Curious about how to build a fintech business that champions financial inclusivity? Join us for a captivating conversation with Pat Napoli from Appressa, where we explore his remarkable journey from New Jersey to making waves in the payments industry. Pat shares how Appressa supports consumers who’ve been declined by prime banks, helping them secure credit cards through near prime and subprime banks. Discover how Appressa's innovative technology, paired with their strategic partnership with Prove, works to rehabilitate credit scores for millions of Americans, making a significant impact on the issue of credit card declines.

Get inspired by Pat’s deep commitment to community service and his passion for inner-city education, exemplified by his involvement with St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, NJ. Together with his partner, Chris Mettler, Pat draws on experiences from MBNA and other renowned financial institutions to create a tech-driven solution for those with non-prime credit scores. As we wrap up, Pat offers invaluable advice for aspiring fintech professionals, underscoring the growing importance of data science in the rapidly evolving payments landscape. Don’t miss this insightful episode, packed with trends, strategies, and personal stories.

Curious about how loyalty points might soon replace cash and credit at your favorite stores? Join us as we sit down with Jonathan Silver, CEO of Engage People, and Len Covello, CTO of the same company, to unravel the groundbreaking "Pay With Points" technology. Discover how this innovative system transforms loyalty program points into a versatile payment method, making checkout smoother for members and more profitable for retailers. Jonathan and Len shed light on the significant advantages this offers to loyalty programs, members, and merchants alike, and discuss the compelling business case behind this game-changing payment option. They also share revealing insights from a recent consumer survey, showcasing the high demand for loyalty currency amidst the economic downturn and why points are seen as more stable compared to buy now, pay later plans and cryptocurrencies.

But we're not stopping there. We also explore the future horizons of loyalty points in various retail landscapes—from gas stations to grocery stores and small businesses. Jonathan and Len reveal how major brands are successfully rolling out pay-with-points systems and the vision of loyalty points becoming an integral part of everyday transactions. Tune in for a thought-provoking discussion on the fascinating future of loyalty points in payments!

Carly Brush's career trajectory is nothing short of inspirational, a true testament to the power of resilience, innovation, and mentorship. In this enlightening podcast episode, Carly Brush, SVP of Human Capital Management at DailyPay, delves deep into her fascinating journey from an aspiring fashion designer to a key leader in the fintech industry. Her story is one of navigating through professional hurdles, leveraging mentorship, and constantly stepping out of her comfort zone to achieve growth.

Carly's story isn't just about success—it's about the growth that comes from challenges and the invaluable role of mentorship. She provides candid insights into overcoming professional hurdles, including a pivotal project failure at DoorDash, and underscores the importance of stepping out of comfort zones. Carly also offers practical advice for young women eyeing a career in fintech, emphasizing collaboration, continuous learning, and the satisfaction of working with dedicated colleagues. Tune in to gain inspiration and actionable wisdom from Carly Brush as she discusses her remarkable career and contributions to the fintech landscape.

In this episode I had the opportunity to sit down with payments industry legend: O.B. Rawls. O.B. shared his fascinating journey from growing up on a farm in North Carolina to holding leading roles at big corporations such as Bank of America, Hypercom, and FiServ. Today, O.B is a partner at Wellesley Hill Financial, a boutique investment bank serving the $30-80 million deal size segment.

We discuss the verticalization of the industry and the value of offering services outside of just payments. According to O.B. the future of the payments and fintech industries is undoubtedly exciting and it requires constant learning, adaptation, and a focus on delivering value to succeed.

OB emphasizes the importance of being kind, helpful, and a good person – qualities that have guided him throughout his career. His perspective on the industry was enriched by his experiences, making his advice particularly invaluable for those starting out in the payments industry.

And finally, we talked about O.B.'s hobbies, which include gardening, wine, and a bourbon collection. I couldn’t think of a better guest to have on this milestone episode and am grateful to continue to learn from O.B. and call him a friend. 

Have you ever wondered how the future of underwriting and onboarding looks in the payments industry? Prepare to be enlightened as we sit down with Darryl Cumming, the Director of Product Management for Agreement Express (an NMI company). Our conversation unfolds the significance of automated underwriting and the value of Agreement Express, touching upon its functionality, typical customers and the exciting prospects for the product.

During our discussion, we delve into Scan X, a revolutionary product that enriches the onboarding process. We learn how this tool automates merchant decisions, customizes risk recommendations and provides vital risk model performance analytics. Whether you're a greenhorn or a seasoned underwriter, the detailed reporting and performance analytics of Scan X are a treasure trove of guidance and efficiency.

We then discuss compliance and fraud protection - an issue every payments business must contend with. Uncover the potential costs your business may face without adequate protective measures. As we spotlight partner tools like KYC Site Scan and IRIS CRM (an NMI company), you'll see how Scan X helps businesses save and bridges the gap between sales and risk management. To finish our conversation, we explore Monitor X, a post-merchant approval solution that safeguards merchants in your portfolio. 

Tune in for valuable insights into the world of underwriting and onboarding.

Ever wondered how a small idea could turn into a revolution? Get ready to be inspired by Ruben Galindo, CEO of Airtm. This is not just another success story – it's a tale of passion for justice and financial decentralization, from the heart of Mexico City to the tech-hub of San Francisco. Ruben shares an intriguing insight into the birth of Airtm, its transition to blockchain technology, and the audacious goal to become the Web3 PayPal of the future. 

Embrace the concept of an 'open money mentality'. Listen as Ruben narrates the impact of this groundbreaking approach on the cross-border payment industry and the significance of trust and brand building in fostering prosperity with large-scale enterprises. You will learn how Airtm is leading the way for digital entrepreneurs in the global south to access their earnings effortlessly. So, get set, because this episode is sure to broaden your horizons on the world of payments and digital entrepreneurship.

The world of merchant services management is evolving at an impressive pace, thanks to innovations like IRIS CRM. In this episode of our podcast, we were joined by Jaron Ruckman, Product Manager for IRIS CRM, for an insightful conversation about how this revolutionary product is reshaping the industry.

IRIS, a product owned by NMI, is a comprehensive merchant services management solution that integrates with top processors and cultivates close-knit client relationships. For ISOs, banks, and ISVs, IRIS offers the benefit of enhanced visibility and accountability. It also provides an infinite data retention policy, which is a crucial feature for maintaining a complete and accessible record of all customer interactions and transactions.

We also decipher the complexities of residual reporting and demonstrate the tools you need to streamline split calculations. For businesses that are not utilizing a comprehensive tool like IRIS, the process of managing merchant services can be tedious and error prone. The use of disparate systems and manual processes can result in inefficiencies and inaccuracies. IRIS solves these issues by offering a single, integrated solution that manages the entire life cycle of merchant services.

In summary, IRIS a game-changing tool in the realm of merchant services management. Its comprehensive features and functionalities, coupled with its ability to integrate with top processors, make it a must-have tool for any business in the industry. Tune into our podcast for a more detailed exploration of IRIS and its myriad of benefits.

Prepare to meet David Lambert, the charismatic CEO of Paycross. Exuding a passion for payments, he's at the helm of this groundbreaking payment orchestration technology platform. We delve into his journey to the top; a journey fueled by personal and professional ambitions. Discover the unique features of Paycross as Lambert unravels the intricacies of payment orchestration and how it's revolutionizing card processing and cross-border transactions.

In the second half, get ready for an unexpected twist as we discuss Lambert's love for Japanese whiskey. Lambert's approach to payments is as nuanced and comprehensive as his taste in whiskey. Listen as he shares Paycross's strategy to serve underserved niche markets and their commitment to becoming indispensable to merchants by offering multifaceted payment solutions. The competitive payments industry is a game of agility and innovation. Tune in to learn from an industry expert about the future of payments and how to stay ahead of the curve.

In this episode we take a deep dive into the world of high-value, complex B2B payments with our guest, Andrew Hawkins, CEO UK & Europe for ShieldPay. He's here to show us how ShieldPay is revolutionizing the payments industry with solutions aimed at reducing manual processes and risk. Hear about his exciting journey, from dabbling in technology in his early years to becoming the CEO of a leading fintech company. As you listen, you'll learn about the innovative services they offer, including enabling mergers and acquisitions and capital markets, and how they aim to continue growing and progressing.

But that's not all! We also venture into the thrilling future of payments and financial services. Imagine a world where payments are less visible and seamlessly integrated into our daily lives - from a simple Apple tap to pay to EV car charging. We explore the impending decentralization and disaggregation of financial services, and the potential of technologies enabling tokenization, digital identity, and smart contracts. Get your gears grinding as we discuss the implications of the PSD3 regulations in Europe and the evolving role of data in the next generation of financial services. This episode is a goldmine for anyone interested in understanding and staying ahead in the ever-evolving world of payments and fintech.

My next guest for our Women Leaders in Payments series has both an entrepreneur and facilitator spirit, being born into a family of self-starters and go-getters that depended on their entrepreneurial ventures for their foundation. KeyBank Senior Leader, Commercial Payments Carol Wang started her career in marketing but her intrigue with payments quickly changed her trajectory.

One of Carol’s roles at KeyBank is to lead the Solutions Engineering Team – a dedicated department that provides end-to-end technical payment services. Why did Carol choose KeyBank? In a nutshell, she perceived the capacity to build her career the way she wanted to within the infrastructure of a large organization.

As for her guiding principles, there’s one tried and true principle that has been with her throughout her entire career, and one that has adapted as her career has matured. Regarding the tried and true one, Carol emphasizes the importance of looking at who you’re going to work with and for versus just focusing on the job itself. And the other? Having an opportunity that will allow you to make a scalable difference.  

We also discuss her most eye-opening career moments – including a corporate case study she participated in that had some pretty interesting results regarding the typical male and female response. Don’t miss it!

My guest this week has his roots in India but has lived in just about every country you can possibly imagine, including Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, Australia and even Egypt. He’s an avid reader, trivia enthusiast, and spends his spare time evangelizing the gospel of cloud native code. Pismo CEO NA, EMEA & APAC Vishal Dalal is this week’s leader in payments.

For those of you who may not know, Pismo is a cloud-native platform. Vishal explains it like this: when anyone gets in touch with a bank via a card swipe, ATM, our Internet portal, there is a giant piece of software that does a plethora of work on the backend to check balances, process payment messages to other banks and verify accounting. Pismo makes that software and ensures that it works seamlessly, effectively, and nonstop without any interruptions – anywhere.

As for their competitive advantage, Vishal touts their ability to offer a multitude of products versus many of their competitors that play in only one space. They also target both the green and brown field market sectors (with most competitors targeting only green) and they operate solely in the public cloud. Another way to look at them? Think the Autobahn for financial infrastructure!

Tune in to hear Vishal talk about his journey to the role of CEO, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years including the limitless possibilities of AI. We also talk about the innumerable opportunities that come from cloud native code, enabling anyone with a bright idea and a credit card to do amazing things.

My third guest in our Women Leaders in Payments series is a true example of what it takes to be a female leader in our industry. She started at Burger King, as a ham and cheese guru, working her way up to cashier – and all to pay for her ESL classes at university in Boston (including Harvard). And now? CEO and Head of Financial Institutions LATAM at Standard Chartered Bank! Germana Cruz has learned how to always be ready for the unexpected. In fact, she embraces it! 

Learn what attracted her to the financial industry and what kept her with the same bank for the majority of her career. Hint: Work-life balance. It’s absolutely fascinating to hear her talk about the importance of performing her role as a mother, as it relates to her corporate success. 

As for guiding principles, she has three: invest in your education is first and foremost, followed by managing expectations and identifying your values in a manner that prevents you from crossing your own lines.

Tune in to hear Germana talk about her journey as a female leader in this industry, including the necessity for choosing your battles, the importance of listening, and the feedback that completely changed her understanding of her projected career path.

My guest on this episode is nothing short of interesting. Not only does she have a very successful finance company, she also has a blog and a gaming group that caters specifically to poker players! In fact, poker is a personal passion of hers that (she feels) has helped her become a better founder due to the many metaphors the game offers for life and business. Bluejay Finance Co-founder and CEO Sherry Jiang is this week’s leader in payments.

For those of you who may not know, Bluejay Finance is a Blockchain technology company that strives to make it easier for private investors to tap into private market investments typically less accessible in the professional world. Sherry likens it to a crypto-based Angel List, only for private market investments outside venture capital.

The two main players in their ecosystem include individual investors and borrowers (or asset originators). As for as their competitive advantage, BlueJay focuses on private credit as the asset class and offers the potential for granular investments that have the capacity to target the under $50 million investment sector (which is currently underserved) with a more passive income strategy.

Tune in this week to hear Sherry talk about her journey to CEO, including the lessons she has learned when it comes to product versus people, testing, learning, and iterating – and the truth about the non-linear journey. We also talk about where she sees the industry going in the next 2 to 10 years as it relates to mobile payments, cryptocurrency and Blockchain.

Our latest episode of Leaders in Payments focused on women leaders in our industry, takes you through Tiffany Johnson's inspiring path, characterized by resilience, empathy, and a relentless drive for innovation. Tiffany uncovers her role at NMI, comparing it to an "air traffic controller," where she orchestrates everything from market insights to technical solutions.

We dive deep into Tiffany's core leadership principles, emphasizing the critical importance of empathy and relationship-building. Hear about her unconventional career path, likened to a rock wall, and how it prepared her to tackle challenges with a "yes" mentality and curiosity. Learn about the supportive women's professional network at her company, and get practical advice for young women aiming to break into the payments industry. From maintaining confidentiality to fostering professional growth, Tiffany's insights are invaluable for anyone looking to navigate and thrive in the ever-evolving payments landscape.

In conclusion, Tiffany’s leadership principles, emphasis on mentorship, and commitment to building a supportive professional network provide valuable insights for anyone looking to thrive in the payments industry. Whether you're a young professional or an experienced leader, Tiffany's experiences and advice offer inspiration and practical guidance for navigating and succeeding in the ever-evolving world of payments.

Here to help me kick off the second episode of our Women Leaders in Payments series is Chase Payment Solutions Canada President Marilu Gaudio. Marilu grew up with first generation Italian immigrants, in a traditional Italian household focused on family and food. In fact, she credits her father for her amazing work ethic that has gotten her so far in her career. So, how did she wind up going into payments when one of her original career paths had her slated as a teacher? You’ll have to tune in to find out!

As I’m sure most of you know, Chase Payment Solutions is a full acquirer, offering payment services and solutions for both small and large enterprise clients. Marilu’s department works closely with the Canadian payment network, corporate and franchise organizations, as well as financial institutions, associations, and technology partners to both integrate and optimize the payments ecosystem.

When it comes to her guiding principles, she cites integrity, honesty, and resiliency as her top three. We also talk about the importance of treating others the way you, yourself, would like to be treated and the need for active listening in management roles. She also strives to always show up as a student, not an expert, in both life and business.

Tune in to hear Marilu talk about her journey to President, including why she grades the current state of our industry on a C+ to B- scale when it comes to female leadership and where we can do better. We also discuss some of her most eye-opening career moments that taught her the value that comes from not attempting to be the expert on absolutely everything.

Here to help me close out our six-part series on embedded finance is Inktavo CEO James Armijo. After a brief stint in finance, James was quick to ascertain the truth that spending 16 hours a day working a spreadsheet would not lead to a tremendous amount of career satisfaction for him personally. So, he made the jump from finance to SaaS companies and payments and never looked back! As for what keeps him up at night these days, it has a little to do with payroll and a lot to do with the future of the embedded finance ecosystem. 

For those of you who may not know, Inktavo is a SaaS platform that supports apparel decorators (or screen printers) in their mission to provide decorative apparel to their local community. Their software is unique in that they provide an all-in-one platform for their customers to thrive and flourish, including customizable designs, web checkout, order tracking and (of course) embedded finance options.

In talking with James about the embedded finance journey, it’s interesting to hear his take on the steppingstones and stumbling blocks present in such a prolific ecosystem. For Inktavo’s customer base specifically, lending is one of the most significant value adds they can provide in a much more streamlined fashion due to the data they have access to. 

Tune in this week to hear James discuss all things embedded finance, including the three-phase embedded roadmap and the benefit that comes from focusing on customer pain points versus just monetization when it comes to your embedded strategy. We also talk about where he sees the embedded ecosystem in the next 2-5 years as it relates to payroll and AP/AR initiatives.

My guest on episode 238 has a passion for football, tennis, F1 and (of course) payments! Only, not in that order. A self-proclaimed payments geek, Paramount Commerce COO Dave Roe is a product guy at heart with a self-driven mission to make the complex look simple – especially when it comes to payments!

For those of you who may not know, Paramount Commerce is the leading bank-account-based payment solutions provider. The company itself just celebrated 20 years in business and has roughly 150 satisfied employees. They specialize in the online gaming and sports betting sector, as well as international e-commerce, and their two biggest offerings revolve around Interac-based payments products and instant bank transfer via the EFT rails.

As for their competitive advantage that has enabled them to process more than $1 billion in payments, Dave circles back to their mission: to simplify payments for all sides of the transaction. We talk in detail about how the payment experience can make or break your conversion rate, as well as your customer relationship. Dave focuses heavily on their best-in-class payments experience and their strategic partnership strategy, as well as their genuine intention to make good friends with each and every customer. 

Tune in to hear Dave talk about his journey to COO and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years, including the numerous changes expected in bank-to-bank payments, the advancement in open banking, and the expectation of real-time rails. 

My guests this week earned her very first dollar selling avocados with her neighborhood friend, took her first job as a retail warehouse employee and was actually one of the original baristas before Starbucks made it such a mainstream profession. So how did she wind up in payments? You’ll have to tune in to find out! Spoiler alert: it was a tough choice between deodorant and financial technology.

Clover Network CMO Andrea Gellert is here to help me kick off our annual Women Leaders in Payments month!

For those of you who may not know, Clover is the leading cloud-based POS solution for small and medium sized businesses in the U.S. They offer a front office solution for payment acceptance, as well as a technology platform for business management. As for their competitive advantage, Andrea touts not only their capacity to offer enterprise-grade solutions for small businesses but also their genuine emphasis on the human connection – creating a business model that focuses much more on the relationship than the transaction.

We spend some time talking about her most eye-opening moments throughout the span of her career, including how to facilitate and sustain the startup pace-of-change, high-energy environment regardless of the company size, as well as how your efforts tend to get diffused when you explore absolutely every business opportunity for your brand.

Tune in to hear Andrea talk about her journey to CMO, including the guiding principles that have helped her navigate her career and why it’s always so important to start any journey with the end in mind. We also discuss the most powerful lesson she learned from a round of constructive criticism that continues to influence her management style even to this day. 

Here to kick off the next episode in our embedded finance series is Maast Chief Revenue Officer Ernie Moran. Ernie has been in the industry for more than 25 years and is currently an integral part of the team that is defining embedded finance at his company. What’s his recipe for success? According to Ernie, a disciplined focus on delivering real value to the market always wins out. And there are few things that offer more value in our industry than embedded finance.

For those of you who may not know, Maast helps software providers like ERP and vertical SaaS become a one stop shop for their customers by offering as suite of integrated services in their software platform. Their goal is to simplify money management for businesses while enabling software providers to unlock the hidden revenue offered through the embedded ecosystem in a manner that truly optimizes the customer experience.

Ernie himself defines embedded finance as “everything to do with the flow of money” and gives a comprehensive overview of the three-step process required for the most efficient embedded model for any business. Also on tap for our discussion is the necessity of having the right products, at the right time, and in a manner that is easy to consume. We also talk about the ISO community and their role in the future of embedded finance. 

Tune in to hear Ernie talk about the embedded ecosystem including the embedded finance trend as it relates to the overall industry, the necessity for innovation to stay real-time and relevant, and the projected demise of organizations focused on selling traditional payment services. Ernie wraps up with some great concepts both software companies and ISOs should consider when exploring embedded finance.  

My guest this week has a genuine passion for people and was focused on financial services before the term ‘digital transformation’ even existed. EngageSmart President of Enterprise Solutions Kevin O’Brien is a true leader in payments.

For those of you who may not know, EngageSmart is a SaaS platform focused on simplifying the customer and client experience. Their main verticals include health and wellness, utilities, insurance, customer finance and tax, while their goal is to create a more streamlined experience for their clients that look to engage their customers largely through payments. 

SimplePractice is a proprietary solution that caters to the behavioral health space with a virtual software solution capable of managing scheduling, payments and all the tasks in between. DonorDrive supports the non-profit space, while HealthPay24 helps health systems, physician groups and dental practices. And finally, InvoiceCloud is their largest digital solution targeting online bill pay in the utility, insurance, and customer finance space. 

Tune in to hear him talk about his journey to the role of President of Enterprise Solutions, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to online bill pay adoption and the Amazon-like experience every customer is looking for. We also talk about what we can do as an industry to capture the non-digitally native population, as well as the variance in adoption rates from vertical to vertical. 

As we continue our deep dive into embedded finance, my guest this week is here to talk to us about some of the most important components when we begin to look at the embedded world beyond just payments. Nium Chief Product Officer Robin Gandhi is willing to guarantee one thing when it comes to the ever-evolving embedded finance trend: “you can’t stop this train!”

And with a company like Nium, non-financial organizations looking to monetize financial services can embed Nium’s API into their tech stack to help them have access to a variety of financial products.

When it comes to the future of the embedded journey, Robin will be the first to say that the momentum is not slowing down and, in fact, is only speeding up. We also spend time talking about who gets disintermediated in the embedded journey? And what does it mean to the industry as a whole? Spoiler alert: according to Robin, “you don’t get disintermediated unless you’re just not paying attention.”

Tune in this week to hear Robin talk about all things embedded finance, including the main ingredient that is absolutely essential and integral to everything in the embedded journey, as well as the one thing that has the potential to slow down its momentum.

My guest this week has a passion for building products that help customers solve their pain points and considers himself a product founder at his core. Torpago CEO and Founder Brent Jackson has made it his mission to simplify spending for small businesses.

For those of you who may not know, Topago is a corporate credit card and spend management platform with slightly north of 1400 small business customers and a very vertical agnostic platform. According to Brent, they have very intentionally and successfully rebuilt the credit card experience from the ground up for small businesses. Their core product revolves around a Visa commercial charge card and spend management software that allows businesses to “spend smarter,” while their most recent product offering enables businesses to launch their own proprietary card programs.

Their software is easily configurable and customizable for anything from a two-person bakery to a 5,000-person brand. And while this makes them predominantly vertically agnostic, their core customer tends to be from non-venture-backed industries. As for their competitive offering, Brent touts the capacity for them to provide an all-encompassing solution – not just a card and not just an expense software, but the best of both worlds combined! Also worthy of mention is the functionality within the software that enables users to swipe, approve and sync in a matter of minutes!

Tune in to hear Brent talk about his journey to CEO, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2- 3 years as it relates to consolidation, innovation, the embedded journey, and the trend of non-financial companies offering core financial products. 

As we continue our deep dive into embedded finance, I have on the show with me this week the woman who quite literally wrote the book on it! Fiat Republic Co-Founder and CC&GO Sophie Guibaud has a passion for embedded finance and has been advocating for it since before the term even existed. In 2022, she co-authored a book titled "Embedded Finance" which is available wherever you buy your books. 

She defines embedded finance as the capacity to provide financial, insurance and lending services to the end user exactly at the point they need it, with the least amount of friction possible. As for the key players that make the embedded ecosystem so prolific (and possible), the regulators are number one on Sophie’s list. They are, after all, the ones that make it conceivable for a non-regulated company to use the license of another already-regulated company to provide value and service for their end users. And this is exactly what Fiat Republic does for the cryptocurrency space.

We also talk about the importance of the tech companies who own the data that makes the embedded value chain possible, as well as the multitude of benefits that result from both a consumer and a brand perspective.

As for the next 5-7 years, Sophie paints the picture of a world where we will be banking everywhere except banks, while our smartphones proactively pay our bills, and our cloud wallet intuitively performs transactions designed to optimize our finances. Tune in this week to hear Sophie talk about the then, now, and when of embedded finance, including the future promise of worry-free finance, frictionless payments, and intuitive optimization.

My guest this week is either all in or all out. When he’s all in, he’s all about fintech. And when he’s all out, he retreats to his own private island where he is consumed by nothing but nature! Zimpler CEO Johan Strand has a passion for learning and riding the line between cutting-edge tech and cutting out technology – completely.

For those of you who may not know, Zimpler is a fintech scaleup doing payments in the account-to-account space. They ride the wave of open banking and open finance and cater to various different industry segments including online gaming, financial services, lending, and investments. According to Johan, the question to always ask first when it comes to anything payments related is “where can we simplify the transaction?” Zimpler strives to provide value to their merchants by offering payments, payouts, data, ID solutions and KYC in a manner that integrates a very comprehensive and seamless experience.

This combination of offerings enables Zimpler customers to both pay and get paid, while at the same time verifying who they’re getting the money from or who they’re paying money to. There are only 492 companies in Europe that have the license to do what they do, and their competitive advantage includes a proprietary product offering that improved cashflow by 30% for their participating merchants.

Tune in this week to hear Johan talk about his journey to CEO, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to consolidations, partnerships, and the anticipation of a 2035 goal for a completely cashless Nordic ecosystem. 

Unlock the secrets to a thriving career in the payments industry with our special guest, Gretchen Bender, Senior Vice President at MAPP Advisors. Gretchen's journey from Springfield, Illinois, through her academic pursuits at the University of Arizona and UC Irvine, to her pivotal move to Las Vegas in 2010, is a testament to the power of seizing unexpected opportunities. Learn how she stumbled into the payments industry in 1996 and discover the unique role MAPP Advisors plays in the fintech advisory market, specializing in mergers, acquisitions, and payments processing. Gretchen offers an insider’s view into the tailored approaches MAPP Advisors uses to bring unparalleled value to their clients, from portfolio evaluations to payments monetization.

In this episode, we also delve into the transformative power of mentorship and diverse work experiences. Gretchen shares invaluable advice on proactively finding mentors, especially for those in smaller companies, and underscores the importance of internships in navigating the payments and Fintech landscape. We discuss the enriching experiences gained from working in both large and small companies, and how these experiences can be a springboard for entrepreneurial success. 

This episode is a must-listen for anyone aspiring to make their mark in the payments industry. Gretchen Bender’s journey and insights provide a wealth of knowledge and inspiration. From the importance of mentorship and diverse work experiences to the unique approaches taken by MAPP Advisors, there is something for everyone in this episode. Whether you are just starting out in your career or looking to take the next step, Gretchen’s advice and experiences will provide valuable guidance and motivation. Tune in to discover the secrets to a thriving career in the payments industry and learn from one of the industry’s leading experts.

Growth gurus Sarah Hinkfuss (Partner) and Tina Dimitrova (Associate) from Bain Capital Ventures are our special guests as we continue our new series offering listeners a deep dive into embedded finance! How do you define it, benefit from it, leverage it, and determine whether or not it’s a viable option for your business? Not to mention, just how big can this industry get and why is it continuing to see such rapid growth? These are some of the questions Sarah and Tina help us answer. 

First and foremost, how does one of the world’s leading private investment firm actually define embedded finance? According to Tina, embedded finance is defined as any financial exchange whereby a non-financial institution offers financial services made possible by a financial services company. Some examples she gives of industry leaders that fit this definition include Toast, Shopify, and bill.com. Also worthy of mention is, according to Sarah, each one of these recognizable brands started as pure play software but now have more revenue coming from the financial services they’ve embedded.

So, why has embedded finance taken off and scaled so rapidly? And, more importantly, why have payments led the charge when it comes to all the offerings under the embedded umbrella? Sarah chimes in with the top 4 reasons why payments have come first, as well as a list of contenders we have in line for the embedded space beyond just payments. Spoiler alert: Lending is the next runner up!

Tune in to hear about all things embedded finance, including just how big this already $7 trillion industry is projected to grow. We also discuss the Holy Grail of embedded insurance, the various reasons why banks will be forced to participate in the embedded ecosystem, and why the strength of fintech is also its shadow. 

If you ask my guests this week about his journey to CEO and President he will be the first to tell you that it’s been a winding trail with a lot of learning on the fly. He started out with a law degree but eventually found himself in payments with a genuine passion (and opportunity) to meet as many of our industry innovators as possible. Innovative Payments Association (IPA) CEO and President Brian Tate leads on behalf of our industry and strives to see it flourish.

For those of you who may not know, IPA is a trade group of a little over 60 companies and their job is to focus solely on payments! They help members digest what is going on in the ecosystem around them, including the most recent regulatory framework and anything of interest on Capitol Hill.

One of the main benefits they provide for our industry is advocacy. They make it their business to develop positions on a consensus basis within their membership team and then use those positions to advocate for the industry as a whole. They ensure key decision makers are educated on the opinions of their membership group and they help their members understand the products in the industry and how they can be used to benefit it most significantly.

Tune in this week to hear Brian talk about his journey to the role of CEO and President, including how an innocent Google search landed him at the desk of his future employer. We also talk about where he sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to innovation spikes, super aps, and behind the scenes support systems.

KeyBank EVP and Head of Commercial Product & Innovation Jon Briggs officially commences our embedded finance series sponsored by NMI. For the next six episodes, we’ll be taking a deep dive into this extremely prolific segment of our global ecosystem. How do banks create a successful strategy for embedded finance? What role can and should competitor fintechs play in this strategy and, most importantly, how can you best benefit the end user? Jon is here to answer all this and more.

 First and foremost, KeyBank defines embedded finance as the secret sauce to answering the following question: How do we take every product and service we offer as a bank today and get it placed in platforms to enable the end client to benefit as much as possible? And this is the ultimate goal for Jon and his team.

 When it comes to all the factors at play in creating a successful strategy for embedded banking, there are many, many moving parts. To start off, the value chain will be different for every end customer. And every customer is coming to the table with a different level of maturity and potential. Some have a robust tech stack already and others don’t. Some have a healthy appetite for risk and others feel differently. This being the case, success in this space requires a flexible model that can meet any client where they are in a manner that fulfills their needs and allows them to build the best possible customer experience.

Tune in to hear Jon talk about his strategy for success in embedded finance, including the need to maximize your data, the necessity of modern underwriting, and the important role fintechs play in maximizing KeyBank’s embedded ecosystem.

My guest this week has a genuine passion for building products, teams, and businesses. He has worked for some of the largest payment brands in our ecosystem and his focus is always on reinvention, which would explain why he, himself, holds 27 patents in the payment space. Convera our CEO Patrick Gauthier moved to the U.S. 30 years ago for what was supposed to be a three-year stint and, fortunately for us, and never looked back.

You may not know, Convera (also previously called Western Union Business Solutions) is a cross-border payments company with a mission to make cross-border transactions easy so a variety of businesses with global aspirations can grow with confidence. And according to Patrick, confidence is the main ingredient for the success of their platform. 

Convera serves 200 countries and territories and supports more than 140 different currencies. They serve a variety of different industry segments, including higher education, nonprofit, import/export, travel, and financial institutions. And their two main offerings revolve around something called Spot Payments, which provides payments across currencies and across borders immediately, as well as various different options that help companies successfully analyze and manage their risk over time.

Tune in this week to hear Patrick talk about his journey to CEO, including the one question he always asks himself when it comes to any new venture or project: “How can we meet the customer need differently for a better outcome?” I also talk about where he sees the industry growing in the next 10 years as it relates to several “megatrends” he specifies throughout the industry: Electronification, democratization, and the evolution of the increasingly complex regulatory framework.

My guest this week started her career path in electrical engineering and wound up, thankfully, in the payments space. With a career that has spanned successfully over multiple years and countries, one might begin to ask the question “how did you get from electrical engineer to CFO?” For Episode Six CFO and Cofounder Chermaine Hu, the answer is “someone had to be CFO” and she figured it might as well be her.

For those of you who may not know, Episode Six is a technology company that offers infrastructure technology primarily to banks, who then provide payments and financial products to their customers. Their two main areas of expertise are payment processing services and a digital ledger offering. And as for their target audience, their tech stack is light enough for the smaller regional banks, but sophisticated enough for the larger enterprise banks looking to provide genuine value to their customers.

When asked about their competitive advantage, Chermaine touts the capacity to provide exactly what their clients are looking for in a customizable format that allows them to offer their customers exactly what they want. Their technology is flexible, adaptable, and resilient and they are not burdened by limitations with their potential or scalability. In fact, according to Chermaine, Episode Six can give you what you need better, faster, and relatively cheaper than their other competitors.

Tune in this week to hear Chermaine talk about her journey to CFO, including her passion for building a career built on problem-solving. We also talk about where she sees the industry going in the next 2 -3 years as it relates to a hard push towards more digitized and modernized tech sacks in the financial services space, newer, better, and future proof technology, and what factors in the current market climate have helped companies that should succeed be successful.

How does one go from a degree in math and physics to a profession in payments? Highline CEO Geoff Brown has the answer for you on this week’s episode! A self-proclaimed numbers geek, Geoff has a genuine passion for data-driven insights and patterns – all of which support his very successful and beneficial contribution to our U.S. payments ecosystem.

For those of you who may not know, Highline is a brand-new payments network that originates payments directly from payroll platforms. Unlike card and ACH payments that pull directly from the consumers bank account, Highline has the funds pulled directly from the customers paycheck. According to Geoff, this translates to a vastly improve customer experience and a significant decrease in payments liability.

From a consumer perspective, the customer benefits from no longer needing to worry about drafting from their bank account and the payment failures that often can result. Highline pushes out payments to lenders and recurring platforms directly on payday, so the liability is decreased dramatically. The optimum use case for this product revolves around lenders who will be looking to help reduce losses or prepare for an upcoming increase in loss exposure, and Geoff touts a customer experience that is “far better than ACH,” in addition to a one-click authorization process that far surpasses their competition. 

Tune in this week to hear Geoff talk about his journey to CEO, including how he came up with the idea for this entirely unique offering in the payment space. We also talk about where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to the evolution of P2P, the rapid growth of the payroll space, and the anticipated consolidation throughout the banking industry.

My guest this week has a degree in engineering but no passion for being an engineer. Instead, he has a passion for vision, strategy, and execution. And all revolving around the world of payments! ForwardAI CO-Founder and CEO Nick Chandi is a self-proclaimed subject matter expert on “how things need to be done.” And, as is evident by his career, he knows how to do them very well.

For those of you who may not know, ForwardAI is a technology company with a truly distinct offering. They offer a core product and a vertical-specific solution with a proprietary build out that enables seamless integration between the two. Their industry niche is in accounting and their target audience is both fintechs and lenders. 

Their core product, Precise API, connects to multiple accounting systems that function as the main control panel at any given business. With this integration, customers are able to push data and provide their accounting information to any one of their clients. They also offer a product called Forwardly that specifically targets the small business market with optimized cash flow management solutions integrated with their precise API platform. With the Forwardly app, small businesses receive instant payment from their clients using the RTP and (as of July) the FedNow payment rails.

As for their competitive advantage, Nick touts the capacity for his customers to request payment from their clients via a one-click interface for funds received directly into their preferred bank account in a matter of seconds!

Tune in this week to hear Nick talk about his journey to CEO, including being the first company to go to market on behalf of the small business B2B sector with instant payment options. We also talk about where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to cryptocurrency, Blockchain, SB RTP, and Central Bank Issued Digital Currency.

My guest this week grew up snowboarding and mountain biking in the mountains of Sweden, only to find himself much later in life in a place with more ocean than mountains and absolutely no snow! MAJORITY CEO Magnus Larsson has always had a genuine passion for people. And it was this passion that fueled the business plan for a company dedicated to promoting the thriving potential of the U.S. immigrant population.

 Being an immigrant himself, Magnus has a firsthand understanding of what this population faces when they migrate to the United States. The hurdles can be vast, and the support can often times be minimal. And this, of course, is one of the foundational pillars for the success of his company.

 For those of you who may not know, MAJORITY is a digital banking platform for immigrants that offers so much more than just financial access. In fact, they have a vast array of services to help people thrive and succeed as they transition into the U.S. While banking is their core product, their customers also benefit from other cross-border services such as sending money, calling internationally and, most importantly, establishing a community connection outside of their native country.

 According to Magnus, one of the best ways to think about MAJORITY is to take the check cashing stores and the payday loan stores and convert them all into a digital product offering. As for their competitive advantage, not only do users see savings that average anywhere from $10-$50 per month, MAJORITY also works community to community to ensure that there will be someone from their native country onboarding them throughout every step of the process.

 Tune in this week to hear Magnus talk about his journey to CEO, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to the future of neo versus niche banks and the most recent waves of our ecosystem’s evolution. We also talk about the 23% of our small business population that started the same way he did.

My guest this week has a very intense musical background, with proficiency in four different instruments: piano, saxophone, oboe, and double base. He currently performs to this day and makes a concerted effort to have a very strong presence in what he calls the four F’s of life: family, fitness, fintech, and flavor! Phos CEO Brad Hyett has a passion for trying new things, going new places, meeting new people, saying yes to things outside of his comfort zone and doing it all with a fintech spin in company socks!

For those of you who may not know, Phos is a softPOS technology platform enabling contactless payments onto mobile devices with no requirement for exclusive payments specific hardware. They offer a softPOS payments orchestration platform to complement the pain points typically associated with going to market through softPOS solutions and they target their main verticals (mobility, charity, and retail) with commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) devices that are not specifically certified for EMV usage. How do they make it work? They replicate an EMV level certification in the cloud to enable these products to offer integrated an optimized contactless options.

As for their competitive advantage, Brad will be the first to say that they offer a customizable solution that enables them to meet their customers where they are and take them where they want to go, in a way that offers much more flexibility and potential than their current competition.

Tune in this week to hear Brad talk about his journey to CEO, including a “predestined alignment of the stars” that enabled his wife to replace him at his previous company, prior to his tenure with Phos. We also talk about the evolution of contactless within our global ecosystem, as well as the upcoming M&A spree Brad expects within the industry over the next several years.

My guest this week has a passion for configurability, customization and customer satisfaction. He originally started his journey in marketing, but it didn’t take long for him to pivot to finance and, more specifically, what would eventually be called fintech. He was the second employee to join his current company, next in line only to the original founder himself, and has been adding value to the prepaid technologies sector of our industry ever since. Dash Solutions CEO Stephen Faust is a true leader in his piece of the payments pie.

For those of you who may not know, Dash Solutions has been in the payments industry for a very long time, branded originally as Prepaid Technologies. The re-brand itself was a recent one and also a bit of a no-brainer. According to Stephen, Dash is the name of the product brand they went to market with for many years and what they really do from a value adding perspective is provide solutions to their customers’ payments needs.

They currently have four payments pillars where they provide cutting edge digital solutions: Pay, rewards, corporate disbursement, and expense management. And as for their competitive advantage, Stephen touts the fact that they are not a single solution provider. They have built their technology to be multi solutional with more than 80 approved bank issued card programs and endless customizable configurations for each one of these product offerings. In a nutshell, they don’t go in looking to sell a product. Rather, they go in looking for the solutions that the business needs and then they customize a product specifically for them.

Tune in to hear Stephen talk about his journey to the role of CEO, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to digital advancement and real-time offerings. We also talk about the trillions of dollars in commercial payments that have yet to transition to digital in multiple “niche” industries where payments have detrimentally lagged.

This special episode of the Leaders in Payments podcast offers a wealth of knowledge and insights from three trailblazing women leaders at Stax Payments —Paulette Rowe, Jenn Reichenbacher and Lisa Roberts. 

Paulette Rowe, the CEO of Stax, provides a compelling narrative of her career journey, from consumer banking to leadership roles at PaySafe and Meta. She emphasizes the importance of mentorship and professional development, sharing her experiences of stepping out of her comfort zone and taking on significant leadership roles. Paulette's journey is a testament to the power of mentorship and the impact it can have on one's career trajectory.

Jenn Reichenbacher, the Chief Marketing Officer, brings her extensive experience in the payments space to the table. She discusses her journey through various companies like Merchant Warehouse, EverCommerce, and her current role at Stax, where she focuses on driving growth through innovative marketing strategies.

Lisa Roberts, the General Counsel, offers a unique perspective from her 25-year legal career. She highlights the importance of understanding the broader business context and the role of legal compliance in the evolving payments landscape. Lisa’s insights are particularly valuable for those looking to navigate the complexities of legal and compliance issues in the fintech industry.

But it's not just about payments and technology; it's also about people and relationships. Paulette, Lisa, and Jenn open up about the power of mentorship and professional development within the industry. From building a "personal board of directors" to stepping out of one’s comfort zone with initiatives like executive rotation programs, discover how these leaders foster growth and collaboration at Stax. Whether it’s through lunch and learns or workout groups, they emphasize the importance of maintaining a growth mindset and creating a supportive community. Tune in for an enriching conversation that promises to leave you inspired and enlightened about the possibilities in the payments industry.

My guest this week grew up on a small-town island in Canada but had to go all the way to Hong Kong before he finally realized that being a lawyer wasn’t his calling. When he returned, he had exchanged his passion for a “reputable career” for an obsession with technology. ZayZoon Co-founder and President Tate Hackert went from Meetups to mainstream via the tech startup path – and all on behalf of the employee/employer dynamic when it comes to payments.

For those of you who may not know, ZayZoon is a way for employees to get paid prior to their individually scheduled paycheck date. And for those of you wondering why this is so important, Tate will be the first to tell you that 80 million Americans live paycheck to paycheck. For this demographic, the capacity to access earned wages as needed significantly minimizes cash flow distress and the resulting predatory product scams and credit hits that can often come with it.

How does it work? In a nutshell, any employee at a participating location can go in and request their pay prior to their pay date and then once their paycheck clears, the funds are re-deposited back to ZayZoon. This includes the ability to send money directly to the employee bank account, as well as prepaid debit card options with automatic check deposit and the capacity to stream wages, and gift card options that offer a “coupon clipping on steroids” kind of benefit. With this product, employees benefit from the ability to save money, while employers can more than double their candidate pipeline and employee retention.

Tune in to hear Tate talk about his journey to the role of Co-founder and President, including where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to real-time payments, interoperability, and the democratization of our payments ecosystem. We also talk about his “big hairy audacious goal” to save 10 million employees 10 billion dollars!

My guest this week started working on the digital evolution before it was even recognized as evolutionary. He has a resume that is exemplary of a true leader in payments and his greatest passion (besides voraciously consuming books) is applying technology to solve business problems. Dragonfly Financial Technologies CEO Johan Roets is the self-proclaimed “other famous tech billionaire from South Africa” and this is his story!

 For those of you who may not know, Dragonfly Financial Technologies provides digital banking solutions to banks in the United States. They offer a technology platform for banks where their corporate and business customers can sign on and do all their corporate payments, cash management, and reconciliation in a manner that backs directly into their accounting platform. Their target market is larger regional banks looking to compete with the big players in the U.S. ecosystem.

Johan sees Dragonfly as “a white knight to the banks” in that Dragonfly helps them accelerate their innovations to be able to compete with those fintechs that are dominating the market. The core benefits they offer include fintech integration, open baking, AI-based solutions for corporations, and high-value payments in real time.

Tune in this week to hear Johan talk about his journey to CEO, including why he feels people still struggle to trust non-banks with their financial assets. We also talk about where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to Blockchain and payments fraud, the bank versus the non-bank competition when it comes to owning the customer journey, open banking as a necessity in our ecosystem and just how quickly money can move in the wake of financial turmoil. 

My guest this week has a passion for people, payments, and Orange Theory? Yep, you heard me right! Orange Theory enthusiast and Elavon CEO Jamie Walker is a phenomenally empathetic leader with a fascinating journey in payments and almost 1,200 Orange Theory classes under his belt since 2013! And if you ask him where he gets his business advice from, he will be the first to tell you that one of his top advisors is his wife.

For those of you who may not know, Elavon is a payment processor and wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bank. They offer payment processing to a wide array of customers including the smallest business to the largest airline, and all on a global scale. Their primary verticals are airlines, hospitality, healthcare, retail, and (most recently) mass transit. And they support all money movement needs for their customers via their embedded finance solution, Talech.

As for their competitive advantage, Jamie touts their breath of distribution, their industry specific solutions that uniquely service their customers, and the digital assets provided by their U.S. Bank relationship. And when asked what Jamie’s secret sauce is for running such a high performing team, he lives by the following: Be accountable, offer thought leadership, and do both with a sense of urgency.

Tune in this week to hear Jamie talk about his journey to the role CEO, including his 22-year tenure with U.S. Bank, the catalyst that fueled his empathetic leadership style, and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to contactless, embedded payments, digital wallets, and a secure checkout experience.

As we move away from diversity and inclusion month and back to life as we know it, my guest this week gets us back on track as a true leader in the payment industry with a successful business targeting one of the more compelling industry buzzwords these days: open banking. But Link Money Cofounder and CEO Eric Shoykhet will be the first to tell you that open banking, as a concept in the U.S. anyways, doesn’t really exist…

For those of you who may not know, Link Money is a company that provides a pay by bank solution in the United States that enables merchants to allow their customers to pay from their bank account as part of the standard check out flow. This includes everything from ecommerce and insurance to parking, storage, and remittances, with a target prerequisite of high frequency and larger volume transactions. Why? Because this is where the real benefit is realized for merchants and customers alike.

Just like most everything else in the world these days, interchange rates are rising at an astronomical rate. One of the biggest benefits of using a pay by bank solution like Link Money is the ability to take your transactions off the credit rails, onto the ACH rails, and offer a more cost effective and more secure way to pay. For merchants, the benefit of using Link Money is the ability to reduce transaction costs by up to 70-80%, and even higher for some use cases. Additional benefits include less fraud and an overall reduction in payment churn.

Tune in this week to hear Eric talk about his journey to CEO, including why the US tends to be so far behind in the open banking concept, and where he sees the industry going in the next few years as it relates to fewer payment methods, a narrower focus on payments strategy, and the inevitable transition in customer psychology that is already happening today.

For our last episode of diversity and inclusion month, we take DEI to a place that could offer one of the most crucial necessities for a diverse and inclusive mindset: the VC space. And to discuss this segment with us, we have Novel Capital Co-Founder and CEO Carlos Antequera.

For those of you who may not know, Novel Capital leverages technology and data to provide non-diluted capital to tech entrepreneurs that don’t fit traditional bank requirements or are not an ideal match for the traditional equity process. They employee a little more than 20 people and services a few hundred customers currently, with the majority of their customers being tech founders or software entrepreneurs. The company’s goal is to collect key data points from their clients and then use their algorithms and expert data teams to provide a conducive capital match within a 10-day window.

When it comes to the venture capital space, Carlos will be the first to tell you that unconscious bias has the potential to run rampant with traditional VCs when it comes to funding companies. He explains that many will try to find a pattern around what has been successful in the past and stick to that same recipe for their future investments. Ingredients include things like the college the potential founder attended (was it Ivy League or not?), their degree, and even the type of business they’re looking to start. And this can obviously be a challenge for minority applicants who may not have grown up in a life of privilege and expectation.

Tune in this week to hear Carlos talk about his journey to CEO, how his own challenges with DEI drove his passion to start Novel Capital and what he views as the most necessary requirement for a successful DEI initiative. We also talk about the need for DEI to start at the educational level and the outlook for diverse founders looking to secure funding during the current economic climate. 

My guest this week is the perfect person to keep our traction going for diversity and inclusion month! She is a self-proclaimed proud and positive disruptor that lives by the motto if you know better, do better. And she has had more than 20 years of experience in the fintech space, paving the way for the much-needed disruption of gender bias along the way. Zum Rails COO and Chief Diversity Officer Tara Wilson talks to us today about how to bake DEI into your DNA.

For those of you who may not know, Zum Rails offers a seamless, off-the-shelf product to combine open banking with payments, creating an easier way for businesses to manage the full maturation of the transaction. Their objective is to simplify the payment space and they see each payment as a full lifecycle that includes onboarding, settlement and even management beyond the payment reconciliation. Their target markets include mortgage companies, crypto, lending an investment, and their company currently has just under 50 people – all of which are working fully remote.

As for the diversity and inclusion aspect, I talked to Tara about how to build it into the company DNA. She speaks passionately about having each company know what their NorthStar is when it comes to DEI and to strive to make that journey happen while living within the values and principles of each individual company contributor. Some of the main strategies she talks about include defining core values, establishing a mission and vision, leadership training, the importance of same-place mentality, and executing all of this from the top down through open, honest, and consistent communication. 

 Tune in this week to hear Tara talk about her journey to COO, including what it felt like to be one of the only women in fintech and the “lucky to be here” versus “deserve to be here” mentality that has motivated her passion for DEI. We also talk about how to make DEI a true company standard versus a tick box exercise, and why leaders need to understand ROI when it comes to employee well-being.

As we move into the second week of diversity and inclusion, this month’s theme for the Leaders in Payments podcast series, I’m excited to take the time to speak with Worldline HR specialist Basil Onyia. What makes him such a good speaker for this series? His number one passion in life is helping people become the best version of themselves – together.

For those of you who may not know, Worldline is the payments provider and software of choice for ISV providers across 60 global industries. They are currently ranked #4 in our global ecosystem, with a competitive advantage rooted in sustainability. As for their key offerings, Basil says the best way to think of it is 1 platform + 1 integration + 1 billing service. And this is their equation for success.

From a diversity and inclusion perspective, Worldline does an exceptional job of creating a culture that follows the IDEA philosophy on a global scale. IDEA, according to Basil, stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equitability and Accessibility. And these are the four crucial components to ensuring a thriving culture grounded in equality.

When asked about the specific initiatives they take to ensure this equitable foundation in their corporate culture, Basil speaks of three different pillars: internal, external, and global. Their internal focus includes subcultural celebration, psychological safety, and education, while their external focus relies heavily on building community relationships and a diverse talent pool with the partners they choose to do business with. From a global perspective, their third pillar, Basil speaks about Trust 2025 – an initiative to make Worldline the frontrunner for closing the gender and accessibility gap in the tech industry.

Tune in this week to hear Basil talk about his journey to diversity and inclusion, what drives his passion for it, as well as the details our industry needs to be focusing on when it comes to the neurodivergent population and how to create an equitable foundation for them. Also, learn about the one thing Basil says can shift an entire society!

It’s that time of year again! March is upon us and, as my loyal listeners know, this is Diversity and Inclusion month for the LIP podcast series. And I can’t think of a better guest to kick us off than Forbes 30 Under 30 recipient and UK Fintech Diversity and Inclusion nominee Lissele Pratt. Oh, she also holds the title of Capitalixe Cofounder and COO (in her spare time). 

For those of you who may not know, Capitalixe is a fintech consultancy company that specializes in helping medium-to-high-risk industries obtain payments and banking solutions. They have a global network of more than 50 banks and financial institutions that they match their high-risk clients with, based on their needs and business goals. As a general rule, this includes the underserved industries such as gaming, quick tow, CBD, and various investment platforms.

A female minority in the fintech space, Lissele herself has dealt with the challenges of gender bias in such a heavily male-dominated industry. In fact, she will be the first to say that her initial experience in finance found her in a company where she was the only ethnic woman out of a group of 50 – the rest being compromised of white men. This experience in and of itself motivated her to create a company with diversity and inclusion already thriving in their foundational DNA. And this is exactly what she has achieved with Capitalixe.

Some of the stats she touts are very motivating – including a 25% potential increase in financial returns for executive-level gender diversity and a 35% potential increase for executive-level racial and ethnic diversity. All this (and more) validates that diversity and inclusion are two necessary ingredients for success and scalability.

Tune in this week to hear Lissele talk about the necessities around diversity and inclusion as it relates to the success of the overall company, how she wove it into the foundation of her company culture and why she believes “you only achieve true success when you’re able to help others achieve theirs too.” 

My guest this week has a passion for building, a love for farming, and history with solving problems in the music industry that really fueled the foundation of his professional payments career. Zum Rails Cofounder and CEO Marc Milewski wanted nothing more than to build hydrogen cars in Iceland but found himself building payments technology in Canada. 

For those of you who may not know, Zum Rails is a fintech company with a mission to change payments as a whole into something they call financial interactions. According to Marc, the best way to think about them is “open banking meets instant payments.” They offer a different way of thinking about payments regarding how to forecast them into financial information, and their goal is to eliminate the hassles of all the nuances that come with payment acceptance.

As for their competitive advantage, Marc himself said it best: “Our competitors think about payments as just payments. We see it as something completely different.” Their business model goes beyond shaving basis points to drive a strategy that makes their customer’s lives genuinely easier. And with one sales guy in a company of 42 employees, it’s fascinating to hear Marc talk about how the product really sells itself.

Tune in this week to hear Mark talk about his journey to CEO, including how he got from almost building hydrogen cars to building payment platforms, as well as where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to payment companies owning more of their software, the high disruption of digital currency, the thinning of the herd, and the unrelenting Asterix that always goes with moving money *instantly.*

My guest this week leads from a place of ownership, action, honesty, and trust – the core values upon which his company was founded. Nayax CEO and Co-Founder Yair Nechmad has a passion for creating an efficient enterprise system that affords his customers and employees the work/life balance we all deserve.

For those of you who may not know, Nayax is a payments company offering integrated POS solutions and software for the unattended market sector. They are currently growing at more than 35% year over year, with more than 700 employees contributing to their success.

As for their competitive advantage, according to Yair, they are the only company globally operating an end-to-end loyalty and payments solution, with a foot on the ground in 65 different countries. Their use cases include tier 1 retailers looking for a business-in-a-box solution and they offer both software and hardware for a one-stop-shop ecosystem.

Tune in this week to hear Yair talk about the evolution of the unattended industry and his journey to CEO. We also talk about where he sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to loyalty programs, embedded options and payments being the center of gravity for the entire customer journey.

Have you ever felt the weight of imposter syndrome or the glass ceiling holding you back? Kristy Duncan, the inspiring founder and CEO of Women in Payments, shares her transformative journey from her early days on a small hobby farm outside Toronto to becoming a leader in the payments industry. This special edition of the Leaders in Payments podcast, celebrating Women Leaders in Payments Month, kicks off with a fun and personal rapid-fire round, giving you a glimpse into Kristy's world beyond her career.

We then delve into the heart of Kristy's professional evolution, discussing the significant barriers that women encounter in the workplace. Kristy candidly addresses the challenges such as the sticky floor and crisis leadership roles and shares her invaluable strategies for overcoming these obstacles. Learn how mentorship, a robust professional network, and constant feedback have been her guiding principles for success. You'll also hear about pivotal experiences and personal anecdotes that shaped her resilient mindset and career trajectory.

In the final segment, Kristy offers heartfelt reflections on the importance of mentorship and the inspiring role her daughters have played in her life. She emphasizes how mentorship and sponsorship can propel emerging leaders to new heights and recounts her own experiences with formal and informal mentoring. Kristy's dedication to her career and her family's encouragement provide a powerful narrative on balancing professional ambitions with personal life. This episode is packed with insights and encouragement for anyone looking to break barriers and empower women in their careers.

My guest this week has quite a fascinating résumé in the sense that none of it really has anything to do with payments. To his own admission, he’s not going to win on pedigree, and on paper he may not even make sense, but Extra CEO Max Hellerstein has proven himself to be quite the “silent winner” when it comes to finding a problem and solving the hell out of it.

For those of you who may not know, Extra is the first ever debit card that allows consumers to build their credit history with every single swipe. And not only do customers get the opportunity to have credit level history on a debit rail, they also benefit from AMEX-level perks and rewards to incentivize their sensible spend. As for the user experience, Extra requires no existing credit for application. The only thing Extra need to verify approval is a cash balance that is sufficient for subscription. They then underwrite their customers for a spend power equivalent to the amount of cash in their account plus an additional predetermined cap. And then every transaction counts towards sufficient spend data to be reported to the existing credit bureaus. 

The company generates revenue based on a subscription fee, and the interchange on every transaction is then given back to the customers to incentivize them with rewards and select offerings. Regarding their competitive advantage, Max touts their capacity to say “yes” more often, take smarter risks, and offer less painful onboarding.

Tune in this week to hear Max talk about his journey to CEO, his strategy for getting obsessed, and where he sees the industry going in the next 2 to 3 years as it relates to consolidation, bundling, and the potential for one universal rail.

My guest this week has a genuine passion for teamwork and a competitive edge that she credits her family for. Being the youngest of seven children, CompoSecure Chief Revenue Officer Amanda Gourbault always had to be able to run faster than everyone else in order to get them to pay attention to her. And this tenacity has served her well throughout her payments career.

For those of you who may not know, CompoSecure is the world leader in metal cards. They have a portfolio that spans throughout financial institutions and fintechs alike, with some of the most recognizable brands in our industry. In fact, the fintech sector is actually the leader of metal card issuance. Why? According to Amanda, the metal card offers an enhanced user experience that you really can’t get anywhere else. She describes it as the physical embodiment of the customer relationship with such an innovative flair that it provides a natural uplift for any brand that issues it.

As for the benefits of a metal card, Amanda talks about several use cases with impressive results – including an Amex issuance that resulted in a 52% uplift in customer retention and a 17% uplift in spend. Another interesting stat? 47% of all new metal cardholders are millennials!

Tune in this week to hear Amanda talk about her journey from magstripe to metal and some of CompoSecure’s most innovative projects – including an Amex/Delta partnership that issued a limited-edition card made from the wings of a 747! 

We also discuss where she sees the industry going in the next 2-3 years as it relates to frictionless authentication, password-free login, and biometrics.

What does an avid cook with a graduate degree in law and epidemiology have to do with payments? A lot more than you may think! Banyan CEO and Founder Jehan Luth has a passion for item-level data and credits his background in both computer and food science as the foundational building blocks for his success.

For those of you who may not know, Banyan set out three years ago to build the infrastructure to both manage and utilize item-level data. And with this data, they work with merchants, banks and fintechs to power new experiences and use cases leveraging this type of granular information.

So, what are we talking about when we say item-level data? It’s a very distinct specificity around what you choose to buy versus where you choose to spend your money. And the most prolific use cases are, of course, card-linked rewards and loyalty offers. It’s the difference of being able to take the standard loyalty offer of, let’s say, $25 off your next purchase at a certain location and optimizing it to a more personal offer that gives you $25 off pet food the next time you shop that store. Why pet food? Because that accounted for 75% of your total bill the last time you shopped there. 

As for their competitive advantage, Jehan talks about powering the rails to leverage experience-based value in a way that has never been done before. In this way, Banyan is not just taking an existing product and trying to make it better but, rather, creating the infrastructure for a product that has yet to even be mainstream enough to optimize.

Tune in this week to hear Jehan talk about his journey to CEO, including why the Indian banyan tree provided the inspiration for his thriving ecosystem. We also talk about the power of atomic nodes, V2 fintech and the future forward trend of merchants and banks coming together on behalf of the customer journey.