Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Don Muir, CEO and founder of Arc. This episode was a special one. It was the last one of a very busy year and I wanted to kind of take stock of what had happened and how it had affected the fintech ecosystem.Arc works closely with startups and fintechs and has had a great insight into what's going on in the landscape. Since the March banking crisis, the company has been growing at breakneck speed, rolling out products in response to the evolving conditions. We spoke about the last year what it has meant for fintech, and Don's outlook for the year ahead.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I joined Dani Fava, Group President of Product Innovation at Envestnet, for my coffee break to talk about the promise of generative AI for financial advisory.With AI being one of the topics of the year for finance, I wanted to ask her how she sees the technology impacting financial advisors and the customers they serve. Particularly, I wanted to get her thoughts on the mistakes and hallucinations Gen AI users come up against and how the space will develop while facing potential regulatory shifts.

Hi Guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break, I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I shared my coffee break with Nico Simko, CEO and founder of Clair, an earned wage access and banking app. Now, I’ve covered earned wage access before, but Clair is a different player within the space. The company approaches earned wage access like a loan, also offering employees other banking services. I asked him about this approach and why he went through the long, arduous process to be able to do this. I also asked him his opinion on regulations rolling out in the space and where he expects it to develop going forward.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Alana Levine and Nikki Senyard from Fintel Connect to talk about affiliate marketing and the role of the influencer in building big name financial brands. We spoke about what it takes to scale customer acquisition and how technology feeds into the process as more consumers turn to social media to support their service choices and engagement and financial products.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I shared my coffee break with Ed Mallon, Chief Investment Officer at Pagaya.This year has been difficult for lenders and the consumers they serve. Rates are at record highs, and ratings agencies are applying added pressure. Meanwhile, the heightened cost of living has increased the need for consumer credit, particularly among the financially fragile, who are the first to be disregarded by lenders as they tighten their approval rates. Pagaya has positioned itself to work within this environment, providing banks with an ability to accept more loan applications using alternative data. I spoke to Ed about our approach and possible strategies for lenders during this difficult time.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Andrew Jamison, co-founder and CEO of Extend. SMBs have continued to be underserved by the banking ecosystem, and have been hit with even more challenges as the year has rolled out. I spoke to Andrew about why the sector is still an area ripe with opportunity and how partnering with banks rather than competing with them has allowed Extend to maximise that impact. He also had some really insightful ideas about where the space is headed in the future, and shared his plans of where extend will be growing next in their quest to solve problems for SMBs.

This year DeFi seems to be going through a bit of a dip. Amid regulatory concerns of the crypto industry and the broken trust following the failure of large Cefi players last year, it looks like development has slowed. However, large financial institutions and fintechs are still engaging in the blockchain space, which had me wondering what is going on with crypto and DeFi? Is it over, or just begun? I brought Matt Homer of the Department of XYZ back on the show to talk about it. Matt has traveled a lot this year to different conferences around the world, engaging in the global sentiment. We discussed the shift within crypto adoption and the position of “decentralized” networks.

This week, I sat down with Andrew Davies, global head of regulatory affairs at ComplyAdvantage. Fraud levels continue to affect the financial industry with statistics showing the estimated money laundering as a percentage of global GDP remaining the same for years. However, Andrew said now is a better time than any for that to changeComply advantage recently released a new tool tackling KYB, which could make a huge difference in how businesses handle risk of fraud. Andrew told me about the solution, and the impact it can make on the wider economy.

This week I spoke to Chirag Shah, CEO and founder of Nucleus Commercial Finance. Nucleus has been in the fintech space for some time, providing financing solutions for Small and medium businesses with a tech-focused vision. I caught up with him to get his views on the prospect of a super app for SMBs and how embedded finance, and particularly innovation in embedded finance, will make the super app dream just that bit closer to reality.

This week, I spoke to Laura Merling, Chief transformation and operations officer at Arvest Bank. Community banks have faced a difficult environment, and there have been concerns in the media about whether there still is a place for them in the banking ecosystem. We spoke about the idea of the community bank and how they can approach the digital age, still keeping their engagement with the communities they

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host Isabelle Castro. This week I sat down with Josip Rupena, CEO and founder of Milo, to talk primarily about providing mortgages and other financing for foreign nationals. Foreign nationals looking to invest in US properties often met with roadblocks to get approved. US banks are often difficult to work with from a foreign country, and international clients can face fluctuations in whether they will be served.Josip saw the issue mirrored in applicants with crypto while bringing him to launch a crypto-backed mortgage last year. However, with continuing challenges in the lending sector, Milo has since been brought back to focus on their original target, foreign nationals. I spoke to Josip about Milo's approach and where the company was going next to serve them.

Hi Guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I sat down with Daniel Ballen, Co-Head and Partner at Portage Capital Solutions, to talk about the startup funding environment.Startups have been facing a frigid climate for funding, exacerbated by March's banking crisis and ongoing rate hikes. Demand is high, but supply is low, and VCs have had to adjust their strategies. I spoke to Daniel about his outlook for fintech funding and how Portage has adapted its approach.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I sat down with Yaacov Martin, CEO and co-founder of Jifiti, an embedded lending platform offering embedded BNPL.Conditions for lending have become increasingly challenging as 2023 has rolled out. An uncertain economy and rate hikes have made lenders uneasy. BNPL, a sector facing increased scrutiny and regulation, has been caught in the middle. I spoke to Yaacov about the macroeconomic effect on lending and how Jifiti’s partnerships with banks have affected its impact on the company and the customers they serve.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I sat down with Tim Astanov, SVP of product commercialization and partnerships at Tabapay to talk about the company's support of digital tipping platforms. This was a relatively new area for me. So, we delved into the importance tipping has on the economy, looking at how tipping platforms can change the lives of millions of employees. We also spoke about how Tabapay's solution can support these platforms, navigating the difficult regulatory implications and bringing transparency to the system.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I'm your host Isabelle Castro. This week I sat down with Joe Robinson, co-founder and CEO of Hummingbird, to talk about generative AI and chat GPT and fighting financial crime. Hummingbird is on a mission to fight financial crime using better communications and technology. AI is a huge component. We spoke about how the advancements in AI were shaping the way companies can detect fraud, but also how the technology was being used by the criminals themselves requiring out-of-the-box thinking to stop their attempts.

This week I sat down with Jonas Gross, Chairman of the Digital Euro Association.CBDCs are a touchy subject, sparking many opinions and concerns. The European commision is making significant headway with the exploration of a digital euro, recently publishing a proposal for regulation. The big descision on whether they will take investigation further will be decided in OctoberI spoke to Jonas about the recent developments, what he thought of them and some of the ongoing concerns around CBDCs

This week I sat down with Ralf Kubli from the Caspar association to talk about real world asset tokenisation. Real world asset tokenisation, Seen as a tool to improve efficiency and accessibility to financial instruments, is set to be a trillion dollar market. Despite the ‘crypto winter’, multiple instances of alleged fraud, and the US’ regulatory stonewalling of crypto companies, businesses continue to invest in the infrastructure. But Ralf feels we could be headed for disaster due to the way assets are tokenised. for him, “The real prize is in the tokenization of financial obligations of cash flows over time. Confused?  I know I was, which i why I had to get him on the show.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break, I'm your host Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Stacy Greiner, Director of Product Management at DailyPay.DailyPay is a forerunner in the US and wage access space. Working with employers all over the country, they empower them to offer their employees access to wages they have already earned on demand, moving away from the traditional first and 15th-of-the-month salary. While DailyPay is transparent and offers employees different options for access, some of which are free. That is not the case across the industry. The fairly nascent space has been the subject of criticism about dubious fee structures, at times offering little benefit over expensive loan options. Regulators have only just started tackling the space, with vulnerable employees at times being caught in the crossfire. I spoke to Stacy about DailyPay's approach and the potential of earned wage access should predatory actors be eradicated.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break, I'm your host Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Eric Satz, CEO and founder of Alto. Alto is an investment FinTech focused primarily on individual retirement accounts, so IRAs. The platform offers investors the opportunity to invest retirement money in alternative assets, moving away from traditional strategies. Eric and I spoke about why the traditional 60:40 approach is no longer the best way, what alternative assets bring to the mix, and why crypto, despite being volatile, is a suitable asset to add to an IRA portfolio.

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break, I'm your host Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Jonathan Dixon, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Eventus. This year, it has been difficult to ignore the mounting pressure on regulators regarding crypto. Whether it's been stonewalled or embraced the sector has been crying out for clear guidelines. Earlier this year, Europe made history by passing the MICA law, one of the first comprehensive regulatory frameworks addressing digital assets. While it's only a first step, it's a major step for the industry. Eventus focuses on trade surveillance on a global scale, an important part of regulatory compliance. So I sat down with Jonathan to talk about the implications MICA might have. We spoke about the European rules, the effect on businesses in Europe and how businesses can remain.