Fintech One•On•One

Gilles Gade, CEO and Founder of Cross River Bank, shares his journey as a fintech pioneer. He discusses how Cross River has evolved to become a leader in Banking-as-a-Service and the impressive growth in loan numbers. The conversation highlights their shift from core providers to developing their own banking core. Gilles dives into recent challenges in the BaaS space, emphasizing the new hurdles for partnerships and the importance of balancing innovation with regulatory compliance.

An e-commerce merchant is a unique type of business. They are built on top of a platform like Amazon, eBay or Shopify and as such there is a great deal of empirical data about their business. Which means that there is rich data available for lenders to feed into their underwriting models.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Ricardo Pero, the CEO and Founder of SellersFi. He saw the opportunity for a lender focused on e-commerce when a friend of his with an Amazon store was looking for a reliable source of working capital. He realized that lenders were not serving this market segment well.In this podcast you will learn:How Ricardo got the idea to start SellersFi.Why he started with Amazon and how they have evolved since then.The number of e-commerce platforms they work with today.The suite of working capital solutions they offer.Why they created a digital wallet for multiple currencies.How they gather the data to make an underwriting decision.When they use accounting data.The reasons they decline loan applications.The impact of Amazon closing down its own lending program.The different sizes of merchants that are connecting to their platform.The scale that SellersFi is at today.How demand is trending from e-commerce merchants.Ricardo's vision for SellersFi.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

People often say that technology in insurance is just five years behind other areas of finance. But the reality is the technology rails that have been built for payments, lending and deposits have taken decades of evolution. Insurance is different. There is no Plaid, Stripe or even ACH for insurance, and so we have a product that still relies on a human for the vast majority of transactions. But that is going to change.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Wayne Slavin, the CEO and Founder of Sure. His company is building the infrastructure needed to bring insurance fully into the digital age where people can buy insurance and make a claim all without needing to speak to a human. Today, their insurance products are being embedded into the offerings of fintech companies but Sure's goals go way beyond embedded insurance. In this podcast you will learn:The interesting a-ha moment that led to the founding of Sure.What was missing in the insurance industry before Sure.Why the digitization of insurance has lagged other areas of finance.How Sure's embedded insurance product works.The really big difference between fintech and insurtech.The different types of insurance products they can offer today.What is involved for a fintech working with Sure to offer insurance.How they work with the insurance carriers.Some of the fintech companies they are working with today.How claims work with Sure.Why it has been important to connect the insurance and payment transaction.Why they launched Anywhere Insurance to speed up new insurance programs.What the future holds for embedded insurance.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The humble credit score has come a long way. Consumers, particularly younger consumers, are more aware of their credit score today than ever before. Historically, banks and credit unions have been the gatekeepers of our financial lives so it makes sense that they would want to provide information and context around credit scores. At the same time drive their customers to relevant products based on this information. Enter SavvyMoney.My guest today on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is JB Orecchia, the CEO and Founder of SavvyMoney. His team has created a sophisticated platform for banks and credit unions to provide credit score information as well as personalized education and product recommendations. So, a bank's customer doesn't have to go to Credit Karma to learn about their credit score, they can do it right within the banking app.In this podcast you will learn:How his background in lending informed the creation of SavvyMoney.Why consumers are more aware of their credit score today.The types of financial institutions that use SavvyMoney.The ROI for the typical bank or credit union.Why this is most powerful as a retention product.The integrations they have with the major digital banking platforms.What is involved for a new financial institution to onboard SavvyMoney.The tiny fraction of consumers who opt out.The primary product categories their FIs are focused on.How banks can compete with fintechs in customer acquisition.Why their Get My Rate product is such a big deal for FIs.How they are thinking about Generative AI for SavvyMoney.JB's vision for the future of SavvyMoney.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The financial system has become so much more complex over the last couple of decades that it is difficult to know what current trends will have staying power. How will the future financial system organize itself and will it look that much different to what we have today? I put these questions to one of the global thought leaders in fintech.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Emmanuel Daniel, the founder of The Asian Banker (now part of TAB Global) and one of the most interesting people in fintech today. He talks about the Great Transition, the title of his recent book, and details what is going to be important for the success of the financial institution of the future.In this podcast you will learn:How starting The Asian Banker launched a global platform.A short history on the rise of fintech in China.Why the Chinese regulators found the rise of fintech so challenging.Why China will struggle to be leaders in the AI revolution.Why Emmanuel decided to write a book on the personalization of finance.What the U.S. needs to do to ensure the dollar remains the reserve currency of the world.What is to become of platforms and the whole of idea of intermediation.Emmanuel's advice to innovators when it comes to regulation.How the next banking crisis will unfold.What could precipitate a change away from the dominance of the large banks.What is needed for the safety and soundness of the financial system of the future.Why the most important thing in the future is to be networked rather than large.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The core of the card payments system as we know it today has been around for many decades. This system has a number of major shortcomings, not least of which is the 45-character limited established by the ISO 8583 standard. That may have been enough characters back in the 1980s but it is severely limiting in today's complex world. But problems like these create opportunities for creative minds.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Oban MacTavish, the CEO and Co-Founder of Spade. They have built a system for real-time intelligence of card merchants which is impressive in and of itself. But what I found most fascinating is they have built one of the richest data sets in country on credit card merchants. With coverage that is second to none.In this podcast you will learn:The realization about archaic card payments that led to the founding of Spade.How the card payments value chain works today.The main thing that really needs to improve with card payments.How Spade is able to add more context to card payments.The disparate data sources they use to feed their system.How they update their merchant data.Who buys their data.The enriched data they send back to their clients.The main use cases for their data.Why they are not working with personal financial management tools.How they are working with Corpay, the corporate payments company.How they can help merchant acquirers.Oban's vision for Spade.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The Generative AI hype is not dying down. But where are the use cases in fintech beyond the basic chatbot? Particularly in fintech lending where AI has been used in underwriting for more than a decade. But not Generative AI. That is why I was very interested to chat with today's guest who has created a patent-pending Gen AI use case.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Ryan Rosset, the Co-CEO and Founder of Credibly. They are a small business lender that has been around since 2010, but today they call themselves a "data science driven lender". We find out what this means and much more in this episode.In this podcast you will learn:The founding story of Credibly.Why they decided very early on to take on a bank partnership.How they have changed as the industry has evolved over the last 14 years.The suite of financing products they offer today.How much progress has been made when it comes to access to capital for small business.The speed of their underwriting process.What they mean when they say they are a "data science driven lender."How they are using their patent-pending Generative AI system in underwriting.The data they are feeding into this Gen AI-system.Other places where they are looking to leverage Gen AI.Why they decided to launch their own business banking product last year.Ryan's perspective on banking-as-a-service and the current challenges.The scale they are at today.What is next for Credibly.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

It is the big challenge for fintech: making the financial lives better for the those who are underserved. We have come a long way in the past decade but there is still so much more that has to be done. And one of the people who has been at the center of this fintech transformation is Arjuna Costa, Managing Partner at Flourish Ventures.He is someone I have wanted to get on the show for many years, so I am fortunate that the stars aligned and we were able to sit down for the engaging discussion (I had another Flourish partner, Emmalyn Shaw, on the show back in 2019). We cover a lot of territory here, including a topic I have never before covered on the podcast.In this podcast you will learn:The journey Arjuna took from microfinance to venture capital.The early days of the Omidyar Network and how they thought about financial inclusion.How Flourish Ventures grew out of the Omidyar Network.The five principles they believe that underlie a fair financial system.The advantages of having a single funding source.How Flourish measures success.What is different today from investing 10 years ago.The change in the quality of entrepreneurs and business models.How much better financially people are doing today in emerging markets.What else needs to happen to really make a difference.How Flourish is helping to address the challenges of the mental health of fintech founders.The state of fintech venture capital in 2024.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

While BNPL has gathered all the attention these past few years, there is another point-of-sale financing category that has been around for decades: lease-to-own, sometimes called rent-to-own. It has historically been full of unscrupulous actors charging excessive fees and it is not an area that has received much attention from fintech companies.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Neal Desai, the CEO and Founder of Kafene. After a thorough analysis of different opportunities he landed on lease-to-own as an area that could use some fintech innovation. He is doing things very differently to the legacy players in the field and is building a sizable business.In this podcast you will learn:The detailed research that Neal did before founding Kafene.Why he decided to focus on lease-to-own financing as a category.How his time as a trader on Wall Street helps him run Kafene.How the Kafene offering works.The types of companies they partner with.Their average approval amount.How they underwrite these subprime consumers.Their unique approach to helping consumers who are experiencing difficulties.The regulatory structure they use with their lease-to-own agreements.Their approach to adding merchants into their ecosystem.How the rise of BNPL has impacted the growth of Kafene.The breakdown of early buyouts, returns and charge-offs.How Kafene is building trust in a space not known for good actors.How they make money.The big challenges today when it comes to growing their business.The scale they are at today.Neal's vision for the future of Kafene.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The resources that consumer lenders have to work with today are better than ever before. Gone are the days when risk officers could just pull a bureau file and have access to the best data about a potential borrower. The credit infrastructure tools today are more sophisticated and predictive, allowing lenders to serve more borrowers without expanding their credit box.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Misha Esipov, the CEO and Co-Founder of Nova Credit. They are at the forefront of this movement to bring more and better data to lenders and have become one of the leading credit infrastructure companies. I last had Misha on the show back in 2017 when they were just a startup, so a lot has obviously changed since then.In this podcast you will learn:How Misha describes Nova Credit today.Why they decided to move beyond the Credit Passport product.The performance of the Credit Passport borrowers with American Express and others.How the Credit Passport works.The history of Cash Atlas and why they got into cash flow underwriting.The challenges of building a cash flow underwriting engine.What Income Navigator is and how it works.The different types of income they work with.Why they launched the Nova Credit back in March and why it is significant.The types of financial institutions they are focused on today.What is driving the new attention paid to alternative data.What they learned from their State of Alternative Data in Lending 2024 report.Some of the best practices in implementing cash flow underwriting.How lenders are using cash flow underwriting today.Why they decided to create the Cash Flow Underwriting Summit.What is on their roadmap for the next 12-18 months.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes