Searching for Mana with Lloyd Wahed

"It doesn't really matter what your education is, you can make that change" - Charlotte Crosswell.Charlotte Crosswell is the CEO of Innovate Finance - the industry body for UK Fintech.Charlotte speaks passionately about the need for financial wellbeing education in schools, how Fintech can emerge from the current crisis and accelerate the need for digital adoption and transformation.We learn of Charlotte's rural childhood and how that formed a ferocious work ethic which has propelled her into leadership roles, firstly at the London Stock Exchange and then as President of NASDAQ.This week kicks off 3 weeks celebrating UK Fintech and the role it now plays given recent events - find out more here https://www.innovatefinance.com/events/

Ed Vaizey was the UK’s longest-serving Minister for Technology, working for UK Prime Minister David Cameron from 2010-16.During his time as Minister, Vaizey oversaw a major expansion in fixed and mobile broadband coverage; helped the UK become a world leader in tech investment, working with companies such as Google and Facebook, as well as supporting the start-up ecosystem. Ed was educated at Merton College, Oxford. After university he worked as a political researcher, before training and practising as a barrister. A letter to the Treasury: https://blog.fundingoptions.com/covid-19/letter-to-the-treasury

In this episode, Lloyd Wahed is joined by Melanie Palmer - Chief Marketing Officer at Nucoro. The Nucoro Wealth Engine provides solutions to automate, personalize, and accelerate wealth management for businesses who want to grow and thrive in the modern world. It provides Wealth Management as a Service for B2B markets in the UK and CE, enabling large institutions serving mass-affluent clients to offer next-generation investment solutions. The company is backed by the renowned Rothschild banking family and quantitative investment manager ETS. Melanie has spent the majority of her career in financial services, working across both corporate and startup environments. She talks about her journey from American Express to starting a career in fintech startup from zero. Now, she has extensive experience bringing startups to market having launched new products in the Wealthtech and Insurtech sectors. Melanie is recognised on Women in Finance Powerlist 2019.Best Intentions event from the podcast:https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/best-intentions-meets-taking-control-of-your-finances-tickets-94990030739

Our guest in this episode is Rory Stirling - Partner at Connect Ventures - the London based Venture Capital seed firm is a product-focused, seed stage firm investing across Europe. They are singularly focussed on investing in purpose-led founders, obsessed with solving hard problems at scale, by creating products and companies that people love. Previous roles...- Partner and co-founder at BGF Ventures.- Partner at MMC Ventures.Previous investments include...- Software: NewVoiceMedia (acquired by Vonage plc for $350m), Triptease, Marvel, Masabi, Reevoo, Somo, Brightpearl, Base79 (acquired by Rightster plc).- Marketplace: Appear Hear, LoveHomeSwap (acquired by Wyndham), Hubbub.- Consumer: Gousto, AlexandAlexa (acquired by The Luxury Kids Group), Wool and the Gang (acquired by Crafts Group Holdings), Pact, Tyres on the Drive, PayasUgym.

My guest this week is CEO of the leading business banking challenger for cryptocurrency and blockchain companies - BCB Group.Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie has been in the finance and technology markets for over 20 years and we cover so much in this podcast. A self-professed 'Geek', after achieving academic excellence and securing an MBA from Cass Business School, Oliver found himself in the thick of it at Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis. After spending over 10 years at Barclays and then some time at Lloyds, he went into consulting before founding BCB Group, which is now the first - and only - crypto-focused business to secure a license from the Authorised Payment Institution.We cover some fascinating subjects such as the inefficiencies of our financial system, AI and understanding consciousness, cultural diversity, and the differences between the other Directors (The Lawyer, The Hustler and The Growth Hacker). We even discuss his friendship with Hans Zimmer, as well as his own music compositions (listen to his composition, 'Double Agent,' in the podcast).If you enjoy this episode then please leave a rating and subscribe to have the latest podcasts ready for you to listen to every week.

In Episode 9 of Searching For Mana, I had the pleasure of welcoming Keith Grose to the podcast, Head of UK for Plaid.After expanding into the UK and Europe last year, Plaid has excelled, recently being named “Best Enabler” in the 11:FS 2020 Pulse Awards. With their acquisition by Visa underway, this is set to be a massive year for the fintech giant.Keith is from a small town in North Carolina, but now very much an adopted east Londoner. He has a passion for books and creative writing and when he's not performing the all-encompassing role of Head of UK for Plaid, you might find him playing football (or soccer). We talk about his early career before he found his way to Google, where he experienced the incredible innovation and energy in Silicon Valley, as well as the hard work and opportunity involved in Keith's move to London with Plaid.

In Episode 8 of Searching for Mana, I was delighted to be joined by Shefali Roy, COO & CCO at TrueLayer.Shefali was a brilliant guest. She had energy, she was open and she also gave some great insight into the innovation behind TrueLayer's success so far. We talk about so much! She started her journey in Bombay before moving to Australia, achieving academic excellence from an early age as she went. She joined the cut-throat world of Goldman Sachs, left to develop her career before being one of the first few people at Stripe in the UK. Now she's at TrueLayer with a vision for it be the best business in the sector owned by two of the nicest owners in the sector! She talks about the impact of having a strong Diversity & Inclusion policy from the outset, and one of TrueLayer's guiding principles - 'Enjoy Life.'It was a fascinating conversation and hopefully we'll have a chance to do it again after TrueLayer's next growth phase!

On Episode 7 of Searching for Mana, I had the chance to sit down with Julian Sawyer.Quite simply, Julian is an expert in the current FinTech market. He co-founded Starling Bank and led it through a period of incredible growth, advises the board of Australia's first neobank, Volt, and is currently MD of Europe for Gemini, the world's first licensed crypto-currency exchange platform, founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.We have a great conversation about his journey through his career and life to date, experiencing firsthand the change in FinTech, his thoughts on where it's headed, as well as his love for Peloton!

On Searching for Mana this week I was delighted to be joined by Ray Brash, CEO at PPS.In the podcast we cover everything from Ray's 15 incredibly successful years at award-winning PPS - including a recent partnership with Visa; his insight into the future of FinTech; and all the bits in between his career that make him such an engaging and fun personality, like being the base player in his own band! (check out one of his songs here: https://spoti.fi/3bxeKAs) I loved having Ray on the podcast and you'll definitely enjoy listening to him.Don't forget to leave us a rating/comment if you can!

For episode 11 of Searching For Mana, I was delighted to welcome Richard Wagner, CEO of Cashplus.Cashplus are a leading UK challenger to banks and Richard has been the driving force behind it's growth over the last 16 years. We talk about his journey to the UK (he's from across the pond), the dreams and vision he had from the start, his incredulity at how long it took him to set up a bank account when he arrived in the UK, to his passion for giving people access to efficient and easy alternatives to traditional banking.Cahsplus have driven a lot of the innovation we see in the UK payments market today and are one of the most awarded digital banks in the industry. From holding the government to account to make the banking sector more competitive to looking ahead and staying at the forefront of the payment industry, Richard's story and insights are not something you want to miss