Fintech Takes

Doug Swift, a lending leader at Navy Federal Credit Union, and Chris Hansen, cash flow analytics lead at Nova Credit, dive deep into the evolution of cash flow underwriting. They discuss its transition into consumer lending, highlighting real-world applications like automated collections and personalized member support. Doug shares insights on improving financial counseling through cash flow tools, while Chris emphasizes the advantages of real-time data compared to traditional credit bureaus. A fascinating look at how cash flow analytics is reshaping lending!

Explore groundbreaking fintech startups in this engaging discussion! Discover Kontigo, a blockchain-native bank with a wild ride of deplatforming and hacks. Unpack Givefront's unique spend management solutions tailored for nonprofits, diving into governing complexities. Beycome promises a smooth AI-driven home buying experience, reinventing real estate fees. Finally, learn about Cash App's invigorating new features and their rapid execution strategies, demonstrating how speed is key in fintech.

Regulatory changes took center stage as leadership shifts led to increased centralization, raising concerns over consumer protection. 2025 also marked the breakout of stablecoins, accelerated by the GENIUS Act, prompting debates on their potential impact on traditional deposits. Meanwhile, the cultural infiltration of gambling through prediction markets sparked ethical discussions. The IPO window reopened for several fintech giants, a move that hints at underlying market dynamics. Predictions for 2026 include potential financial crises and growing instability.

Max Levchin, a serial fintech entrepreneur and co-founder of PayPal and Affirm, shares his journey from early mobile wallet innovations to modern lending practices. He emphasizes the importance of market timing and consumer-centric product design, revealing how Affirm avoids late fees and prioritizes transparency. Levchin discusses the evolution of underwriting powered by machine learning and his regulatory philosophy focused on consumer protection. He envisions a future where AI agents guide consumers to beneficial financial choices, enhancing overall outcomes.

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Kiah Haslett, Jason Mikula, and Jason Henrichs. Four people. Two Jasons. It’s been a while! Our group text has been arguing about the same thing for years, so we finally took it to the mic: is Die Hard a Christmas movie?  The plan is simple. We spend an hour talking about Die Hard and pull it apart using ten questions I randomly came up with. We start with how each of us came to the movie. VHS scarcity. Delayed first viewings. Pausing the movie mid-stream to Google financial instruments. From there, we get into Bruce Willis, the accidental invention of the everyman action hero, and why this movie doesn’t work with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, or a 70-year-old Frank Sinatra crawling through air vents. Then we talk about villains, specifically, Hans Gruber. Along the way, we touch upon the FBI’s truly heroic ability to make everything worse, and just how many people in this movie are objectively bad at their jobs. At the center of it all is the plot device that sends us down the deepest rabbit hole: bearer bonds. Kiah walks us through what they were, why they existed, when they disappeared, and why it’s not totally impossible that some are still out there. Yes, it’s more educational than anyone intended. We wrap with favorite quotes, questions about workplace behavior in the 1980s, and the annual argument about what qualifies as a Christmas movie and who is allowed to die in one. It’s unserious. It’s overthought. It’s our most festive episode yet. Thanks for listening!  This episode was brought to you by Marqeta. Don’t sacrifice agility for stability. With Marqeta, launch payments experiences that perform at scale and flex with your business. Learn more at https://marqeta.com/ftt Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/  And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Kiah Haslett: Newsletter: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett Bank Nerd Corner podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bank-nerd-corner/id1845925869 Follow Jason Henrichs: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonhenrichs/ Twitter: https://x.com/jasonhenrichs Breaking Banks podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-banks/id641357669 Follow Jason Mikula: Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/   Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where Simon Taylor and I do what we do best: talk about fintech startups we’re absolutely not giving investment advice on. First up is Trudenty, a fraud intelligence network tackling first-party fraud. It uses federated learning to let issuers, PSPs, and merchants identify repeat abusers without sharing raw data. They’re starting with Worldline, JPMorgan Chase, and Mastercard, and keeping the pitch simple: they only sell one thing, and that one thing works. The stat that stuck with us? 80% of chargebacks are fraudulent. Next is TidalWave, agentic AI for mortgage point-of-sale. Instead of replacing loan officers, it works like a 24/7 assistant (one that handles follow-ups, corrects docs, and chases data). They’ve raised $22M, with the largest homebuilder in the U.S. on the cap table. It’s mortgage tech that avoids the loan origination system entirely, steering clear of regulated decisions while cleaning up the messy front-end workflow that still kills conversion.  Then there’s Kaaj, which is aimed at the part of small business lending that no software platform has ever fully cracked. Think about a business applying for a government-guaranteed loan or financing a new piece of equipment; lenders have to parse tax returns, bank statements, and identity documents that never look the same twice. The loans are too small for a credit team, but too complex for automation. Kaaj trains AI agents to read those documents and create the first draft of a credit memo that a human can review. The product solves a real problem, but the question is: can they win the category? Finally, FinReach Solutions in India tackles the gap between micro and small business credit. Lenders have money. Credit guarantors are willing to share risk. What’s missing is the infrastructure between them. Every guarantee program runs on bespoke rules and manual forms. FinReach standardizes that process, automates the guarantees, and makes collateral-free lending possible at scale. Think of the US SBA, but rebuilt as actual software instead of paperwork. Plus, some closing manifestations: AI for mortgage POS should fix the front-end friction that causes borrowers to drop out; SMB lending needs an actual platform between public money and private lenders; and rising chargebacks might say less about fraud and more about good customers who are tired of being treated like suspects. Thanks for listening!  This episode was brought to you by Marqeta. Don’t sacrifice agility for stability. With Marqeta, launch payments experiences that perform at scale and flex with your business. Learn more at https://marqeta.com/ftt  Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Simon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/ Substack: https://sytaylor.substack.com   Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Companies featured: https://trudenty.com/ https://www.tidalwave.ai/ https://kaaj.ai/ https://www.finreach.in/

Dave Wasik, a partner at Second Order Solutions with expertise in credit risk and consumer lending, discusses the evolving landscape of lending. He highlights persistent delinquency rates and the resilience of credit cards, emphasizing their clear benefits and issuer concentration. The conversation delves into the concerning shift of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) from big-ticket items to everyday expenses, alongside the risks posed by private credit's rapid growth and lack of transparency. Finally, Dave shares insights on the future of credit scoring systems.

Dive into the latest in open banking as JPMC strikes major deals with data aggregators like Plaid, while the CFPB pushes to finalize its 1033 rule amidst concerns over data fees and market leverage. Explore Apple's new digital ID credentials, tested by Jason, but facing slow adoption and potential airport glitches. On the business front, Green Dot is going private with a split structure under Smith Ventures, prompting discussions on the valuation challenges of merging banking and tech. Plus, a surprising endorsement for prediction markets from Roblox's CEO raises safety concerns!

Welcome back to our Engineering the SMB Capital Stack, sponsored by our friends at Fundbox. In this four-part series, we’re exploring small businesses, small business lending, and the forces shaping how small businesses access capital. I’m joined by Prashant Fuloria, CEO of Fundbox, as cohost. In Episode 4 (our finale!), we turn to the role of banks (and how they fit into an increasingly unbundled lending ecosystem), and what collaboration between banks and fintechs really looks like in 2025. To unpack it all, we’re joined by Jackie Reses, CEO of Lead Bank (and former Head of Square Capital, a pioneer in embedded capital for SMBs, particularly for B2C SMBs). Highlights include: How Square Capital redefined micro-lending, serving millions of U.S. businesses under traditional bank thresholds Why embedding loans in software (not branches) rewrote the risk model for SMB credit The rise of unbundled lending: fintechs, balance-sheet partners, and the capital markets “maturity curve” How banks like Lead are re-bundling infrastructure to power fintech lending safely and at scale The regulatory horizon (from agentic commerce to stablecoins and the next wave of small-business oversight) From unserved salon owners to national infrastructure shifts, Jackie reminds us why access to capital is still deeply human, and why technology wins when it’s built with empathy for the entrepreneur. If you want to understand where banks truly fit in the future of SMB lending, this finale is essential listening. This episode was brought to you by Fundbox.  As a leading capital infrastructure provider behind the digital SMB economy, Fundbox is focused on enabling platforms to embed financial tools directly into their user experiences. Learn more here: https://bit.ly/4o1cWVG Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Follow Prashant: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fuloria/ Follow Jackie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacqueline-reses-938b7850/Learn more about Fundbox here: https://bit.ly/4o1cWVG

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Carlos Caro (author of the Free Toaster newsletter and host of the Free Toaster podcast) for the second episode of Facing Credit, where we unpack what’s really happening in lending right now. This one’s about marketing; the overlooked starting point of every loan.  Everything in lending sits downstream of how you acquire customers and what it costs to reach them. And right now, that system is in flux. AI has upended the old rules of digital acquisition. Google’s “Helpful Content” update triggered what Carlos describes in his writing as the “SEO Apocalypse”, a collapse that’s wiping out 50–90% of organic traffic and forcing publishers, affiliates, and lenders to rewrite their playbooks. The rise of AI-generated search results and zero-click answers means the economics of attention have changed for good. Carlos and I dig into: How AI is breaking traditional digital marketing and reshaping lender acquisition costs What Google’s updates mean for SEO, SEM, and the affiliate ecosystem How creators like My Rich BFF and MrBeast are becoming the new distribution channels for lenders And what “Generative Engine Optimization” (GEO) might mean for the next phase of search Tune in for Carlos’s take on how lenders, publishers, and fintechs can survive the SEO extinction event (and what it’ll take to win attention in the AI age). Plus, we reference these three Free Toaster pieces throughout the conversation; consider them required reading: The SEO Apocalypse Has Arrived How New Balance's CMO Turned Around A 15-Year Decline Reddit Isn't an Affiliate Channel This episode was brought to you by Marqeta. Don’t sacrifice agility for stability. With Marqeta, launch payments experiences that perform at scale and flex with your business. Learn more at https://marqeta.com/ftt Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Carlos Caro: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/the-carlos-caro/ Follow Alex Johnson:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson