Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring Financial Services Together

In addition to making a profit, banks can be a societal force for good. This is why Ken LaRoe came out of retirement to start Climate First Bank, the world’s first climate-focused, FDIC-insured commercial bank. Climate First Bank joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in January 2022 and is currently in the process of building out its 2050 plan. Climate First Bank is based in Florida, a state destined to be the epicenter of climate change-induced effects. They really want to set an example for other banks, especially when it comes to emissions reporting. We also chat about the politicized world of climate change. It's not easy to be a climate advocate in Florida, where the political winds blow against this agenda. To read the transcript of our conversation, please visit tearsheet.co.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with payments provider Fiserv to create a podcast series about open finance and the work of empowering fintechs, brands, and FIs to collaborate and innovate together. In our sixth conversation in the series, we speak to SVP and head of fintech at Fiserv, Sunil Sachdev, and senior strategic sales manager at ConsenSys, Daniel Lynch. We discuss the potential for fintech to leverage Web3 technology to enhance customer experiences and inspire loyalty.

Welcome back to the Power of Payments podcast. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and in today’s episode, I’m joined by Gaurav Sethi, chief strategy officer at Citizens Pay. Citizens Pay is a bank-owned BNPL offering from Citizens Bank, one of the oldest financial institutions in the US, which provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, and large corporations. In our conversation, Gaurav talks about how being a bank-owned BNPL provider differentiates Citizens Pay from other major players in the space like Klarna and Affirm, how the current macroeconomic climate is impacting Citizens Pay as well as other BNPL firms, and the recent report from the CFPB and what increased regulation would look like for BNPL lenders.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s founder and editor-in-chief, Zack Miller. If we were only talking about the benefits of open finance a couple of years ago, we’re already seeing open finance take root today. Firms like Plaid and Codat are showing the power of integrating customer financial data across firms and into apps. New use cases are popping up all the time. Today’s guest is Peter Lord, CEO of Codat. Codat zeroes in on small business financial data. That’s a very different problem to solve than, say, aggregating consumer data. Pete joins me on the podcast to talk about the challenges of wrangling SMB financial data. We also chat about how and where he decides to provide value-added services on top of the data he’s sharing versus just providing the raw data. Pete shares his feedback on the evolution of use cases for SMB financial data he’s seen over the past 5 years of running Codat.

We've talked a lot on this podcast about the growing consumer awareness around climate change. Considering the scale of the problem, a lot of us feel like we're not doing enough, but also that there's only so much we can do. It's hard to know even where to start as a person, and it gets even harder at company or government level. But we are learning, and one of the biggest lessons that I think will define this decade is how our financial choices impact the planet. We choose to shop at a particular store, we choose to buy from a certain brand and we choose to eat what we eat. Same goes for the financial system – banks and financial institutions choose who to lend to, and they choose which sectors warrant investments. Studies show that when it comes to their bank, consumers do care about alignment with personal values – it was the second-most prized service by bank customers, right after higher interest rates on savings accounts. The majority of people want to know more about the environmental impact of how they spend their money and want their banks to help them take action and reduce their environmental impact. Moreover, consumers also want their banks to decarbonize, considering the financial support they've given over the past decades to the fossil fuel industry, for example. But in order to make the right choices - that is, the choices with the least negative impact on the planet - we need information, we need tools. This means data and technology at scale. I'm talking about this today with my guest Emma Kisby, UK & Europe CEO of Cogo - a company that provides carbon footprint management products that enable individuals and businesses to measure, reduce and offset their impact on the climate. There's lots to cover, so let's dive right in. To read the transcript of our conversation, click here: https://tearsheet.co/the-green-finance-podcast/the-green-finance-podcast-ep-10-tangible-steps-banks-can-take-to-help-their-customers-lower-their-carbon-footprint/

It's tough to raise capital these days – VC wallets are tightening as many investors are opting for a wait-and-see approach. This makes it harder to land a deal and get more cash through the door. For entrepreneurs in need of financing for their companies, equity capital is still the most popular approach but harder to come by in an inflationary environment. However, dilution by selling ownership shares in your company for a part of future cash flows is not the only way to get capital. There's also debt, which comes in the form of bond issues or loans, a means of financing operations without dilution, as long as – again — you have the cash flow to pay back the loan. But today we're talking about another way of accessing capital – recurring revenue financing - so if there's cash flow coming in, this recurring revenue is made into a tradable asset that can be sold to investors. It's a dilution-free and debt-free form of financing, which I'm exploring in more detail with Michal Cieplinski, Chief Business Officer of Pipe and Farhan Lalj, Investor at Anthemis.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s founder and editor-in-chief, Zack Miller. American Express' Kabbage is growing and evolving. As a standalone company, we’ve known Kabbage as a small business lender, and post-acquisition, as part of Amex’s strategy, it’s expanding its lending capabilities into becoming a cash flow home base for the firm’s SMB clients. CMO Brett Sussman joins me on the podcast today to talk about the opportunities and challenges SMBs face, and how Amex and Kabbage are working to support them. We discuss the evolution of Kabbage as a product, and Amex in general as it expands to meet the needs of small businesses. We also talk about Amex’s two-pronged strategy to grow Kabbage. Kabbage’s Brett Sussman is my guest today on the podcast.

Welcome back to the Power of Payments podcast. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and in today’s episode, we discuss JPMorgan’s acquisition of payments firms Renovite and why it matters, the CFPB’s recent report on BNPL firms, which suggests that regulation is coming for the sector, and why lease-to-own, which is another type of installment payment option, has been gaining popularity in recent months.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with employment and income data platform Argyle to create a podcast about how alternative lending options such as earned wage access, early pay and paycheck-linked lending can solve some of the challenges for consumers who do not qualify for traditional credit today. More than 50% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and may have thin or no credit history. In today’s podcast, we’re speaking to Matt Gomes, Director of Strategy at Argyle. He breaks down how alternative options like paycheck-linked lending, earned wage access, early pay, and cash advance can offer different solutions.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with payments provider Fiserv to create a podcast series about open finance and the work of empowering fintechs, brands, and FIs to collaborate and innovate together. In our fifth conversation in the series, we’re speaking to Niranjan Ramaswamy, vice president and general manager of embedded fintech at Fiserv. As we continue talking about the evolution of open finance, Niranjan shares how Fiserv is helping developers create amazing experiences as they bridge the gap between fintechs and FIs.