Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. During the pandemic, many for-profit companies and startups started creating digital tools to help people manage and save their money -- things like getting access to products and services that support their financial health, like financial coaching. At the same time, underserved and low-income consumers -- typically left out of traditional banking -- are increasingly gaining access to mobile and online technology, creating opportunities for nonprofits to participate in fintech. Sarah Keh, vice president of inclusive solutions believes that nonprofit fintechs provide critical services to underserved communities that have otherwise been marginalized. She joins me on the podcast to talk about the impactful work that’s going on in the sector. We discuss how they’re combining revenue sources through enterprise customers in order to grow and scale their business without solely relying on philanthropic funding, which can be unreliable. Sarah shares more about her role at Prudential and the work her firm is doing in the space. Sarah Keh is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Tearsheet Podcast: The Business of Finance

'We see more and more nonprofits adopt the fintech model': Prudential Financial's Sarah Keh

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Twilio sits behind the scenes of today’s slick onboarding and login experiences. The tech firm gives its customers the ability to embed communications into their offerings. Twilio’s few lines of code help with two factor authentication -- where you receive an SMS to your phone after logging into an app or website, all the way to, more recently, a broad omnichannel engagement platform. Bijon Mehta leads financial services at Twilio. I first met him years ago at our first Tearsheet conference. He was at J.P. Morgan then and now leads Twilio’s work in financial services including the firm’s go to market strategy and the channels it uses to reach customers in the industry. Bijon joins me on the podcast to discuss how short form communication is being used in the financial services industry for authentication and increasingly, in communications in general. We talk about how the firm’s clients use Twilio technology to improve their customer experiences. Here’s my talk with Twilio’s Bijon Mehta.

Embedding communications into financial services with Twilio's Bijon Mehta

Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, is our guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. As the head of a multinational organization working with top financial services brands like Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, Nigel has seen digital transformation up close. He's written a book about it, too -- Digital Business Transformation: How Established Companies Sustain Competitive Advantage From Now to Next. The financial services sector is facing unprecedented digital disruption. New entrants with agile processes and modular technologies are raising customer expectations. It’s essential that legacy financial institutions understand what’s driving these changes. By embracing digital business transformation and changing the way financial services institutions think, organize, operate and behave, they can turn threats into opportunities while maintaining their competitive edge. Successful fintech startups knew banking was ripe for disruption. Now it’s time for established financial institutions to learn from these innovators. They can start by taking stock of four forces of connected change that are reshaping financial services today: customer behaviors, new technologies, evolving business models and societal impact. Nigel Vaz, CEO of Publicis Sapient, is our guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

How banks can sustain competitive edge in the era of fintechs with Publicis Sapient's Nigel Vaz

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with Fiserv, a financial services technology company, to create a four part podcast series on the role and changing nature of data aggregation in the financial industry. Data is the foundation of the financial system, making the smooth aggregation of it an imperative task. It means streamlining the sum of an individual’s financial life into a single view, and creating a user experience that uplifts the data to benefit both the individual and the bank -- while simplifying the complex, and keeping it all secure.

‘Data aggregation is used in ways we wouldn't have thought about 5 years ago’: Fiserv’s Kevin Hughes

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. On the podcast and on our site, we’ve explored the world of employment data that’s opening up -- it’s opening up to allow new forms of lending and financial services that use employment data as a major input. So, imagine a lender wanting to loan money to an Uber driver who doesn’t have a traditional income source. But what if the payroll firm didn’t supply just data to 3rd parties? What if the payroll provider got into fintech itself? That’s exactly what Ceridian is doing with its Dayforce Wallet. The company processes $300 billion yearly in paychecks and it’s helping its clients and their employees tap into their salaries earlier and more frequently than the traditional pay cycle. Seth Ross is the new GM of Dayforce Wallet and Consumer Services at Ceridian. I first met Seth when he was at Green Dot, heading up the firm’s banking as a service platform. He joins me on the podcast to talk about Ceridian’s move into financial services and more broadly, to chat about the potential of embedded financial services. Seth Ross is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Behind the launch of the Dayforce Wallet: Ceridian's Seth Ross

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with Q2, a digital banking software company, to create a four part podcast series on the interplay between banks and fintechs. Partnership with fintechs through Banking as a Service has given financial institutions an opportunity to capture new markets and revenue opportunities. The success of this partnership depends on each side bringing in what they’re best at; and especially the banks being willing and able to do things differently, in order to better serve and effectively grow their customer base. In this episode, I spoke with Paul Walker, who’s been with Q2 for the past 15 years, and currently serves as the GM of Q2’s Banking as a Service division.

‘It's like marrying the best of the bank and fintech worlds together’: Q2’s Paul Walker

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. As humans, we’re just not wired to save money well. And over the years, creative financial institutions have figured out ways to incentivize saving with chances to win money. Prize-linked savings has been a mainstay in the UK and is the largest form of savings. In the US, challenger bank Yotta offers periodic chances for its customers to win money prizes. The more you save, the more chances you have to win. Yotta’s co-founder and CEO Adam Moelis joins me on the podcast to talk about the mechanics of prize-linked savings and how Yotta uses this model to differentiate itself from the competition. We discuss some of the viral components the firm’s built and how it acquires new customers. We also look out into the future for the firm’s product and expansion plans. Adam Moelis is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

'We bring the lottery's instant gratification to incentivize people to save': Adam Moelis, Yotta

One of the major challenges in scaling digital finance solutions is handling old school paper. Even with all the automation and digitization, documents still need to be processed and in many cases, humans need to be looped in. Sam Bobley is the co-founder and CEO of Ocrolus, which works with firms like BlueVine, Brex, and PayPal to analyze financial documents in any format. Sam joins me on the podcast to talk about the challenges of balancing speed and accuracy in data extraction in fintech and how the Payroll Protection Program really highlighted the leaders in the space based on their ability to scale up quickly. Sam shares his view on what it takes for the financial industry to move beyond paper to a fully automated ecosystem. He also shares some insights on where he thinks the market is headed as well as Ocrolus’ product road map. Sam Bobley is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

'We were processing like 65% to 75% of all PPP loan applications nationally': Ocrolus' Sam Bobley

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Listening to Sammy Rubin and it’s hard not to feel his infectious excitement about his firm YuLife. He’s taking the humdrum of life insurance and gamified it -- YuLife’s app feels more like an exercise or meditation app than it does insurance. It’s that openness to reimagine financial services that colors his leadership, company, and products. Sammy joins me on the podcast to discuss the genesis of YuLife, his previous entrepreneurship in the space, and his approach to life insurance. We talk about how early customers of his firm have responded to gamified insurance -- how they’re using the app and how they’re making positive changes in their lives. We also look forward to see what else he’s gearing up to do. YuLife founder and CEO Sammy Rubin is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

'Life insurance can be a vehicle to inspire people to live their best lives': YuLife's Sammy Rubin

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. As banks and credit unions look to modernize to digital payments, they’re turning to firms like Payveris to handle things like bill pay and P2P transfers. Payveris provides cloud payment software to 265 banks and credit unions. Payveris Chief Innovation Officer Marcell King joins me on the podcast to talk about the evolution of banks’ participation in payments and where the market is headed in the future. In a world of Square and PayPal, Marcell describes where banks can compete and find a competitive edge. Shortly after we recorded this call, bill payment player Paymentus announced that it was acquiring Payveris in an attempt to increase the addressable market opportunity for the combined firm. Here’s my conversation with Marcell King.

'I can't tell you how many millennials pay their bills at the biller's site': Payveris' Marcell King

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with small business lender BlueVine to produce a four part series on creating financial solutions serving historically underserved small businesses. In this episode, we spoke with the CEOs of both BlueVine and NEXT Insurance -- two companies founded on addressing the needs of small businesses, out of a recognition that small businesses make up a huge deal of the economy.

How BlueVine's partnership with NEXT Insurance ties insurance to SMB banking

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. It may be surprising to hear that 124 million Americans are credit union members. Serving that constituency isn’t always easy. That’s because client expectations are high as financial service providers compete on experiences with Netflix and Amazon. CUNA Mutual Group partners with over 95% of all credit unions in the US to help them better serve their membership with insurance and investment proucts. CUNA also invests in fintech. Brian Kaas is the managing director of CMFG Ventures, the firm’s venture capital arm. He joins me on the podcast today to discuss the challenges credit unions face and the role fintech is beginning to play to help them level the playing field. We talk about CMFG’s mandate and some of the firm’s investments like Affirm, Current, Good Money, and Steady.. Lastly, we look ahead to see just where Brian is interested in investing in the future. Brian Kaas is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

'With a fund, CUNA Mutual Group gets a seat at the table': CMFG Ventures' Brian Kaas

When you talk to Bill Barhydt about his days at Netscape, you can’t help but feel that he’s reliving that excitement today -- with cryptocurrencies. He’s the founder and CEO at Abra, a crypto wealth management platform that includes a brokerage, high yield investments, as well as a cryptocurrency lending service. Bill joins us on the podcast to talk about the firm’s genesis story, going global, and how Abra services the needs of its consumer and institutional clients in almost 100 countries. We discuss about the evolution of crypto and how the old school banking world and digital asset ecosystems are already working together. Bill shares more about the firm’s recent launch of its crypto lending service and where that product might go in the future. Bill Barhydt is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

'Crypto will be the future of banking': Abra's Bill Barhydt

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with payment as a service provider Volante Technologies to produce a two part series on banks transforming their payments to the cloud and the road to streamlining the customer journey. The payments space is changing. Technology providers are stepping up and offering FIs the ability to modernize their existing payment processes. Through their cloud-based platforms, Payments as a Service providers make it possible for banks to provide digital services that modern customers desire and expect. The move to partnering with a PaaS provider means that FIs can reap the benefits of moving to the forefront of digital transformation -- but what does that really mean?

'The PaaS boulder is rolling down the hill': Volante Technologies' John Farrell

Today’s guest on the podcast is Matt Sueoka, head of global strategy, partnerships and enablement for Amex Digital Labs. We discuss what it takes to scale new form factors in digital payments. Matt shares how Amex Digital Labs makes investments, chooses partners and prioritizes its product pipeline across form factors like QR, tokenization, and P2P -- Matt gives real like examples of projects that were headed by his part of the organization that eventually found a home in American Express’ product portfolio.

'We take a portfolio approach, like a venture capitalist': Amex Digital Lab's Matt Sueoka

Tearsheet is news, opinion, and analysis on the business of finance. Candid conversations with senior executives, fintech entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts -- all weigh in on the trends impacting the industry and the disruptive impact technology is having on the business. Where social media, technology and finance intersect.

hubhopper

Tearsheet Podcast: The Business of Finance

hubhopper