Barefoot Innovation Podcast

Kwame is the charismatic head of innovation at the Bank of Ghana. He shares advice for regulators on how to adapt to tech transformation and emphasizes collaboration to break down silos and  foster innovation

Michael talks about the global evolution of financial inclusion and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s ongoing efforts. Learn about digital financial inclusion, consumer protection, digital public infrastructure, and barriers to fair finance. 

Kelly serves on the White House National Economic Council and helped lead the executive order issued in 2023 on AI. She discusses what the order requires, the challenges it aims to address and the upside opportunity of the technology.  

Former CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo updates on the evolution of Central Bank Digital Currencies around the world and predicts where we’re headed.

In this special episode recorded live at the Annual Conference of the National Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., Jo Ann speaks with three innovators working to help Minority Depository Institutions modernize their technology to continue serving communities of color.

Generative artificial intelligence is sure to be a hot topic for regulators and financial innovators on the upcoming conference circuit. Here is how attendees can get the most out of events likely to be a harvest of new ideas.

Discrimination in the credit markets is a persistent problem. Lisa Rice, head of the National Fair Housing Alliance, says we can solve it if we understand the role of structured, hidden bias, and use new technology to root it out.

Following the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Velocity TechSprint, the official leading the agency’s conservatorship and fintech strategies joins Jo Ann to discuss all the ways the mortgage market is ripe for a technology overhaul. 

Most agencies focus largely on how technology affects the industries they oversee, but the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority’s innovation approach is also inward-focused. Jessica Rusu and Nathalie Lowe, two leaders driving the FCA’s strategy, discuss the regulator’s achievements.

Jesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, joins Jo Ann for a discussion on the upsides and downsides of technologies designed to expand access to homeownership and small business capital.

Banka helps lead the World Bank’s initiative to make payments interoperable and fast. In this episode, he discusses the launch of Project FASTT, the principles that make fast payments work and how to meet key financial inclusion goals.

Hand, the Director of Financial Fairness Advocacy at Consumer Reports, leads the magazine’s initiative to evaluate new fintech products to give customers greater awareness of the rapidly changing financial services market. The ratings system could be a game-changer for pricing and product development.

It has been quite a ride since our first episode in 2015. Over more than eight years, this show helped mark AIR’s founding, unpacked what the pandemic and other events meant for financial regulation, and hosted so many enlightening discussions about disruptive technology.

In this episode, Jo Ann interviews the most famous generative AI. The chat is “unsmart” but it gave responses to complex questions that were accurate and displayed the ability to grasp subtle issues.

The head of the Bank for International Settlements’ innovation initiative offers insight on ways that central banks and other regulatory organizations can boldly explore technological change.

Tillemann, Chief Policy Officer of Haun Ventures, shares his views about the crypto winter and how the confluence of blockchain, open source and digital tokens could solve stubborn problems.

The Bank for International Settlements, which ensures payment systems work, has prioritized technology. Tara Rice, who heads the BIS Secretariat of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, discusses CPMI’s stablecoin guidance and more.

Kyle Hauptman, vice chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, comes on the show to discuss how his agency encourages credit unions to take steps to stay relevant in the digital era.

The question of how to expand access and ensure fairness for people of color deals with finding the right balance of regulation, technology and traditional finance. Two leaders on this issue speak with Jo Ann about finding the best answers.

In this episode, Jo Ann speaks with innovation leaders at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Haimera Workie and Alex Khachaturian, about a new tool to help transform financial regulation and compliance.