Rebank: Fintech Analysis

Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to talk through a few recent events that are indicative of what’s important in fintech right now.

And boy, is there a lot to talk about.

WhatsApp launches payments in Brazil and is unceremoniously shut down by the central bank a week later, MasterCard buys Finicity to protect itself against Visa’s recent acquisition of Plaid, Checkout.com continues its largely silent meteoric rise in payments, Softbank-backed, DAX 30 index component Wirecard “loses" $2 billion from its balance sheet and files for insolvency, Upgrade raises $40 million at a $1 billion valuation to extend its personal credit offering.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

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Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

Andy Rachleff is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wealthfront, one of the world’s leading investments and personal finance companies.

Building around a core investments offering for young professionals, Wealthfront has added checking, savings and debit functionality plus automation, with the ultimate vision of delivering self-driving money, where personal finance is fully automated by software.

Today, Wealthfront is announcing the launch of checking account features in a significant extension of its existing offering.

Prior to founding Wealthfront, Andy co-founded Benchmark, one of the most respected venture capital firms on the planet.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Andy Rachleff.

Oliver Hughes is the CEO of Tinkoff Group, one of the world’s most successful digital banking groups with over ten million customers.

Tinkoff is publicly listed, which brings clarity to its operating model in a time when many noteworthy consumer digital banks are pursuing customer acquisition at the expense of profitability.

Oliver has led Tinkoff through three financial crises, so brings experience and perspective to the current COVID crisis.

This is a fascinating discussion about unit economics in digital banking and winning business models with a CEO with thirteen years of experience in this game.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

To subscribe to Lex’s amazing newsletter, please visit www.fintechblueprint.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Oliver Hughes and Lex Sokolin.

We’re joined by Lex Sokolin to talk through a few recent events that are indicative of what’s important in fintech right now.

Varo raised $241 million in preparation to start operating under its own banking license  later this year. Is a banking license an asset or a liability if you’re a digital bank?

Marqeta is reportedly now valued at $4.3 billion, as banking-as-a-service continues its mature.

And LA-based fintech Stackin’ raised $13 million to scale its messaging-based offering designed to help Gen Z find the right fintech. What should we make of this?

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

To subscribe to Lex’s amazing newsletter, please visit www.fintechblueprint.com.

Eric Poirier is the CEO of Addepar, a leading investment technology company with a ten-year track record serving institutional clients.

With more than 400 institutional investor clients with approximately $2 trillion in assets on Addepar’s platform, Eric has a fantastic view into how the smart money responded during the COVID crash and where funds are likely to flow during recession and recovery.

Addepar has raised $245 million since inception to build and scale its platform and recently launched primary and secondary market investments in alternative assets to its clients.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Eric Poirier.

Today, we’re joined by Max Friedrich and Lex Sokolin.

Max is a fintech analyst a ARK Invest, a public markets investment manager focused on disruptive technologies including autonomous tech, robotics, fintech, genomics and next generation internet.

Max recently published a report on digital wallets, including Venmo and Square’s Cash App, which is available for download on ARK’s website.

I loved this conversation, which could have been twice as long as it was, and hope to continue exploring this topic in the future.

We're also joined by Lex Sokolin, author of the Fintech Blueprint.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Max Friedrich and Lex Sokolin.

Clay Wilkes is the founder and CEO of Galileo, one of the leading digital banking and payments platforms in North America.

Galileo provides much of the technology that powers banking and payments for companies including Chime, Robinhood and Varo, plus the US operations of Monzo, N26, Revolut and many, many more.

In April, SoFi, one of the absolute leading US fintechs and an increasingly full service financial institution, announced the acquisition of Galileo for $1.2 billion. The tie up will deliver, among other things, SoFi’s full suite of lending products and balance sheet into Galileo’s API platform, making them available to all of the customers Galileo supports.

Already a dominant player in the US, Galileo is expanding into Latin America, where Clay sees a rich emerging fintech market.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Clay Wilkes.

Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to talk through a few recent events that are indicative of the fintech world right now.

Brex raised an additional $150 million at a slightly improved valuation vs. its last round just as Monzo is reportedly looking at a 40% down round. Why?

Shopify launched bank accounts for its merchants and an Amazon competitor plus Klarna, just as it worked with Facebook to support the launch of Facebook Shops and joined the Libra Association. Lots going on.

Lastly, Lex explains why Goldman’s M&A activity over the past couple years leads to the natural conclusion that they should buy Schwab.

To sign up for Lex's amazing weekly newsletter, please visit www.fintechblueprint.com

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

Radboud Vlaar is the Founding Partner at Finch Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm and one of Europe’s most active series A investors.

Prior to starting Finch in 2013, Radboud was a Partner at McKinsey, where he worked for ten years.

Finch recently published a fantastic report on fintech in a time of crisis, which forms the basis for our conversation today. The report is available at https://www.finchcapital.com/covid19.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Radboud Vlaar.

Laurent Le Moal is the CEO of PayU, a leading emerging markets payments company.

As CEO of PayU, Laurent has grown annual volumes to nearly $30 billion and overseen close to $1 billion in strategic investments in companies including Citrus Pay and Paysense in India, Iyzico in Turkey and Remitly in the US, where he is also a member of the board.

As if that weren’t enough, Laurent and PayU are founding members of Facebook’s Libra project, which we touch on in this conversation.

Prior to joining PayU in 2016, Laurent ran EMEA for PayPal.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Laurent Le Moal.

Ohad Samet is the Co-Founder and CEO of TrueAccord, a company using machine learning, behavioral economics and empathy to reimagine the debt collection process.

TrueAccord is a fantastic example of fintech's most fundamental promise: using technology and a fresh perspective to create outcomes in financial services orders of magnitude better than traditional approaches, at a fraction of the cost.

Ohad is a seasoned fintech founder and executive. The first company he worked for was acquired by PayPal, where he worked for three years before founding a company that eventually exited to Klarna. He served as Chief Risk Officer at Klarna for three years before founding TrueAccord.

In this conversation, Ohad, Lex and I discuss the ability of machine learning to create empathetic customer experiences, AI’s ability to be creative, expectations about COVID-19’s impact on consumer borrowers and the economy as a whole, and TrueAccord’s performance vs. traditional solutions.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Ohad Samet and Lex Sokolin.

Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei of Finch Capital is joined by Mike Laven.

Mike is the CEO of CurrencyCloud, one of the leading FX and payments companies in Europe, powering some of the most successful financial institutions and consumer fintech unicorns. Mike has spent over 25 years in financial technology, with executive roles at a number of large venture backed firms. Mike joined CurrencyCloud in 2011 and has raised over $140m in funding for the company.

In this conversation, Mike and Aman discuss the immediate impact of COVID-19 on the broader FX and remittance market as well as potential longer term implications, why API delivery has been so successful in payments, consolidation and the future of payments, and what the next 12-to-24 months have in store for CurrencyCloud.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Aman Ghei and Mike Laven.

Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to discuss recent developments in digital money, including stablecoins, CBDCs and a new Facebook Libra proposal.

A digital world needs digital money, and a few influential players are actively working to build it. China’s BSN initiative and Facebook’s Libra embody the East’s public sector led approach to building and owning the internet of value, and the West’s private sector led (and public sector challenged) attempt at cheaper commerce on the web. While the nature of the approaches may be different, the data and privacy considerations are eerily similar.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

Today, we’re joined by Brett King, founder and Executive Chairman of Moven, one of the original digital banks, and Lex Sokolin, Global Head of Fintech at ConsenSys.

Lex and I discussed Moven’s recent announcement to shutter its B2C business on episode 170 of Rebank, and we're happy to have the opportunity to connect with Brett directly to discuss the decision in more detail.

Of particular interest in this conversation are Brett's learnings from ten years of running Moven about B2C vs B2B as a digital banking strategy, the missing pieces in the current US and European challenger banking business model and where the space will go from here.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Brett King and Lex Sokolin.

Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei of Finch Capital is joined by Silvi Wompa.

Silvi is the head of portfolio underwriting at Swiss Re, one of the largest reinsurers in the world with over $30B in revenue.

Over the past 18 years, Silvi has built an international executive career in insurance across Life & Pensions, Property & Casualty, Broking and the Lloyd’s Market at companies like Hiscox, Old Mutual and Willis Towers Watson. She also co-founded Ch.AI in 2018, an insurtech start-up based in London focused on mitigating price risk in raw materials.

In this conversation, Aman and Silvi discuss the insurtech landscape, why disruption in insurance has not kept up pace with other areas of fintech, why enablement may trump disruption in insurtech, and what incumbent insurance companies are doing to stay relevant.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today.

Please welcome, Aman Ghei and Silvi Wompa.

Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to discuss the ways in which COVID-19 is influencing consumer and business behavior and what changes are likely to be permanent.

Digital is booming in areas where it hasn’t before, both on the consumer and business sides. This genie will not be put back in the bottle. We are in the midst of a quantum leap forward in digital adoption.

Fintechs that have long struggled for regulatory acceptance are punching through with solutions for SBA loan and stimulus check disbursement. This pivot toward a more mainstream role doesn’t feel like a change that can be reversed.

Apple and Google are building tools to enable us to give up even more privacy in the name of public health. Times of crisis reorder moral priorities.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

In this special episode, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin for analysis of a few important recent fintech developments.

Lex is the author of the Future of Finance newsletter, the CMO & Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys and a genuinely next-level thinker.

In this conversation, Lex and I examine the recent SoFi acquisition of Galileo, Moven’s decision to close its B2C digital bank and what if any impact rapid fintech product developments in response to COVID-19 will have on the future of financial innovation.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today.

Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

Today we’re joined by Abhishek Gupta, Head of BBVA Open Platform, BBVA’s banking-as-a-service offering.

As most people listening this podcast know, BBVA is a leader in financial innovation among incumbent banks, having taken a very proactive approach to the role of technology in banking.

The Open Platform is the productized, public facing version of BBVA’s core banking infrastructure, offering bank accounts, cards, payments and KYC via API to fintechs and brands.

In this conversation, Abhishek and I discuss the emerging banking-as-a-service industry, the most compelling fintech and brand use cases of bank APIs and BBVA’s broader approach to financial innovation.

For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Abhishek Gupta.

The fintech industry has rapidly matured in recent years. Once a collection of aspirational early stage founders catering to tech early adopters, fintech companies are increasingly offering highly respected, professional grade solutions to mainstream consumers and businesses.

Challenger banks, online lenders, payments companies and API connectivity layers once competed for fringe customers in a handful of urban centers.

Now, they’re pursuing global rollouts, pushing $10 billion valuations and piquing the interest of incumbent acquirers from FIS to Fiserv to Visa.

How far will private funding take fintech? Will a wave of IPOs follow? Will M&A entice leading startups before their valuations make takeovers uneconomical? What will happen when local fintech successes clash at the global level?

This special episode was recorded live at a Rebank event in London hosted by Shearman & Sterling, a global law firm with a specialist fintech practice. Visit fintech.shearman.com to find out more.

In this conversation, we're joined by Noel Monro, Director at Rothschild & Co, an investment bank, Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech, a venture capital firm, Ian Sutherland, CFO of Tide, a business banking service and Pawel Szaja, Capital Markets Partner at Shearman & Sterling.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today.

Please welcome, Noel Monro, Tim Levene, Ian Sutherland and Pawel Szaja.

Today, we’re thrilled to be joined by Adrian Nazari, founder and CEO of Credit Sesame.

Credit Sesame is a free credit score monitoring and management service.

Credit Sesame has 16 million registered users and has raised $120 million since its inception nearly ten years ago.

In this conversation, Adrian and I discuss the company’s new banking offering and how it fits into the core business. We also discuss the competitive landscape in retail digital banking in the US and how Credit Sesame intends to differentiate.

We also discuss the extremely pressing subject of supporting Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck is the midst of a global pandemic and recessionary fallout. Credit Sesame and other mass market fintechs have a tremendous opportunity to contribute in this time of social and personal distress.

For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit bankingthefuture.com.

Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Adrian Nazari.