Afleveringen
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In this episode, I had the chance to talk with Michele Alt, cofounder and managing director of Klaros Group and a 22-year veteran of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Michele and I had the chance to discuss:
* What the opening of the “charter window” means and how fintechs should think about the opportunity
* The de novo process vs. acquiring an existing bank
* Michele and Klaro’s recent work on SmartBiz’s acquisition of United Community Bancshares and its subsidiary, Centrust Bank
* Thinking through when becoming or buying a bank makes sense vs. when it might not
* The open letter Michele coauthored alongside many other industry experts advocating for changes the federal bank regulators can make to streamline de novo bank formation
* What Michele is keeping her eye on in DC at the moment
* And much more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to talk with Matthew Goldman, a true expert in the card space. Matthew has done stints at Green Dot, AT&T, Bankrate, and Apto Payments, as well as starting multiple of his own ventures. Matthew currently published the CardsFTW newsletter and is the founder and managing member of boutique fintech consultancy Totavi.
We had a chance to discuss:
* Matthew’s thoughts on where fintech debit & credit card businesses stand in 2025, including if interchange alone is a sustainability business model (hint: it’s not)
* Whether or not there’s room for another big consumer fintech out there
* The changing infrastructure space, including the difference between issuer processors and program managers
* Crypto & stablecoins
* and more!
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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In this episode, I had the chance to speak with ledgering, reconciliation, and compliance startup NAYA’s CEO Sherif Kozman. We had a chance to discuss:
* Why ledgering and reconciliation, especially in fintech-bank partnerships, is so dang difficult (hint: legacy cores, batch payment files & more)
* The consequences of poor ledgering and reconciliation
* Advice for banks and fintechs struggling to manage manual processes
* And more
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In this episode, I had the chance to speak Current’s cofounder and CTO, Trevor Marshall, and Cross River Bank’s Head of Strategy and Development, Hillel Olivestone. We had the chance to talk about:
* Why Current decided to build its own tech stack & what it’s enabled the company to do
* How Current and Cross River think about the “buy vs. build” debate
* The “jobs to be done” addressed by Current’s Build Card
* Current’s latest Datos Insight case study
* The beauty and resiliency of ACH flat files (yes, really)
* And more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to speak to Rafa Plantier, Head of Go-to-Market at Gigs, the world’s first operating system for mobile services, enabling companies, including neobanks, HR and travel platforms, and device manufacturers, to seamlessly embed phone and data plans into their products within weeks. Gigs provides an end-to-end connectivity platform with everything brands need to launch and operate their own multi-market mobile service.
We had the chance to discuss:
* The opportunity banks and fintechs see in the mobile connectivity space
* What geographies and customer segments may be more open to bundling mobile service with their financial provider
* How Rafa’s experience in banking and fintech has informed how he thinks about mobile phone service (and vice-versa)
* And much more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with an OG of fintech who really needs no introduction, cofounder and CEO of Affirm and PayPal Mafia member Max Levchin. Max and I had the chance to discuss:
* How Affirm designs its systems and processes to mitigate third-party risks, including service interruptions and, yes, data breaches
* How Affirm thinks about selecting its bank partners and how it works with them to meet regulatory and compliance expectations
* To what extent political and regulatory uncertainty impacts how Affirm approaches running its business
* The CFPB’s interpretive rule that treats pay-in-four buy now pay later as a “credit card” for certain purposes under TILA Reg Z
* Affirm’s recent earnings announcement
* And Affirm’s recent launch in the United Kingdom
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With the Synapse bankruptcy case seemingly nearing some kind of conclusion, impacted end users are left wondering, will they ever get their money back?
While, at this point, Synapse cofounder and former CEO Sankaet Pathak can’t really answer that question, he is able to provide greater context on what happened and why.
In this podcast, recorded as a X (formerly Twitter) livestream yesterday, November 11th, I had the chance to interview Pathak and impacted depositors had an opportunity to ask him questions directly.
Key takeaways I had from the conversation include:
* Pathak revealed that Evolve had sent him a cease and desist as a result of him posting what he says is an anonymized version of the trial balance report of the funds Evolve held for end users.
* A description of the process by which Evolve prepared and sent files to Synapse for reconciliation, including a possible reason why balances between Evolve’s systems and Synapse’s appeared to varied substantially day to day, and Evolve’s claim that this wasn’t something to worry about, Pathak said.
* Pathak said that Evolve was aware of and acknowledged that fees owed to Tabapay were improperly debited from customer funds, but that Evolve disputed whether it was the bank’s fault.
* Synapse didn’t want Synapse Brokerage to contract with Evolve or keep the Brokerage’s funds at Evolve due to the known shortfalls, Pathak said.
* The plan with the Brokerage structure, per Pathak, was that incoming funds would land in users’ DDA accounts at Evolve, a portion of those funds that users would transact with would stay at Evolve, and the rest would be swept out to AMG. However, Pathak says, in late September or early October 2023, Evolve, without explanation why, ceased processing sweeps out of Evolve to AMG.
* Pathak described how Evolve’s reversal of position on funding the FBO shortfalls led to the collapse of the deal for Tabapay to acquire Synapse’s assets and, ultimately, the collapse of the company and freeze of end user funds.
* Pathak acknowledged taking two loans from the company, one in late 2023 and one in early 2024, which totaled $320,000. The transactions, Pathak said, were approved by the Synapse board — though, at the time, the board consisted of Pathak himself, a seed round investor that, and a Synapse cofounder. While Pathak didn’t name specific individuals, per filings in the bankruptcy case, the seed investor is Doug Marchant and the Synapse cofounder is Hilary Quirk. Pathak declined to elaborate on the purpose of the loans, besides saying he had “good reasons” to do it, which would “become obvious” relatively soon.
* Full reconciliation should be possible, Pathak said, but it would require the right data, resources, people, and time.
* Pathak acknowledged anonymously leaking a letter that Synapse had sent to Evolve to me (which I suspected at the time but didn’t know until now.)
* According to Pathak, Synapse’s board of directors, which, at points, included Andreessen Horowitz’s Angela Strange, Trinity Venture’s Schwark Satyavolu, and Core Innovation Capital’s Arjan Schütte, was broadly aware of the issues Synapse faced, that they were “trying to do the right thing,” and that the board ask Pathak “not to shut down and escalate.”
* While Chapter 11 trustee McWilliams and Judge Martin Barash have made numerous references to not being able to confirm or deny if they have made any referrals to law enforcement, Pathak said that he is not aware of any criminal investigation and has not been contacted by law enforcement authorities, though he did acknowledge speaking with broker-dealer self-regulator authority Finra.
* When asked if, in the regular course of its business, Synapse had any interaction with Evolve’s regulators, the St. Louis Federal Reserve or the Arkansas Department of Banking, Pathak indicated that it did not.
Additional Context & Fact Checking
* Pathak suggested that Evolve or others not suing him for defamation should be interpreted as a sign that he’s telling the truth. However, Evolve has explicitly stated that it believes Pathak’s claims about a shortfall of end user funds and the causes of it are “based on ledgers that are demonstrably inaccurate and that his company prepared” (see FAQ #17 here.) It’s also worth noting that Evolve may have other reasons to avoid filing such a suit against Pathak — namely, that Evolve would presumably have to turn over relevant documents as part of discovery in any such suit.
* Pathak said that Synapse launched the brokerage sweep program in October 2023, in response to Evolve raising Synapse’s reserve requirement and withholding interest payments owed to end users, fintech programs, and Synapse. However, the Synapse Brokerage entity had been up and running for sometime by this point, and Synapse had been working with many of its programs to migrate them to the new structure since significantly earlier in 2023.
* Asked directly if Pathak or Synapse ever inappropriately used end user funds, including using end user funds to meet bank reserve requirements, Pathak said he was not aware of any instances of customer funds being misappropriated. Pathak described the allegation that Synapse used customer funds to meet reserve requirements at Lineage as “factually false.” However, Pathak’s answer glosses over that it was Synapse that would have instructed from Evolve to Lineage and, per my prior reporting, represented that these were Synapse’s own funds, not end users’.
* Pathak also denied that Synapse knowingly allowed fees Synapse owed to be debited from end user funds, saying that, as soon as such issues came to the company’s attention, it alerted Evolve and worked to fix them. However, Pathak did not specify if when these types of issues occurred, whether or not end user balances were made whole.
* Asked about his robotics startup’s attempt to raise funds and purported relationship with GM, first reported by me and subsequently confirmed by CNBC, Pathak described the CNBC reporter as “a piece of s**t” and “highly unethical,” alleging that the reporter contacted an auto industry union leader, not GM, leading the union leader to threaten a strike if GM didn’t pull out of the deal. However, the CNBC piece quoted a GM spokesperson as saying, “GM has never invested in Foundation Robotics and has no plans to do so. In fact, GM has never had an agreement of any kind with the company. Any claims to the contrary are fabricated.” GM sent me a statement to the same effect.
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with James Doherty, the Head of Business Development for Financial Services at Sinch, the customer communication cloud platform that includes mobile messaging, voice, email and other emerging channel capabilities. We had the chance to discuss:
* Financial services’ key “jobs to be done” via communications channels, including acquisition, engagement, retention, and fraud prevention
* The importance of flexibility in communications strategy, including being able to meet customers where they are, whether that’s SMS, email, or emerging communications channels
* Challenges in managing communications strategy, including privacy regulation
* The role of conversational AI in customer communications strategy
* And more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Michael Nicklas, Managing Partner at Valor Capital Group, a Brazil-based cross-border venture fund. Valor’s fintech and crypto portfolio companies include cross-border payment and trade finance network Hamsa, crypto exchanges Bitso and Coinbase, and stablecoin infrastructure company Circle, among many others. Michael and I had the chance to talk about:
* Unique aspects of Latin American that shape the market for financial services
* The role the Brazilian central bank plays in fostering progress and innovation in financial services in the country (yes, that includes Pix)
* What Valor means when it describes its investing strategy as being “cross border”
* How Valor takes into account evolving geopolitical risks as it considers its investing approach
* And more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Kelly A. Brown, Chairman and CEO at deposit management startup Ampersand. Previously, she spent 13 years at the American Deposit Management Company. Kelly and I had a chance to talk about:
* What inspired Kelly to get into banking
* The sudden attention paid to deposit insurance in the wake of SVB’s collapse
* How FBO and deposit insurance pass through models should be structured
* Consumers’ misapprehensions about what deposit insurance does and doesn’t cover
* And more!
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Frank Rotman of QED, Jason Henrichs of Alloy Labs, and I discussed “Balancing Growth With Risk In The Post-ZIRP Era,” including touching on:
* How the extended low-interest rate environment impacted venture capital and fintech
* How the evolving regulatory climate is shaping fintechs’ and banks’ risk appetite and strategies
* What the next 12 months will look like
* And more!
Regular programming will resume next Sunday, August 4th.
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Wade Arnold, cofounder and CEO of Moov, a fintech infrastructure company that enables and simplifies push and pull card payments. Moov also puts on the Fintech Devcon conference, which is August 7th-9th in Austin — more info and tickets here. We had a chance to talk about:
* What to expect at (and what I should wear to) Fintech Devcon
* Payment and core banking infrastructure in the US
* Implications of and lessons from the Synapse bankruptcy
* Reasons to be optimistic about the future of fintech
* and more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Rhett Roberts, cofounder and CEO of API-first lending and credit platform LoanPro. Rhett and I had the chance to talk about:
* LoanPro’s recent announcement of integrating with Visa DPS (and some background for folks who might not know why that’s important!)
* LoanPro’s journey from homegrown software to powering some of the biggest lenders in fintech
* How LoanPro helps its customers stay ahead of evolving legal and regulatory issues
* How LoanPro structures its organization to ship code quickly
* and more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Stuart Sopp, CEO and cofounder of Current. Stuart and I had the chance to talk about:
* What’s change in fintech and banking since the last time we talked in 2023 (hint: a lot)
* Current’s new products and features, including its credit builder card and an EWA-style offering
* The challenges of state-by-state licensing and importance of compliance
* Balancing the need for growth with profitable unit economics
* What’s on the road map for Current
* and more!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Nicolas Benady, the CEO of French embedded finance platform Swan, live at Money2020 Europe earlier this month. Nicolas and I had the chance to talk about:
* embedded finance and banking-as-a-service in Europe vs. the US
* what being licensed as an emoney institution enables Swan to do and how it’s different than being or partnering with a bank
* why Swan is confident in its ability to effectively oversee its third-party partners
* how Swan’s clients leverage its capabilities
* and more!
Special thanks to the entire Money2020 crew for hosting us in the MoneyPot podcast booth and putting on another great event!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with John Stuart, the general manager of fintech and international at Apex Fintech Solutions, an investing and wealth management infrastructure platform. John and I had the chance to talk about:
* What the capabilities Apex provides, including custody, clearing, and execution, enable its customers to build
* How Apex scaled its platform across 150 countries
* What Apex has learned and how its refined its offering over 10+ years in market
* Some novel use cases for the infrastructure Apex has built
* And more
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Alex Johnson, creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter, and I are happy to bring you the latest episode of our monthly podcast, Fintech Recap, where we unpack some of the biggest stories in fintech, banking, and crypto.
This month we had the chance to talk about:
* Latest on Synapse bankruptcy and what it may mean for banking-as-a-service & fintech (this episode was recorded May 29th)
* Visa’s new “crebit” credential
* The CFPB’s interpretative guidance on buy now, pay later
* And, as always, what Alex and I just can’t let go of
If you enjoy listening to this podcast and find value in it, please consider supporting me (and finhealth non-profits!) by signing up for a paid subscription. It wouldn’t be possible to do what I do without the support of listeners like you!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Neepa Patel, cofounder and CEO of Themis, a compliance collaboration tool for banks and fintechs, on stage at last month’s Empire Fintech Conference in New York. Neepa and I had the chance to talk about:
* What “fintech people” misunderstand about regulators
* What fintechs should think about when selecting a bank partner
* Whether or not tech is (and should be) a competitive differentiator in banking-as-a-service platforms
“Many banks are still utilizing manual controls, processes and even spreadsheets to manage compliance and governance. We've been impressed with Themis’ collaborative and centralized modules to increase efficiency, and reduce complexities and internal costs while helping to streamline compliance controls.”
— Candice Antinori, VP Compliance Management & CRA Officer at FinWise Bank
Themis is a user friendly, collaborative compliance platform to help financial institutions manage complex relationships across internal control groups and to help fintechs’ level up their own governance, risk, and compliance cultures.
The platform provides a centralized compliance collaboration suite of purpose-built workflows and tools that seamlessly integrate risk, communications, documents and so much for internal teams and external partnerships between banks and fintechs.
With Synapse entering into bankruptcy proceedings in the last few weeks, with knock-on impacts to Evolve Bank and Trust, Lineage, and multiple fintech programs, one could easily be forgiven for thinking fintech categorically is facing a regulatory reckoning. But, current turmoil notwithstanding, the bank-fintech partnership model will endure, with the players that prioritize compliance best suited to navigate the fallout.
Learn more about how Themis banks are Elevating Governance, Risk and Compliance Cultures here.
If you enjoy listening to this podcast and find value in it, please consider supporting me (and finhealth non-profits!) by signing up for a paid subscription. It wouldn’t be possible to do what I do without the support of listeners like you!
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This month we had the chance to talk about:
* BaaS drama continues, with Piermont and Sutton receiving consent orders
* Chime has HOW MANY customers?
* Trade groups vs. Colorado on DIDMCA, or, where is an online loan “made”?
* Quick takes on the Visa/Mastercard settlement
* And, as always, what we just can’t let go of
If you enjoy listening to this podcast and find value in it, please consider supporting me (and finhealth non-profits!) by signing up for a paid subscription. It wouldn’t be possible to do what I do without the support of listeners like you!
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In this episode, I had the chance to sit down with Tommy Nicholas, CEO of identity risk solutions platform Alloy, a global, end-to-end identity risk solution for banks and fintechs. Tommy and I had the chance to talk about:
* factors impacting fraud risk today, including the growth of real-time payments and the dawn of the genAI age
* key take aways from Alloy’s 2024 State of Fraud Benchmark Report
* the difference between “frictionless” and “seamless” in financial services UX
* public and private efforts to create digital identity solutions
* what’s on Tommy’s radar in the fraud space in 2024
* and more!
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