Fintech Takes

Auteur(s): Alex Johnson
  • Résumé

  • Fintech moves fast. But here at Fintech Takes, Alex Johnson and his rotating panel of guests move faster so that you can stay on top of the latest and greatest news in the industry without breaking a sweat. Welcome to Fintech Takes—the place where fintech’s biggest nerds come to sit back, relax, and completely geek out. Join Alex and a lineup of fintech’s brightest minds as they dissect what’s happening in fintech and banking. Each week, Alex and his guests recap the most interesting developments in fintech and explore the industry’s most pressing questions, diving headfirst into the intricate workings of some of the industry’s most ground-breaking business models and unpacking the emerging players that promise to shape fintech’s future. From riveting conversations with fintech’s most relevant operators to comprehensive recaps of the month's most compelling news stories and in-depth analyses of the latest regulatory developments, Fintech Takes is your one-stop-shop for navigating the fintech universe. Subscribe now to join fintech’s nerdiest podcast around!
    Copyright 2023 Alex Johnson
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Épisodes
  • Fintech Takes: Regulatory Roulette on Capital Hill
    Feb 26 2025
    Welcome to Fintech Takes! I’m Alex Johnson, and today we’re heading straight into the belly of the beast—Washington, D.C.—where regulators, banks, and fintechs are jockeying for position. Joining me is Rob Blackwell, a 20-year American Banker veteran, Intrafi’s Chief Content Officer, and host of the Banking with Interest pod. Today, we're diving into the big four: CFPB, OCC, FDIC, and the Fed. Regulatory shifts are moving fast, so by the time this airs, this could all be outdated—but hey, c’est la vie! First up, the push to gut the CFPB is gaining ground in some circles, but even banks and credit unions see value in maintaining a referee. Will the CFPB be sidelined (to, ahem, crypto’s benefit) or bounce back with a vengeance? Rob’s take is that it’ll be weakened, not wiped out—it’s too useful politically. Next, the FDIC's tailored supervision shouldn’t mean loosening oversight, especially where fintech partnerships are involved. Small banks aren’t JPMorgan, but they still need scrutiny. Same goes for the OCC, where new leadership is prioritizing collaboration with banks while pushing for targeted regulation to keep things fair. No wild cards here; Trump’s picks are pragmatic, not radical. Finally, the FDIC and Fed are pushing for clearer rules and more transparency, aiming to rein in overreach without forcing banks into unwanted partnerships. The challenge: giving banks discretion while preventing regulators from nudging them into silent exclusions. Bottom line? The rules are changing, but power plays never do. 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/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Rob: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-blackwell-63884826/ X: https://x.com/robblackwellab Follow Alex: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson X: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson
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    1 h et 10 min
  • Bank Nerd Corner: CFPB, De Novos, and The Crypto-BaaS Reckoning
    Feb 19 2025
    Welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner, featuring yours truly and #1 among all bank nerds, Kiah Haslett, Banking and Fintech Editor at Bank Director. By the time you’re reading this, we’ve had ~3 weeks of “fun” updates from the CFPB, and we have a lot to unpack! First up, who actually wants the CFPB gone? Gutting the CFPB won’t end consumer protection; it just shifts the burden. Funny how the loudest CFPB critics are the ones who profit most from consumer confusion. Even some bank execs admit the CFPB keeps markets fair. Referees are annoying, but you don’t want a game without them. Next, it seems like regulators care again about de novo banks (a topic we touched on 18 months ago but hey, who’s counting?). Post-crisis regulations, slow approvals, and a weaker market for bank sales have made starting a new bank a very tough sell. Plus, new banks are facing VC-style growth pressure, often relying on risky funding just to stay afloat. But it’s not just community banks pushing for change—fintechs want in, too. So, why are fintechs suddenly advocating for more de novo charters? And did fintech and BaaS make them obsolete by offering a faster, more efficient path to scaling and returns? Switching gears: debanking raises serious questions about how reputation factors into bank risk evaluations. If reputation matters, can’t it be weaponized? Crypto wasn’t changing the world, but regulators fumbled debanking. Transparency is key—if it’s a “no,” just say it, don’t dodge FOIA requests. Kiah nails it with this analogy: Crypto is like BaaS. Both used middleware to scale quickly, but while crypto’s risks were obvious, BaaS flew under the radar—until Synapse and cease-and-desists made it impossible to ignore. And finally, the unanswerable question of the week: what’s FinCEN actually doing? Banks still can’t warn each other about fraud. FinCEN hoards data for law enforcement but isn’t required to use it. So, what’s the point? 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/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Alex: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson
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    1 h et 22 min
  • Not Fintech Investment Advice: Rail, Anchor, Sencillo, and ClosingLock
    Feb 12 2025
    Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where instead of doling out investment advice (we’re not doing that), we spotlight interesting, new fintechs and share our perspectives. I’m Alex Johnson, creator of Fintech Takes, joined (as always) by my esteemed cohost Simon Taylor. First up: Rail, aka stablecoin APIs for B2B money movement across borders. Though not a new concept (hello, Bridge and BVNK), Rail has 12 partner banks across 12 countries. If you know anything about cross-border banking, you know that’s a big deal. With $11B in processed volume last year, Rail isn’t Stripe, but it’s not small potatoes either. So, can stablecoins finally knock out legacy systems in B2B payments? Next up is Anchor, an all-in-one platform for service-based small businesses that streamlines proposals, agreements, invoicing, and payments. Granted we’ve seen this model before, but Anchor integrates everything—plus, their $5 flat fee per transaction challenges subscription models as the pricing norm. Is this the future of financial automation? Over in the UK, Sencillo is helping parents unlock home equity to cover rising childcare and private school fees. With education costs now rivaling mortgage payments, fintech is stepping in where banks hesitate. But can this scale, especially as tax hikes loom? And what happens when borrowing against your house to afford tuition becomes the norm? Last and least (for this episode anyway!), ClosingLock tackles real estate wire fraud with a secure payments platform. Identity verification, document uploads, insured transactions—real estate needs this. But why hasn’t this level of security been the standard all along? And could this model expand to high-value sectors like luxury goods or auto sales? Plus, how do we change the center of gravity in lending, so pricing can be smarter, more personalized, and fairer to the consumer? 00:02:34 - Rail 00:13:57 - Anchor 00:31:20 - Sencillo 00:43:35 - ClosingLock 00:54:16 - Manifesting Fintech Ideas 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/ And for more exclusive insider content, don’t forget to check out my YouTube page. Follow Simon: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sytaylor/ Substack: https://sytaylor.substack.com Follow Alex: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/AlexH_Johnson Companies featured: https://rail.io/ https://www.sayanchor.com/ https://www.sencillo.finance/ https://www.closinglock.com/
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    1 h et 1 min

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