Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring Financial Services Together

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller. Brex is one of the fastest growing fintech startups in history — it may be the fastest growing startup in history. The company, founded by two Brazilian Stanford grads, began with a straightforward premise — to launch a corporate credit card that accelerates entrepreneurs and scaling businesses. From there, it’s moved into rewards and travel programs tailored to specific industries. And recently, the firm launched Brex Cash, a business cash management account that helps companies simplify their financial operations and grow their businesses. Brex co-founder Henrique Dubugras joins me on the podcast to talk about the evolution of the company’s product portfolio and the company’s plans for the near future. From there, he shares his views on where the payments industry is headed in 2020 and beyond. Henrique Dubugras is my guest on the Tearsheet Podcast. 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. Find out more about it at www.tearsheet.co/outlier

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. That’s Marc Butterfield, senior vice president of innovation and disruption at First National Bank of Omaha. I think Marc’s the first person we’ve had on this podcast with disruption formally in his job title but it does speak to his role at the $23 billion bank. FNBO recently launched a digital loan powered by Upstart and Marc and I discuss the process through which his firm launchd that product. We talk about early metrics behind the launch and what the bank plans to do with Upstart in the future. More broadly, Marc describes his role and the challenges and opportunities in traditional FIs to make positive change. Marc Butterfield is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. 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. Find out more about it at www.tearsheet.co/outlier

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. We continue to see consolidation across the financial services industry. In fact, a lot of traditional FIs have entire innovation programs designed to tap outside talent. But what if you’re looking for organic growth? If you’re Experian, the global financial data firm, how do you get more out of your existing assets, things like the data across the enterprise, its distribution channels, its salesforce and brand. You create DataLabs, an internal environment outfitted with data scientists and crack product professionals, where Experian can create future products around customer needs. Eric Haller, head of Experian’s DataLabs joins us on the podcast today to talk about how the data firm finds pathways to innovation while positioning the greater firm to be competitive in the future. We geek out a bit on tech as Eric describes some of DataLabs experience with new modalities like text and voice for credit. We also discussed AR, VR, and advances in cryptography. Eric Haller is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Today's guest is Aubrey Hawes who leads Oracle’s sales consulting team around its banking products, including open banking and core banking monetization. The software provider began early, thinking about the move to open banking and charting a path to open APIs. The company today has 2000 APIs used by hundreds of the largest banks in the world. Oracle also encourages ecosystem building on its platform, including some of the top fintech firms as well as emerging new players. We discuss Oracle’s work in financial services and the challenges and opportunities its clients face. Aubrey describes the tech firm’s approach to open banking and the various initiatives Oracle undertakes to drive the growth and depth of its fintech ecosystem. Aubrey Hawes is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

One of the missing pieces for personal finance managers is that many of them require a lot of work. From categorizing spending to acting on any of the analysis, there’s typically a big enough cognitive lift that limits their use. Tally wants to change that. At the heart of its personal finance tools is automation — the company offers an automated debt manager that helps people save money, manage their cards, and pay down their balances faster. When you speak with Tally’s co-founder and CEO Jason Brown, you quickly understand that his ambitions to bring automation extend way beyond paying down debt. Jason sees an opportunity to roll automation out to many of our personal finance challenges and pain points. He describes this evolution as the third wave of consumer fintech — where we move beyond mobile tools into complete financial automation where we don’t need to carry the emotional or functional burden of managing our finances. Jason Brown is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Credit Karma built a wonderful business providing almost 100 million people with free products to help them manage their debt. It was inevitable that they move into the asset side of their customers’ personal balance sheets. Last week, the firm announced a new savings account. Jagjit Chawla, Credit Karma’s general manager for tax and savings, joins us on the show to discuss the decision to move into banking services. Like most players, Credit Karma didn’t become a bank but chose to launch a product in partnership with a licensed entity. We talk about the product spec of the new savings account and how this new product fits into the greater Credit Karma ecosystem for users. Jagjit provides some early feedback from customers and provides an inkling into CreditKarma’s future product plans on the asset side. Jagjit Chawla is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today at early-bird prices by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. In the wake of investment firms Vanguard’s success, robo-advisers continued to usher in the era of indexed, passive investing. Titan is a contrarian investment platform which offers investment strategies used by hedge funds for retail investors. Titan co-founder and co-CEO Clayton Gardner joins us to discuss why he built a financial technology firm centered around active investing and what type of investors and clients this approach appeals to. Titan has also grown using organic and referral customer acquisition strategies which combine incentivizing users to share Titan with their friends by reducing the AUM fees clients pay Titan — sometimes down to zero. Titan’s users are unusually active and involved in investing, even if they count on Titan to make their allocation and investment selection decisions. Clayton Gardner is my guest today on the Tearsheet podcast. Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today at early-bird prices by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Whether you’re a new immigrant, an expat moving for work, or a foreign student, getting issued credit when your credit history resides in another country is frustratingly difficult. That’s changing as incumbents and fintech startups continue to work on coming up with a solution. American Express is announcing it has joined forces with a cross-border credit reporting startup, Nova Credit (https://www.novacredit.com/), to launch a first-of-its-kind digital capability that enables newcomers to the U.S. to share individual credit reports from five international bureaus when applying for an American Express U.S. Personal Card and potentially get approved instantly. This makes American Express the *first global payments company to offer immigrants and expats to the United States the ability to use Nova Credit’s Credit Passport technology* to instantly translate certain international credit reports into a U.S. equivalent credit report and score during the online Card application process. Sara Milsten, svp of new member acquisition for U.S. consumer services at American Express, is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Pricing pressure on commissions isn’t new in the brokerage and equity trading space. But it does feel like it’s accelerating. Just over the past few weeks every major brokerage — Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and E-Trade, eliminated commissions over a span of a couple of days. JMP Securities’ Managing Director Devin Ryan joins us on the show to talk about all the moves in pricing in the investment industry and more importantly, where this is all headed. We discuss how investment firms will compete if not on cost and what the impact will be of many new competitors in the space. Devin Ryan joins me today on the Tearsheet Podcast. Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen. The following disclosures are applicable to SCHW: JMP Securities currently makes a market in the security of The Charles Schwab Corporation.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Smaller financial institutions are finding a way to compete in a world of too big to fail banks. The Central Bank of Kansas City is an interesting case study. The bank is one of a small number of FIs in the US certified by the Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution, serving people of modest means who may not have had the benefit of affordable and accessible financial products. A little over five years ago, the company launched Central Payments, a division that leads the bank’s nationwide presence in the payments industry. Trent Sorbe is the president of Central Payments and joins us on the podcast to talk about how his firm has been able to punch above its weight in issuing activities, headquartered near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Central Payments recently announced the creation of its Falls Fintech accelerator and Trent describes how the new program will continue to service the ecosystem Central Payments is building. We also discuss the company’s new Open API platform, CPX and how that fits into all the moving pieces. Trent Sorbe is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. Before we jump into the interview, I wanted to invite you to Tearsheet’s latest event, The Embedded Conference. A big theme on this program and in our reporting has been about how financial services are showing up everywhere — in B2B software platforms, in retail, in transportation and travel. The Embedded Conference brings together financial services, fintech, and vertical industries looking to create new financial products. We’ve got a great speaker lineup — register today by going to our website and clicking on the Embedded Conference button at the top right of your screen. Here’s my interview with Trent.