Fintech Business Podcast

Hey all, Jason here.In this episode, I spoke with David Brear, CEO of challenger banking and fintech consultancy 11FS. We had the chance to discuss:* The origin story of 11FS, including its “Pulse” and “Foundry” offerings* Some of the most interesting client projects David has worked on* How David and 11FS think about creating stand-out content in an extremely crowded information space* Where David thinks banking and fintech are headed in 2024* and much, much more!Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

This month, we were joined by special guest Matthew Goldman, card expert and author of CardsFTW, to talk about:* A grab bag of banking-as-a-service topics, including the situation at Solid, Stripe and Goldman’s partnership, and where things may be headed in 2024* Mastercard’s letter clapping back at reporting it plans to hike rates* Varo’s launch of “Varo to Anyone,” a P2P service that enables Varo users to send money to any US debit card* and, as always, what Alex and Jason just can’t let go of Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

This month, Alex Johnson and I had the chance to talk about:* Current launched a credit-building secured charge card. While it features a neat bit of engineering, it may face some of the same limitations and challenges of other offerings in the space.* Plaid announces (well, sort of?) payroll API partnerships with Pinwheel and Atomic — what to make of the news?* Lineage Bank’s rapid, BaaS-powered growth may be a cautionary tale; Fed warns Goldman on BaaS compliance risks* Roger, a neobank for military recruits, launches* and, as always, what Alex and Jason just can’t let go of(I’m testing adding an automated transcript to this post — let me know if you like it, hate it, or otherwise have thoughts on this addition!)Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you this very special episode of Fintech Recap. We had the honor of sitting down with Mark Gould, the Chief Payments Executive for Federal Reserve Financial Services.For context, we recorded this episode in mid-July, on the eve of the launch of FedNow. We had the chance to hear from Mark on:* Mark’s background and 30+ year career at the Federal Reserve* More than interest rate policy: The Fed’s Federal Reserve Financial Services group, which is responsible for payments products like cash, ACH, wires — and FedNow* The creation and launch of FedNow, including potential uses cases and possible impacts on other payment methods* How Mark thinks about defining “success” for FedNow* and much, much more!Many thanks to Mark and his team for taking the time to sit down and speak with Alex and me on the future of US payments!Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly podcast, Fintech Recap, where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto.This month, we had the chance to talk about:* FedNow finally launched — now what?* Block sues Visa and Mastercard over interchange rates, Visa CEO bashes merchant surcharges, and “Durbin 2.0”* Mastercard tells payment processors to cease working with cannabis merchants* Worldcoin, Sam Altman’s vaguely dystopian global ID/crypto project, goes live* And, as always, what Alex and Jason just can’t let go ofExisting subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, I spoke with one-stop money management platform for small businesses Wave’s CEO, Zahir Khoja. We had the chance to discuss:* Zahir’s fascinating background, including working in Afghanistan and for Grameen Foundation* Wave’s capabilities and target segments* How the company thinks about buy vs. build vs. partner & its pricing and cross-sell strategy* The importance of human advice for important decisions* and more!If you’re interested in learning more about or entering the contest that Zahir mentioned in our conversation, you can do so here. Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

The last several years have seen quite the rollercoaster of investment-related trends: meme stonks, SPACs, crypto, and now… Treasuries? Another emerging trend: generative AI. In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with investing app Public’s co-CEO Leif Abraham to talk about all of that and more, including:* How AI for investing is and isn’t different than previous trends like PFMs and roboadvisors* How Public got comfortable deploying user-facing AI capabilities* Why Public ended payment for order flow (PFOF) and decided to accept “tips”* How Public stands out in a crowded investing market* and more!Also, a big congrats to the Public team on today’s announcement of their expansion to the UK market!Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Hey all, Jason here.Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are back! Congrats to Alex on the new addition to his family.We’re happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly(ish) podcast, Fintech Recap, where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto.This month, we had the chance to talk about:* Goldman’s shrinking consumer ambitions, amid rumors it is in talks with American Express to take over its Apple partnership* Fraud consortiums are SO on trend right now: Plaid’s Beacon, Unit21’s Fraud DAO & SardineX* Fintech M&A: X1 and Robinhood, FIS and Bond, and others* and, as always, what Alex and Jason just can’t let go ofExisting subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Hey all, Jason here.This Sunday’s note is coming to you from Hilvarenbeek, in the south of the Netherlands, where I’m camping and attending a music festival.During last week’s Money2020, I had the chance to sit down with compliance tech startup Cable’s cofounder and CEO Natasha Vernier. If the company sounds familiar, that’s probably because her cofounder and I recently gave a “Masterclass” together during New York Fintech Week.Natasha and I had the chance to chat about:* Natasha’s journey building and scaling the financial crime function at UK neobank Monzo* How those experiences and challenges led Natasha to co-founding Cable* The process of raising Cable’s recently announced $11 million Series A* What Natsha is keeping an eye on from a regulatory standpoint* Her biggest surprise about moving from the UK to the United States* and more!Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe

I know it’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when BNPL — buy now, pay later — felt like the bleeding edge of consumer fintech (even if point-of-sale financing has been around for literally generations!)It has been a wild ride for market leader Klarna, which is rather unique in the space: it was founded in 2005, it is a bank in Europe, and it has historically been profitable.Klarna’s Chief Commercial Officer and former head of the US business David Sykes joined to discuss all that and more, including:* If Klarna thinks of itself as a “BNPL company”* That $46 billion valuation* How Klarna succeed in the US, when other foreign imports haven’t* The threat from Apple’s BNPL offering, Apple Pay Later* and more!Existing subscriber? Please consider supporting this newsletter by upgrading to a paid subscription. New here? Subscribe to get Fintech Business Weekly each Sunday: https://fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe Get full access to Fintech Business Weekly at fintechbusinessweekly.substack.com/subscribe