Fintech Takes

Fintech Takes x Chime presents Banking on Primacy Episode 4: The AI Episode

Welcome to Banking on Primacy, a four-part podcast miniseries from Fintech Takes, sponsored by Chime. The series orbits one question that has become the most contested in consumer finance: what does it take to earn (and hold) the most important relationship in someone's financial life? In Episode 4, I sit down with Ryan King, technical Co-Founder at Chime, to explore what AI means for the primary account relationship. Ryan has been in and around Silicon Valley as a builder through every major technology wave. He argues that AI isn't another step change; it’s a slope change. The closest historical analogy is the Industrial Revolution: factories didn't give workers better tools, they reorganized physical production. Now AI is doing the same thing to knowledge work. At Chime, that belief is already operational: 84% of code is now developed with AI. But the more interesting conversation is about consumers, not code. * Most of the financial services industry is racing toward building AI that makes it easier to spend, but is that the problem everyday Americans face? * When AI starts making financial decisions on behalf of consumers, whose side is it on? And how does the business model answer that question? * Financial institutions have spent decades building trust with millions of account holders. How does that trust translate in a world when OpenAI and Perplexity want the same job? This episode is brought to you by Chime. For most Americans, their primary bank account is their most important financial relationship. Traditional banks held that position and took it for granted. Chime was built differently: fee-free, built to succeed when members do, and now America’s #1 banking choice with roughly 10M active members. Chime Prime takes that further: 5% cash back, savings rates up to 9x the national average, premium travel perks, no fees. See how at https://www.chimeprime.com/ [https://www.chimeprime.com/] Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson] Follow Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanaking/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanaking/]  Learn more about Chime here: https://www.chimeprime.com/ [https://www.chimeprime.com/]

Who Pays for Open Finance?

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I'm Alex Johnson, joined by Rafe Mazer, researcher and author of the excellent report "Who Pays for What? Pricing and Monetization Options in Open Finance [https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/brief/who-pays-for-what-pricing-and-monetization-options-in-open-finance/]." This episode is a deliberate step back from the U.S. open banking soap opera I've been living inside for the past year or so.  The question of who pays for open finance isn't one the U.S. gets to answer in isolation. Other markets have been wrestling with it for years, and at some point I needed someone to make me look up. That person is Rafe. Rafe works across Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and beyond, and his new report [https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/brief/who-pays-for-what-pricing-and-monetization-options-in-open-finance/] surveys the global landscape of how open finance systems get built and funded.  It’s the closest thing to a first principles analysis that exists, and you should read it (link below). We cover the four distinct cost stages of open finance (most countries only plan for one), plus the five pricing archetypes that exist globally, from Brazil's threshold pricing that was never actually collected to South Korea's voluntary, self-governing open banking exchange that works without a single regulatory mandate requiring it. The U.S., despite having one of the most competitive financial markets in the world, may be poorly positioned to get this right. We also get into reciprocity, the word that never appears in the U.S. open banking debate but probably should, and what a federal data protection law would actually change. Check out Rafe's report here: https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/brief/who-pays-for-what-pricing-and-monetization-options-in-open-finance/ [https://www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org/brief/who-pays-for-what-pricing-and-monetization-options-in-open-finance/] This episode is brought to you by Persona.  The best fintechs expand what's possible for users. Persona does that for fraud prevention. Their recently upgraded link analysis tool surfaces connections in real time, letting you spot deepfakes, identity farms, and fraud rings during onboarding and investigations.  They just published their Fraud Leader's Guide to Link Analysis, a practical look at today’s top risk signals, automating decisions, and scaling link analysis for fraud prevention. Download it now: http://withpersona.com/ftt-fraud [http://withpersona.com/ftt-fraud]  Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Rafe: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-rafe-mazer-13531b/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-rafe-mazer-13531b/]   Follow Alex Johnson:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson]

Fintech Takes x Nova Credit Presents Cash Flow Conversations Episode 6: Living Out on the Edge

Hello, and welcome back to Cash Flow Conversations, a podcast series sponsored by our friends at Nova Credit. We've spent a lot of time in this series focused on the mainstream adoption of cash flow data within consumer lending: where to get started, the challenges you can expect to face.  Episode 6 leaves that territory behind for the open frontier, where the conversations aren't about operational realities but about what's coming next. And there’s no one better to have that conversation with than Nikki Cross [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkicrosspatrick/], Head of Data Science Consulting at Nova Credit. We get into why the development of custom scores in cash flow lending is harder than most lenders expect on Day 1, fair lending and how to navigate compliance concerns within an entirely new universe of data, and what agentic AI means for explainable credit decisions. Cash flow data reveals far more about how consumers tend to their financial lives than bureau data ever did; which is both the opportunity and the complication. This episode is brought to you by Nova Credit.  Nova Credit is a credit infrastructure and analytics company that enables businesses to grow responsibly by harnessing consumer credit data. Learn more at novacredit.com [http://novacredit.com]. Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson] Follow Nikki: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkicrosspatrick/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikkicrosspatrick/]  Learn more about Nova Credit here [http://www.novacredit.com].

Fintech Takes x Chime presents Banking on Primacy Episode 3: Banking at Work

Welcome to Banking on Primacy, a four-part podcast miniseries from Fintech Takes, sponsored by Chime. The series orbits one question that has become the most contested in consumer finance: what does it take to earn (and hold) the most important relationship in someone's financial life? In Episode 3, I sit down with Jason Lee, Chief of Chime Enterprise. We unpack fintech as an employee benefit, which is compelling in theory but harder in practice than most founders expect. Employers don't wake up wanting fintech products. They want workers who stay. Jason founded DailyPay in his basement in 2015, built it into a multi-billion dollar company, and now looks after Chime's employer-facing business after Chime acquired his second company, Salt Labs. His read on what it actually takes to make this model work is fascinating.  * Why do most earned wage access products only reach 30% of a workforce and what serves the other 70%? * Why does brand recognition drive employee adoption more than the product itself? * Now that earned wage access is morphing into the financial health industry, where does that leave point solutions? This episode is brought to you by Chime. For most Americans, their primary bank account is their most important financial relationship. Traditional banks held that position and took it for granted. Chime was built differently: fee-free, built to succeed when members do, and now America’s #1 banking choice with roughly 10M active members. Chime Prime takes that further: 5% cash back, savings rates up to 9x the national average, premium travel perks, no fees. See how at https://www.chimeprime.com/ [https://www.chimeprime.com/] Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson] Follow Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonleem2/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonleem2/]

Losing Big

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I'm Alex Johnson, joined by Jonathan Cohen, Policy Lead at the American Institute for Boys and Men and author of Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling. In keeping with a theme that we've been building on around here, today's episode is about sports betting, gambling, prediction markets, and the infiltration of all of these activities into financial services apps.  We cover the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that had almost nothing to do with gambling and everything to do with states' rights; the frictionless mobile nature of betting today and what that unlocked; the research on young men, loneliness, and financial nihilism that explains why this landed where it did; and the CFTC's decision to classify sports prediction market contracts as swaps, which handed the industry a green light that may not survive the next Supreme Court term. We also get into Robinhood's role as backend infrastructure for Trump accounts, and what it means that young men may soon inherit a government-seeded investment account from the same company that's pushing them toward sports betting. Check out Jonathan's book here: https://a.co/d/0bbrz0IR [https://a.co/d/0bbrz0IR]  This episode is brought to you by Persona.  The best fintechs expand what's possible for users. Persona does that for fraud prevention. Their recently upgraded link analysis tool surfaces connections in real time, letting you spot deepfakes, identity farms, and fraud rings during onboarding and investigations.  They just published their Fraud Leader's Guide to Link Analysis, a practical look at today’s top risk signals, automating decisions, and scaling link analysis for fraud prevention. Download it now: http://withpersona.com/ftt-fraud [http://withpersona.com/ftt-fraud]  Sign up for Alex’s Fintech Takes newsletter for the latest insightful analysis on fintech trends, along with a heaping pile of pop culture references and copious footnotes. Every Monday and Thursday: https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/ [https://workweek.com/brand/fintech-takes/] And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos]. Follow Jonathan: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-cohen-6219b989/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-cohen-6219b989/]    Follow Alex Johnson:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos] LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson [https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson] X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson [https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson]