Breaking Banks

The U.S. can be a tough and complex regulatory environment. Listen as Brett catches up with Peter Hazlehurst, Co-Founder and CEO, Synctera. Peter's background with Uber Money, consumer payments at Google and experience creating financial products for banks, fintechs, and large tech companies has helped create an end to end platform to enable fintech builders to create products with embedded banking and card issuance. Aside from the need for regulatory clarity, they cover KYC, global identity...

In this Episode: As the costs of meeting customer expectations and competitive pressures continue to rise, more banks are considering mergers and acquisitions to gain scale and stay relevant, but there are deep structural regulatory constraints that can often be an impediment. Everything from the way geographic boundaries are defined, to the way competition is measured to the way products and services are evaluated have mid-twentieth century origins that don’t seem well-suited for today’s...

It's an epic episode as Breaking Banks kicks off its 10th year. This week we offer you a megamix and extended play as Jason Henrichs, Brett King and JP Nicols chat with 10 industry all-stars about what is next in financial services. Big predictions from big names! Henri Arslanian, David Birch, Leda Glyptis, Theo Lau, Liz Lumley, Jim Marous, Ron Shevlin, Paolo Sironi, Chris Skinner and Mary Wisniewski. Cheers to 2023!! https://youtu.be/A73dCMkoPYA

For the last show of 2022 we end the year by looking back at how we started it. Brett, Jason, and JP made some 2022 predictions, listen to find out just how clear their crystal balls were. Spoiler alert: None predicted the crash in crypto prices or bankruptcy filings by some of the biggest platform players, global price spikes, or Twitter being taken private by Elon Musk, but we did get a few things right. The hosts all agreed on the need for financial institutions to better vet and manage...

Banking leaders aren’t confident that they have the tools in place to effectively serve Generation Z customers, those born between 1997-2012. David Stillman, Founder of GenGuru and co-author of Gen Z @ Work says this lack of confidence is well-founded. He draws on his decades of research to talk about the challenges of meeting the needs of five different generations of customers, why Gen Z doesn’t want work/life balance, and how Gen Xers can avoid making the same mistakes with Gen Z that the...

In venture timing is everything, it can make you or crush you. Listen as host Amber Buker speaks with former entrepreneur, CEO, current investor, active board member for public companies, and General Partner, Ken Denman, Sway Ventures about his varied career. He thoughtfully shares executive, strategic and operational insights from his experiences, and touches upon his love of looking around corners. In a tough market like today, you need to give yourself a runway (24 months may be the new...

Regulatory scrutiny as it relates to banks and fintech partners is starting to get hot as regulators get more vocal. This week on Breaking Banks, Jason Henrichs covers this and more with his guests Kirsten Muetzel, Chief Risk Officer, Fundid; Keith Evans, VP, VMO, First Northern Bank; and Clayton Mitchell, Principal, Crowe LLP. Listen as they discuss the regulatory complexity of creating fintech partnerships, vendors as partners and the value of these partnerships as financial institutions...

Host Jason Henrichs kicks today's episode off with song — it's not to be missed and neither are the conversations with Michael Kitces, Nerd's Eye View and then Theodora Lau, Unconventional Ventures. The markets are a bit frightful and there is strain on individuals and financial service providers. Our guests address the role of technology and empathy. Michael covers the role tech plays in financial planning. Much has been said of robo-advisors but there are parts of the process and the...

In honor of Native American Heritage Month and Day (11/25) we have an incredible episode hosted by Amber Buker and Jason Henrichs. First, Amber speaks with Dawson Her Many Horses, SVP & Head of Native American Banking about Wells Fargo's new report on Indian Country’s Once-In-a-Seven Generation Opportunity. Wells Fargo is a leading provider of capital for the native american and Alaska native markets banking 4 out of 10 federally recognized tribes in the US, equating to roughly $3B in credit...

The party goes on....or does it? Are we back to normal before things went crazy? Jason kicks this episode off with a conversation with Jason Mikula, Fintech Business Weekly. They dive into one of JH's favorite topics....interchange! Listen as The Jasons discuss payments, rewards, mobile wallets and the rise of commerce players (Walmart and Amazon) becoming more fintech focused with what they do. Then JP connects with Nick Chandi, CEO and Co-Founder, Forward AI created to solve SMB cash flow...

This week JP Nicols continues exploring the risks and opportunities in the global economy and how to balance fraud and friction with these live recordings from Money 20/20 in Las Vegas. We start in Latin America, with Sergio Almageur. Founder and CEO of Yaydoo, which simplifies finance with its B2B payment automation tools and helps small businesses manage invoices, payables, receivables, and cross-border payments. Then we connect with Misha Esipov from Nova Credit and discuss how they’re...

If you want to play the game, learn the players. Listen as Amber Buker records live from the MoneyPot podcast booth at M20/20 with Kelsey Weaver, a Founder, Investor, Bank Board Member and Philanthropist, and Siya Vansia, SVP, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer, ConnectOne Bank. The OG Fintech Girl Gang members share insights on what fintechs need to do as investment dollars tighten and how bank investors are creating new paradigms that recognize value is not the same as valuation. Then,...

Everyone talks about reducing friction, but could there be too much of a good thing? New research shows that in processes like account opening making it too easy actually reduce’s the customer’s confidence. Today’s theme is about balancing fraud and friction in the global economy… in identity verification, onboarding, payments, payroll, and more. First JP Nicols talks with Michael Ramsbacker, Chief Product Officer from Trulioo, then Eynat Guez, Cofounder and CEO of Papaya Global joins the...

A boutique bank with a big vision! Seattle Bank's Josh Williams, EVP Chief Banking Officer and Head of Partnerships speaks with Jason Henrichs about Seattle Bank's forward-leaning approach and how they are leveraging tech to guide BaaS partnerships. Call it BaaS' second era, they talk about the next iteration of BaaS, embedded finance, and what banks have to get right if they want to compete in the space. Seattle Bank is keeping its eye on the puck and where it's going as they continue to...

Work practices have changed. Attracting and retaining talent is more critical than ever. There are three pillars in helping generate meaningful work behavior -- character, leadership and culture -- all three so important. Listen as Brett King speaks with Making Meaningful Work authors Daniel Szuc and Jo Wong about how these pillars and soft skills are needed to make work more human. With digital nomads adopting different working styles, how do you create culture? The three M's will help with...

Back to life, back to reality . Or at least back to "in real life." Conferences are back. Finovate had its largest show ever in New York City and the Provoke team is crisscrossing the globe to speak, record and fight. That's right, fintech fight club made another appearance at Finovate with Lindsay Davis of Atomic squaring off against Mary Wisniewski from Bankrate. The best fight yet and it's available at provoke.fm This week far fewer punches but Jim Marous, Chloe James and Jason Henrichs...

Opportunity abounds for those willing to go after things differently. Being a fast follower doesn't work, fintech is compromising the model and traditional infrastructure is being pushed on. It's time to solve hard problems! After crisscrossing the globe to speak at industry events, meet with leaders and record, the Breaking Banks hosts are all at their mics to talk about global trends in innovation, fintech and broader tech, and the effect on incumbent banks and challenger banks. They offer...

Some like it hot and that would include the regulators. The acting comptroller of currency has been very public about unseen risks and unintended consequences that can disrupt the financial system. Kiah Haslett, Managing Editor at Bank Director and Alex Johnson, creator of Fintech Takes and host Jason Henrichs break it down while eating hot wings. This episode is hotter than the Trinidad Scorpion sauce that almost made Jason cry. https://youtu.be/vQlJ-HB8OLM

Building trust with those who never opted-in and those who opted-out of the system is central in today's conversation with three founders from two neobanks that are making a difference, Obsidian Bank's Damon Kirk and Steven Farrar, and Totem’s Amber Buker. Each neobank has it's unique needs and challenges, but there is commonality. Obsidian Bank serving the Black Community and Totem the Native American community. The segment is enlightening, each is an active participant in the community...