Fintech One•On•One

While many fintechs have had a busy last couple of years I think BM Technologies may trump them all. They went into the pandemic as part of Customers Bank but in the last 16 months they have completed the spinoff from that bank, they have gone public via SPAC and they have recently announced that they are going to acquire a community bank in Seattle.Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Luvleen Sidhu, the CEO and Chairman of BM Technologies. She was last on the show back in 2019 and, as I said, a lot has changed since then. They have become a real trailblazer in the banking as a service space and are in the process of becoming a bank again.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

 Today we are talking about student loans. The $1.7 trillion student debt burden is causing real changes in the behavior of Gen Z and Millennials. It is a huge problem and it needs big ideas to bring about solutions that can scale. Every student loan holder needs to know all their options and how best they can save money. And in many ways, the best place to provide this help is a local bank or credit union.My guests on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast are Laurel Taylor, the CEO and founder of FutureFuel and Sunil Sachdev, the Head of Fintech at Fiserv. These two companies have partnered to tackle the student debt problem, by bringing tools, awareness, and scale in this unique partnership. [Editor's Note: this conversation was recorded on March 31, 2022 and on April 6 we learned that the student loan moratorium has been extended to August 31.]Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Making news on this week's show was Brex, Circle, BlackRock, The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), The Digital Dollar Project, MoonPay, Step, FIS, Fireblocks, TransUnion and more. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

I am a big fan of alternative investments, it is how I got involved in fintech in the first place (through investing in LendingClub loans). I prefer to invest in alternatives through a tax-advantaged retirement account. But investing in alternatives through an IRA account has been a cumbersome and complicated process. Until now.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Eric Satz, the CEO and Co-Founder of Alto. He saw what a bad experience it was for investors trying to open a self-directed IRA and he decided to do something about it. Now, Alto is on a mission to take alternative IRA investing mainstream. Full disclosure: I have been an Alto customer for over a year now.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Crypto as a payment mechanism has never really taken off. The mechanics are difficult and there has never been an easy way for merchants to accept crypto for payment. But there is a new kind of tool that is starting to get some real traction: a crypto-backed debit card. This is where you spend your crypto through a regular Visa or Mastercard debit card.Our next guests on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Pavel Matveev and Harold Montgomery of Wirex. Wirex came out with their first debit card all the way back in 2015 and so it is now quite a mature product. They introduced this product to the world, starting in Europe and just recently launching in the United States.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Credit unions are in a challenging place right now. While they typically have a loyal customer base, their customers are demanding cutting-edge technology which is often beyond their technical capabilities. So, many are turning to fintech companies to help them compete in the market. Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Jeff Winner, the CEO of Happy Money. They have focused on the credit union space, working with them as capital partners for many years. But soon Happy Money will be launching an API-based lending-as-a-service offering that will bring cutting-edge tech to credit unions. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Today on the show we discussed big fintech news from Apple, Visa, Blockchain.com, Cross River, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Bilt Rewards, Wells Fargo, Alviere, Coinbase, Axie Infinity and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Small business owners have better tools than ever before to help them manage their finances. But even with all these tools, the user experience is often not intuitive and there are long learning curves for them to be really useful. Yet, many consumer-facing apps have beautiful and simple interfaces that are a joy to use. Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Wayne Chang, the co-founder and co-CEO of Digits. They have built intuitive tools designed to be used by both small business owners and accountants that are truly groundbreaking. They have taken the best design principles of consumer apps and applied them to small business finance. Wayne did a live demo of his new software during the podcast and I came away impressed. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Over the last couple of years, we have seen many of the biggest names in UK fintech launch in the United States. None have been able to enjoy the same traction they received at home as they struggle to differentiate themselves in the very complex and competitive U.S. market. But there is one company I have been paying close attention to as they have planned their launch here. My next episode of the Fintech One-on-One podcast features the leaders of Curve. Shachar Bialick is the founder and CEO and Amanda Orson is the head of their US operations. They have just launched to customers here this month so I wanted to chat with them to discuss their plans and learn more about their unique products. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

I would argue that few if any digital bank CEOs were thinking seriously about crypto back in 2015. Fewer still were thinking they should start a digital bank with the goal of incorporating crypto opportunities into the very fabric of their bank. And none would be so crazy as to create their own banking core from scratch with crypto very much central to this process. Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Stuart Sopp, the CEO and founder of Current. He did all those things and now he leads one of the fastest-growing digital banks in the country. And they are poised to take full advantage of the many opportunities that crypto and DeFi provide. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes