Tearsheet Podcast: The Business Of Finance

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. As banks increasingly work with modern technology providers, ecosystems are forming around them and the businesses they serve. Norm DeLuca is the general manager of digital banking solutions at Bottomline Technologies. He knows something about ecosystems and something about banking — spending 20 years in the industry. Bottomline works with nearly 1000 banks around the world to connect them with businesses and innovative partners using digital technologies to help them move the ball forward. Norm DeLuca is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

I’m Zack Miller, editor in chief of Tearsheet. The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with fintech software provider Autobooks to create a four part podcast series on the evolution of business banking and how banks can better service SMBs through a changing mindset, partnerships and integrations. We’ve moved beyond the paradigm of banks versus fintechs. Banks are partnering with top technology companies in a way that plays to both parties’ strengths. But these partnerships are resource-heavy and hard: hard to get to contract, hard to integrate, and hard to slot into changing priorities. Q2 is a banking software firm in Austin, Texas. 400 banks and credit unions use its software to power digital banking. I spoke with Greg Varnell, vice president of product and development in the innovation Studio at Q2. Greg describes the Q2 Marketplace and how fintechs and banks are using it as a way to more closely and quickly partner.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. Embedded finance is a recurring theme in our coverage on Tearsheet on here, on the podcast. With APIs and banking as a service platforms, firms in all kinds of industries are getting into finance. That’s the story line here. TripActions is an innovate business travel & expense platform that continues to evolve to serve its customers. That meant launching its own travel agency. And it also meant launching Liquid (https://tripactions.com/uk/liquid), TripActions’ own payments solution that ties employee spending in to its software and includes corporate cards. Michael Sindicich is the general manager of TripActions Liquid and was one of the first employees in the company. Michael joins me on the podcast to discuss the firm’s growth trajectory and how that impacted why the firm launched a payment solution. We also discuss the uptake of TripActions Liquid and where the firm is headed in the future with its fintech aspirations. Michal

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. Even as more states legalize marijuana, banking cannabis customers is still a major undertaking. Regent Bank is a small bank with 5 branches in Oklahoma and Springfield, MO. As Regent sensed an opportunity to work with cannabis customers in its communities, it tapped Keri Cain to build out its program. Keri has a background in retail and moved to OK after a stint directing store operations at The Gap’s headquarters in San Francisco. She also has muscular dystrophy and has used cannabis to manage her pain in the past and will likely need to do so in the future. She’s passionate about working with cannabis because of the medical benefits it can provide. To launch and manage its cannabis program, Regent worked with Green Check, a firm that works with banks to service customers in the cannabis industry. Green Check founder and CEO Kevin Hart joins Regent’s Keri Cain with me on the podcast to talk about cannabis banking, how to start up a program, and what bank

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with fintech software providerAutobooks to create a four part podcast series on the evolution of business banking and how banks can better service SMBs through a changing mindset, partnerships and integrations. The old paradigm of banks versus fintechs is getting tired. The truth is, both sides of the industry have been partnering successfully for years and they’re finding new ways to partner. Finding ways to collaborate that bring the best each has to offer. That creates value to both parties beyond what each can do alone. nbkc is a 22 year old bank serving the Greater Kansas City region. The community bank has used partnerships with fintechs to go digital -- with mortgages and more recently, with consumer and business savings and checking accounts. Evan Ashcraft is vice president of product strategy at nbkc. He joins us on the podcast to discuss how banks can get more out of the partner selection process, avoid common pitfalls, and prepare for a

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Push payments are the reverse of how we think credit cards work. Instead of pulling customer funds to pay a merchant, push payments have merchants sending money out to the cardholder. Visa Direct is a major player in the space and the payment firm is now announcing Visa Direct Payouts, which allows Visa clients and partners to push payments to cards and accounts for cross border payments. With this new addition, Visa Direct now provides multi-rail access to 5 billion cards and accounts combined across more than 200 geographies, supporting 160 currencies. Bill Sheley, svp, global head, Visa Direct joins me on the podcast to discuss the launch of Visa Direct Payouts. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of sending money cross border and how Visa is positioning itself in this market. Bill gives us an update on Visa Direct and how the ecosystem has grown over the past year and where it’s headed in the future.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller. It’s been a while since we caught up with Deserve, the credit card as a service pureplay. Over the past year, the company has grown and last month, signed a partnership with modern issuer Marqeta. Kalpesh Kapadia joins me on the podcast to talk about where Deserve has come from and where' it's headed. We discuss how the tie up with Marqeta can unlock new use cases for credit cards that we wouldn't have thought possible in the past. Kalpesh also describes how his personal experience as a new student in the U.S. informed founding and launching his fintech firm. Kalpesh Kapadia is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Banking software firm Temenos continues to invest and commit to the US market. The firm recently hired Jaqueline White to lead the charge in the Americas . Jacqueline has a strong background in financial services, software and services and joins me on the podcast today to talk about her mandate in leading Temenos and the firm’s relationship with the US market. We also talk a lot about digital banks and SaaS models applied to financial institutions. Jacqueline discusses the impact deposit growth will have on profitability for the industry. Jacqueline White is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with fintech software provider Autobooks to create a four part podcast series on the evolution of business banking and how banks can better service SMBs through a changing mindset, partnerships and integrations. With APIs and embedded finance, it’s getting easier for software firms to integrate financial products into their offerings. So, software used by the construction industry, for example, can incorporate payments via a tie-up with a fintech company. Derik Sutton leads marketing insights at Autobooks, a small business product suite that integrates directly inside of a bank's existing digital banking channels. So think cash flow management, sending digital invoices, accepting online payments, accounting and financial reporting, all directly integrated inside of a bank's online and mobile banking channel. The firm works with community banks all the way up to top 10 banks like TD Bank.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. As a pioneer in personal financial management, Mint was a star. But after getting acquired by Intuit, Mint kind of dropped out of the public eye. Years passed and so many new PFM apps and challenger banks have entered the market. But Mint is back with a new ethos for addressing the challenge of helping consumers with their cash flow. Mint no longer stands alone as a consumer offering at Intuit which is deep into serving the small business. Intuit bought personal finance leader CreditKarma last year, giving Mint more of a home and strategy at the firm. Intuit’s head of consumer finance Varun Krishna joins me on the podcast to discuss where Mint has come from and where it’s taking its 25 million users in the future with a new product update and renewed push to help individuals manage their money. Intuit’s Varun Krishna is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

New entrants continue to launch into teen banking. Greenlight is an early entrant into the space, focusing on the financial interactions parents have with their kids. Greenlight has now extended its offering into investing. Greenlight Max is a fractional brokerage integrated into the app that allows kids, along with their parents, to make investments in stocks and ETFs. CEO Tim Sheehan joins me on the podcast to discuss the new product and the type of feedback Greenlight is getting from its 2 million users.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with fintech software provider Autobooks to create a four part podcast series on the evolution of business banking and how banks can better service SMBs through a changing mindset, partnerships and integrations. It’s really hard running a small business -- owners have to wear many hats. Frequently, they’re taking care of sales, operations, customer service and finance all at the same time. You know the expression around kids -- that it takes a village to raise them? Well for a small business, it takes an ecosystem to support them. And that ecosystem should involve their banks. That’s because the most important thing to an SMB is cashflow. If cash is king, cashflow is the oxygen SMBs breathe. Without it, they struggle to survive. Banks play a key role here. Autobooks' Steve Robert explains how banks can step in to fill the void to help their small business customers.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. The best marketing and advertisements stay with you. They speak to the zeitgeist in the world at a specific time with the right words, the right imagery, the right message. Creative agency StrawberryFrog has worked with Truist, the combined BB&T and SunTrust bank, on its rebranding. When Covid hit early in 2020, the team pivoted, launching a series of campaigns that spoke of hope and combined destiny, that together, we’ll make it through. StrawberryFrog’s CEO and founder Scott Goodson and head of strategy, Chip Walker join us on the podcast to take us behind the scenes of the Live United campaign, that combines Truist, the United Way, and youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman, who delivers an inspirational message at a time it was needed most. StrawberryFrog won Tearsheet’s Agency of the Year Award for 2021. Here’s my discussion with Scott and Chip.

Welcome to Tearsheet’s Outlier Briefing. This subscriber-only content is exclusive for our Outlier members. We go deeper with subject matter experts, to take actionable steps that can impact your business and practice. With all the new entrants to banking and financial services, there’s a sea of sameness around certain parts of the industry. Branding can take a product surrounded by competition and really make it memorable. But to do that, everyone needs to be on the same page. Marketing, PR, product, sales — there’s a consistency great brands have that underlies everything they do. Today’s guest is MJ Mueller, CMO of Frontify. The Swiss software company provides a brand management platform, working with large financial brands all over the world to build powerful brand experiences. MJ discusses how top financial brands — whether they’re incumbents or digital-only — make remarkable impressions and why collaboration and consistency are so important. We talk about the challenges the pandemic has posed for top

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. A few years back, there was a race to embed payments into the browser. It makes sense, too. Most people who access the web through their computers use a browser to shop and bank. While the noise has died down, the Opera browser has continued to work on integrating financial services. Opera has 380 million users globally, with 50 million active European users. The firm is launching an app that gives its users cashback on purchases made through partner websites via the Opera browser. Users can also use the new app to open a current account and get a virtual debit card to shop online and off. The firm plans to offer savings, credit and investment opportunities in the future. Joining us on the podcast today is Krystian Kolondra, EVP Browsers & EEA Fintech at Opera.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller, Tearsheet’s editor in chief. A lot is going on the issuing side. New players are entering, competition is crossing borders, and existing players are expanding into new products. Marqeta is making perhaps the biggest expansion of its platform since it’s launched. I’m joined by Chief Product Officer Kevin Doerr to talk about the firm’s new credit card issuing platform. We talk about what that means for the firm, its customers, and its competition. Doerr joined the firm last year and it’s been a wild one — he shares his experiences that show a company in growth mode coping with the changes of organic expansion, as well as challenges of dealing with the pandemic. Kevin Doerr is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

In 2015, Bank of Georgia launched a mobile bank. Ever since, it’s been ramping up its digital transformation program. By all accounts, the bank is on to something -- it’s converting customers over to digital channels. Two years ago, Bank of Georgia began its journey toward agile development. It created crossfunctional teams to develop banking products and to design the digital channels The following was produced by Tearsheet Studio. We worked with fintech software provider Strands to create a visual and audio case study about Bank of Georgia's digital transformation.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. Simon Black, PPRO’s CEO, is my guest today on the show. The company is off a big fundraising which comes after a 2020, where the local payment company doubled its Q4 transaction volumes year over year. PPRO has also grown its team 60% in the past 12 months, as it expands globally. Simon talks about what why payment companies are so focused on local payments and how his firm differentiates itself in an increasingly competitive market. Simon Black is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet editor in chief, Zack Miller. This past year acted as an external shock to financial customers and employees of FIs. As branches shut and employees turned to working from home, workflows were disrupted and redesigned. Enter ServiceNow — it’s a software company that serves digital workflows for enterprises. My guest on today’s podcast is Lauren Robbins, general manager of the firm’s financial services business. Her firm has hundreds of FIs as clients and she joins me to talk about how institutions’ expectations have changed during the pandemic. Lauren describes how financial institutions are working to ensure higher levels of customer service in this newly distributed form of work. Lauren Robbins is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

The world of personal financial management is undergoing a change. Stand alone applications are incorporating more banking functionality, getting into money movement and not just advice to have a bigger impact. Banks and financial institutions are being more thoughtful about launching their own tools to help their customers. That’s where Sensibill comes in. It works with firms like JPMorgan Chase to much smaller institutions to help their customers make sense of their finances. Using SKU-level data, Sensibill is also helping the institutions themselves understand their customers better. The firm just launched the Sensibill Platform. Sensibill CEO and co-founder Corey Gross is my guest today on the podcast.