Podcast appearances and mentions of jo ann barefoot

In This Episode In a rare and inspiring crossover episode, Breaking Banks teams up with Barefoot Innovation to bring you a special dispatch from Necker Island, BVI. Hosted by Brett King and Jo Ann Barefoot, this episode captures the energy and insight of a one-of-a-kind fintech gathering organized by Virgin Unite: an event bringing together innovators from around the world, from a cross section of industry, exploring what the future of finance could (and should) look like. Podcasts hosts and speakers Brett and Jo Ann share their talks and insights from this carbon neutral event, connecting with Dr. Nick Hughes, OBE, father of M-Pesa, co-founder of M-Kopa and now Managing Director 4rdigital.com, the fourth revolution is digital, to cover all things fintech. Listen as these leaders discuss applications of fintech in other markets and all that is possible if we come out of our silos and collaborate -- the combination of problem solving perspectives, resources, networks and more can make an impact on some of the world's toughest challenges. We have the tech to do what we need to do, the potential is enormous! If you're looking for inspiration and forward-thinking ideas this episode delivers!

We're trying something a little different today. Or actually: a lot different. We've got our first non-human guest on the show. No, I'm not interviewing either of my dogs, Daisy and Penny, although that could get interesting. Today I'm interviewing the artificial intelligence tool ChatGPT. What is ChatGPT, you ask? I asked it to describe itself briefly, in a non-technical way, and this is what it said: “ChatGPT is like a digital helper that can talk and write in a human-like way. It's powered by a type of artificial intelligence, and it can help answer your questions, write emails, tutor in a variety of subjects, translate languages, and even write poetry. It's like having a very knowledgeable friend to help you out with all sorts of tasks. This tool was created by OpenAI, a research group focused on making AI technology that benefits everyone. ChatGPT was first made available to the public in 2021.” So I got to wondering recently whether ChatGPT might have anything useful to say to those of us who are widowed parents. Because if you're anything like me, you're trying to figure out how to raise kids after their other parent has died – and you're realizing this is hard. And – it's hard to know who can help us figure that out. This idea came up because a family member of mine has a podcast on a totally different topic, and she interviewed ChatGPT on her show. And my dad spotted it and said to me, hey, maybe there's something interesting here in relation to your show, too. So I listened to the discussion my aunt, Jo Ann Barefoot, had with ChatGPT on her show, which is called Barefoot Innovation – and it was fascinating. If you're at all interested in the banking industry, and especially in FinTech and financial regulation, I highly encourage you to listen to her interview with ChatGPT, and to her many other interviews as well. Anyway, I started to wonder: what would ChatGPT say to my listeners? If I asked it to suggest resources for widowed parents, would it have any? Would those resources be any good? Would it have advice on planning for Father's Day, for example, since that is right around the corner? Would it be well-versed on kids' understanding of grief at various ages and developmental stages? Perhaps most importantly: If I posed a bunch of questions, and I shared them on the show, would I have to interject over and over and let you know where its answers were unhelpful, or even incorrect or dangerous? I played around a little first, to get a sense of how to use it. And because I was sitting next to my dog when I signed up, my very first question to ChatGPT was: “can you tell me about Tibetan spaniels?” I asked a few more questions about topics that were top-of-mind: recovery from the type of shoulder surgery I recently had, and how to clean my new Trex decking. Then, it was time to think about what to ask ChatGPT about widowed parenting, and give it a go. Have a listen for yourself, and let me know what you think about how it answers. A note about the methodology and technology used in this interview. I used the most up-to-date version of ChatGPT, called GPT-4. Because it only takes text input, and answers with text replies, I conducted the interview by typing my questions and reading the answers as they came back. In order to share it with you today, I went back and recorded myself reading my questions out loud, and also fed ChatGPT's answers into a text-to-speech tool called NaturalReader (the commercial version). I picked a voice named “Aria” and chose the “friendly” option for her tone. I used another AI tool called DALL-E to generate a “headshot” for today's guest. I had to experiment quite a lot with what type of prompts to give the tool, in plain English, and get the type of image I wanted, and that was fun. As someone who spent 20 years in the tech world in my prior life, I have to say, this experiment was super interesting. I was blown away with how accurate and useful the answers were to the questions that I posed. I don't think that's necessarily always the case with AI tools, even this one. One criticism I hear is that these tools can create great-sounding answers that are entirely wrong. In this case, I'm able to review the answers before sharing them with you, and if any of the answers had been wrong or even dangerous, I would have addressed that. As AI tools become more and more widespread, I think it's important for those of us working in the grief world to realize that the grieving people we serve may begin turning to them for answers. I think it's important that we understand what's out there, what may be coming, and what the possibilities and limitations are. We can't afford to ignore AI – for better or worse, it will likely change the way we do our work in the world, and how grieving people are supported in the years to come. I hope you enjoy my interview with ChatGPT. -=-=-=-=- Thank you sponsors & partners: Help Texts - Grief support text messaging service. Tips and support delivered all year long, personalized based on your loss. Listeners get $10 off: https://helptexts.com/jennylisk BetterHelp - Talk with a licensed, professional therapist online. Get 10% off your first month: betterhelp.com/widowedparent Support the show - Buy Me a Coffee -=-=-=-=-

Jo Ann Barefoot joins co-host Amias Gerety to explain the necessity of taking policy, and innovation, seriously. You can check out Jo Ann's podcast, The Barefoot Innovation Podcast, at https://www.jsbarefoot.com/podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jo Ann Barefoot joins co-host Amias Gerety to explain the necessity of taking policy, and innovation, seriously. You can check out Jo Ann's podcast, The Barefoot Innovation Podcast, at https://www.jsbarefoot.com/podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I started the Barefoot Innovation show in 2015. My guest today is the person who suggested I create a podcast. He is Matt Van Buskirk, Co-CEO of Hummingbird Regtech and also, among many things, a member of AIR's Advisory Council. We are starting a new special series of shows where we'll bring in guests and, instead of having them talk about what they're doing, we'll ask them to talk about what they are seeing, and learning, and thinking. In a way, we'll be going back to the original concept of the show, which was to make it possible for listeners to be like a fly on the wall in a fascinating conversation. I, for one, am having these kinds of conversations almost every day lately, with smart, visionary people who are trying to figure out the uncharted territory ahead, and how to navigate it. 

In this episode (in association with ComplyAdvantage), our expert host Gwera Kiwana is joined by some great guests to look at the latest trends in financial crime. ComplyAdvantage recently released their annual The State of Financial Crime (https://complyadvantage.com/insights/the-state-of-financial-crime-2022/) report for 2022 – in which they surveyed 800 C-suite and senior compliance decision makers across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The report provides insights into trends that will shape the year ahead in financial crime, as well as showing what's changed in the last year. So today, we're using this report to kick off a whole discussion on financial crime. This week's guests include: Charles Delingpole, Founder & CEO, ComplyAdvantage Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Co-founder, Alliance for Innovative Regulation Matthew Redhead, Associate Fellow, RUSI This episode is sponsored by CompyAdvantage What role will blockchain play in the future of financial services? How are innovative fintechs expanding access to online banking in Africa? And would more bankers in orange jumpsuits change the way money laundering is perceived? Subscribe to Uncover, the ComplyAdvantage podcast, to explore these questions and much more: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/uncover/id1601611340 Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. It's hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David M. Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates and Gwera Kiwana, as well as a range of brilliant guests. We cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: @fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Charles Delingpole, Jo Ann Barefoot, and Matthew Redhead.

Jo Ann Barefoot, a former regulator and now CEO of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, discusses her efforts to help banking regulators contend with the rapid tech evolution in the financial services sector. She discusses why she's optimistic that tech can help banks and their supervisors better manage risks, assist the underbanked, and combat long-term challenges like climate change.

When Breaking Banks first aired in May of 2013 the world of fintech was much simpler. PayPal was well established in the payments space with some upstarts like Braintree and Venmo gaining traction. The rest of the fintech world was divided by lenders like Prosper and Lending Club and both pioneer neobanks Simple and Perkstreet were in the process of being sold.Since then, the diversity and depth of fintech has taken hold. As Angela Strange at a16z says - every company is a fintech of sorts.Breaking Banks also evolved, launching the Provoke Media network to address the diversity and depth of topics of relevance to the industry. Today we're featuring the latest addition to the Provoke family: the NextGen Banker. David Reiling, CEO of Sunrise Banks hosts a variety of guests to talk about what the bank and banker of the future will look like. Listen to this episode where he hosts Jo Ann Barefoot to talk about regulation.If you haven't listened to the other podcasts, go to provoke.fm right after you listen to David and Jo Ann! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9w2bN83qYlM

Jo Ann Barefoot is the CEO & Cofounder of Alliance for Innovative Regulation, a podcast host and a former deputy comptroller of the currency. Jo Ann chats with David about the age-old dilemma faced in finance: how to reconcile the speed of tech with the bureaucratic nature of regulation. The biggest point Jo Ann wants bankers to take away? Move fast.

Next in our Transformation series, guest host Lucy Pearman talks with Jo Ann Barefoot about RegTech innovation from how regulators are using technology to how financial services need to urgently expand their experimentation and adoption rates. Show Notes 01:47 Career journey 01:56 Alliance on Innovative Regulation 15:37 Top priorities for financial services innovation 21:45 Regulators and digital transformation 26:24 What truly smart regulation looks like 31:22 What are leading companies doing to get ready? 35:29 Rants & Revelations 41:32 Rapid Fire Round GET TRANSCRIPTS & MORE > https://riskywomen.org/2021/06/podcast-s4e4-regtech-transformation-jo-ann-barefoot/

Welcome to this very special anniversary episode of Breaking Banks. Don’t miss our 8th anniversary extravaganza to hear friends of the show discuss the greatest moments in Breaking Banks history. A few of the most incredible minds in the industry like Richard Turrin, Jo Ann Barefoot, David Birch, Ron Shevlin, Chloe James, Paul Ark and Jim Marous explore the past, the present and the future of banking and fintech.

Our expert host, David Brear is joined by some great guests to dig into what constitutes as progressive regulation and how fintechs work with regulators. We also look at some geographical differences when it comes to regulation, what do fintechs want and expect from a regulator and how can fintechs work to help regulators. All of this and much more on today's epispde! This week's guests include: Deniz Güven, CEO and Executive Board Director of Mox Bank Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Cofounder at Alliance for Innovative Regulation Francesca Hopwood Road, Head of RegTech and Advanced Analytics at Financial Conduct Authority This episode is sponsored by Banking Circle A fully licensed bank focused on payments, Banking Circle gives Financial Institutions and large corporates direct access to clearing in multiple countries, enabling them to deliver global payments faster and more cost-effectively for their customers. Bypass legacy systems, enable global banking services for your customers and grow your business. Find out more at bankingcircle.com (https://www.bankingcircle.com/?utm_source=11FS&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=generic) This podcast is also sponsored by Temenos Temenos is the world’s leader in banking software, serving over 3,000 banks. TCF Online 2021, is the industry's premier virtual event, welcoming thousands of C-level executives, industry influencers and rising stars of fintech, with over 50 live and on-demand sessions. Register today to hear Temenos' CEO reveal his vision on the future of banking, learn about Temenos' latest innovations, and hear from Changemakers like Barclays, Varo and PayPal, sharing their best practices on banking transformation. Find out more: TCF Online 2021 (https://go.temenos.com/tcf-online-2021/register)  Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates and Sarah Kocianski and joined by a range of brilliant guests, we cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, alternatively email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Deniz Guven, Francesca Hopwood Road, and Jo Ann Barefoot.

Nina Mohanty is a "visionary". Specifically speaking, she is one at the upcoming "Women's Economic Empowerment TechSprint & Conference", which she now showcases in our podcast, providing awareness to our audience on this great initiative brought by the Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR) in partnership with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We invited Francesca Hopwood Road and Jo-Ann Barefoot to tells us the goals, operations, and available resources created by this initiative to our audience. More on the initiative here: https://regulationinnovation.org/womens_empowerment_sprint/ More on our guests:Jo-Ann BarefootJo-Ann is the CEO & Founder of AIR - the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the global podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of “regulation innovation,” Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She's an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee, and is a member of the California Blockchain Working Group Advisory Board. Jo-Ann chairs the board of directors of FinRegLab, previously chaired the board of the Financial Health Network, and previously served on the CFPB's Consumer Advisory Board. She was a co-founder of Hummingbird Regtech.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jbarefoot/ Francesca Hopwood RoadFrancesca leads the FCA's RegTech and Advanced Analytics function responsible fordeveloping and embedding data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence tools and capability across the organization. She also runs the FCA's RegTech activities, including the FCA's TechSprint events, the first of their kind convened by a financial regulator. Since joining the regulator in 2010 she has led a number of strategic transformation programmes. Prior to joining she worked in the third sector and private sector using data and intelligence to identify and mitigate harm for consumers.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-hopwood-road-ab040b15/

With all of the big political shifts in Washington this year, we can expect to see big shifts in financial regulation as well. Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO at the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, discusses three financial regulation changes that could help the industry and the country.

In this episode of Fintech Insider, David Brear and guests delve into all things cloud. Focusing on how banks and financial services can migrate to the cloud and remain compliant along the way, we also examine how technology and regulation can work together as cloud technology evolves. Joining David to discuss the topic are: * Howard Boville - Head of IBM Hybrid Cloud Platform * Jo Ann Barefoot - CEO & Cofounder at Alliance for Innovative Regulation; Cofounder at Hummingbird Regtech Together they explore the regulatory challenges in financial services and how cloud implementation can help, the ways in which technology and regulation can work symbiotically, and their predictions on what will come next in the cloud and finance space. This episode is sponsored by IBM. Want to check out the IBM Public cloud offering? Check it out here! http://ibm.co/36eJOnC (http://ibm.co/36eJOnC) Banking as a Service is deconstructing the banking stack. It's enabling brands to embed finance more easily, and to tailor financial products to specific customer needs. This is presenting new opportunities for specialised providers and offers banks extra revenue streams. Download our report for a comprehensive, no BS view of what Banking as a Service is and what it means for the industry. Head to bit.ly/bankingasaservice (https://bit.ly/bankingasaservice). Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates and Sarah Kocianski and joined by a range of brilliant guests, we cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, alternatively email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Howard Boville and Jo Ann Barefoot.

In this new episode of Breaking Banks, JP Nicols is joined by friend and regular contributor Jo Ann Barefoot, Chair of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, CEO of Barefoot Innovation Group, host of the Barefoot Innovation podcast, and former Deputy Comptroller of the Currency to discuss a new era ushering in Joe Biden’s White House. What does this mean for fintech and banking?  Then stay tuned as Jason Henrichs hosts Jacob Haar, managing partner of Community Investment Management, an impact investment firm that provides debt capital to fintech companies to support underserved small businesses. Jason and Jacob explore the role of impact investors, responsible fintech, and public policy in financial inclusion during the time of COVID-19.

Listen now | A timely interview on the importance of government, regulation, and understanding our democracy with two of the smartest people thinking about regtech today, Jo Ann Barefoot and David Ehrich. David and Jo Ann run an organization called AIR, The Alliance for Innovative Regulation. In 2020, AIR published a manifesto outlining their hopes for the future of financial regulation. We dig into the Manifesto and how it relates to the world we’re watching unfold in front of our eyes as it relates to democracy, finance, and how they intertwine. Helpful links below. Get on the email list at www.forfintechsake.com

In this episode, Miguel Armaza sits down with Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Founder of the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the podcast Barefoot Innovation. Jo Ann is a famous advocate of “regulation innovation,” and is one of the most active and visible fintech leaders working to improve and modernize financial regulation around the world. She is also a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government and in the past was Deputy Comptroller of the Currency of the United States and a staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. Jo Ann Barefoot Jo Ann Barefoot is CEO & Founder of AIR - the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and host of the global podcast show Barefoot Innovation. A noted advocate of “regulation innovation,” Jo Ann is Senior Fellow Emerita at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Business & Government. She has been Deputy Comptroller of the Currency, partner at KPMG, Co-Chairman of Treliant Risk Advisors, and staff member at the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She’s an angel investor, serves on the board of Oportun, serves on the fintech advisory committee for FINRA, is a member of the Milken Institute U.S. FinTech Advisory Committee, and is a member of the California Blockchain Working Group Advisory Board. Jo Ann chairs the board of directors of FinRegLab, previously chaired the board of the Financial Health Network, and previously served on the CFPB’s Consumer Advisory Board. She was a Cofounder of Hummingbird Regtech. About Alliance for Innovative Regulation AIR is a nonprofit dedicated to modernizing the financial regulatory system. We believe that the regulatory framework needs to migrate from a largely manual to a Digitally-Native Design. This will ensure financial stability, protect consumers from harm, promote financial inclusion, curtail financial crime, and enable continuous innovation. AIR works at the intersection of technology, innovation, and regulation to help regulators better understand emerging technologies that can help improve financial health. Examples like cash-flow underwriting can expand safe and affordable credit to people with no credit history, increasing credit access and a creating a more fair financial system. AIR’s Regtech Manifesto Financial regulation needs to convert from analog to digital design. This seminal thought piece calls for gradual, but urgent, conversion of the financial regulatory system to a “digitally-native” framework. The Manifesto is a Request for Comments (RFC). It calls for discussion about a system that will be rebuilt over time to leverage the power of digitization and make regulatory outcomes better, faster, and cheaper, all at once. Join the conversation.

This week on Breaking Banks, Brett King is joined by Jo Ann Barefoot in the co-host chair as they speak with The Lord Mayor of London William Russell about the incredible VC and FinTech scene happening in the UK. The Lord Mayor discusses the impact that regtech has had on the industry and the Green Finance Initiative, aiming to make London the world leader in green finance. Then stayed tuned for another installment of Women in Fintech, a Breaking Banks initiative with host Chloe James. Chloe chats with Katie Palencsar Venture Studio Lead at Anthemis and Eli Polanco, Founder of Nivelo, about a recent report published by Anthemis, Empowering Female Founders - Moving from a Vicious Cycle to a Virtuous Cycle. Our guests reveal the difference between talk and action and discuss what TRUE change really looks like.

This week on Breaking Banks, Brett King is joined by Jo Ann Barefoot in the co-host chair as they speak with The Lord Mayor of London William Russell about the incredible VC and FinTech scene happening in the UK. The Lord Mayor discusses the impact that regtech has had on the industry and the Green Finance Initiative, aiming to make London the world leader in green finance. Then stayed tuned for another installment of Women in Fintech, a Breaking Banks initiative with host Chloe James. Chloe chats with Katie Palencsar Venture Studio Lead at Anthemis and Eli Polanco, Founder of Nivelo, about a recent report published by Anthemis, Empowering Female Founders - Moving from a Vicious Cycle to a Virtuous Cycle. Our guests reveal the difference between talk and action and discuss what TRUE change really looks like.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

The regulatory system under which the financial system operates is exceedingly complex. This is understandable given mow important finance is to people’s lives. But the way we have implemented regulations has only changed incrementally over the last few decades while technology has completely transformed the financial system. Addressing this challenge head on if the focus […] The post Podcast 272: Jo Ann Barefoot and David Ehrich of AIR appeared first on Lend Academy.

James Cahill and Yvonne Pichert are the new vice presidents at advisory firm MDOTM. The fintech says the pair's international expertise in asset management will be key in accelerating and consolidating its global expansion.Moving jobsUK challenger bank Tandem has hired Paul Noble as its new chief commercial officer. In addition to developing green mortgages and savings accounts, Noble will help grow Tandem's green home ending portfolio that it recently acquired from Allium.interactive investor (ii), the UK's second-largest direct to consumer investment platform, has hired Becky O'Connor as head of pensions and savings. Becky will lead ii's educational programme about pensions and savings, as well as its campaign on pensions and savings policy issues.Jonathan Furse is the new chief technology officer for buy-side analytics provider Substantive Research. In addition to managing the company's digital product strategy, Furse is tasked with growing its in-house team of developers.Working togetherBrokerage house Britannia Global Markets chooses Broadridge in order to streamline its post-trade processing. The fintech's SaaS-based solution will smooth out the post-trade operations in Britannia's cash equities, fixed income and repo businesses.Yoyo will create a global loyalty brand following its merger with South Africa's wiGroup. The UK based payments and loyalty app has also raised additional primary funding from SaltPay, supported by existing investors IP Group. The combined operations will service clients in the UK, Europe, Africa and Australasia. These include Caffe Nero, Paul, Burger King, KFC, Dunkin Donuts and Woolworths.Revenue-based finance provider Uncapped has hooked up with Salt Edge in order to speed up verifying an applicant's business performance. The collaboration with the open banking solutions provider will also boost Uncapped's lending decision time ‘from days to a few hours'.Wealth Dynamix has partnered with Chappuis Halder & Co to deliver enterprise-scale digital transformation. Under the agreement, the companies will embed client lifecycle management within digital transformation initiatives.Meanwhile, international payments provider ECOMMPAY is integrating with Telegram for in-app purchases. The collaboration will allow Telegram users to select products from their channel bot and click a ‘pay' button.Investment app Trading 212 has integrated financial API provider TrueLayer's open banking-powered technology to its trading platform. Trading 212 has hailed TrueLayer for ensuring its ‘users no longer need to do manual wire transfers and wait a day or more before funds arrive in their account'.Funding and investmentsInsurtech Cover Genius has raised A$15million as it expands its product suite and partner network globally. The funding news coincides with the launch of new product and parcel insurance products on ecommerce platform Shopee Thailand.e-Bate, the UK rebate management platform, has raised £950,000 in a second funding round. It says the funding will be used to create five new jobs, as well as increase global sales. The latest funding is the second investment by the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF).While, passwordless authentication company Secret Double Octopus has secured a strategic investment from Standard Chartered's venture arm, SC Ventures. The Israeli-based startup helps organisations manage their cybersecurity risks, while streamlining employee workflows with authentication technology. The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the deal.Industry announcementsOakNorth Bank has dished out more than £1billion in new loans and receives additional CBILS/CLBILS allocation from the British Business Bank. From June to August, OakNorth Bank experienced twice the lending volume going to credit committee compared to last year, and in the last month, has seen four times the volume.Mojo Mortgages, Moneybox, Plum and Wagestream have come up trumps in the Open Up 2020 Challenge. Run by Nesta Challenges, in partnership with the Open Banking Implementation Entity, the challenge aimed to inspire innovative open banking-enabled solutions to help people across the UK better manage their money. During the challenge, the four winners have tripled their open banking users and will pick up an additional £150,000 in prize money.Global gold marketplace Goldex has adopted new best-practice trading principles from the World Gold Council. The Retail Gold Investment Principles (RGIP) were launched in order to raise the bar for product providers across the global gold market. Gold prices are soaring – increasing more than 600 per cent over the last 20 years.A glut of renowned fintech experts have been unveiled as speakers at the upcoming Seamless: The Future of Fintech event. More than 4,000 people are expected to attend the virtual event co-hosted by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority and the G20 Saudi Secretariat on 19-20 October. Speakers will include Brett King, Anna Maj, Jim Marous, Adrienne A. Harris, as well as Jo Ann Barefoot and Abdulaziz Al-Helaissi.Pezesha is to operate its debt-based crowdfunding platform in the Kenyan capital markets, after a successful one-year testing period in a regulatory sandbox. The Capital Markets Authority has granted a ‘no objection' to Pezesha leaving the sandbox, subject to maintenance of existing compliance requirements.

Jo Ann Barefoot and David Ehrich of AIR, the Alliance for Innovative Regulation, discuss how we can modernize the financial regulatory system by moving from an analog to digital design and establishing a new vision.   Barefoot Innovation Podcast

We explore the world of regulation to learn more about how RegTech can help banks accelerate compliance and cut costs. Hosts JP Nicols and Brett King are joined by regular contributor Jo Ann Barefoot, Nick Cook, Director of Innovation at Financial Conduct Authority, and Mark Chorazak, Partner Shearman & Sterling, to chat about AIR’s recent release of the RegTech Manifesto. Topics of discussion include challenges regulators face in innovation efforts, the importance of making the shift to a digitally native architecture, and how regulators can use sandbox environments to accomplish iterative changes.

We explore the world of regulation to learn more about how RegTech can help banks accelerate compliance and cut costs. Hosts JP Nicols and Brett King are joined by regular contributor Jo Ann Barefoot, Nick Cook, Director of Innovation at Financial Conduct Authority, and Mark Chorazak, Partner Shearman & Sterling, to chat about AIR’s recent release of the RegTech Manifesto. Topics of discussion include challenges regulators face in innovation efforts, the importance of making the shift to a digitally native architecture, and how regulators can use sandbox environments to accomplish iterative changes.

Chloé James host and group director of media & communications for global insights provider RFi Group is joined by Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO & Co-founder at Alliance for Innovative Regulation and Dr. Leda Glyptis, advisor and author of #LedaWrites for Fintech Futures to discuss women in fintech. Chloé, Jo Ann, and Leda share personal experiences and insights from their time in the fintech/finserv industry. What are the positive takeaways from the COVID-19 crisis? Why aren’t there more women in our tech? We explore these topics and more! Then stay tuned to hear from host Jason Henrichs as he speaks to Michael Mueller, CEO of Form3 and Vinoth Jayakumar, Partner with Draper Esprit as they dish on the explosion in cloud-native tech across banks and fintech. Michael and Vinoth also highlight Form3’s recent $33 million in strategic investment from new shareholders Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, 83North, and existing investor Draper Esprit. Sponsored Segment by Form3.

An interview with Jo Ann Barefoot and David Ehrich, Founders of AIR.Links and Resources:AIR WebsiteBarefoot InnovationAmerican Banker BankThink Piece

Jo Ann and the IIF's Adrien Delle-Case give us their readout of the 2019 Global AML and Financial Crime Tech Sprint.

Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO at Barefoot Innovation group and Cofounder at Hummingbird Regtech, shares her thought provoking insight on how organizations are handling third party risk management in this industry interview. Using her extensive experience in the industry, Jo Ann shares best practices for dealing with regtech vendors – including tips for the vetting process and cybersecurity management.

PODCAST #296 Hacking Compliance Culture (Aired 7/11) Making change is hard and slow. Innovators blame compliance. Compliance blames regulators. But what happens when regulators themselves decide to become the innovators? Jason Henrichs hosts Nick Cook, Director of Innovation for the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, talking about their successes and challenges to be more innovative, the role of Tech Sprints (which he really wanted to call hack a thons) and changing both the structure and culture of a regulatory body. Then, we're joined by Jo Ann Barefoot, the US Based host of the of next FCA tech sprint on Financial crimes and anti money laundering gives us a sneak peak at her new non-profit: AIR. Alliance for Innovative Regulation.

An interview with Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO at Barefoot Innovation and Co-Founder at Hummingbird. Jo Ann's career has taken her from the regulatory world to the world of high growth entrepreneurship and everywhere in between. Helpful links: Jo Ann TwitterJo Ann LinkedinBarefoot Innovation PodcastHummingbirdHarvard Research Paper: Regulation Innovation: Using Digital Technology to Protect and Benefit Financial ConsumersFintex Foxes

Jo Ann Barefoot, CEO at Barefoot Innovation Group, on how regulatory technology needs to keep pace, and how we could do things much better, more efficiently, for everyone.---The information contained in this podcast is intended for discussion purposes only. It is not a recommendation, offer, or a solicitation for the purchase or sale of a security or any services of Motive Partners. All investing involves risk and there is no guarantee that past performance will be indicative of future results.The views and opinions expressed in the podcast are as of the date of recording, reflect the views and opinions of the persons expressing them, and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Motive Partners. Motive Partners makes no representations or warranties as to the accuracy, reliability or completeness of any information provided and undertakes no obligation to update, amend, or clarify the information in the podcast, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Any securities, transactions, or holdings discussed may not represent investments made by Motive Partners. It should not be assumed that securities, transactions, or holdings discussed (if any) were or will be profitable, or that the recommendations or decisions made in the future will be similar or will equal the performance of the securities, transactions, or holdings discussed herein.This podcast may contain forward-looking statements that are based on beliefs, assumptions, current expectations, estimates, and projections about the financial industry, the economy, Motive Partners or Motive Partners' investments. Nothing in the podcast should be construed or relied upon as investment, legal, accounting, tax or other professional advice or in connection with any offer or sale of securities.

Many people had “this crazy idea that regulation is really boring and as a result, it’s been passed over by a lot of the innovation in fintech,” says Jo Ann Barefoot in this week’s episode. Consultants Barefoot and Henri Arslanian share with hosts Brett King and JP Nichols why they think that’s changing.

This week on CFTC Talks, we speak with fintech innovation expert Jo Ann Barefoot from Barefoot Innovation and co-founder of Hummingbird Fintech. Ms. Barefoot has been a regulator, a Senate staffer, and industry consultant and a volunteer in the financial regulatory and consumer movement space. We discuss why she believes we’ve been doing it all wrong and what are the best practices for these areas: fintech, regtech and innovation.

Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

On the Lend Academy Podcast I rarely focus on regulation and compliance. But the reality is there is some innovative work happening in that area as well, particularly in the UK. And our next guest is someone who has deep experience in this area and is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to […] The post Podcast 155: Jo Ann Barefoot of Barefoot Innovation Group appeared first on Lend Academy.

On the Lend Academy Podcast I rarely focus on regulation and compliance. But the reality is there is some innovative work happening in that area as well, particularly in the UK. And our next guest is someone who has deep experience in this area and is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to […] The post Podcast 155: Jo Ann Barefoot of Barefoot Innovation Group appeared first on Lend Academy.

A Conversation with Chris Larsen on Building the Internet of Value. Moderated by Jo Ann Barefoot of Barefoot Innovation Group.

Mental health affect us all, not least when we have financial difficulties or worries. Time to Talk Day opens up the conversation around mental health and removes the taboo, asking all of us to be more open about our mental health. Simon Taylor chaired a panel discussing how financial services can be more astute about mental health and how they can improve the relationship between their products, customers and mental health challenges. We invited along subject matter expert James Routledge from Sanctus, an organisation specifically challenging perceptions of mental health, with the aim of normalising conversations around mental health and how workplaces can better accommodate this, as well as FS experts Ghela Boskovitch and Jo Ann Barefoot and the FCA's Nick Cook to tackle how financial services can offer more frictionless services that better accommodate customers' mental health as well as financial situation. If you’d like to know more, do take a look at some of the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute’s work in the area, and if you’d like to talk about some of the issues raised in the show, visit Sanctus.io, jsbarefoot.com or fca.org.uk. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook. Special Guests: Ghela Boskovich, James Routledge, Jo Ann Barefoot, and Nick Cook.

Though regulation technology might be seen as just another fintech subset, it's anything but. In shifting regulatory and compliance efforts into the digital age, RegTech promises to deliver high speed, low costs and much more efficiency. Jo Ann Barefoot of Barefoot Innovation Group describes how the changes are already making a profound impact and creating new business opportunities in the financial services world.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller. If you want to drill deeper into the topics we discuss weekly here on the show, check out our latest event, Tearsheet Money. We'll be convening June 5th in New York City to hear about the state of the art in fintech and read some of the industry tea leaves with talks from senior executives at firms like JP Morgan, BlackRock, Silicon Valley Bank, Umpqua Bank, and Citizens. I'm excited — I hope you'll join us. Go to http://www.tearsheet.co/events to learn more. I think you can still qualify for early pricing. This week's guest on the podcast is Jo Ann Barefoot. She's the CEO of Barefoot Innovation Group, where she writes, speaks, and advises on technology and regulation, in the U.S. and globally. Jo Ann is a Senior Fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government's Center for Business & Government. Previously, she was the first woman Deputy Comptroller of the Currency. Jo Ann is also the host of the**** **Barefoot Innovation (http://www.jsbarefoot.com/podcast/) **podcast**.** You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as 150 previous episodes in our archive, at our website, www.tearsheet.co. If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on iTunes. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud. Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter, subscribe now. 10,000 industry professionals read our Tearsheet newsletter every week to explore the impact technology is having on the financial services industry. http://www.tearsheet.co/subscribe Here's Jo Ann.

I’m calling this episode “Consulting the Source.” My guest would be the first to say he is not the source of our consumer financial protection rules -- that would be Congress. Still, no one has had more to do with translating law into regulatory form than Leonard Chanin. When Leonard left the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for his current position at the law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, it was big news. American Banker wrote: “Morrison & Foerster can’t say it hired the attorney who wrote the CFPB’s rulebook. But it picked up the guy who started the job.” Actually, Leonard has been involved in the crafting of pretty much all the consumer financial regulations since 1985. And for years he led the legal teams – first at the Fed and then at the CFPB – that wrote them. I consider him the single most expert person in the world on how to write consumer protection regulation in finance. His deep knowledge of the field and his great sense of humor led to a really fun and animated discussion about the challenges of financial regulation. In fact, our conversation continued for nearly another hour after we turned off the microphone. I often find that, after the recorded part of the podcast, my guests go on to say things even more interesting. In Leonard’s case, he said something I’ve been thinking about ever since, and I got his permission to share it. He said, “The only solution is to blow it all up. If we just take what we have and try to improve it, we will fail.” Our regular listeners know I’m at Harvard this year writing a book about modernizing consumer financial protection for the innovation age. I think most people in the financial field agree that the system we have hasn’t worked well. And yet, the course we’re on is exactly the one Leonard says won’t work – taking what we have and just trying to improve it at the margins. The CFPB, of course, is adding vigor and rigor to the effort and having many impacts. Still, this is a good time to examine the basic questions of what works, and whether we could do better. I met with Leonard in his office in Washington, and we explored it all. Can disclosure ever really be effective? What should we do about information overload?  Is it impossible for regulations to be both simple, and clear, at the same time, or do we have to choose between those two goals?  Should we rely more on principles-based regulations instead of detailed rules? When should the law just ban practices, instead of requiring them to be disclosed?  Should we have a regulatory sandbox? Is it worth trying to do better, given the enormous costs the industry incurs every time the rules change? What could we do better now that people can get information instantly on their cell phones? Should government try to protect people from their own mistakes, or just prevent deception and let consumers make their choices? I recently spoke at a conference where I said I think disclosure has largely failed as a consumer protection strategy in finance. Someone afterwards said to me that he thinks it was never meant to work – that it was just the industry’s strategy for preventing tougher regulation. I was involved in a lot of those early efforts, and as I say to Leonard in our talk, it seemed like a good idea at the time, to me. It seemed worth trying. But today, it’s time to think again. (For an interesting analysis of the ineffectiveness of disclosure, see this article by Temple University’s Hosea Harvey. Leonard is currently Of Counsel in the Financial Services group at Morrison & Foerster LLP. He advises clients on issues relating to the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act, Truth in Lending Act, Electronic Fund Transfer Act, Fair Credit Reporting Act, Truth in Savings Act and Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Before rejoining Morrison & Foerster, he was the Assistant Director of the Office of Regulations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, heading the agency’s rule-making team of nearly 40 lawyers. He also provided legal opinions to Bureau supervisory and enforcement offices on federal consumer financial protection laws. Prior to that, he was Deputy Director of the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board. His role there included providing legal opinions and policy recommendations to the Board and the Division on federal consumer financial services laws, negotiating rules and policies with the other federal banking agencies and providing legal views on enforcement actions against state member banks. Leonard’s law degree is from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where he served on the board of the Washington University Law Review. He is a currently a fellow of the American College of Consumer Financial Services Lawyers. So, please enjoy my conversation with Leonard Chanin. And…try my new video series, Regulation Innovation! And be sure to come to my new site, www.RegulationInnovation.com, and sign up for my new series of video briefings!  I’ve posted a short trailer (EMBED?) explaining the videos as a roadmap for navigating through the two toughest challenges facing every financial company – how to thrive on all this regulatory and technology. You can try it out and get started very easily. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Support the Podcast Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", in TuneIn, or in iTunes.   

Welcome to our first episode focused on Bitcoin, digital currency, and the blockchain. My guest is one of the most thoughtful people anywhere on this topic and on payments overall: Circle CEO and Founder Jeremy Allaire. I met with Jeremy at his office in south Boston's "Innovation District," a few blocks from where I live myself. They have quintessential startup space in an old brick warehouse, and we sat down on a New England winter day for a really fascinating conversation. I often talk about the five huge technology trends that are revolutionizing financial services. Number 4 on my list is digital currency. Not long ago, even senior leaders in banks and regulatory agencies dismissed Bitcoin as insignificant and weird at best, and dangerous at worst. Today, many people still think it's weird and dangerous, but no one thinks it's unimportant. I'm going to assume our listeners know the basics - that Bitcoin invented the "blockchain," which is an open "distributed ledger" of transactions, visible on the internet, and that being on the internet makes it (like everything else there) instant and free. Most people also understand that this can transform our slow, high-cost payments system, and also any other system that is, in effect, a chain of transactions or records. Most people also know the blockchain record is unfakeable, unbreakable, and again, visible - attributes that can fundamentally change how we organize things from money and contracts and legal titles to operational systems and markets of all kinds. I once wrote a blog post called "The Benefits of Bitcoin", arguing that the cheap and instant movement of money can bring incredible upside potential for financial consumers, as well as new risks. It will eventually change everything from remittance services to the struggles facing people on tight budgets who now rely on cash, since it's the only way to be sure a bill gets paid exactly when it's due. As understanding of Bitcoin has spread, a new conventional wisdom has emerged - the notion that the crucial innovation here is not digital currency, but rather the blockchain, including closed chains inside companies and closed networks. In our conversation, Jeremy challenges that idea head-on. He argues passionately that the big power in this technology is its openness. He reminds us, for one thing, that the internet initially spurred hot debate over how to secure the unprecedented free-flow of information. In a widely-circulated article on re/code.com last November Jeremy wrote,  "Remember, the Internet was unreliable, insecure, and filled with creeps and hackers. People wanted safe, secure, trusted and proprietary networks. That was the future...(yet) We all know what happened. Smart creators and engineers from all around the world got inspired by the open Internet...Permissionless innovation took hold, and we changed the world." He thinks we now need to take the basic DNA of the Internet - open protocols and distributed and decentralized networks - and apply them not just to sharing data and information, but to the sharing of value. He also emphasizes a core power of this - the fact that if you don't have to trust a single centralized institution to facilitate value exchange, amazing things become possible. Jeremy refers to bitcoin as a distributor of trust, one that "provides a highly secure ledger to exchange value around the world." He believes that just as the early Internet disrupted media and communications, this wave of innovation will transform the "trust and assurance" industries - "which includes government, law, accounting, insurance and, last but not least, finance." Entering into a global economy in which everything from social identities to commerce flow instantly and freely is discomfiting to some. Even though today's closed and proprietary technology and networks create frustration and high costs for consumers, Bitcoin critics still doubt the soundness and resilience of the model. For innovators like Jeremy, though, it is creating a whole new set of solutions that use financial technology to build "smart rules" and business logic that can eventually shape the new laws of global commercial and legal governance. Jeremy's "aha" moment on this came in 2012, and inspired him to start a company that would use blockchain technology, which he calls the "global trust and transaction ledger," to change the way we store and use money. That company is Circle, a provider of mobile apps "aimed at enabling greater ease-of-use in online and in-person payments, enhanced security and privacy for customers, and the convenience of free, instant, global digital money transfers." A revolutionary idea. As I say in our conversation, I'm a Circle customer myself.  Every time I use it, it amazes me. Before Circle, Jeremy was an entrepreneur who'd already spent two decades building and leading global technology companies. His first startup, Allaire Corp, pioneered the use of the Web as a platform for commerce and business applications, and grew to serve over 1 million customers around the world. In 2000, Allaire Corp was acquired by Macromedia, where Jeremy became Chief Technology Officer and helped transform Flash into a platform for rich applications and video that became the most widely adopted piece of software in the history of computing. He then founded Brightcove, the first Internet video publishing platform for websites, smartphones, tablets and connected-TVs. The company has customers in more than 100 countries and powers video operations for 25 percent of the top 10,000 websites in the world. From 2003 to 2014, Jeremy also served as a Director at Ping Identity Corporation, an industry-leading software and online service provider for securing identity on the Internet whose clients include many of the largest financial institutions in the world.   In our conversation, Jeremy explains his vision, his long background in technology, how Circle works, their business model and plans, and his thoughts about regulation of finance and fintech.  The regulatory challenges are obviously huge. Circle sought and received the first-ever (and at this writing, still only) New York State "bit-license." Jeremy talks about the challenges of becoming licensed as a money transmitter in the U. S. state-by-state regulatory patchwork. He also recognizes that, importantly, governments throughout the country and the world see potential as well as risk in these innovations. An example is that Jennifer Shasky Calvery, Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, has testified before Congress that FinCENrecognizes the "potential for abuse by illicit actors," and that the agency has for almost five years worked with its regulatory partners on designing rules that provide the "needed flexibility to accommodate innovation in the payment systems space under our preexisting regulatory framework." Jeremy Allaire has an exceptional gift for making mind-bending technology and regulatory challenges easy to understand - and for provoking thought. This is, without a doubt, one of the most fascinating episodes we've had. Enjoy it, and please be sure to click the "Donate" button HERE, and to write a review on ITunes, to keep supporting the show. And.....Introducing my video series: Regulation Innovation Meanwhile, I have a video for you -- two of them, actually. Many listeners know I have long been a consultant to the financial industry, first on regulatory matters and more recently on fintech. A couple of years ago, someone suggested that I take the kind of advice people pay me for as a consultant, and distill it into video briefings that are accessible and affordable for a much wider market. It was a great idea, and so I began building a video series offering my advice. I've focused the videos on the most important question facing consumer financial services -- How to survive, and actually thrive, through the twin disruptions that are hitting the industry:  technology innovation, and regulation. I think everyone in fintech will enjoy them, but the series is specifically designed as a guide for financial companies - it's informative, thought-provoking, and practical. It's for both traditional companies and innovators. And it's for the people working on innovation, regulation, and building the business. I am very confident in saying there is nothing else remotely like it.  Please check it out! And while you're there, check out my little bonus video because it answers, at long last, this burning question: "Why does Jo Ann Barefoot have an Xbox, since she's never played a videogame in her entire life, and what the heck does this have to do with financial innovation?" www.regulationinnovation.com. See you there! If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Support the Podcast Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", in TuneIn, or in iTunes.   

This is one of my favorite episodes we've ever done - my conversation with Digit founder and CEO, Ethan Bloch. Digit has set out to solve one of the core problems in consumers' financial lives - how to save. Their solution is to make savings effortless, using an intelligent algorithm that analyzes your spending and income patterns and automatically moves funds into savings. I had dinner with Ethan last summer and suddenly realized he was describing an "Uberization" of savings, paralleling the financial industry's efforts to "uberize" payments, in the sense of making the mechanics disappear, like the non-exchange of money at the end of an Uber ride.  Out of sight, out of mind. With Digit, you sign up, and you automatically start to save. I had always assumed that getting people to save requires fostering mindfulness - getting people to think long term instead of short term. Digit is going in the opposite direction - not mindfulness, but mindlessness. Again, effortlessness. Instead of hoping people will form habits that keep them focused all the time, on saving Digit just lets them decide to save one time. After that, they save. He's trying to drive the "minutes per year" spent on saving to nearly zero. No more budgets, expense tracking, figuring how much you should save and can save and did save. They're breaking all those practical barriers that keep most people stuck. I know it bothers some people to have consumers saving without thinking. We wish, instead, that everyone would become financially educated and focus on their life goals - you could call it developing the financial virtues. There are innovators working on that approach, too, using behavioral economics to get people motivated. Still, if the eat-your-spinach approach was going to work, it probably would have by now. It's time to try new tools. I know other companies working from the same logic. And here's an interesting twist. After Digit gets people started on effortless saving, they actually do switch over to mindfulness. They start texting their customers about daily savings progress. And they do it with humor which, as I've been saying, is a secret weapons of many fintech innovators. They are blowing up the boredom factor that keeps so many people from focusing on their finances. I asked Ethan for examples of this. Unfortunately I didn't get the jokes because they're aimed at millennials, but if you -- unlike me -- happen to know what's cooler than cool, Digit will send you this fun GIF.   Speaking of millennials, Digit's average user is 27 years old. Some people want to dismiss fintech solutions for this group, because so many other consumers need tools too My answer to that is, the millennials are the early adopters of new technology. It makes sense to start with them. As these products get traction, they will broaden.  Listen to Ethan, and many of our other guests, and you hear a big vision about remaking the financial lives of everyone. (And by the way, we do have a show coming up with Bee, which is reaching for a very different market.) At the age of 30, Ethan is at the forefront of the fintech revolution. Digit is a winner of the Financial Solutions Lab competition sponsored by CFSI and JPMorgan Chase, which focused its first year on solutions for the more than one-third of Americans who struggle with managing cash flow management. (Recall that another winner was Ascend - we talked with its founder, Steve Carlson, in Episode 9). Ethan explains how much money Digit has saved people so far (by the way, we recorded this discussion late last year, so his progress data are for 2015, not 2016). He explains how customers are using the savings they build up. He describes their investors and business model and plans. And he talks about how to design great financial tools, that are like smart phones - that people can just pick up and use, without needing manuals, much less lengthy federal disclosure documents. Speaking of those, Ethan really calls out the failures of disclosures. He also discusses the shift underway toward a more principles-based approach (echoing our episodes with other guests, including Thomas Curry). He describes, too, the huge obstacles to innovation that arise from well-intentioned government efforts, including the difficulties innovators face in working with banks. Ethan also had the most surprising answer I've gotten yet to my standard question on how he keeps up with technology change. Finally, for our many listeners who play Barefoot Innovation while you're carpooling to school in hopes it will inspire your kids to grow up and found the next PayPal, I should say I'm rating this episode PG-13, for language. Ethan uses a few words in our conversation that...let's put this way, you hardly ever hear them on National Public Radio. Learn more at www.digit.co and @hellodigit and @ebloch and find further links below: On banks opening up their APIs The book "Rainbow's End" CFSI's research on the U.S. Financial Diaries Note to Our Listeners: If you're enjoying Barefoot Innovation, please be sure write a review on ITunes and also click the Donate button, to help us can keep it growing! Last but not least, I am finally launching my long-in-the-making video series, Regulation Innovation. It's for people in the financial world contending with the top two disruptive challenges - regulation and technology innovation. It for both business and regulatory people, and for both traditional companies and innovators. I'll have much more information coming on this, but please come to www.jsbarefoot.com in March, and check it out!  I promise, there is nothing else remotely like it. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Support the Podcast Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", in TuneIn, or in iTunes.    

Dominic Venturo, CIO of US Bank Visiting Dominic Venturo is a little like walking onto a James Bond movie set during the Q gadget briefing scene. There is a wonderful "wow" factor in encountering the most fascinating new technologies in banking. The title "CIO" used to mean Chief Information Officer. It still does, of course, but today that "I" increasingly stands for another word too:  innovation. Dominic Venturo, the Chief Innovation Officer of U.S. Bank, reflects a growing trend of banks assigning specialized leaders to spearhead their work in innovative technology. U.S. Bank actually took this step long ago. As we learned in Episode 12 with CEO Richard Davis, this is the country's fifth largest bank, and its focus on innovation caused them to name Dominic for this role eight years ago. In fact, he was such an early user of Twitter that he got the extremely cool handle @innov8tr (be sure to follow him on Twitter - he's one of my favorites). I always love hearing the backgrounds of our podcast guests, and especially noticing how they break down between people with financial backgrounds, and people with anything but.  Dominic is a career banker with 16 years at U.S. Bank and 26 years overall in financial services product development and management, commercial risk management, commercial lending and sales management. He talked with me about how he's complemented that background with a wide mix of the other skills. He has 25 people, including many who, as he says, probably "spent a lot of time in the principal's office." In our conversation, he talks about how to make these trouble-makers highly productive and more broadly about the "art" of making great innovation happen inside a big company.  There's a lot of conventional advice about that challenge, including the need to wall-off the innovators. Dominic agrees with that, and also emphasizes that innovation must be a full-time job - he thinks it's delusional to imagine that part-time people will somehow stay on top of today's tech trends by catching up on their reading backlog after hours. At the same time, he talks a lot about how to keep innovation focused on the practical. One key, he says, is that "innovation loves constraints." Another is not to start with an abstract white board session, dreaming up brilliant solutions in search of problems, but rather to focus on finding the real problems that need to be solved - especially problems impacting the customer. When you do that, your bank will usually want them, even if implementation is going to take some work. At the same time, though, the practical focus has to be balanced with imagination and vision. Dominic's group tries to look 3-5 years ahead in thinking about the bank's operations, and at how people are behaving differently and doing jobs differently. They brainstorm trends and find the insights that will reshape markets and technologies. One key to getting this balance right is to set up new kinds of success metrics. Dominic discusses the dissonance between bank cultures built to keep risks and failures extremely low, versus innovation that requires trying a lot of things that will fail.  Financial companies need new ways to keep score. Our conversation also covered the downside risks that innovation creates for consumers; his thoughts on how regulation impacts innovation; and his advice on how to keep up with technology change. As I mentioned in my year-end wrap up, I always advise bankers to attend some fintech conferences. Dominic shares his list of favorites, including Finovate, Bank Innovation, and SXSW (I'll see you there this year, and also check out my end-of-year interview with Chuck Harris of Netspend for my own list of suggestions, including Emerge). We also got Dominic's recommendations for fintech trend-watching: Wall Street Journal Personal Tech, TechCrunch, and qz.com. And last but not least, again, I recommend following him on Twitter for cutting edge insight on tech trends, mixed with humor, such as on much needed respites from the content overload. Dominic's background: A few highlights on Dominic's background. He is frequently featured as a keynote speaker at industry conferences and has been recognized by Bank Innovation as a Top Innovator in Financial Services (#3, 2013), Bank Systems & Technology as one of "Elite 8" CIOs (2012), Twin Cities Business Magazine as one of "200 Minnesotans You Should Know" (2011), "Bank Technology News as "Mobile Banker of the Year" (2011) and as "Top 10 Innovator" (2009) and by Paybefore Magazine as a "Top 5 Innovator" (2011). He also serves on the board of directors of the Minnesota Community and Technical College Foundation. He earned a bachelor's degree in finance from Oregon State University and is a graduate of the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington Graduate School of Banking. The Q Factor: In our discussion, Dominic shares examples of innovation successes at U.S. Bank, including "advances in mobile payments, voice bio-metrics, tokenization and integrated mobile and web commerce solutions." As often happens, though, I found that our discussion got even more interesting after we turned off the microphone. He showed me an amazing product demo that's still embargoed but that really wowed me. And we talked about the Internet of Things. And then, he admired my iPhone 6s - we met just after they came out, and I'd gotten one before he did. He started talking about the Live Photo tool, which he described as "Harry Potter feature."  As often happens with me, I had a cool feature on my phone without even realizing it. So we recorded a little bonus feature as he showed me how to make a photo animation that looks a bit like the living portraits in Harry Potter's world. These are fun, as is my Google Photo tool dreaming up little animations for me using the photos I've taken. If you have Live Photo and don't know how to use it, here it is.  Enjoy my conversation with Dominic Venturo. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Support the podcast Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes.    

I am absolutely delighted to share today's episode -- my conversation with Michael Barr. Most of our listeners know Michael as the former Assistant Treasury Secretary for Financial Institutions who shepherded the Obama administration's efforts on the Dodd-Frank financial reform law. Fewer people may know of his role in developing the proposal for, and negotiating the enactment of, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is when I got to know him.  He is now back at the University of Michigan (my own alma mater) as a law professor, and continues to be very active across a wide spectrum of consumer finance and financial regulation activities, and also on lending to small businesses. Michael has thought hard about the toughest challenges in consumer finance, drawing on both his government experience and his academic activities (among other things, he's a Rhodes Scholar). He also works extensively with innovators and nonprofits. In our conversation he offers insights on some of the most critical topics facing consumer finance. Perhaps the most central principle driving his ideas is behavioral economics - coming to grips with the reality that consumers are not perfectly rational, and don't have perfect information, in making financial decisions. "We ought to design both products and policy around the way human beings actually make decisions and behave," Michael tells me. See below for links to his research on this, including his paper "Behaviorally-Informed Regulation." One result of his behavioral focus is a refreshing readiness to rethink consumer financial education. At one point he says, "just as we couldn't explain how our smartphones operate," financial consumers don't necessarily need to know how financial products are designed, in order to use them effectively. He thinks, as I do, that today's technology can create simple new tools that nearly anyone can use, whether they have a sophisticated financial education, or not. Another issue he raises is his involvement in developing the "small business borrowers' bill of rights" (see our earlier podcast discussing this with Brian Graham of BancAlliance). There is growing concern that online small business lending is creating borrower risks as well as opportunities, especially as America shifts toward the so-called 1099 economy and more people run small businesses in ways that closely parallel consumer finance. Michael also explores the challenge of crafting regulation that enables innovation while still blocking harm. He says regulators sometimes allow harmful practices to emerge and grow until they hit a "tipping point," at which point they drive industry standards so low that good companies can't survive without adopting activities they would rather avoid.  I agree with him that this is a key challenge, especially as innovation accelerates.  If regulators intervene too early and aggressively, we'll have the government designing our financial products, instead of the market doing so.  On the other hand, if they are too passive or too late in addressing really harmful practices - especially if they wait until after that tipping point has actually tipped - they will fail to protect large numbers of people from harm, and they may also find it difficult to act.  Once products are widespread, there are strong political forces ready to defend them, as well as practical problems with potential regulatory impacts on businesses and sometimes even the financial system itself. I asked Michael for his advice about these kinds of challenges, for all the players in this ecosystem. I think you'll find his answers really interesting, including some thoughts he shares about the logic behind the design of the CFPB. I also asked him whether we might be moving toward a fundamentally new market model, in which technology-driven transparency will require financial companies to compete mostly on winning and keeping people's trust. His answer to that is thought-provoking, too. Michael was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Institutions from 2009-2010. He previously served as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin's Special Assistant, as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Community Development Policy, as Special Advisor to President Bill Clinton, as Special Advisor and Counselor on the Policy Planning Staff at the State Department, and as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice David H. Souter.  He received his J.D. from Yale Law School, an M. Phil in International Relations from Magdalen College, Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, and his B.A., summa cum laude, with Honors in History, from Yale University. His activities today include serving on the boards of Lending Club (in Episode 5 we interviewed CEO Renaud LaPlanche) and Ripple, as well as ideas42, a behavioral economics research and development lab. He's on the FDIC Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion and the Washington Center for Equitable Growth. He's on the advisory board of CFSI and has advised its U.S. Financial Diaries Project (see our interview with Jennifer Tescher of CFSI for more). He is also a fellow at the Filene Research Institute. In his current role as Roy F. and Jean Humphrey Proffitt Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, Michael teaches courses in domestic and international financial regulation. He's also been instrumental in forming the University of Michigan's Center on Finance, Law and Policy, which integrates finance, law, business, and computer science to work on difficult problems facing the world, including how to make the financial system fairer and safer. I highly encourage you to peruse his faculty website to find more resources. Below you can find links to works referenced in the episode: Small Business Borrowers' Bill of Rights Michael's latest book "No Slack: The Financial Lives of Low-Income Americans" Hamilton Project paper on increasing access to capital for minority and women entrepreneurs Michael's paper on Behaviorally Informed Regulation co-authored with Sendhil Mullainathan, Harvard University and Eldar Shafir, Princeton University And here is the site of the FDIC's Advisory Committee on Economic Inclusion                  Enjoy my conversation with Michael Barr! If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes.    

Welcome to Barefoot innovation as we start into a fresh new year. Being appreciated! We are kicking off 2016 with a wonderful guest, Nitish Pandey of BMO, and also with exciting momentum for Barefoot Innovation. In December, we were named one of the top 9 fintech podcasts by FintechNews Switzerland. We are delighted to be counted among the best in the world, including the Breaking Banks show of my friend Brett King.  (If you’re enjoying Barefoot Innovation, please do consider donating to our efforts to produce it using the button below!)  Innovation Nation – fintech in the UK That recognition of our series was especially timely, because I was in London at the time to participate in a roundtable of the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority on the topic of today’s podcast. The FCA has taken the lead globally in proposing creation of a “regulatory sandbox” – a safe space in which financial innovators can experiment with ideas that might benefit consumers, but that could hit trip wires or raise concerns under today’s rules. Americans should focus on this: the U.K. has adopted a national strategy, from its top leaders on down, of becoming the fintech capital of the world.  One facet of that strategy is the FCA’s launch ofProject Innovate, which has  goals like this one:  “We promote competition through disruptive innovation − innovation that offers new services to customers and challenges existing business models.”  Consider that language – the regulator is explicitly “promoting…disruptive innovation.” The FCA’s efforts include creating an Innovation HUB that provides support for promising innovation, and a methodical review of how regulation impacts innovation. Last year they formally requested public input on two crucial questions: what regulations are impeding beneficial innovation, and is there a need for new regulations to foster innovation? While digesting the resulting comments, they put out their proposal on the sandbox concept. They’ve been sharing these ideas globally and exploring very creative approaches, like whether it would make sense to create a “virtual sandbox” in which innovators could test certain ideas through shared data, without exposing real consumers to any risk at all. Lawrence Wintermeyer of Innovate Finance, speaking at the FCA’s December sandbox roundtable, cited growing excitement around both “fintech” and “regtech.” He argued that London has the “tech” of the U.S. west coast, the “fin” of New York, and the “reg” of Washington – all clustered in one city where everyone can get together by public transport in fifteen minutes. The U.K. has other innovation advantages over the U.S., including a more concentrated banking system and a much simpler regulatory structure.  Startups are also attracted by the ability to “passport” UK activities throughout the European Union, offering easy access to large markets. All this contrasts sharply with the U.S. model in which innovators seeking national scale must undertake the complex process of securing either a bank charter or 50 state licenses, or both. Still, part of London’s innovation success clearly stems from deciding to value the upside promise of innovation, in addition to policing the very real downside risk. The FCA’s efforts include a conscious effort to be nimble – something that does not come easily to any regulatory system. The resulting vibrancy is palpable. On this side of the Atlantic In the U.S., the same thinking is gaining traction. Comptroller of the Currency Tom Curry has appointed anew task force for Responsible Innovation, as we discussed in our recent episode with him. The CFPB has its Project Catalyst innovation lab, and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco held a conference last fall on the “(R)evolution Underway” in financial services, addressing “how technological changes are presenting opportunities and challenges for financial institutions while compelling regulatory agencies to think about how innovation impacts the supervisory process.” These U.S. discussions increasingly include exploration of creating a regulatory sandbox – which brings me to our guest for this episode. Nitish Pandey is Senior Vice-President & Chief Legal Officer, U.S. Personal & Commercial Banking, for BMO Financial Group of BMO Harris. He believes our financial ecosystem needs a safe sandbox in which to innovate (as did Jesse McWaters and Rob Galaski in our episode on the “Secrets of Fintech”). Nitish and I started discussing the sandbox concept last summer (before the U.K.’s proposal). I’d convened a roundtable on disruption of consumer finance and how to (and not to) regulate it. Nitish, whom I’ve known for years, came to the meeting armed with the most specific blueprint I had seen on these ideas. In the months since then, he’s refined it and shared it publically several times. The goal of a sandbox approach is to allow testing of pro-consumer innovation, while assuring that customers are still well-protected.  The issue has endless subtopics. For instance, is a sandbox really needed? How do current rules impede innovation -- if they do – and which ones are most problematic? Is it appropriate to use the concept of “risk tolerance” in consumer protection?  If so, can risks be defined? Can they be quantified and measured? And, if a sandbox would help, how should it be designed? Do regulators have the legal power to waive or suspend rules to allow experimentation and if not, should they? What standards should innovators have to meet? How would experiments be time-limited? What standards should be used to permit them, and to judge their success? If new ideas prove out, should they be publicized? Should the whole market be allowed to adopt them? If so, would this require extensive rewriting of current rules? Will innovators have sufficient incentive to enter the sandbox, if competitors can simply adopt the ideas they pilot (in contrast to, say, government approval of new drugs after testing that ultimately produce patents)?  How can innovators protect their confidential intellectual property?  Would agency pre-review of sandbox proposals bog innovation down in bureaucracy, defeating the purpose of the whole exercise? And perhaps most importantly, how should consumers in a sandbox be protected? What limits should be placed on potential harm to them? Should they be compensated for any harm and if so, how? What disclosures should they receive? Should they have to give consent? How would harm be quantified? While Nitish doesn’t try to answer all of these questions, he tackles many of the hardest ones. And he pinpoints a core issue that’s widely underestimated. The problem is not just rigid and potentially counterproductive regulatory requirements. It’s also the sheer cost and effort of implementing full-scope compliance for virtually any change.  If businesses can’t inexpensively test how customers would respond to an innovation, they won’t offer it. And they can’t test real-life response to new ideas today, without also building out massive compliance machinery – Nitish calls it the “pipes” – affecting nearly every function of the company. We’re in a “Lean Startup” world today where innovators grow by designing and refining a minimum viable product (MVP) through quick, intensive consumer interaction. Traditional companies can’t do this well, partly because their compliance systems weigh them down. Nitish has ideas how to design and execute a practical solution for this – without going bureaucrazy! Compliance as innovator? While I had Nitish with me, I also took the chance to have him share his advice on the revolution underway in the compliance function. He is the first bank compliance manager we’ve had as a guest, and a visionary in the field. He believes, as I do, that consumer financial protection is migrating from a rules-based system to an increasingly principles-based one. That shift is bringing permanent uncertainty which, in turn, requires deeply remaking the compliance management model. “It used to be, if you knew your regulations, you were fine,” he says in our discussion, whereas today’s compliance manager is a “true risk management professional who can be creative in the process and demonstrate excellent judgment as we rapidly move into an increasingly gray world.” He lays out the new role of compliance in today’s bank, why it’s needed, the key changes required, and how to make it happen. Nitish’s insight derives partly from his broad background. He has undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in Law, Economics and Management in his native Australia and has held positions ranging from marketing to nearly every facet of risk management. He spent a decade at American Express in Compliance, Risk Management and Operations, focusing on consumer, small business and commercial portfolios. He was Deputy Chief Compliance Officer for American Express Centurion Bank, responsible for the oversight and implementation of the bank’s Compliance Program. In November 2014 he joined BMO as Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) for U.S. Personal and Commercial Banking. I hope you enjoy my talk with him as much as I did! More Links: BMO Bank Nitish’s slides from his presentation  The FCA's Project Innovate The FCA’s Paper on the “Regulatory Sandbox”  The CFPB’s Project Catalyst CFSI’s research on consumer financial wellness If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes.    

My conversation with Chuck Harris, President of NetSpend, is our final episode for 2015. Thinking back on the brief eight months since we launched Barefoot Innovation, I’m struck by the enormous terrain we’ve covered. As we start into the new year, I’ll be sharing my own thoughts on what I’ve been learning from these discussions.   For now, though, enjoy listening to Chuck Harris, who touched on many of the major themes we have explored so far: the rise of fintech, prepaid cards, mobile platforms, mission-oriented companies, non-bank providers, partnerships, financial inclusion the underserved and underestimated consumers, regulatory challenges, uncertainty, and most of all excitement. Like some of our other guests, Chuck Harris leads a young company in a field, prepaid cards, that didn’t even exist until well into his career.  He says he feels lucky to have “stumbled” into a role that combines good business with doing good, a mix that is both challenging and rewarding (a sentiment expressed by many previous guests). It’s interesting that this episode follows on the heels of my discussion with the Comptroller of the Currency, Tom Curry, as it shares a common emphasis on the need for a new kind of collaboration as the financial sector undergoes disruption, including between industry and regulators. I think this kind of new dialogue is starting to emerge – a topic we’ll spend time on in 2016. NetSpend was established in 1999 as a way for “college kids to spend money,” and has since grown into a leading provider of reloadable prepaid cards and related financial services. It focuses on consumers that Chuck calls “self-banked” – the people often referred to as un- or under-banked. NetSpend seeks to empower the self-banked with FDIC-insured offerings through its network of over 70,000 distribution locations and 130,000 reload points. They have helped more than 10 million consumers make purchases, pay bills and manage their money without needing a checking account or credit history. In addition to prepaid cards, NetSpend offers a range of services including P2P and standard bank transfers, online and mobile apps, and budgeting tools. You can learn more about them at www.netSpend.com. Chuck joined the company 2010 after serving as general manager of the payment solutions division of Intuit. He previously held multiple positions for Electronic Clearing House, including President and CEO, President and COO, and as a director. He has also held leadership roles with Chase Paymentech, including as President and CEO of Merchant Link, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chase Paymentech.  He holds a B.B.A. in finance from the University of Texas at Austin. We recorded this conversation at the Money 20/20 Conference in Las Vegas, where Chuck and I both were speakers. That fact prompts me to suggest a new year’s resolution for our listeners, especially those in traditional financial fields: attend a fintech conference in 2016. Money 20/20 is the biggest, absolutely packed with energy and ideas and about 10,000 people. And I always recommend CFSI’s Emerge conference, which uniquely explores how new technology can benefit both providers and consumers.   (remember that I serve on CFSI’s board of directors). People often ask me how to learn quickly about innovation. For most, the best first step is to immerse in in the excitement of a tech conference. 2016 preview….and please consider donating: Barefoot Innovation will return in the New Year with a widening dialogue and extremely interesting guests. The early lineup will include one of the architects of Dodd-Frank; a primary author of America’s consumer financial protection regulations; a credit counseling leader; a top bank’s chief innovation officer; our first talk with a company built around Bitcoin, the founder of one of my very favorite startups; and a large bank’s compliance officer with detailed suggestions on how to design a “regulatory sandbox.” The sandbox concept -- the idea that fostering financial innovation will sometimes require a regulatory safe space for experimentation – is generating increasing dialogue among both industry and regulators (in fact, I’m heading today for London for a round table with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority on a sandbox proposal they issued this fall.) We’ll explore it in the coming months. The above list of early 2016 guests includes only the episodes we’ve already recorded! They are full of insights and surprises (I’m even rating one of them PG-13). We have many more people set to talk with us, including leading regulators, bankers, non-bank executives, tech experts, compliance experts, policymakers, and many, many startups and other innovators. The robustness of the schedule reflects the fact that Barefoot Innovation has been growing far faster than I expected, and has in fact evolved into a major undertaking for me and the two young people who help me produce it.  If you’re enjoying the series and want to keep more episodes coming, let me encourage you to provide support for it, in any amount you like.  Meanwhile, I wish you all a holiday season filled with peace and joy, and will look forward to connecting in the New Year. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes.    

I’m delighted to be able to share with you this very special episode of Barefoot Innovation, because my guest is the 30th Comptroller of the Currency, Thomas J. Curry. Our conversation is a particular treat for me, because I myself am a proud alum of the OCC. Many years ago I was the first women Deputy Comptroller of the Currency and also the youngest to serve in that role. My worldview has always been shaped by that experience – by the agency’s tradition of excellence, the weight of its mission, and the talent of its people, including, now, its far-flung diaspora. At the Comptroller’s office in southwest Washington, I think everyone probably notices the interesting juxtaposition of its modern architecture and bright, open work space on the one hand, with its prominent display of the historical portraits of former comptrollers on the other. Those portraits embody a legacy that dates back to the Civil War. Congress passed the National Currency Act of 1863 to replace the existing, unstable system of bank notes – hence the agency’s non-descriptive, rather archaic name. For listeners who are not steeped in bank regulation, this is the primary regulator of all national banks. It’s an independent bureau of the Treasury Department, and is called, for short, the “OCC,” for Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It is our oldest bank supervisory agency. The OCC has 4,000 employees, in 91 locations (including London). It oversees more than 1,600 national banks and federal savings associations and 50 federal branches and agencies of foreign banks. It charters federal financial institutions, supervises them for safety and soundness, and retains some consumer protection responsibilities even after most of that role transferred to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It also retains regulatory power under the Community Reinvestment Act. The blending of old and new reflected in the oil paintings is a metaphor for the thing that prompted me reach out to Tom Curry. Last summer, he established an OCC task force on Responsible Innovation, asking a team of his senior leaders to undertake a focused examination of how technology is reshaping financial services, and how best to regulate the huge changes ahead – the kinds of issues we talk about in this series.  The team is exploring this inflection point in finance. How is technology likely to disrupt the traditional banking industry? Will banks – especially community banks – lose market share  to innovators, including those with simple, mono-line strategies and relatively low regulation? How should regulation protect consumers? And remember, this is a prudential regulator, and so they are especially grappling with the question of how best to protect the financial system itself. As you will hear, Tom Curry has many preliminary thoughts on those questions. He cautions against getting swept up in innovation fads, some of which end badly, as recent history has shown. He also talks candidly about the fact that regulators are not wired to look at the upside opportunity of change – they are culturally primed to see the risk in things, to say “no.” Shifting that mindset will be a challenge. He believes the future lies in collaboration – that traditional institutions and innovators together can lead the industry toward a future of responsible innovation, one that works for customers and communities and for providers. He said, “We’re still early in the process, so I can’t tell you exactly where we’ll end up,” but he has made a priority of understanding these new trends, including positioning the OCC to “quickly evaluate those products that require regulatory approval and identify any risks associated with them.” Before joining the OCC in 2012, Mr. Curry served as a director of the FDIC beginning in January 2004 and as Chairman of the NeighborWorks® America Board of Directors. He previously served five Massachusetts Governors as the Commonwealth's Commissioner of Banks and as First Deputy Commissioner and Assistant General Counsel within the Massachusetts Division of Banks. He entered state government in 1982 as an attorney with the Massachusetts’ Secretary of State’s Office. A veteran of the dual-banking system, Mr. Curry also chaired the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and served on the State Liaison Committee of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), including as chairman. Even back in my days at the OCC, we saw ourselves as innovating in a time of rapid change in technology and industry structure. My own unit was an innovation – I led the establishment of the initial OCC consumer protection function. The OCC itself was old then, and is older now. It was and is a learning organization, about the evolving financial system and about how to regulate it. I’ve been able to talk with most of the members of the new innovation task force, and I’m extremely impressed with what they’re doing. Even the bitcoin blogosphere is excited to see what they have in store. So please enjoy this unique opportunity to hear from one of our preeminent financial regulators, Thomas Curry. And, as mentioned in the episode, click below to find: Remarks by Thomas Curry before the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago on Responsible Innovation 2013 amendments to third party vendor management guidelines The OCC’s white paper on community banks Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes.                  

If I had to choose just one episode of Barefoot Innovation to introduce listeners to the series, this is it. My guests are Jesse McWaters of the World Economic Forum and Rob Galasky of Monitor Deloitte, who co-led the WEF's landmark research project on financial technology (executive summary here).  Switzerland-based WEF focuses on public/private collaboration and is best known for hosting the annual global forum in Davos. When I first read news accounts of this report, I reached out immediately to Jesse and (new father) Rob to ask them to join our dialogue. It took some time to get together, but we finally met at the WEF offices in New York. It was more than worth the wait. They launched their study of the global evolution of fintech at the Davos meeting in 2014. By the summer of 2015, they had crystallized the keys to understanding it. Their work is built on extensive interviews and on the technique I increasingly see as the key to progress -- convening disparate participants. They held six meetings with traditional financial institutions, disruptive innovators, and regulators in the same room, grappling with the coming change. In their early meetings, the financial industry executives were interested in fintech and wanted to monitor it, but were not worried - Jesse and Rob call them "tepid" about its urgency. By the end, this view had reversed. My guests use words like "bewilderment," "paranoia," "enemies" and "invading the fortress" as they describe the financial industry's rising concern. They also see these concerns starting to give way to hopefulness about the opportunities. The 193-page study has a global scope, emphasizes the developed world, and looks at eleven areas where innovation is driving transformation. What's working? Here are some of the insights Jesse and Rob share in our conversation: While today's banks feel besieged by disruptors on all fronts, the study shows that innovators are actually mainly targeting specific spots where two key factors intersect - that is, where high friction and customer frustration exist in products that are highly profitable. One participant said they are, "skimming the cream." Recognizing these points of vulnerability can guide traditional companies in what to defend and where to allocate capital. The emerging models have certain key attributes -- they are platform-based, modular, data-intensive, and "capital-lite." The disruptors focus on "shadow" or "fringe" areas, avoiding the heavily regulated core world of deposit-taking financial institutions. They are serious about complying with regulations, but strategically choose the rules to which they will subject their businesses. They are using established assets to scale up, a la Uber, rather than investing in a long, expensive process of creating their own products and infrastructures. They are actively partnering with established institutions for this leveraging of both existing assets and infrastructure and also "regulatory permissions." (Interestingly, this is drawing some major investment companies into retail markets for the first time.) They are focused on controlling the customer experience, using their superior platforms and data analytics. A key subset are "mission-oriented" entities creating inclusive and affordable services to consumers and small businesses. Jesse and Rob mentioned Active Hours and LendUp as U.S. examples, in addition to the huge global potential in emerging markets. Advice to industry: Jesse and Rob discuss how all this is impacting the traditional industry, including this advice: Don't count out banks as an "old world industry." Address the twin pressures of having aging legacy operating systems and processes, clashing with the high demands of today's consumers, especially millennials. People increasingly want personalized, bespoke, low-cost services and are ready to trust online providers. Review and clean out the accumulation of old policies and procedures that prevent banks from creating a great customer experience. Don't make the mistake of viewing fintech as a one-year budget issue. Create a new enterprise-wide, multi-year investment model that is not controlled by the current owners of the business line P&L's. Explore merging models for learning, partnering, and "coexistence." Evaluate the wisdom, or folly, of essentially "outsourcing R&D" to the venture capital world until it figures out the winners and losers. Consider that financial institutions may be major players in shaping what will win and what will lose, especially since they have capital. Use their suggestions on how do innovation inside a traditional company. Expect upward age migration of fintech adoption - don't expect to retain even older customers to the end of their lives in old-style products. Watch for big changes in insurance offering options for bespoke, advisory, concierge models and radically new value propositions (they mention Oscar in the U.S. and Vitality in the UK). Understand the likely sequence in which products will be forced to change, and why - they explain this in our discussion Impacts on consumers: Rob and Jesse predict big changes for consumers, including vastly more choice, hugely better customer experience, better pricing, and much better insight into and control over their own financial lives. They also see rising risks and regulatory needs, including that consumers will be harmed by unsuitable, high risk products. Advice for regulators: Jesse and Rob also have insights for and about regulators. Some of the regulators who joined their meetings were among the most thoughtful people they encountered, but they also warn of a very wide delta between the "leaders and laggers" in the regulatory world. They predict likely regulatory arbitrage if that gap does not close quickly. They also emphasize the need for "regulatory sandboxes" (on that point, watch for our upcoming Barefoot Innovation episode on sandbox innovation with Nitish Pandey of BMO Harris). What next? The project plans to leverage its convening power to tackle further priorities. One is exploring the revolutionary potential of block chain technology and distributed ledgers, including and beyond bitcoin. Another is seeking innovation in managing digital identity, including expanded roles for banks. Might our bank someday help us buy a bottle of wine by sending not only the money, but by verifying our age! Enjoy the episode! References: Here are some of the resources and companies we discussed in this episode: World Economic Forum Full WEF report on The Future of Financial Services ActiveHours (accessing pay that's already earned) LendUp (online lending)                                                                                 Transferwise (payments innovation)                                       Oscar (health insurance in U.S.)                                                  Vitality (health and life insurance in U.K.)    Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes.                         If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate

This episode adds a new dimension to our discussions with innovators, by taking us inside a huge company - American Express. My guest is Courtney Kelso, who leads the Amex product and marketing team in Enterprise Growth. I talked with Courtney about two things. First, their strategic move into creating an inclusive set of services, through Bluebird and Serve. And second, what it takes to innovate inside a big company. Interestingly, the two are linked.  Their work on building an inclusive strategy is the engine of innovation at American Express. Think about trying to drive disruptive innovation in an organization that's not only enormous and global, but is also 165 years old - one of the oldest financial brands anywhere. As Courtney says, American Express was a freight company, moving Americans west in the 1800's. Innovation and adaptation are in its corporate DNA, but change at big companies is hard. And then also think about taking a company like American Express, which has always epitomized elite, high-prestige financial services, and shifting it from being an exclusive brand to an inclusive brand. It's a fascinating saga, full of lessons for everyone. Inclusion within a famously "exclusive" brand The story starts about five years ago, when American Express looked hard at the changes underway in how people think about both money and technology, and especially mobile -- the ability to run most of your financial life from your phone. They also pondered the fact that Amex was missing an enormous market in the so-called underserved, estimated to be between 65 and 140 million people in the United States - in other words, not a niche. They realized that the economic problems created and worsened in the Great Recession had converged with an emerging set of technology solutions. American Express responded by launching the Enterprise Growth Group, which Courtney joined immediately. The goal was to go after totally different customers with different product sets. They unveiled an alpha version of Serve in March of 2011 , and then built the Bluebird card, aiming to be part digital wallet, part bank alternative, and part prepaid card . The goal was to reach Americans who struggle to manage and move their money or, as Courtney puts it, the people who are either excluded from the mainstream economy or "unhappily banked." An early move was to create a partnership with Wal-Mart to focus on these needs. Along the way, American Express financed the movie, Spent, which brings these customers' needs to life and demonstrates that "it's expensive to be poor."  If you haven't seen Spent and shared it in your organization, I recommend doing so. In our conversation, Courtney tells us why they made these changes, how they did it, their efforts to "be respectful" to a customer group they didn't know, what they expected, what they learned about them, and what has surprised them.  They undertook a "walk talk chalk," encouraging their leaders to step into the shoes of the kinds of customers who appear in Spent by, for instance, learning what it's like to stand in line on a Friday night to cash to check.  They also connected with the Center for Financial Services Innovation (note that I serve on CFSI's board), to bring its recommended Compass Principles into designing these products. They focused human-centered design thinking on challenges like smoothing out financial "lumpiness" for people who earn enough money to pay their bills, but don't have the right amount at the right time. Courtney describes the fascinating and varied ways customers immediately began using the new tools - including as a bank account alternative and to find ways to save.  She talks about what people want most. She talks about revelations about the preferences of young customers today, and how savvy they are in using mobile services. Today, her group bases every product design decision on the preferences of mobile users (unlike, say, a bank that views mobile as just a new channel for old products). She explains how, with critical mass established on the platform, they can push the envelope with new features, including the first-ever rewards program on a prepaid debit card. And she shares a progress report -- over $7 billion loaded on the platform as of March 2015, with merchant spend up 300% from 2012 to 2013, and 90% of these customers being new to American Express. Innovation In September 2014, these efforts evolved into creation of FILABs - the financial innovation labs - through which American Express brings together researchers and academics with real live products. After inviting proposals, they selected three partners -- a nonprofit in behavioral science called Ideas 42, along with UC Berkeley and a team of researchers from UCLA. The goal is to use design thinking and agile development methodology to make financial products drive financial health. They are testing new ideas for both processes and products, from nudges and alerts to auto savings and debiting, to see what works. Some of this is proceeding under the aegis of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Project Catalyst, which seeks to foster and evaluate fintech innovation. They'll be releasing significant findings in the near future. In our conversation, I asked Courtney how to innovate in a great big company - after all, her Enterprise Growth group, itself, has over 1,000 people. Her answers may surprise you - including her comment that their most exciting recent innovation idea came from (of all places) the general counsel's office. It's fun to hear the excitement in her voice as she talks about what doesn't work, and what does. Two more observations before we listen to Courtney. In our talk she said, "I'll be honest," and explains that launching an "inclusion" strategy raised some worries about potential harm to the invaluable American Express brand, which had been painstakingly built over 165 years to be synonymous with prestige. So, they surveyed their top-tier customer base, asking whether Bluebird and Serve made them think worse, or better, of American Express. The results were resoundingly positive. Second, think about the picture she paints.  She says the company could see, five years ago, that the financial landscape was changing and American Express would have to disrupt, before they were disrupted. She says CEO Ken Chenault launched the enterprise growth initiative to "cannibalize" American Express from inside, through innovation. I'm at Harvard this year writing a book on innovation and regulation, which recently prompted me to read Harvard Professor Clayton Christensen's classic, The Innovators Dilemma and newer related work. One of his insights is that disruptive innovation usually must begin in markets that are lower-margin and less attractive than the ones served by industry leaders. The disruptions gestate and develop in these side-markets, and then eventually burst into the mainstream with a better, cheaper product - often too late for the industry's leading firms to adjust. American Express seems to be following something like this logic, putting its innovation engine in the hands of people trying to reach a separate market that's traditionally been "underserved." The results to date are fascinating. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that Courtney says the whole company now routinely recruits from her team. Here is more on some of the topics we discussed: CFSI's Compass Principles CFPB's Project Catalyst project with American Express Ideas 42 The Lean Startup, by Eric Ries  The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton M. Christensen  Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate

Regular listeners of Barefoot Innovation will have noticed that we often mention the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and serve on its board. This year, CFSI celebrated its 11th anniversary. A decade ago there was nothing called Fintech. And yet Jennifer Tescher – who when she first entered the financial services industry couldn’t balance her checkbook – joined with former OTS Director Ellen Seidman and others who had a remarkable insight: that technology trends would create innovative ways to improve the lives of financial consumers. A former journalist, Jennifer became interested in financial services via reporting on urban poverty and inequality issues. That led to her to join ShoreBank, America’s first community development bank, where she explored ways to serve consumers who are deemed risky, in new ways that can be both sustainable and profitable. Fast forward to 2015 and CFSI has become the nation’s authority on consumer financial health, and Jennifer, as President and CEO, leads a network of financial services innovators committed to expanding access to high-quality financial services in ways that are sound and profitable. As you will hear in this episode, a majority of Americans are not financially healthy. Research by CFSI and others paints a “frankly disturbing” picture of the economic lives of millions of Americans. Studies also draw strong links between physical and financial health, including how stress affects decision making.  Jennifer says it best our podcast: “Wow, wow, wow, huge swaths of people are incredibly challenged!” CFSI is aiming to change this, using a lot of tools.  One is seeding new ventures. It founded Core Innovation Capital, which is now an independent VC fund (see Episode 3, where we talked with Core’s Arjan Schutte). And 2015 kicked off a five-year innovation contest funded by JPMorgan Chase, in the CFSI Financial Solutions Labs competition. (See our podcast with one of the contest winners, Steve Carlson of Ascend). Second, CFSI convenes people, including through its new membership model and by hosting the annual EMERGE conference, which presents cutting-edge thought leadership and features innovators, executives, and emerging companies in the financial services industries, including guests of this very podcast! Third, CFSI helps identify standards and practices that can help both providers and consumer thrives, as with the Compass Principles for prepaid cards. And fourth, CFSI is doing unique research in deeply understanding the financial lives of American consumers, including through the U.S. Financial Diaries project conducted with New York University. Jennifer is a nationally known expert on all these themes, with a monthly column in American Banker, frequent interviews and articles in the financial press, and major speaking engagements at industry and policy convenings. I am so happy to bring to you my lively interview with Jennifer, showcasing both her prodigious knowledge and her passion for these goals, which, as she says, has so far has kept her from abandoning it all in favor of a Mexican beach! To bolster your own optimism, here are links to the new data and trends spurring CFSI’s mission, and links their initiatives and research: Find out how CFSI is powering solutions for a financially health America (and for more on the 9 winners of their first Financial Solutions Lab’s challenge). Access to CFSI’s research on the state of consumer financial health, including the U.S. Financial Diaries and their Consumer Financial Health Study. For more on illiquid vs. insolvent consumers: My piece in Banking Exchange called Illiquid? Insolvent? Solutions can differ drastically and Aaron Klein’s article in American Banker on Shifting the Debate on Small Dollar Credit. For my take on the US Financial Diaries work, see my blog post, “Diary of a Mad Financial System”. On new ways of assessing financial well-being: Ron Shevlin’s Financial Health is the New Marketing. And mark your calendar for Emerge 2016, June 14-17 in New Orleans! Please come to CFSI’s website for a wealth of further information. And now, enjoy my talk with Jennifer Tescher! Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes. If you enjoy our work to bring together thought provoking ideas and people please consider a contribution to support the site. Donate Subscribe Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

This episode takes us fully into grappling with how innovation is impacting community banks and how to respond, through a conversation with one of the most thoughtful and thought-provoking people in the field. The community bank is a unique feature of the U.S. financial system, and Brian Graham, CEO of Alliance Partners, is both one of its most eloquent advocates and an innovator with new ideas on how small banks can compete in the digital age.  In 2011, he and his colleagues founded BancAlliance as a collaborative solution that enables community banks to access attractive lending markets typically dominated by larger banks, through use of a shared lending platform. The mission is to empower member banks to diversify prudently into high-quality loans that meet all commercial and regulatory standards – without changing the nature of the community bank. Brian’s team initially focused on large commercial loans. Then, in February of this year, they expanded to consumer credit with the announcements that BancAlliance would partner with Lending Club to enable member banks to offer co-branded personal loans to their customers through Lending Club’s online platform. The program gives community banks and their customers access to the benefits of the Lending Club’s low cost of operations, paired with the banks’ low cost of capital, to help drive down the cost of credit for consumers., The Wall Street Journal noted that, even after Lending Club’s partnerships with Alibaba and Google, the arrangement with BancAlliance might be its “biggest one yet.” CEO of Lending Club, Renaud Laplanche (whom I interviewed in Episode 5), said, “Community banks are the lifeblood of American communities. This program will help them level the playing field with national banks by offering affordable, consumer-friendly loans to their customers. We’re excited to make Lending Club’s low cost of operations available to community banks, for the greater benefit of their customers.” BancAlliance’s network includes over 200 banks in 39 states, with assets ranging from $200 million to $10 billion. In aggregate, BancAlliance would rank fourth in branch count among all U.S. banks and 14th in assets. I have been a longtime optimist about the future of community banks, until the last few years. Small banks today face the twin challenges of innovative technology and regulatory burden squeezing the industry’s business model from two directions at once. Brian’s vision offers a potential model for addressing both. In our conversation, Brian makes the case for the value of community banks; offers advice to them for thriving through technological disruption; and makes suggestions for regulators (including on “suitability). He also describes a proposed new “bill of rights” for small business borrowers – he’s been involved with a coalition working on this with the Aspen Institute. Brian also offers insights into how technology, after decades of favoring consolidation and large players, is suddenly creating advantages for small ones, through the unbundling of tech solutions and through unexpected developments like Square, transforming the small business lending market. Brian was previously a partner at Blue Ridge Capital Management, held various leadership positions at CapitalSource and Fannie Mae, and served in the government and investment-banking sectors. He holds a graduate degree from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford University. It was a pleasure to host him at my former abode in Washington, DC -- the day before I began packing up to move to Boston for my new fellowship on Regulation Innovation at Harvard! It was a very fitting finale for my Washington days and a launch into my “year at the frontier” of fintech innovation. Enjoy the conversation, and as a bonus, click the following for The Small Borrowers’ Bill of Rights and an argument from the Aspen Institute on why we need one. Also, remember to watch my website for the Regulation Innovation video briefings on these same topics, coming soon! Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot", or in iTunes. Sign up with your email address to receive news and updates. Email Address Sign Up We respect your privacy. Thank you!

Richard Davis grew up in Hollywood and entered the banking world on his 18th birthday as a teller. Today, at age 57, he leads America’s 5th largest bank as Chairman and CEO of U.S. Bancorp – parent company of U.S. Bank. Headquartered in Minneapolis, U.S. Bancorp has over $410 billion in assets and businesses across the United States, Canada and Europe, including over 3,000 full-service banking offices and 5,000 ATMs in 25 states. This traditional bank model is now also the foundation for active innovation. U.S. Bank appointed its Chief Innovation Officer, Dominic Venturo, a decade ago (I highly recommend following Dominic on Twitter @innov8tr). They are active in payments technologies, and the holding company owns Elavon, which recently opened a mobile innovation center in Atlanta called “The Grove” focused on “new technologies that enable merchants to accept payments via mobile devices while also ensuring the ease of use and safety of the transaction from the customer’s perspective.” Richard’s leadership earned praise through the financial crisis and its aftermath, including being named “2010 Banker of the Year” by American Banker. The father of three adult children and with three grandkids, he is highly active in civic efforts and philanthropy, including serving on the boards of the Twin Cities YMCA, Minneapolis Art Institute, University of Minnesota Foundation, and National American Red Cross, among many others. He has been the recipient of the President’s Lifetime Volunteer Service Award, while U.S. Bancorp and its employees earned the 2011 Spirit of America Award, the highest honor bestowed on a company by United Way. The company also received the 2013 Freedom award, the U.S. Department of Defense’s highest award for employers for supporting employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve. In 2011 Richard received the Henrickson’s Award for Ethical Leadership. In 2015, U.S. Bank was named as a World’s Most Ethical Company by the Ethisphere Institute, the global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices. In my conversation with Richard, he wove together all these themes of business, innovation, and ethics. More than any of our guests thus far, he voices a full-throated faith in the future of retail bank banking -- including branches in lower-income communities. At the same time, he speaks thoughtfully about the need for innovation in the branch and beyond (while warning against falling in love with every new idea).   He also offers concrete advice for regulators on how to assure that innovation can flourish. And he talks inspiringly about the need for banks to rebuild the public’s trust in them, one customer at a time. He says customers are “the banks’ to lose,” and that, “If it’s good for the industry, it is probably worth doing.” Richard’s perspective is an invaluable contribution to our search for better consumer financial solutions. Speaking from the vantage point of a lifelong banker at the helm of one of America’s largest and most successful banking companies, he shares his thinking about what to keep and what to change, as the industry and its customers face continuous change. For more on U.S. Bank, click here. Enjoy Episode 12 You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot".

Luz Urrutia, the global head of retail at Oportun, has been carrying the same credit card in her wallet for 30 years. Having moved from her native Venezuela to the U.S. to study finance at Georgia State University, Luz was thrilled when she landed her first job in the banking industry – only to have her credit card application rejected by the same bank where she worked! Having little or no credit can make adjusting to life in a new country extremely onerous. In our conversation, Luz points out that anything from getting a job to renting an apartment and hooking up utilities is often impossible without a FICO score. Currently, almost half of the Hispanic community in the U.S. is underserved. Luz decided years ago to help the 25 million individuals who represent the un- and under-banked in her community by offering responsible credit-building and affordable loans. Before moving to California to broaden her mission, Luz co-founded and served as President and Chief Operating Office for El Banco de Nuestra Comunidad in Atlanta. Since then, her career has been characterized by a relentless drive to use technology and creative techniques to “score the unscorable” and serve those overlooked by traditional financial institutions. Oportun, formerly Progreso Financiero, was founded in 2005 with the same goal of empowering underserved Hispanic consumers. Its proprietary technology platform scores applicants, even those who do not have credit, and enables Oportun to provide a highly personal experience with back-office efficiency. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, the customer experience at Oportun is designed with the Hispanic customer in mind. This experience is disseminated through a network of more than 160 stores in five states, often conveniently co-located with or near Hispanic grocery stores, are open 7 days a week into the evening, and staffed by team members who speak Spanish. In recognition of Oportun’s goals of increasing economic opportunity for its clients, promoting community development, and serving low-income or underserved communities, Oportun was certified by the United States Department of Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution in November 2009 and re-certified in October 2013. I spoke with Luz at the Center for Financial Services Innovation’s (CFSI) EMERGE conference in Austin, on whose board she has served since 2004 (full disclosure, I am also on the board). Luz has often been recognized for her commitment to improving the lives of underserved financial consumers, including being named as 2009’s Latina Business Woman of the Year and American Banker’s “Community Banker of the Year” in 2006. Perhaps the greatest reward for Luz, however, is the joy she feels pursuing her mission every day. In our interview you can gladden in her words imbued of passion and excitement (you’ll just have to trust that they were accompanied by a brilliant smile!). I am happy to offer this episode of Barefoot Innovation as a pick-me-up for anyone who needs a reminder of the unique work being done throughout the industry to use innovation to enhance the lives of financial consumers, and what revolutionary breakthroughs a strong drive to help one’s community can render. To learn more about Oportun Financial, click here. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes HERE or open your favorite podcast app and search for Jo Ann Barefoot.

Stoyan Kenderov and I had a truly rich and candid conversation about the evolution of banking innovation and regulation, and though he appears ten episodes into Barefoot Innovation, it was Stoyan who first suggested I record our thought-provoking discussions and offer them as a series of podcasts. Thank you, Stoyan, for your encouragement! In this interview, we travel everywhere from communist Bulgaria to the emerging coding culture of mid-1990s Germany to today’s nucleus of innovation, Silicon Valley. In his current capacity, Stoyan leads Business Development and inorganic growth partnerships at Intuit’s Consumer Ecosystem Group and its product brands Mint, Mint Bills, and Quicken. As a child who literally disintegrated every toy he and his brother were ever given, Stoyan was born a natural disruptor. His vast curiosity has already taken him half way across the world, and he is ready to pass on his vision and wisdom to the new generation of financial consumers. (It was a real treat to hear how an innovator is teaching his young daughters about financial responsibility!) Stoyan and Intuit incorporate cutting edge behavioral research to create products that are simple, easy-to-use, and shorten the learning curve of traditional financial instruments. Year after year, Intuit is recognized as one of Fortune’s “100 Best Companies To Work For” and Fortune World’s “Most Admired Software Companies.” With the acquisition of Check, and the creation of Mint Bills, the company now offers users a way to search for and set up bill reminders, see what bills are due and pay them with a single click so that they never miss a payment. Wired.com agrees that getting started with Mint Bills is easy; maybe Mint Bills can even help consumers forget that “bills are the worst!” Prior to Intuit, Stoyan held executive positions at payments, telecommunications, and mobile companies such as Amdocs, XACCT Technologies, KPN-Qwest and pioneering German, Dutch and Austrian Internet service providers. He co-founded two start-ups and participated in four successful exits. He is an advisor and mentor at Village Capital – the financial services accelerator and impact investor, and he also invests personally in early stage financial services start-ups in Europe, India and the US. I so enjoyed this conversation with Stoyan, and I hope you are as Intuit as I am. And, finally, here’s a bit more to exercise your financial (and listening!) skills: Pop quiz! One of the following is not a startup mentioned in this episode: Vouch, Digit, Even, Gather, Sweep, SavedPlus, Float, Simple, Karma, Acorns, Robinhood, and Coinye.    See my previous blog post for more on serving the “underestimated” consumer and how behaviors can change under conditions caused by shortages of a key resource like money, time, or food. Professor BJ Fogg of Stanford’s behavior model and how to motivate and trigger responsible consumption. The CFPB’s Project Catalyst. The Center for Financial Services Innovation’s brief on household cash flow challenges. You can subscribe to the podcast at iTunes HERE or open your favorite podcast app and search for Jo Ann Barefoot.

Episode 9 finds us at the 2015 EMERGE conference in Austin with the winners of the first Financial Solutions Lab competition. The contest is a $30 million, five-year initiative funded by JPMorgan Chase and run by the Center for Financial Services Innovation, or CFSI, the conference sponsor (note -- I serve on CFSI's board). It challenges entrepreneurs to create solutions for the cash flow difficulties facing millions of American middle and lower income-households. Two hundred ninety-eight innovators applied. Nine were chosen. And  -- drum roll - one was Steve Carlson of Ascend Consumer Finance, our guest for this episode. Ascend was recognized for its unique approach to broadening credit access and affordability for non-prime borrowers.  The company wants to drive a new generation of lending with its Adaptive Risk Pricing tool, which actively monitors and rewards customers for positive financial actions throughout the span of their loan, sharply cutting interest costs. I've known Ascend's Co-Founder and CEO Steve Carlson since we both joined the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) when it first was formed in 2012. Ascend has benefited - and so does our podcast - from Steve's double background in banking and technology. He has held senior executive roles at HSBC and Washington Mutual and advised global financial services firms as a co-founder of Sung Carlson Associates. He was also the head of marketing and business development at Intuit Financial Services (Mint.com and Quicken). (A side-note on Intuit:  in the recording, Steve  relates its history and I ask if its founder, Scott Cook, got started by making calls from a phone book. Afterwards, I looked up the story and found it in The Lean Startup, by  Eric Ries (pages 88-89). He writes that in 1982 Cook "picked up two phone books: one for Palo Alto, California, where he was living at the time, and the other for Winnetka, Illinois." He randomly called people to gauge interest in his idea, and a company was born. For any listeners who haven't read The Lean Startup, do!) In our conversation, Steve describes the impetus behind Ascend, their current status (including their partnership with Lending Tree), and why he believes banking should be a value-driven proposition. He thinks both consumers and the industry can benefit by improving the financial health of consumers. The company's pioneering product, RateRewards, enables borrowers to earn up to 50% off their interest expense by making responsible financial choices throughout the life of their loan. With Adaptive Risk Pricing, Ascend is able to offer loans at rates that reflect real-time performance instead of past behavior. This, Steve says, is reinventing "the whole concept of underwriting and risk assessment." Indeed, many "non-prime borrowers" - a group that actually represents about a third of the U.S. population - are better candidates than their credit scores would indicate. One-time financial shocks and "thin" files can greatly diminish a consumer's chance of getting a reasonable rate on a loan, or even a loan at all at a traditional institution. Ascend is encouraging borrowers to bet on themselves and prove -- through their actions, rather than their credit history -- that they are creditworthy. As Steve says in the episode: "Everyone today [is] going to be in a different stage in terms of their financial health ... I might be in great shape today; tomorrow could be totally different."  Ascend is trying to make the road to financial wellness smoother -- something Steve says he feels good about. This episode of Barefoot Innovation became a brainstorming session, as Steve and I tried to think through how innovators, banks and regulators can move toward better ideas for financial consumers -- including musings on how innovators should interact with the world of bank charters and regulation. Enjoy it!  And check out more information on Ascend, and on the Innovation Lab winners. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes HERE or by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot".  

Professor Dog provides inspiration for Greendot Bank's effort to create financial products that serve and safeguard consumers' financial lives. Once known as Streiter the Heater, Steve Streit is now often called the Prepaid Card King. He is the founder and CEO of Pasadena-based Green Dot Corporation and its wholly owned subsidiary bank, Green Dot Bank, described as a “pro-consumer financial technology innovator with a mission to reinvent personal banking for the masses.” In this episode of Barefoot Innovation, I spoke with Steve about the former disc jockey’s pioneering foray into the re-loadable prepaid debit card industry and how his “highly curious mind” keeps him at the forefront of financial services innovation. As someone who created radio stations with names like Easy 105 and Country 103 (many of which still thrive in today’s fragmented broadcast market), Steve is known for bringing simplicity to his platforms, which now include the Green Dot prepaid card and its award-winning GoBank mobile checking account. Speaking of financial products, Steve believes: “If you have to have an owner’s manual, you messed up.” It is easy to see how he translated his connection with radio listeners into serving bank customers with an affordable product and cutting-edge technology that did not require opening a bank account. Conceived in 1999 as iGEN, a company offering teenagers a pre-loaded debit card so that they could make purchases online, the company was re-branded as Green Dot when Steve realized that his product was primarily used by under-banked adults. Effectively tapping into a 73 million person “niche” market, Green Dot has since built a large-scale "branch-less bank" distribution network of more than 100,000 U.S. locations at retailers, neighborhood financial service center locations, and tax preparation offices,as well as an online presence in leading app stores and through providers of online tax preparation. Its MoneyCard partnership with Walmart was recently renewed for five years. In 2011, under Steve’s leadership, Green Dot became a bank-holding company with the purchase of Bonneville Bank in Provo, Utah.  The subsequent acquisition of mobile geo-location start-up Loopt led to the development of GoBank, the first bank account designed from scratch to be opened and used on a mobile device. This past Tuesday, Green Dot announced the official opening of Green Dot Shanghai a high-tech facility that will bolster its “follow the sun” strategy to deliver high-scale, high-quality, and efficient technology services around the clock. Steve has won numerous awards, including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2005 award for Southern California, as well as its National award winner in the Financial Services category in 2011.  He has been honored with the Prepaid Industry Leadership Award in 2008 and recognized as the 2011 recipient of the Technology Leadership Award from Los Angeles County Technology Week.  The father of seven grown children, Steve also works to improve the lives of children in need. In 2009 he founded Patti’s Way, a charitable foundation providing grants to single mothers and their children. Steve also volunteers in mentoring LA County Foster children and supports the LAPD’s Hollenbeck Police Athletic League (PAL). Not one to be left out, Steve’s schnauzer, Professor Dog, was on hand as I interviewed him by phone at his California home. Listen to this week’s episode to find out how Professor Dog became an inspiration for Green Dot Bank in our lively discussion on how innovators and banks can best create products that serve and safeguard financial consumers’ lives. Please subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or open your favorite podcast app and search for Jo Ann Barefoot. You can also subscribe via the RSS link below.   Barefoot Innovation Podcast RSS 

Episode 6: The Innovative Bank - Manolo Sanchez, CEO of BBVA Compass Can banks be innovators? If so, how? In Episode 6, we tackle that topic with one of the most innovative bank executives in the world – Manolo Sanchez, the chairman and CEO of BBVA Compass.  BBVA is the Spanish bank that bought the U.S. startup Simple, whose founders we featured in our podcast Episode 2 (“The Cheerful Disruptors”). Today’s discussion picks up the bank side of that equation. It’s our first conversation with the leader of a large bank.  BBVA has over $700 billion in assets and a global reach. And what an interesting bank it is. When I first met Manolo several years ago, I had no idea they were heading into one of the most notable innovation strategies in the industry. Since then, they’ve made huge investments to modernize and integrate their IT, and have stood out for their active experimentation with innovative startups – working with them in various ways, and always, especially, learning from them. A native of Spain, Manolo has worked for BBVA for nearly 25 years, holding positions in the corporate, investment and correspondent banking divisions of the bank. He is a graduate of Yale University and earned his master’s degrees in international relations from the London School of Economics and in advanced European studies from the College of Europe. His career has taken him to Paris, Madrid, New York, Mexico City and Texas. As Chairman and CEO of the U.S. bank BBVA Compass, Manolo today lives with his wife and three children in Houston, where he’s a leader in a wide range of community-strengthening institutions. The bank also has major facilities in Birmingham, where it has anchored economic development including a newly-opened LEED-certified technology development center. Manolo sets the tone for this “innovative, principled and customer-centric company” — and earned recognition as American Banker’s 2014 reputation survey leader — with the principle, “We work for a better future for people.” In Episode 6, he explores the fertile landscape of financial innovation from the viewpoint of a major bank with a multi-year strategic vision to make BBVA the “next great bank in the U.S.” Please Click HERE to subscribe in iTunes or open your favorite podcast app and search for "Jo Ann Barefoot".   Barefoot Innovation Podcast RSS 

When we recorded this short episode with Susan Ehrlich, she was head of global credit for Amazon. She oversaw the Amazon Rewards Visa and Amazon Store Card in the U.S., as well as Amazon credit programs in Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Most of our conversation focused on this very unique perspective. Susan has since left Amazon to take on a diverse set of roles as a financial services director and investor. One is as Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Center for Financial Services Innovation (where I too serve on the board). She is also a director of BECU, the fourth largest credit union in the United States and largest in Washington State ($12B in assets and over 850,000 members). Susan has a long and remarkable track record as an executive scaling growth and leading turnarounds across a range of businesses in payments, retail, banking, and financial technology. She was President of Financial Services for both H&R Block Inc. and for Sears Holdings Corporation.  At H&R Block, she built the Emerald Card program into Consumer Reports' #2-rated prepaid card in the industry in 2013.  At Sears, she re-launched Kmart layaway—turning it into a $1 billion-plus business--and expanded the company’s credit partnerships, generating $9B+ in annual retail sales on the Sears Card. Her earlier career included developing and delivering payment and credit solutions for JP Morgan Chase, WaMu Card Services (Providian Financial), and Citibank.  American Banker magazine recognized Susan as one of the 25 Most Powerful Women in Finance three years in a row (2009-2011), and the Federal Reserve appointed her to its Consumer Advisory Council in Washington, DC. She holds a B.A. with honors in organizational behavior and management from Brown University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. Our photo of Susan duly reflects all this gravitas, but she’s also an avid golfer, traveler, and wine enthusiast -- she founded the Bruce Cass Wine Lab and Ehrlich Vineyards LLC in the San Francisco Bay area. When we sat down to talk it was Superbowl Sunday (long story on why this is posted so late), and she joined me fully bedecked in Seattle Seahawks attire, hat included. We had to cut our conversation short for the kickoff. The episode is only about fifteen minutes, and I think you’ll find it fascinating. One tidbit that intrigues me:  Amazon’s borrowers rate its credit services, publically, on the Amazon site – just like for a pair of shoes or a flat screen TV. Amazon actively learns from that feedback. Such high transparency must be a big motivator to fix issues that cause complaints. Enjoy my quick discussion with Susan Ehrlich!  You can find her at sehrlich23@gmail.com. And please also watch for Episode 5 next week, when our Barefoot Innovation guest will be Renaud LaPlanche, Founder and CEO of Lending Club. Please subscribe to my podcast by opening iTunes or your favorite podcast player and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot". You can also subscribe to my mailing list on my front page at www.jsbarefoot.com

  Arjan Schutte (pronounced Ar-yon Shoot-eh) is Founder and Managing Partner at Core Innovation Capital  in Los Angeles. Core is a double-bottom line venture capital company seeding innovation that both helps consumers and wins in the marketplace, with the ability to reach huge scale.  Listeners will discover several kinds of value in his insights.  One is an overview of the fintech innovation landscape – what are the exciting things happening?  VC firms enjoy a unique vantage point, since their funding makes nearly every innovator seek them out. They see it all. Another insight to glean from our talk is that many of these startups are taking aim at perceived vulnerabilities of traditional financial companies – the industry’s Achilles’ heels.  Some innovators think many customers are not happy today, or at least can be lured away with a vastly better customer experience. Some believe millions of potentially high-profit customers are being neglected by the mainstream system, or are accessing it only through high-cost products that can be replaced. These startups are working on cutting delivery costs, reimagining the customer experience, using big data to invent powerful new risk analytics, using behavioral science to engage customers in new ways, empowering consumers with new tools, leveraging mobile to reach massive new markets, and much more. Many are making impressive headway. For those wanting to understand the fintech innovation realm, this is a quick primer. Core’s companies include:      In addition, L2C has exited. Notice the broad range of business types.  Core tries to have at least one company in each arena that’s important to consumers, from affordable lending and personal financial management to digital currency. In our conversation, Arjan talks about the unlikely journey that brought him to this work, Core’s launch as a bold initiative of the Center for Financial Services Innovation, and the firm’s strategy.  He zeros in on the incredible opportunity around mobile services closing the “digital divide.” And he laments the minuscule impact of 40 years of well-meaning but small-scale community development lending, laying out a big vision for how to measure Core’s impact as it seeks to change the lives of millions of people.  The key is to make it very profitable to do right by them. Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the podcast by opening your favorite podcast app and searching for "Jo Ann Barefoot".

Episode 2 is my lively conversation with the irreverent co-founders of Simple – CEO, Josh Reich, and Shamir Karkal, the company’s CFO. Simple is a Portland, Oregon start-up offering a simplified, consumer-friendly account for saving and making payments.  Last year it was acquired by the global Spanish bank, BBVA, which has been making bold moves in tech innovation. Our discussion captures the clear voice of the disruptors who are challenging traditional banking. Josh and Shamir describe the famous email that led to their venture, including why Josh’s friends thought he’d gone crazy (hint: it has to do with regulation). They explain their own very unbankerly backgrounds, and talk with passion about what they think is wrong with mainstream banking, including why it’s so hard for banks to change.  They made me laugh throughout -- there’s a moment where Josh is explaining the company’s funny style and says, “she had this wicked, wicked sense of humor.” I think my favorite thing in our talk is how they tell their customers’ stories about Simple making their lives better.  The key is helping people save, including by highlighting a number labeled “Safe to Spend,” rather than the account balance.  Simple idea, isn't it? And powerful. I feel like Simple might be on track to crack the code on the core problem that bedevils financial consumers: how to get regular people actively engaged. Most people are very interested in what they use their money for, but bored by the money itself -- a fact that leads them into mistakes. Simple is trying to change that. After we turned off the microphone, Josh said one more thing that has stayed in my mind ever since.  I’ll share it in my postscript at the end of the podcast. You can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes HERE Show Notes The companies: You can find full information on Simple here, and on BBVA here. My guests: Josh Reich, CEO & Co-Founder  — Josh’s career has spanned marketing analytics and quantitative finance, including running a data mining consulting firm, a quantitative strategy group at a $10 billion fund, and core components at the mortgage lead market, Root Exchange. Four years ago, Josh founded Simple, formerly BankSimple, a company that is working to radically redesign banking by using modern technology to help people worry less about money. Josh has a BSc. in mathematics and statistics from the University of Melbourne, most of a medical degree, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Follow him on Twitter at @i2pi  Shamir Karkal, CFO & Co-Founder  — Shamir is a software engineer turned finance and banking expert. Prior to Simple, Shamir was a consultant with McKinsey & Co. specializing in strategy consulting for financial institutions in Europe, the Middle East, and the US. Prior to McKinsey, Shamir was a software engineer. He has a bachelor’s in computer science, a master’s in information technology, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Follow him on Twitter at @shamir_k FAQ’s about Simple:  https://www.simple.com/faq  Here are the two firm’s announcements about BBVA acquiring Simple: Here and Here      Please note that the views expressed by guests on Barefoot Innovation are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Jo Ann Barefoot or Jo Ann Barefoot Group LLC, nor do we endorse any product, service, or company discussed.

Launching Our Podcasts:  Barefoot Innovation I’m thrilled today to announce two innovations for my blog – first in what we’re sharing here, and second, in how we share it with you. Welcome to our brand-new podcast program, Barefoot Innovation, and to our first episode -- a conversation with Raj Date, former Acting Director of the CFPB and now Managing Partner at Fenway Summer LLC. Raj has given us the ideal launch into our series, because these podcasts are designed to be a search -- for ideas on how to do better for financial consumers.  We’re seeking out better products and practices, smarter regulation, new kinds of business models and cultures, new ways to empower consumers, and above all, new technology, which is suddenly making it both possible, and necessary, to rethink today’s system. We’re conducting our search through conversations. We’re finding the most fascinating people in the field. That includes, importantly, lots of people who don’t know each other – who barely even know about each other – but who are actually working on the very same challenges from different angles, amidst rapid change. We listen to them, mix their insights, and through the mixing, germinate new ideas. Finding new ideas is urgent, because consumer financial services is the first industry to face technology-driven disruption while being both essential to everyone, and massively regulated. The changes coming will be both good and bad – which means they will, inevitably, disrupt the regulatory system, too – with all its enormous complexity. Everyone involved in serving and protecting financial consumers needs new strategies, now, to navigate the years of upheaval ahead. To do that, people must look beyond their niches, at the whole landscape that’s changing around them. Barefoot Innovation makes that more easy, and more fun.  We've built it for: Industry and regulatory people who want to understand the fintech world Fintech innovators who want to understand the regulatory world Tech companies – ditto, and All the people working toward financial inclusion and fairness We will talk about it all. Mobile payments, big data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things, voice technology, behavioral science and manipulation, personal financial management (PFM), online companies and channels, marketplace lending and investment, Bitcoin and crypto-currency, and emerging new business models and cultures. We’ll explore all the related regulatory trends in fairness, fair lending,  inclusiveness, transparency, suitability, privacy, data security, risk-assessment, compliance innovation, banking system access, principles-based regulation, enforcement, and regulatory complexity and cost. We’ll talk with start-ups, venture capital people, bank executives, non-banks, global tech firms, compliance leaders,  lawyers, regulators, ex-regulators (like me), policymakers, advocates, academics -- the whole spectrum. Every podcast will provide some practical advice, some long-term insight, and some fun. (And some will bring you surprises.) So, for today, please listen in on my conversation with Raj Date as he shares his thinking on technology, competition, regulatory risks, advice for banks and non-banks, and some suggestions for regulators.  Join me for Barefoot Innovation, Episode One. Here is the URL to subscribe: http://www.jsbarefoot.com/podcasts/?format=rss You can also find the podcast by opening your favorite podcast provider (iTunes, Overcast, etc.) and searching for Jo Ann Barefoot or by clicking HERE. Listen and enjoy! Please note that the views expressed by guests on Barefoot Innovation are their own and do not reflect the opinions of Jo Ann Barefoot or Jo Ann Barefoot Group LLC, nor do we endorse any product, service, or company discussed.