Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring Financial Services Together

The convergence of retail and financial services is being led by large platforms that help merchants seamlessly reach customers online and offline. Indeed, embedding financial services within commerce platforms helps them unlock additional value from seller relationships, and provides a repository of data to personalize product offerings. A major player in this ecosystem is Shopify, a Canada-based company that helps more than a million merchants operate digitally and in-person. On today’s Tearsheet podcast, we speak with Kaz Nejatian, vice president and general manager of Shopify Financial Solutions. Shopify, a 14-year-old company that has a market capitalization of more than $100 billion, began making forays into financial services in 2013, with the launch of Shopify Point of Sale. Three years later, it rolled out Shopify Capital for sellers. The company in recent months made a couple of noteworthy financial product announcements, including the upcoming launch of Shopify Balance, a money management solution for sellers; and a buy-now-pay-later option for consumers in partnership with point-of-sale lender Affirm. Nejatian discusses Shopify’s financial product roadmap and how its embedded financial solutions connect to the company’s broader seller toolkit. A lawyer by training, Nejatian previously worked in private practice; the Canadian government; Facebook, and founded and successfully exited payments startup Kash.

Welcome to Tearsheet’s Outlier Briefing. This subscriber-only event is exclusive for our Outlier members. We go deeper with subject matter experts, to take actionable steps that can impact your business and practice. Today’s guest is Jay Nair, who leads the financial services business for Infosys in the Americas. He’s responsible for one of the largest units in the company with annual revenues of around $800 million. Jay works increasingly with client CXOs to help them with their transformation journeys. He shares his experiences working with banks, insurance companies, and capital market firms to prepare for the reopening of the physical component of financial services as we think about the day after the pandemic. Jay gives his thoughts on open banking and what he calls the APIfication of financial services. With Infosys’ work across different verticals within financial services, he provides his views on the future of financial services. Here’s our Outlier briefing on financial services the day after the crisis with Jay Nair. To hear the full audio and to access all of our exclusive, member-only material, head on over to Tearsheet.co/outlier

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. When the pandemic hit, lending models didn’t catch up quickly enough. Machine learning, like the kind Zest AI has developed, moved quicker, helping lenders to figure out how quickly things were deteriorating and where. ML models also have been instrumental in identifying and avoiding biases in lending practices. Zest AI CEO Mike de Vere joins us on the podcast to discuss his firms go to market strategy and business model and how the two kind of fit nicely. Mike shares his views on how to bring technology to lending and specifically, de-biasing models to approve more minority borrowers. Mike de Vere is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. Before we jump into our show, I wanted to tell you about Tearsheet’s upcoming Challengers Conference. A first of its kind show, this 2-day online conference is everything about digital banking. We’ll have senior executives from top challenger banks like N26, Revolut, OakNorth, and Betterment as well as new entrants to the digital banking market, like Intuit and Credit Sesame. It’s all happening September 22 and 24th. Go to Tearsheet.co and click on Conferences at the top to learn more.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller, editor in chief at Tearsheet. Niamh Kristufek is the head of US business banking at BMO Harris Bank. Her team services about 2 million small businesses with products, digital capabilities and experiences to help them reach their financial goals. Niamh joins us to discuss BMO’s support of women via its collaboration with the 1871 Innovation Program. The partnership launched the first cohort of the WMN FINtech program, specifically supporting female entrepreneurs in fintech with resources, programming, and mentorship. Niamh Kristufek is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

For a space as big as commercial cards, there are still so many opportunities to make a difference for startups. This is Tearsheet’s Early Stage podcast and I’m Zack Miller, editor in chief of Tearsheet. Here’s where we drill down on up and coming fintech firms, tackling big problems in large markets. Joining me on the show is PayEm’s (https://www.payemcard.com/index.php/en/) co-founder and CEO Itamar Jobani. PayEm provides a corporate card and management tools for companies to streamline their spending. PayEm’s combination of plastic and software helps company leaders approve, track and manage vendors with rules to manage budgets and projects. Jobani joins us on the podcast to share his vision for smart commercial cards, why he founded the company, and where he plans to lead his firm.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Online trading platform Robinhood just raised more money at a valuation over $11 billion. Traditional brokerage firms are keenly aware of what’s going on and they’re also undergoing their own dance with digital. Frank LaQuinta, CIO at Edward Jones, joins me on the podcast to discuss how the brokerage firm is positioning itself to provide more modern experiences in branch and over digital, for its 7 million clients as well as for its financial advisors. Frank has had a 30 year career at bulge-bracket firms, so he’s seen up close the impact technology is having on financial services. Frank LaQuinta is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

In this episode of The Challengers, Josh Liggett and Zack Miller explore what Varo Money getting a national charter might mean for the firm and for the challenger banking industry. We compare Monzo, which recently warned about its survivability, and Starling, which said it expects to break even in 2020 and reach profitability in 2021. Lastly, your hosts discuss the new players in the challenger banking space: Kabbage and Intuit. Both launched accounts recently for SMBs. Before we jump into the podcast, I wanted to introduce you to Outlier, Tearsheet’s leading membership program. It’s designed for top fintech and financial service professionals to stay on top daily of the biggest trends, the top companies, and the leaders of this next generation of finance. Get industry briefings by experts like the ones we’re doing this January on best practices in PR and customer acquisition. Find out more at Tearsheet.co/outlier

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. We don’t talk enough about community banks on the podcast. Coming in to the COVID crisis, community banks lagged large banks and fintechs in technology. But when you look at what’s happened over the past 6 months, community banks committed acts of heroism to serve their customers during the height of the crisis. Raymond Chandonnet, chief revenue officer at Neocova, joins us on the podcast to talk about the window of opportunity community banks have to compete. He describes the role technology plays in driving innovation for community banks and how smaller FIs are migrating to new core banking tech slowly and as part of a larger journey. Raymond Chandonnet is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Consumer behavior was already changing before COVID hit. When you ask financial services executives, may will tell you that COVID is acting to accelerate those trends. Beth Johnson, chief experience officer at Citizens Bank, is studying those trends. Citizens recently published its inaugural Banking Experience Survey, which polled over 10,000 customers and 252 business leaders across the US on their views around digital bank. Beth joins me on the podcast to talk about the importance of marrying human interaction with technology and how changes made in response to COVID will likely have lasting impact on banking and financial services after the pandemic is over. Beth Johnson is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. WePay provides payment solutions for platforms like marketplaces and software firms. The Chase-owned company provides payment APIs to firms like Eventzilla, Meetup and TouchBistro. Chief revenue officer Jennifer Parker joins us on the podcast to give us an update on the business and to discuss how platforms and their merchants are coping during the current crisis. We hear about how WePay has supported its ecosystem with products and services throughout this tumultuous time. Jennifer also shares with us her biggest priorities heading into the second half of 2020. Jennifer Parker is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.