Fintech One•On•One

Rich Clow of Bank of America on driving payments innovation at scale

In this episode, I sit down with Rich Clow, Head of Innovation and Strategy, Global Payments Solutions at Bank of America [https://www.linkedin.com/company/bank-of-america-business/posts/?feedView=all], to explore how one of the world's largest financial institutions is approaching payments innovation, such as instant payments and digital wallet technology. Rich shares insights into Bank of America's unique perspective, given their scale of serving tens of millions of consumers and small businesses alongside 40,000 global corporates operating across 140+ currencies. The conversation delves into the bank's approach to the Paze digital wallet, why instant payments adoption is lagging behind other markets, and the critical importance of accessing real-time payment data to better serve clients. Rich also discusses the challenges and opportunities of driving innovation at scale as well as partnering with fintechs while ensuring the scalability and resiliency needed to support their massive transaction volumes. In this podcast you will learn: * Rich’s background and what his role entails at BofA. * What consumers, small businesses, wealth management and global corporates have in common when it comes to payments. * BofA’s global footprint outside this country. * Why instant payments has not taken off here as it has in other countries. * What use cases for instant payments have the most potential. * The gap in the market that the Paze digital wallet is addressing. * How they are measuring success with Paze. * How their enterprise clients are using Cash Pro, their corporate digital solution. * What BofA is looking for when partnering with fintechs. * How they decide whether to build, buy, or partner. * What Rich is hearing from their clients about use cases for stablecoins. * What it is going to take for more payments to occur on the new payments rails. * How their corporate clients are able to work with fintechs through BofA. * What Rich is most excited about for the future of payments. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: * Tweet me @PeterRenton [https://twitter.com/peterrenton] * Connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterrenton/] * Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes [https://fintechoneonone.com/]

Lily Liu, CEO of Piñata, on creating a credit building and rewards program for renters

When it comes to paying for a place to live, the economic benefits have always skewed towards homeowners, with renters getting no credit for all their on-time rent payments. But that is changing today. Piñata [https://www.pinata.ai/] is helping millions of renters across America build their credit score and earn rewards with their rent payments. In this episode, CEO and Co-Founder Lily Liu reveals how her company is transforming rent payments into a powerful credit-building tool by reporting on-time payments to all three credit bureaus, while renters earn tangible rewards at everyday brands. Born during the chaos of the pandemic, Piñata has evolved from a two-sided marketplace into a fintech powerhouse now partnering with giants like Freddie Mac to make credit building a standard benefit for renters nationwide. Lily shares the strategic pivots, the regulatory complexities of consumer credit reporting, and why solving this problem required rethinking rent as more than just an expense. In this podcast you will learn: * The founding story of Piñata. * Why launching the company at the height of the pandemic was good timing. * How they were able to get landlords on board. * Why they use a carrot, rather than a stick, to encourage renters to pay on time. * How the Piñata rewards program works for renters. * The two different ways renters can join Piñata. * The average increase in credit score for a typical Piñata customer. * How Piñata is very different to Bilt. * How they differentiate themselves from others in the credit building space. * The demographic that is most attracted to Piñata. * What their partnership with Freddie Mac means. * Why some renters are opting out of the home ownership dream. * How Piñata Pay, launching in 2026, will work. * How they are going to scale Piñata so the majority of people can get credit for rent payments. * Lily’s vision for the future of Piñata. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: * Tweet me @PeterRenton [https://twitter.com/peterrenton] * Connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterrenton/] * Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes [https://fintechoneonone.com/]

Bill Capuzzi, CEO of Apex, on the critical infrastructure powering modern investing

Today, I sit down with Bill Capuzzi, CEO of Apex Fintech Solutions, to explore the critical infrastructure powering modern fintech investing. Bill shares the fascinating journey of Apex from its roots as a pioneer in API-enabled clearing to fractional share trading and becoming the clearing firm behind investment accounts for close to 25 million people across household names like Robinhood, SoFi, and Betterment. The conversation dives deep into what it takes to be a reliable infrastructure player in fintech, from opening accounts in seconds, to enabling investment globally, to Apex's bold expansion plans with State Street and their strategic embrace of stablecoins. Bill also pulls back the curtain on how Apex uses AI inside the company and shares his perspective on the complex plumbing that makes seamless, modern fintech experiences possible. It's a rare inside look at the unsexy but essential backbone of the fintech revolution. In this podcast, you will learn: * Bill’s interesting journey from environmental scientist to fintech entreprenuer. * Why he decided to join Apex ten years ago. * How their capabilities were so different to the traditional custodians. * What a clearing broker does exactly. * How the idea for fractional share trading came about. * How they have built their brand in the fintech space. * Why they are seeing interest from banks and traditional wealth providers today. * The only two firms that have left Apex and why they left. * How they are working with the digital assets/stablecoins space today. * Why they sold Apex Crypto to Bakkt in 2022. * How they are growing internationally. * What their partnership with State Street means for Apex. * What Apex is doing to prepare for the AI-enabled future. * What Bill is most excited about for the future of Apex. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: * Tweet me @PeterRenton [https://twitter.com/peterrenton] * Connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterrenton/] * Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes [https://fintechoneonone.com/]

Jon Fry, CEO of Lendflow, on how AI is finally delivering on the promise of embedded lending

In this episode, I sit down with Jon Fry, CEO and co-founder of Lendflow [https://www.lendflow.com/], to explore how AI is transforming the embedded lending landscape. Jon shares his unconventional journey from building websites in college to becoming a key player in embedded lending, including the challenge of launching LendFlow in early 2020—just as COVID shut down the lending market. The conversation dives deep into how LendFlow's AI-powered platform is making lending more efficient and accessible, why the small business lending space hasn't advanced as quickly as many expected, and what survival through multiple market cycles has taught the industry's most resilient players. Jon paints a compelling vision of the next five to ten years, where AI will create truly magical lending experiences and finally deliver on the promise of embedded finance for small businesses. In this podcast you will learn: * How Jon went from building website in college to starting Lendflow. * What is was like launching a lending software business in early 2020. * What Lendflow does exactly. * Who is their core customer. * What has changed in embedded lending in the last five years. * How brands can customize their loan offerings with Lendflow’s platform. * Why Lendflow encourages brands to connect directly with lenders. * What a neutral embedded lending network is. * How Lendflow uses AI and what problems it is solving. * Why we are not quite ready for a fully agentic workflow yet. * What a fully agentic workflow could look like in the future. * Why Jon thinks lending software hasn’t developed that quickly in the past decade. * What he thinks the next five to ten years holds for lending. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: * Tweet me @PeterRenton [https://twitter.com/peterrenton] * Connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterrenton/] * Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes [https://fintechoneonone.com/]

Farooq Malik, CEO of Rain, on How a 4-Year-Old Fintech Became a Visa Principal Member Using Stablecoin Infrastructure

What if you could settle card transactions on weekends and holidays, reduce working capital requirements by orders of magnitude, and give fintechs global reach without the traditional banking infrastructure headaches? In this episode, I sit down with Farooq Malik, CEO and co-founder of Rain [https://www.rain.xyz/], a company that's quietly rewriting the rules of payment infrastructure by bridging traditional fintech and stablecoin technology. Farooq isn't a crypto evangelist, he comes from traditional banking and international development, but when he saw his first stablecoin transaction settle instantaneously, he had an "aha moment" about the future of money movement. Now Rain is a Visa Principal Member (a status typically reserved for banks), enabling companies to sponsor card programs directly, settle 24/7 using stablecoins, and serve customers across multiple continents from a single API. We dive deep into how this actually works, why traditional fintechs are ditching their BaaS partners for Rain's infrastructure, and why this isn't about crypto replacing fintech, it's about the next evolution of financial infrastructure that solves real operational problems. In this podcast you will learn: * How Farooq first got interested in stablecoins. * How he describes Rain to a fintech audience. * Why they chose to start with stablecoins for card transactions. * How they were able to become a Visa Principal Member. * Where they can issue cards globally. * How they can help their clients launch internationally. * Why most new customers they are signing up are tradfi programs. * Why a company like Rain is a good alternative to BaaS banks. * How the flow of funds work for a Rain-powered card transaction. * How Rain is able to work with capital providers directly on the blockchain. * What is involved in getting a new program up and running with Rain. * Why Rain is agnostic to the number of new stablecoin issuers. * How they work with banks looking to offer tokenized deposits. * The biggest opportunity in the future of financial infrastructure. Connect with Fintech One-on-One: * Tweet me @PeterRenton [https://twitter.com/peterrenton] * Connect with me on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterrenton/] * Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes [https://fintechoneonone.com/]