represent our ecosystem, across the entire spectrum, can make for a more engaged workforce and help financial institutions stay relevant. By setting the bar where it needs to be, bringing value through DEI and sharing different perspectives, financial institutions can also increase stickiness in customer relationships. Then, JP continues the thread of new perspectives and ways of doing things in his recent conversation with Brandon Spear, CEO, TreviPay. When it comes to trade credit for business customers, and the associated complexity that is inherent in the B2B space with multiple stakeholders, applying some B2C principles to B2B can make for a better payment experience, easing and expediting business across geographies, systems and risk profiles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2lxAgRFtVU

In This Episode Want to wow your family over the holidays with your fintech and banking knowledge? We offer a helpful primer for Thanksgiving table conversations as Breaking Banks' Jason Henrichs gathers with industry notables and friends Kiah Haslett, Bank Director; Alex Johnson. Fintech Takes; Jason Mikula, Fintech Business Weekly; and Mary Wisniewski, Cornerstone Advisors to talk banking turkey, give thanks, and share the nerd things they'll be talking about around their dinner tables. Happy Thanksgiving from Breaking Banks!

Open Banking US and the proposed 1033 ruling from CFPB, the impact on financial institutions and big tech. Challenges and opportunities of banking the cannabis industry. The rise and fall of Mint and Credit Karma's entry into credit cards. The problem with credit builder products and the need for better solutions. Challenges of personal financial management and the importance of integration and tools. Contrasting approaches of large and regional banks in customer relationships. Issues of data hoarding and lack of transparency by big e-tailers. Enabling financial institutions to serve the cannabis industry and the legal complexities involved.

DeAndre Jones and John Stuckey discuss the misalignment between consumer priorities and investment in innovation in the financial services industry. They emphasize the importance of listening to customer expectations and simplifying financial apps based on feedback. The episode also explores the growth of digital financial institutions, the expansion of Clear into the FinTech space, and the challenges of trust and friction in digital identity verification.

In This Episode Join Jason Henrichs as he speaks with Matt Wilcox, President, Digital Payments and Data Aggregation, Fiserv; Raja Chakravorti, Universal Access Lead, Plaid and Aly Yarris, Financial Access, Partnerships at Plaid about Open Banking today, how banks might want to approach it. Our guests give a quick lay of the land in digital finance right now, talking about data, data sharing and privacy, ownership, the importance of secure connectivity, access points and APIs, Addressing growing consumer demand to access their financial information when, where and how they want, Fiserv and Plaid recently announced an agreement to enable secure connectivity to allow consumers to do just that -- share their financial information with the third-party financial apps and services of their choice working with established connections and key infrastructure. It's an informative segment with relevancy for banks of all sizes. Then JP Nicols connects with Scarlett Sieber, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at M20/20 to talk about themes and highlights from this year's gathering. The duo, and the event, cover a wide range of topics from AI (no surprise!) to RegTech,specifically Open or Connected Banking under the CFPBs 1033, Digital Wallets and Small Business Payments while touching upon keynotes and fireside chats with Regulators, ex-Regulators and Senators. Another epic event! Be sure to move this episode to the top of your list! https://youtu.be/0Q17TGMhl10

In This Episode This week we feature the second of a three part series focusing on fintech visionaries reimagining the future of finance.  In today's first segment, Brett King and JP Nicols are joined by Solana Cozzo, Head of Mastercard Advisors Business Development for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Mariana Franza, Chief Operating Officer at Ualá. Ualá, an Argentine fintech company, partnered with Mastercard to offer users an innovative and integrated digital experience with convenient and lower-cost services than other alternatives. Argentina has a large unbanked and underbanked population, and Uala has quite a story to tell with 5.5 million customers in 5 years and the ability to meet customers where they are and how they want to engage. It's another interesting segment in the series spotlighting the benefits of partnership and empowering partners to disrupt, revolutionize and grow with agility and speed where there is need. Smart decisions with positive outcomes. Then we travel with Brett to Kazakhstan, the ninth largest country in the world, to hear from one of their fintechs, Wooppay, and its Chief Compliance Officer, Yuliya Salekhova about what Wooppay is doing to drive innovation forward in the country. The first in mobile financial services in Kazakhstan, Wooppay has an unique place and story. Listen as Brett and Yuliya discuss Wooppay's wallet ecosystem and the future of payments. Innovators from around the world reimagining the world of finance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFXypoFG4Ww