Fintech Takes

Our favorite fintech obsessive is back from parental leave, and he’s ready to tackle all of the latest fintech news you might have missed from the last couple of weeks with fellow obsessive and fintech newsletter writer, Jason Mikula. Alex and Jason break down the latest announcement from Goldman that they’re in talks to offload their partnership with Apple to American Express. What’s the reasoning for this abrupt reversal in an otherwise successful launch of the Apple Savings Feature? And is it the final straw in the unraveling of Goldman’s consumer ambitions, or is Apple just a hard partner to work with?  Then, Alex and Jason cover the surging interest in data fraud consortiums, the leaky funnel surrounding middleware BaaS platforms, and one of the worst FDIC false claims situations Jason has ever seen. Plus, is crypto finally cannibalizing itself with the latest launch of Justice tokens?  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/ Follow Jason:Newsletter: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula/ Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

What happens when $270 billion of commercial mortgages expire and mature? In this week’s Bank Nerd Corner, Alex chats with Managing Editor at Bank Director, Kiah Haslett, about the latest in fintech news, and today they’re tackling what might happen to small banks now that commercial real estate companies are faced with refinancing at significantly higher interest rates. Plus, what’s the outcome for banks like First Republic Bank, who aren’t in the immediate throes of a liquidity crisis but aren’t really profitable either? Can they simply ride it out as they limp along? Then, stay tuned as Kiah and Alex discuss the reasons why bank regulators aren’t always on the same page and whether or not Apple can actively pull in deposits and compete with banks. 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/ Follow Kiah:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

On this week’s podcast, Alex is joined by the wise and powerful Simon Taylor, who’s taking a break from the dreary UK weather to break down a few of the most promising fintech startups and banking as a service platforms.How does Zamp’s outsourced treasury and finance team have a structural advantage in the marketplace? Can ProductFi deliver on its promises to reach underserved communities and still manage to scale? Will Playbook make good on its promise to democratize access to tax advantages for the rest of the 99%? And how is a Brazilian fintech company utilizing chatbot technology to help 25 million plus self-employed citizens? Tune in to discover how these innovative companies are disrupting the financial industry and changing the way we think about banking and finance! 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/ Follow Simon:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/ Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson 

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores payroll connectivity from a variety of perspectives.  In this episode, Argyle GM Justin Stolzenberg and Column Tax co-founder Gavin Nachbar sit down to chat about the next generation of income tax products and how payroll APIs pave the way for a myriad of innovative use cases. They discuss how tax products like Column Tax are changing the root function of financial advisors by dispensing real-time, integrated tax advice to consumers and bringing large amounts of data together in a user-centric, problem-centric way. What other new use cases will these products continue to unlock? And, how are embedded tax solutions addressing consumer market trends such as increasing sources of income and continuous access to payroll data?   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/ Follow Alex:  LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Follow Gavin:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gavinnachbar/ Follow Justin  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-stolzenberg-128231112/ Do more for less with Argyle. Power the digital experiences that drive performance across the customer journey with industry-leading payroll coverage. Automate income verifications, seamlessly fund bank assets, and leverage real-time work to enhance products.  Sign up today and start building your business. Go to https://argyle.com for more information.Timestamps:0:00 Intro2:20 Strategic Verticals at Argyle7:57 Mapping Out Column Tax11:04 Unlocking New Use Cases13:10 Continuous Access to Data16:52 The Issues with Multiple Jobs18:57 Consumer Market Trends21:21 B2B & B2C Embedded Model24:00 Thinking About Balance28:10 Looking into the Future

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores payroll connectivity from a variety of perspectives. In today’s episode, John Hardesty and Kyle Green talk with Alex about how payroll connectivity streamlines the mortgage lending process, making it more straightforward than ever before for borrowers and lenders alike.  As a GM of Mortgage at Argyle, John gives his insights into the cost structure of mortgage lending, the obstacles facing the employment verification process, and how regulators benefit through increased access to payroll data. Meanwhile, Kyle, a Senior Product Manager for Simple Nexus, shares his unique opinions about the user experience of mortgage lending technology and the common pain points along the employment verification process. Plus, what do both envision for the future of mortgage lending technology? 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/  Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Follow Kyle: LinkedIn: Hardesty Follow John:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hardesty-5aa34672/ Do more for less with Argyle. Power the digital experiences that drive performance across the customer journey with industry-leading payroll coverage. Automate income verifications, seamlessly fund bank assets, and leverage real-time work to enhance products.  Sign up today and start building your business. Go to https://argyle.com for more information.Timestamps:0:00 Intro3:32 Mortgage as an Industry10:31 Cost Structure of Mortgage Lending14:44 Verification18:32 Historical Background of Verification24:50 Consumer Permission/Payroll Access32:12 The Changing Nature of Employment39:35 Regulators and Technology44:45 The Future of Mortgage Lending

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores the wide-reaching implications of programmatic, consumer-permissioned access to payroll data.  In this episode, Alex chats with Matt Gomes, GM of Consumer Lending and Banking at Argyle, and Jonathan Katz, VP of Client Development at Amount, about how payroll data is transforming the lending process and unlocking innovative new product concepts. They tackle why banks should use payroll data to drive higher levels of automation and provide a better customer experience, how credit reports are inherently flawed (and why change is necessary), and how payroll connectivity helps lenders make better decisions. Plus, Jonathan and Matt offer their predictions for what consumer lending will look like in the near future.  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/  Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Follow Matt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgomes/?originalSubdomain=uk Follow Jonathan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathankatz4/ Do more for less with Argyle. Power the digital experiences that drive performance across the customer journey with industry-leading payroll coverage. Automate income verifications, seamlessly fund bank assets, and leverage real-time work to enhance products.  Sign up today and start building your business. Go to https://argyle.com for more information.Timestamps:0:00 Intro2:23 Lending10:21 Gaps in Credit Reports20:36 Integrating Data with Lenders26:30 The Compliance Aspect of New Data33:39 The Nuances of Actual Income36:28 Consumer Verification41:52 Where Are We Going Next?

Fintech Business Weekly publisher Jason Mikula joins Alex to discuss the latest news in fintech and banking. In this week’s episode, they dissect Apple’s high-yield savings account, discuss how the Netherland-based neobank Bunq will do in the U.S., and name their big takeaways are from Plaid’s newly launched real-time payment capability. And Jason brags about windmills. 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/ Follow Jason:Substack: https://substack.com/profile/4867166-jason-mikulaTwitter: https://twitter.com/mikulaja?s=20LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jasonmikula Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

In this special, four-part series, Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson explores payroll connectivity from a lending, mortgage, and emerging technology perspective.  In part one, Alex sits down with Argyle founder and CEO Shmulik Fishman to dissect the evolution of the modern payroll and discover how payroll connectivity companies like Argyle are pushing the boundaries of data sharing between consumers and businesses. They also chat about the role of data privacy in payroll systems, why businesses are slowly shifting away from the reliance on Equifax for information, and the importance of the consumer experience in payroll connectivity technology.  Plus, find out why Shmulik is all in favor of deleting the pay stub.  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/ Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Follow Shmulik:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shmulik/Personal Website: https://shmulikfishman.com Do more for less with Argyle. Power the digital experiences that drive performance across the customer journey with industry-leading payroll coverage. Automate income verifications, seamlessly fund bank assets, and leverage real-time work to enhance products.  Sign up today and start building your business. Go to https://argyle.com for more information.Timestamps: 0:00 Intro2:40 Payroll Data Connectivity6:15 What is Payroll Data?9:44 Challenges of Collecting Payroll Data12:30 Data Privacy in Payroll17:51 Moving Away From Equifax20:56 The Consumer Payroll Experience26:27 The Lending Perspective31:32 Friction and Self Selection34:36 Building Coverage38:59 Conversion Rates40:50 Read and Write Access45:36 Regulatory Support           48:09 Looking into the Future50:45 Future Episode Tease

Co-founder of Bloom Money, Nina Mohanty, drops by the podcast to discuss just how many unsolved problems remain in fintech and financial services. She and Alex talk about a few of the most notable unsolved problems including credit invisibility, the inaccessibility (and unsexiness) of home ownership, and why the Western banking system is largely unequipped to support migrants and refugees. 6:10 Unsolved Problems in Fintech & Credit Invisibility17:40 Non-Consumer-Facing Credit Methods20:33 Social Media, Money, and Happiness29:00 Mortgages and Fintech40:45 Immigration and Financial Services 52:17 Outro 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/ Follow Nina:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ninamohanty/ Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnsonTwitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson

With the benefit of some hindsight (finally), what are the big takeaways from SVB? Kiah Haslett, managing editor of Bank Director, is in the studio to chat with Alex about why the SVB collapse is redefining how we think about “safe” banking.  They explain how a herd mentality and poor time management culminated in SVB’s failure and dissect why a safe bank could actually contain so much risk.  Plus, Kiah and Alex discuss why the stigma surrounding the Federal Reserve Window is so great and debate whether or not banks can be good at both innovation and risk management. 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/ Follow Kiah:  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Alex: LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson Twitter: twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson 0:00 Intro6:29 SVB Failure15:19 What Makes a Bank Safe?19:36 Running Out of Time24:12 Other Banks Facing Similar Issues to SVB29:42 BaaS, Neobanks, and FinTech34:50 Wait— what? (Federal Discount Window)53:37 Choosing Between Innovation and Risk Management