Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring Financial Services Together

Isabelle Guis understands the need for marketing to speak technology's language. With an engineering background, Guis sees her strength as Temenos’ Chief Marketing Officer in bridging the communication gap between technology innovation and the value it brings to customers. In a conversation at the Temenos Regional Forum Americas 2025 held May 28-30 in Miami, Guis explained that Temenos values customer centricity above all else. “There is this reliability, this expertise that’s needed to make sure you deliver,” she said. “And you innovate without compromising what you already have.” Guis also discussed how banks are investing in technology to stay competitive amid economic uncertainty, and why legacy systems can hinder that progress. She outlined paths that banks can take to modernize their core infrastructure, offering alternatives like the choice between cloud or on-premise solutions — or even module-specific upgrades. Guis also shared how Temenos’ new motto “Leading Banking Forward” captures the company’s vision for collective progress in the banking industry. Today’s podcast episode explores Temenos’ customer-centered perspective, the need for digital transformation in banking through modern infrastructure, and the company’s strategic vision of how it can emulate industry-wide progress and leadership.

The infrastructure for crypto-native finance is maturing beyond proof-of-concepts into real financial products. Tokenized securities are moving from experimental pilots to regulated offerings, stablecoin infrastructure is becoming the backbone for 24/7 payment systems, and traditional fintech companies are quietly integrating crypto rails to improve settlement and unlock new capabilities. I'm joined by Juan Lopez, General Partner at VanEck Ventures, where he focuses on investments at the intersection of traditional finance and blockchain technology. Before joining VanEck, Juan was at Circle Ventures, giving him a front-row seat to how institutional-grade crypto infrastructure has developed. His portfolio includes companies building the regulated infrastructure enabling this shift from experimental to operational. Juan's perspective on where real value is being created—from tokenized equity platforms achieving regulatory approval to stablecoin routing systems—offers insight into how crypto infrastructure is becoming essential plumbing for modern financial services. We'll discuss what's driving adoption, where the next wave of exits will come from, and how fintech companies are integrating blockchain technology to improve their core business models.

While co-branded credit cards have dominated consumer wallets for decades, a new option is emerging in the payments landscape. Co-branded debit cards represent an untapped opportunity for brands to deepen customer relationships while addressing the preferences of a generation that increasingly chooses debit over credit. Derek White, CEO of Galileo Financial Technologies, has been at the forefront of this shift. Under his leadership, Galileo recently powered Wyndham Rewards’ launch of what's being called the industry's first co-branded debit card in the US. "The opportunity is huge here, where we have customers that have a deep loyalty with the brand," White explained. The timing for this launch is strategic. 30% of customers are pulling out debit cards when making purchases at major travel and entertainment brands, "even though they're not getting rewards associated with it." This value gap represents millions of transactions where brands could be deepening customer relationships but aren't. Listen to this Tearsheet podcast episode with Derek White to learn about how co-branded debit cards are creating new monetization opportunities for brands, what consumer behaviors are driving this new product, and how the convergence of AI, blockchain, and quantum technologies might fundamentally change how money moves through payment systems.

SMBs are drowning in a sea of disconnected financial tools, juggling separate platforms for banking, payments, accounting, and lending. Many business owners find themselves logging into five or six different systems just to manage their daily operations, creating inefficiency and driving up costs at a time when economic pressures are mounting. U.S. Bank's latest 2025 Small Business Survey shows that SMBs are looking to their FIs to collapse these various digital solutions into one integrated experience. "They are overwhelmed by the number of standalone software solutions which exist in the marketplace," explains Shruti Patel, Chief Product Officer for the Business Banking segment at U.S. Bank. "They would like to consolidate these so that they're not constantly juggling with multiple tools or playing mental gymnastics, all while streamlining costs." The survey data, drawn from approximately 1,000 SMB owners across the country with revenues up to $25 million, shows a clear trend toward viewing banks as comprehensive financial hubs rather than simple repositories for funds. SMBs are seeking integrated solutions that combine banking, payments, and software capabilities under one roof. Listen to this podcast to learn about U.S. Bank’s Shruti Patel is helping U.S. Bank position itself as the primary re-bundlers of financial services in the post-pandemic era.

Financial institutions are drowning in payment complexity. Between legacy systems, and the accelerating pace of change in how people pay, banks face a modernization crisis that threatens their competitive position. At the FIS Emerald Conference 2025, FIS announced a partnership with Episode Six which is designed to address these challenges head-on. Episode Six, an API-driven payments technology provider, will now be working with FIS to deliver a cloud-based, end-to-end digital payments platform. The collaboration brings together FIS's global scale and institutional relationships with Episode Six's modern, configurable payment infrastructure. The new partnership will allow FIs to scale beyond their local borders, without having to build new tech and processes from scratch. "We did some pretty hefty research over an extended period of time," said Rob Hudson, Head of International Banking, at FIS. "It became very apparent very quickly that Episode Six was the one that we wanted to work with. This was the standout opportunity for us, without doubt." John Mitchell, CEO and co-founder of Episode Six, emphasized the strategic nature of the partnership. "We've always envisioned that if we had a partner with the strengths and the scale of FIS, that our platform would be used in a much broader capacity," he said. "This partnership is going to enable us to present a solution that will allow all of our clients to innovate at scale." Listen to the podcast to learn what financial executives can do to navigate legacy system constraints surprisingly well, tackle global payment complexity to expand internationally, and implement progressive modernization without putting careers on the line. It's a conversation on practical strategies for overcoming institutional resistance to change while delivering the cloud-native solutions that modern banking demands.

The fintech investment landscape is heating up again. After a challenging 2022 and 2023, early-stage funding is recovering, with companies focused on practical problems attracting serious investor interest. The shift is toward infrastructure, embedded finance, and AI applications that solve real workflow problems. Sheel Mohnot has been tracking this evolution from multiple angles. As co-founder of Better Tomorrow Ventures, he's raised $300 million across three funds focused on pre-seed and seed-stage fintech companies. His perspective comes from building and exiting—he founded FeeFighters, which sold to Groupon in 2012, and ran the fintech accelerator at 500 Startups. BTV's thesis centers on what Mohnot calls the "everything is fintech" trend—vertical SaaS companies that increasingly derive revenue from payments and financial services rather than software subscriptions. Toast exemplifies this shift, starting as restaurant point-of-sale software and now getting 83% of revenue from financial services. Today, we'll explore why Mohnot believes fintech is back, what types of companies are getting funded in 2025, and his view on AI in fintech—where it's working and where it's just hype.

The credit industry is shifting how it evaluates borrowers. Traditional credit scoring has left over a billion people without access to financial services, but lenders are increasingly turning to alternative data—bank transactions, spending patterns, real-time financial behavior—to make more informed decisions about creditworthiness. Andrew Endicott has been at the center of this shift. As co-founder of Petal, he pioneered what they called “cash flow underwriting”—using real-time bank data alongside traditional credit reports to approve people for credit cards who would otherwise be turned away. The approach worked: Petal raised nearly $1 billion, proving that alternative underwriting isn’t just better for consumers—it’s good business.

The traditional banking model for small and medium-sized businesses has reached an inflection point. Before banking centered on straightforward product relationships, like loans, deposits, and basic services. However, banks are evolving recognizing that their SMB clients need operational partners who understand the unique challenges of running a business while wearing multiple hats. KeyBank has embraced this evolution, positioning itself as a consultative partner for its SMB customers. Mike Walters, President of Business Banking at KeyBank, describes the bank's approach as fundamentally client-centered. "We try to center the client in every decision we make," Walters explains. "Our clients in the small business space are unique. We use the term owner-operator at KeyBank and we use it very intentionally, because these business owners, they don't just own the business, they run the business." This distinction shapes everything about how KeyBank serves its business clients. The bank has moved beyond traditional banking silos to create integrated service ecosystems that address the full spectrum of business operations. Now the bank focuses on understanding how money flows through a client's business and identifying opportunities to create efficiencies. The approach represents a broader industry trend toward comprehensive business partnerships, where banks want to use their central role in SMB operations to become strategic advisors and enablers for everything from cash flow optimization to operational efficiency.

While attention often focuses on developed markets, the most exciting fintech innovations are emerging where mobile technology, young digital-native populations, and gaps in traditional banking converge. These regions aren’t just adopting Western models – they’re creating entirely new paradigms that may eventually reshape global finance. Today I’m joined by Nadia Costanzo, Director of Banking for the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America at Wise. Nadia drives Wise’s expansion across these regions by building banking relationships, securing licenses, and navigating complex regulatory frameworks. Her background is uniquely valuable – before Wise, she worked with Kiva in Nairobi facilitating microfinance across Africa, contributed to the World Bank’s Universal Financial Access agenda, and worked directly with microfinance institutions in Paraguay. Today, we’ll explore how fintech evolves differently across emerging markets, examine key challenges, and discuss surprising innovations where traditional banking is limited. We’ll also consider what these developments mean for established financial institutions looking to engage with these dynamic markets.

The traditional lending officer is facing their biggest disruption in decades. Gen AI is oozing into financial services quickly and deeply enough that it's already impacting how we evaluate credit risk and make lending decisions. This tension between human judgment and algorithmic precision is the latest focus in our ongoing AI series exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming financial services. Joining us are Jonathan Kolozsvary, Global Head of Small Business at Visa, who brings insights on how transaction data can unlock lending opportunities that traditional credit models miss. And Patrick Reily, co-founder of Uplinq and Malcolm Baldrige Award recipient, whose AI predictive models are already being used by the Federal Reserve. Together, they tackle a critical question: Are we witnessing the evolution of the lending officer, or are we approaching a future where algorithms handle what humans have done for generations? The answer will shape the future of lending and the broader relationship between technology and trust in financial services.