Wharton Fintech Podcast

In our latest podcast, Miguel Armaza (WG’21/G’21) is joined by Steve McLaughlin. He is the founder, CEO and managing partner of FT Partners. Steve started his investment banking career at Goldman Sachs covering financial technology companies in 1995. Seven years later, he left Goldman to launch FT Partners at the age of 32. He has been successfully running and growing the firm for almost 20 years and is one of the undisputable leaders in Fintech capital raising and M&A advising. McLaughlin has been recognized with multiple industry awards, including Investment Banker of the Year by The Information, and is consistently ranked as one of the most influential people in Fintech around the world. Steve holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a BSBA from Villanova University. FT Partners FT Partners is the only investment banking firm focused exclusively on providing strategic and financial advisory services to clients and CEOs in the dynamic global FinTech sector. The firm offers strategic advisory services in

In this podcast, Sam Werther (WG ’20) is joined by Alexander Lebow, co-founder of Say. Alex talks about how he and his co-founders came up with the idea for Say. As a lawyer specializing in M&A transactions, Alex had first hand experience working with incumbents in the shareholder communications industry. He and his co-founders realized how the incumbents were operating without any incentive to improve the process for stakeholders or shareholders. Alex talks about what differentiates Say, the partnerships they’ve built in fintech, challenges they’ve faced since founding the company, trends and regulations impacting Say’s business, and what’s coming next for the company. To learn more about the company visit saytechnologies.com. Say is a New York City-based technology company disrupting the $4B investor communications industry. Say serves millions of investors as a full-service proxy processing and shareholder communications provider in partnership with leading brokerages and investment platforms. Say is al

In our latest podcast, Shayaan Khanna (WG '20) is joined by Anoushka Vaswani, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Anoushka is an investor in growth-stage companies in the enterprise software and infrastructure ecosystems. Companies she covers (or has covered) include Earnin, PayRange, Side and Open Listings. Anoushka has worked across finance, consulting & investing, largely focused on the tech sector. She also has a global childhood, growing up in the UAE, Turkey, Belgium and the United States. During our interview, we learn some insights on how Anoushka got a role in VC and what she is most excited about in the FinTech space. We also discuss gender diversity and how best to foster an inclusive environment in typically male-dominated industries. Anoushka runs a monthly newsletter called Monthly M(AI)L (http://anoushkavaswani.com/newsletter) focused on enterprise applications of AI & ML, showing us how to scale enterprise startups. She also shared with us the inside scoop on some of the opportunities an

In our latest podcast, Shayaan Khanna (WG ’20) is joined by Husayn Kassai, CEO and Co-Founder of Onfido (onfido.com). Husayn talks about the inspiration behind founding Onfido: his own experience when his parents moved to the UK which made him realize how broken the process of identity verification was. He discusses how Onfido, through identity verification, is enabling financial services players across the world to provide access to formal finance to the unbanked. He also shares his thoughts on the latest trends in FinTech and advice for students considering entrepreneurship in colleges / schools. Onfido is a software company that helps businesses verify people's identities using a photo-based identity document, a selfie and AI algorithms. Founded in 2012 by Husayn and his two co-founders while studying at Oxford, Onfido is taking on today’s sophisticated fraud landscape. It counts Square, Revolut and Zipcar among its 1,500 clients. Today it has over 250 employees across the world, with offices in London, S

In our latest live interview from Money2020, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Adam Hughes, the President and COO of Amount. Amount is a leading-edge technology company dedicated to creating and enhancing the digital credit offerings of financial institutions. Built by lending industry veterans, Amount’s multi-purpose lending products help partners go digital with a suite of proven product modules for credit decisioning, fraud prevention, account verifications, servicing engines and CRM solutions. In this extensive interview, Adam shares: * How Amount grew out of Avant and the opportunity that Adam sees for the company today * Plans for Amount's growth, including a recently-announced POS lending solution * Adam's views on how partnerships will become key to success in consumer banking going forward * Adam's advice for entrepreneurs and those entering the FinTech space Prior to his role at Amount, Adam was President & COO for Avant, where he was the first employee hired.

In our latest podcast, Keane Ehsani (WG ’20) is joined by Jeffery Kendall, Executive Vice President of North America Sales and Distribution at Temenos (https://www.temenos.com/us/). In this extensive interview, Jeffery explains how Temenos Infinity helps banks and credit unions become digital through their foundational low code platform.  Jeffery also discusses how digital service has evolved to drive growth in deposits and how digital transformation and evolving consumer preferences are changing the way in which banks interact with their customers to provide a better user experience. Founded in 1993 and listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: TEMN), Temenos AG is the world’s leader in banking software, partnering with banks and other financial institutions to transform their businesses and stay ahead of a changing marketplace. Over 3,000 firms across the globe, including 41 of the top 50 banks, rely on Temenos to process the daily transactions of more than 500 million banking customers. Temenos Infinity (

In our latest interview from Money20/20, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Jay Dearborn, the President of WEX Corporate Payments. Jay joined WEX in 2016, bringing to the company more than 15 years of experience driving strategic growth, marketing, and operational performance improvement. As president of corporate payments, Jay is responsible for WEX’s commercial card and other payments solutions. In this extensive interview, Jay shares: 1. The opportunity that WEX sees in the multi-trillion-dollar B2B payments space 2. WEX's history as an innovator in B2B payments and how WEX is partnering with both FinTechs and incumbent financial institutions to simplify payments for businesses 3. How WEX has maintained a nimble, non-hierarchical culture despite seeing rapid growth 4. Advice that Jay has for those just entering the FinTech/payments space. Jay previously served as WEX’s VP of strategy. Prior to joining WEX in January 2016, Jay was a partner at McKinsey & Company and held a variety of roles at American E

In our latest podcast, Meghna Sreenivasan (WG ’20) is joined by Richie Serna, CEO and Co-Founder of Finix (https://finixpayments.com). Richie discusses the inspiration behind Finix: seeing the difficulties companies faced when creating payments infrastructure in-house, and the opportunity this presented. He also shares his thoughts on other innovative payments companies, the future of the industry, and lessons learned from his journey as an entrepreneur. Richie co-founded Finix with Sean Donovan in 2015 to redefine the economics of payments. Finix allows growing businesses to own and make money from their payments systems (vs. paying “rent” fees to third-party processors). Finix’s software allows companies to bring payments in-house, a process that previously took 2-3 years and cost millions of dollars. With Finix, they can do the same in as little as one month, and at a fraction of the cost. Finix is trusted by companies that process $50 million or more in payments like Lightspeed POS Inc. and Clubessential

In our latest podcast, Keane Ehsani (WG ’20) is joined by Robert Krugman, Chief Digital Officer at Broadridge (https://www.broadridge.com). In this extensive interview, Robert explains how Broadridge helps its customers enrich client and shareholder engagement. Robert also discusses how digital transformation, changing consumer preferences, and an evolving regulatory landscape are changing the way in which Broadridge’s clients communicate with their customers to provide a better user experience. Broadridge began as the brokerage services division of ADP in 1962. Since becoming independent in 2007, Broadridge has grown into a global Fintech company with over $4 billion in revenues and is recognized as an invaluable partner for the world’s leading companies and financial institutions. Broadridge helps drive business transformation for their clients with solutions for enriching client engagement, navigating risk, optimizing efficiency and generating revenue growth. Broadridge handles millions of trades a day i

In our latest podcast, live from Money20/20, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) speaks with Tim Chen, the CEO and co-founder of NerdWallet. NerdWallet is a leading personal finance content platform with over 100 million users that provides users clarity around all of life's financial decisions. In addition to leading NerdWallet, Tim sat on the most recent Consumer Advisory Board of the CFPB, and was appointed to the board of the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). In this extensive interview, Tim shares: • NerdWallet's founding story and how he's grown the company from an $800 investment into a $500 M company serving 100 M+ customers • The future vision for NerdWallet and how Tim is using machine learning to better understand and serve customer needs • Lessons learned from his experience as an entrepreneur, particularly on how he finds and evaluates talented executives • Advice for investors or young executives choosing FinTechs that will be successful in the long-run Prior to NerdWallet, Tim

In our latest podcast, Shompa Choudhury (WG ’20) is joined by Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder and CEO (formerly Chief Strategy Officer) at BankMobile (https://www.bankmobile.com/index). In this extensive interview, Luvleen explains how BankMobile is leading the way in mobile-first banking by making banking more accessible and affordable. Luvleen also lays out the landscape for digital banking in the U.S. and explains how BankMobile’s B2B2C white label model allows them to create high volume customer acquisition at a low cost through partnerships with large consumer aggregators. Established in 2015, BankMobile is a division of Customers Bank and among the largest and fastest-growing mobile-first banking platforms in the U.S., offering checking and savings accounts, personal loans and credit cards. BankMobile employs a “Bank-as-a-Service” (BaaS) model, which enables BankMobile to acquire customers at higher volumes and substantially lower expense than traditional banks. Its low-cost operating model enables it to pr

In our latest podcast, Ronak Mehta (WG ’20) is joined by Sergio Furio, Founder and CEO of Creditas (www.creditas.com.br). In this extensive interview, Sergio explains how Creditas improves the lives of Brazilians by providing access to affordable credit. Sergio also provides context on the Brazilian retail banking and lending industry, shares his vision for Creditas’ future, and reflects on key learnings from his journey as an entrepreneur. Creditas is the leading secured lending platform in Brazil. With 1,000 employees and $315 million USD in VC funding, Creditas is one of the top fintech companies in Latin America. Creditas’ backers include Softbank, Kaszek, Redpoint eVentures, Vostok Emerging Finance, QED Investors, the IFC, Quona Capital, Santander Innoventures, among others. Creditas reduces the high interest rates paid by the Brazilian population by using borrowers’ assets, such as home and automobile, as collateral for loans. Before founding Creditas in 2012, Sergio was an executive at The Boston Con

In our latest podcast, Keane Ehsani (WG ’20) is joined by Amias Gerety, Partner at QED Investors (https://qedinvestors.com). In this extensive interview, Amias describes QED’s investment philosophy and how they selectively provide capital and add value to emerging financial services companies. Amias also dives into his experiences at Treasury, the current US regulatory landscape for emerging FinTechs, and how QED’s portfolio companies are disrupting financial services. Amias joined QED as a Partner in 2017 focusing on supporting the portfolio and finding new investment opportunities with a focus on back office technologies and infrastructure companies. Amias brings a deep background in financial markets, compliance, and RegTech to the QED team.  Prior to joining QED, Amias served as the President’s nominee and as Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that role, he was the lead advisor to the Secretary on policies affecting financial institutions. 

In our latest podcast, Anna Li (WG’20) is joined by Dr. Jing Wang, the Assistant Professor of Interactive Media & Business at NYU Shanghai. As China has been in the forefront of financial innovation and received a lot of venture funding in the FinTech space, the Wharton FinTech Club invited Dr. Wang to discuss the FinTech landscape in China as well as the evolving regulatory environment in the region. Dr. Wang focuses on studying how information technologies reshape the financial domain in the global context. At NYU Shanghai, Professor Wang teaches the course "Understanding Financial Technologies" and mentors students in the Program on Creativity and Innovation. Prior to joining NYU, she taught at Tulane University in Louisiana. Her writings are published on peer-reviewed journals and business and financial news.   In this interview, Dr. Wang covers the following:  1. Overview of the rapid financial innovation that has taken place in China over the last couple of years and how the regulatory environment has

In our latest podcast, Meghna Sreenivasan (WG ’20) is joined by Sankaet Pathak, CEO of Synapse (https://synapsefi.com). In this extensive interview, Sankaet explains how Synapse offers developer-facing APIs for companies building innovative financial products and bank-facing APIs so banks can automate their back-end operations. Sankaet also does a deep dive in how customers interact with Synapse, the trend from enablement to high fidelity user experience in financial services, and his journey as an international entrepreneur. Synapse provides payment, deposit, lending and investment products as APIs to FinTech companies who build and launch their financial innovations on top of their banking infrastructure. Synapse enables everyone around the world to access best-in-class financial products, regardless of their net worth. Sankaet Pathak came to the US from India to study computer engineering at the University of Memphis.  His experience of not being able to open a bank account due to his immigrant status

In our latest podcast, Shompa Choudhury (WG ’20) is joined by Pranav Barthwal, Co-Founder of Save Abhi. In this extensive interview, Pranav discusses the evolution of payments in India and how Save Abhi has re-envisioned savings and wealth management for millennials in India. Save Abhi enables easy building of savings by rounding transactions to the nearest rupee and saving the change for investment. Previously, Pranav was in the payments space, heading a joint venture between ICICI Bank & First Data - a leading FinTech payments player providing POS terminals to over 400,000 merchants across India. Pranav studied engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and completed his MBA from INSEAD. Overall, Pranav has over 17 years of experience across payments, consumer goods and online learning organizations like First Data, Amex, and Reebok.

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Omer Ismail, the head of Goldman Sachs' US consumer business. In this role, Omer oversees the Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Clarity Money businesses as well as the Goldman Sachs/Apple credit card partnership. Omer was originally the consumer business' first employee, and under his leadership, Goldman Sachs' US business has grown to over 4 million customers, $5 B in loan balances, $50 B in deposits, and 1,300 employees.*   In this extensive interview, Omer dives into: • The story behind Goldman's decision to enter consumer banking and how it went about understanding consumer pain points to deliver a unique value proposition • How the consumer business operates as a distinct business within the broader Goldman umbrella, and how its focus on constant iteration of design and UX delivers a differentiated customer experience • Surprises and challenges that Goldman tackled as it scaled its consumer business • Thoughts on what's next for Goldman in the consume

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Andrew Endicott, the CFO, President, and Co-Founder of Petal. Petal is a new kind of credit card company on a mission to make credit honest, simple, and accessible. Petal is one of the fastest growing fintech companies in the United States and is pioneering the next generation of consumer lending through its proprietary cash flow underwriting strategy, which promises to serve tens of millions of creditworthy borrowers that are currently ignored by traditional underwriting approaches. In this extensive interview, Andrew shares the founding story of Petal and how it expands access to safe and affordable credit by using underwriting cash flows instead of just credit scores; how Andrew tested the concept before launching, the unique challenges that lending companies face in establishing product-market fit, and Andrew's advice for entrepreneurs; and Andrew's thoughts on the industry's broader evolution, among other topics. Prior to co-founding Petal, A

In our latest podcast, Keane Ehsani (WG ’20) is joined by David Lessing, Chief Revenue Officer at Addepar (https://addepar.com). In this extensive interview, David explains how Addepar empowers financial advisors and investors to navigate the increasingly complex world of investment management. David also discusses how the wealth management industry has evolved with the proliferation of breakaway advisors, the regulatory hurdles that financial advisors and wealth tech platforms face, and how Addepar’s data aggregation, financial operating system, and real-time analysis help investors monitor their portfolios. Addepar works with hundreds of family offices, wealth advisors, and private banks representing more than $1 trillion of assets on their platform. Addepar gives investors and advisors a clearer financial picture at every level of their portfolios. With real-time analysis and customizable reporting, financial advisors can visualize and communicate relevant information to their clients. David Lessing re

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Chris Britt, the Co-Founder and CEO of Chime. Chime is a challenger bank that was founded with the mission of helping its members achieve financial peace of mind. Since launching in 2013, it has become one of the fastest-growing challenger banks with over 4 M accounts and recently raised $200 M in funding at a $1.5 B valuation. In this extensive interview, Chris dives into: * His motivation for founding Chime and the distinct value prop it offers in the market today * How Chime's customer-centric approach is fueling its rapid growth with a revenue model that is aligned with the happiness of its members * What's next for Chime, including how Chris thinks about partnerships and his thinking on whether or not to pursue a bank charter * The future of the US retail banking market and how it will evolve to the benefit of consumers * Advice for entrepreneurs in the FinTech space Chris Britt is the co-founder & CEO of Chime. Before founding Chime, Chris w