Fintech Impact

Jason is going to talk to cyber security expert, Evgeniy Kharam. They talk about general concerns around cybersecurity and best practices.Episode Highlights:01.07: Evgeniy work full time in the company for Herjavec group, being around almost 20 years and they are a cyber security company that focuses on cybersecurity only, and they have enterprises on a variety of talks. 03.14: Evgeniy explains that ransomware is basically somebody was able to get access to your environment. Your environment could be your service or IoT devices or your gas station tanks. 07.11: Evgeniy points out that they always have different scales of cyber security controls for protection. She asks if you run a small business and this business is acceptable to the public and people walking in back and forth, but you never lock your screen, then what is the point?13.47 Jason says you are able to have different unique complex passwords for every website so, if one thing gets hacked, only the one thing gets hacked, not everything e

On today’s episode, Jason is going to talk to Maya Pochiraju, VP of product at Payability. Today, Maya will talk about the challenges faced during covid by retailers and themselves in scaling to a giant shift to online business. Episode Highlights:00.56: Maya says, Payability sits at the intersection of e-commerce, financing, and payments. It is the core financial platform for all e-commerce sellers providing both financing and payment solutions to help customers scale and grow their businesses. 02.50: Jason asks when you go to deal a traditional bank, they look at the simpler time-proven, easier, faster things for them, which is limited based on the fact that human being is reviewing that. But when you throw so many points of data, how many points of data do you guys typically consume on an average case?05.10 Maya says their customers are all e-commerce sellers of varying sizes. It could be a seller as new as three months in business all the way up to someone who’s been in business for years. 

On today’s episode, Jason is going to talk to David Reeve CEO of InvestorCOM. The company is a provider of regulatory compliance software and communications solutions for wealth managers, asset managers, and insurers in the financial services industry.  Episode Highlights:00.34: InvestorCom has been around for over 25 years. For the last decade, we have been working exclusively in the wealth management industry and specifically helping wealth firms deal with new regulations, says David.01.35: David says they managed documents for industries like wealth management and other financial services sectors that are very document heavy. The business really evolved from one of managing physical documents to digital documents and now software. 01.59: The western world of wealth compliance is all about disclosure, typically residing in documents.03.27: There has been a lot of regulatory change in the last couple of years US, Canada, around the world, and Australia for certain, and this has been

On today’s episode, Jason is going to talk to Trevor Greenway Founder and CEO of InterVal. It is a dual-sided platform that is predicated on the democratization of valuation. The company believes that business owners and their key advisors deserve to have access to key metric and the leading indicators that are driving it at all times. Episode Highlights:01.06: Earlier, Trevor was in consultancy for about 11 years. The entire model is predicated on helping business owners earlier in the process, making any less of an emotional readiness type decision and something where they can be more proactive. 01.39: During the consultancy stint, Trevor found out that the commoditization of advice regarding accounting and banks is driven by when can I bring value at a specific point in time? But that specific point in time was usually too late 02.20: It was just through the manual process as a consultancy that Trevor and his team began developing automated tools. 03.35: At some point, you may be thinki

On today’s episode, Jason is going to talk to Hans Zandhuis, President of Ally Lending (Acquired Health Credit Services) at Ally. Hans is working on the point-of-sale lending arm of Ally Financial and Ally Bank. The company has been around for four to six years. It started as a credit services court, but they were only lending in the medical environment; later, Ally wired us in October of 2019 and continued growing and standing. Episode Highlights:02.05: Hans Zandhuis and two other founders Matt McKenna and Clark Burget, started the business in June of 2015. They self-funded it and grew through the platform, brought on a number of other institutions to kind of be their balance sheet partners, and then grew the business. 02.31: In October of 2019, Hans’s company was in the medical space; basically, they were in the doctors and office inception of the business; that was how do we help consumers pay for health care? 03.21: Hans’ company was acquired in 2019; they started looking at other markets a

In today’s episode, Jason is going to talk to Eric Fulwiler - Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at 11 FS. It is a well-known consultant in the financial services space that specifically helps traditional financial institutions launched digital products. Episode Highlights:1.46: Talking about 11 FS, Eric says, “We are five and a half years old now. We work with traditional financial service institutions to help them essentially navigate digital challenges and opportunities in their industry.” 2.12: Eric explains, “We do a lot on the strategy side and open big banks, insurance companies, payment providers, wealth management businesses, navigate those changes, where the opportunities where the challenge is coming from.” 2.52: Eric explains about the product called PULSE, a library of Fintech user journeys from around the world. 3.50: “We got some really smart people in the company and many smart people in the industry that we know. We try to bring them together and give them a platform t

In today’s show, Jason is going to talk to Vieje Piauwasdy, director of equity strategy for Secfi. It is an online platform that allows employees of private companies to monetize their options and cash out before waiting for an exit from the company.   Episode Highlights:00.52: At Secfi, we help employees with their stock options. The company was started just four years ago. We have worked with hundreds of thousands of employees ranging from start-ups from the seed level to pre-IPO companies, says Vieje.2.45: The education part of Vieje’s mission is to help educate employees, help them understand their equity, and make the best decisions. Second, we do provide financing solutions for these employees as well. 4.10: Jason asks, “In your company if you are getting richly rewarded on in shares, and if you are not publicly traded and the timeline for exit is not known, how old you make the most of that and get out?” 5.29: Equity was a very taboo topic. It is something you don’t talk with c

In today’s episode, Jason Pereira talks to Peter Lord - CEO of Codat. It is a platform that is building next-generation products and services for SMEs with easy, real-time data connectivity to their financial software. The company is building smart solutions that save time, money and enhance the customer experience in a matter of hours.Episode Highlights:00.30: Peter explains, “We help our clients who are large financial companies connected to the software used by their small business customers. We connect to accounting software things like Xero, Sage, QuickBooks E-commerce software, payments and marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, etc.” 00.50 Jason affirms, “You are a savior for financial institutions because you built the integration pieces yourself. It’s not a make your integration, but essentially, you’re making it easier for people to access all that through one portal versus multiple different API instances.” 01.50: Peter studied at Southampton University as a software engineer and moved into a pr

In today’s episode, Jason Pereira talks to Dr. Stephen Taylor - Assistant Professor of Finance at New Jersey Institute of Technology. He has worked in the financial services industry at Bloomberg, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Morgan Stanley, and Tudor Investment Corporation. In this podcast, they will discuss a couple of emerging trends, specifically in fintech and fintech education.Episode Highlights:00.35: Steven is in the line of teaching for the past four years. He is from a bit of an orthodox ethnic background. He has gained a lot of practical experience in the past while working with Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg etc. 1.09 Jason curiously asks Steven, “What led you to teaching?”1.29: Steven talks about his career journey and shares about his knack for academia from a very early stage in life. 1.57: Jason says, “Today we are going to talk about emerging fintech trends.” He asks Steven to share the three big emerging fintech trends.2.11: Steven shares his insightful views of the big trends in the fintech

Today’s episode is slightly different as Jason is not interviewing a Fintech but an artist - Krista Kim. She made global headlines as being the first artist to sell a virtual home via a non-fungible token (NFT). Krista Kim is a contemporary artist and founder of the Techism movement and a global ambassador for the Superworld and creator of the Mars House, and a talented artist. In today’s podcast, they will discuss “How technology is changing both the distribution and implementation of art?”Episode Highlights:1.10: Krista introduces herself as a digital artist, started creating digital artwork in 2013. While using smartphones, Krista observed how people were completely changing the dynamics of their social interactions because of social media platforms and how social media platforms were inferring cultures.1.18: As an artist, she thought, “We need to ensure that people are free thinkers going forward in the 21st century and beyond, but the big question was how do you do that?2.45: Krista says, “We have to hav

Host Jason Pereira talks to Kevin Lozer - Co-Founder of Holistiplan; it is a financial planning software that focuses specifically on tax planning. It generates a PDF version of your tax return and extracts all the verifiable information and actual data. Episode Highlights:0.52: Kevin explains about Holistiplan – it is tax planning software for advisors built by advisors. It allows an advisor to upload a PDF tax return and get a client deliverable prepopulated scenario and then screen and identify some planning opportunities all again with just uploading a previous year’s tax returns. 1.12: What Holistiplan really does is automate a tax return review. Then all of the work that succeeds that tax return review that advisors do, typically requires a whole lot of data entry. Historically, the company has taken that data entry out of the picture, and now advisors can just spend the time focusing on conversing with the client about their tax situation.1.19: Kevin says the idea to launch the Holistiplan st

Host Jason Pereira talks to Atif Saddiqi - Founder/CEO at Branch. It is a fintech that allows employees to access the money they earned before pay-check. Episode Highlights: 0.30: Atif says Branch is a payment platform that helps businesses accelerate payments to the workers to empower them. 1.27: Jason asks Atif to share about the history of Branch and what brings him to launch it?1.40: Atif has founded the company way back in 2016. This was started from his own experience as an hourly worker. 1.59: While working as an hourly worker, Atif found that a common pain point for workers is always looking for ways to earn more income.2.14: Branch was initially launched as a mobile B2B product. Over time they kept improving the process. 4.22: “A lot of employers we work with still cuts paper cheques; they don’t have a reliable way to deposit money,” says Atif. 4.31: Atif explains how Branch helps employers by providing cost-effective solutions.5.59: People can use Branch as a banking se

Host Jason Pereira talks to Som Seif – CEO and Founder of Purpose Financial. In today’s episode, Som is going to give his unique perspective on the FinTech industry.  Episode Highlights: 0.50: Som talks about “Purpose” and the idea behind its launch. He adds that they are re-inventing the business in 4 core areas – Asset Management, Retirement, Wealth Management, and Small Business owners.03.04: Jason highlights Som’s venture capital history and success stories. 03.28: Som shares his vision about the FinTech industry. 05.57: Som discusses how he partners with people who have similar visions like him.07.14: “We have a deep understanding of our customers and their journey; this is how we solve their problems,” says Som. 09.17: Som gives detailed insight on how his company solves a customer’s problem. He also discusses the global product that they have created. 11.19: Jason and Som discuss about the regulators. Jason says that the regulators are willing to listen if you are wil

Host Jason Pereira talks to Nick Catino, Head of Policy and Campaigns with Wise. It is a London-based financial technology company founded in January 2011 by Estonians Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus. In today’s episode, Nick talks about consumer-facing products used by banks and businesses.  Episode Highlights:0.38: Nick says Wise is a global payment technology company giving the best way to move money worldwide used by people who travel, live, and work internationally. 3.08: Jason asks Nick about the origin of the company, how it came to be? Nick points out Wise was founded in 2011 as Transfer wise in London. 3.10: It has two co-founders Kristo Kaamann and Taavet Hinrikus. 4.01: The company’s idea came from the analysis that consumers are getting ripped off to send abroad, and it is so central to our mission today trying the payments more transparent.5.30: Nick says living and leisure is focused on pricing across portal payments. When he travels, he keeps records of his credit c

In today’s episode, Jason talks to Jon Cowley, founder of Whatifi. It is a visual financial planning software and tool that helps people think through various scenarios in different methodologies than people are accustomed to.   Episode Highlights: 1.00: Jon says Whatifi is a highly visual low code financial scenario builder and projection platform, making it easy for professionals to visually create, calculate, present and share multiple financial scenarios to their clients.1.46: Jon doesn’t come from a Fintech background; instead, he runs a VFX company. He has created some of the coolest movies and also some of the biggest duds. A lot of these are leveraging technology workflows for Jon.3.03: Jason points out that most people think spreadsheets are developed for users, but very few people think about using presentation devices.3.48: Considering the fundamental problems, Jon had built a software that connects all the logics and events. 04.01: Because each step is separate, it is very

Host Jason Pereira talks to Dennis Gada, Senior Vice President and Industry Head for Financial Service for Infosys. It is a global digital services company that offers end-to-end services to its clients from technology to business operations, consulting and helping them in the digital transformation journey, and helping them run in their existing business and technology operations.Episode Highlights:2.40: Jason inquires, “When companies come to Infosys for support, how do you navigate their digital needs?”4.18: Dennis explains, “We work in three different layers; driving efficiency in running business and technology operations, digital transformation of their end-to-end business process, and helping them to grow the business in a new area for consulting services.”5.10: Dennis affirms that the last 12 months post-Covid has seen significant acceleration of client journey, and we can call it a trigger, but it has been a prominent force of transformation. 5:50: Dennis says there is an enhanced expectation fr

Host Jason Pereira talks to Andrew Chau, CEO, and Co-founder of Neo Financial. It is a technology company that is building a better financial experience for all Canadians. Episode Highlights: 0.42: Andrew explains that Neo Financial is a Fintech company, reimagining the everyday banking experience for Canadians. The company provides a seamless consumer experience.     1.25: Andrew talks about his history. His entrepreneurship journey started when he was quite young. 04.20: Andrew shares that Neo is a credit card and bank account as well. 04.28: The bank account and the credit card connect with a network of local businesses and large national brands where Neo powers the rewards and loyalty programs.04.37: Once a user gets the Neo credit card, they get access to 1000 multiple different cashback programs. 05.10: People often ask Andrew about Neo’s chain between food delivery and banking. He says that it is a consumer-focused business.07.13: Andrew talks about the

Host Jason Pereira talks to Michael Stroev. He is the COO and Head of Products for Nebeus. The company is an online platform that allows people to borrow, transfer and rent cryptocurrencies.Episode Highlights:00.35: Michael introduces Nebeus as a learning platform that allows people to earn cryptocurrencies and get loans.2.14: Michel says he works on every single aspect of the company in terms of a COO.  3.55: Jason inquires, “What is the core value-proposition of Nebeus?”4.04: Michael explains Nebeus is an ecosystem of products. He adds “Our main products are launched, we have all the other products that are gone with launch, allowing our users to not leave Nebeus from any of their needs.” 4.48: Michael shares they have also added crypto-insurance to Nebeus where people can insure their cryptocurrencies with a $100 million insurance policy from Lloyd London.6.00: Jason explains “Nebeus crypto-insurance is not like protecting you from market loss but protecting from things that can go wron

Host, Jason Pereira, talks to Michael Lecours. He is the Co-Founder of fpPathfinder. It is a flow-charting tool for advisors so that they can make better and consistent decisions. Episode Highlights:0.40: Jason is a fan of fpPathfinder, because of its sheer simplicity.1.28: Michael talks and fpPathfinder, and how it helps advisors to make informed decisions using different formats of checklists.1.57: Flow charts provided by fpPathfinder, helps on the decision-making front.2.54: Jason is impressed by fpPathfinder, and he says that an advisor who sign-up with the company can really count on it.3.32: Jason and Michael talk about the constantly changing regulations in the United States.4.03: While talking about Michael’s company, Jason points out that “The fact that we are outsourcing the cognitive decision making is just remarkable.”04.14: Jason is curious to know about the creation and story of fpPathfinder.05.00: For Michael it all started with simple errors and how to provide some clarity to a clien

Host, Jason Pereira, talks to panelists gathered at the WP Wealthtech Summit. The topic of discussion was “How the wealth industry is adapting to technology and revolutionizing the future of advice.” Episode Highlights:  1.18: Kendra Thompson is associated as a partner in Deloitte consulting practice. She leads the business called future of advice in investing, which focuses on what Canadian families care about as related to their investments? What are they willing to pay for? and How the industry is transforming to deliver that at a scale of profit?1.55: Joseph Lo, Vice President for Wealth Product Innovation for Broadridge. It is a global fintech company focused on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to make the wealth management lifecycle better.2.05: Robert Smuk, President & CEO, Agora Dealer Services Corp. It is a B2B trading dealer created to help advisors and dealerships provide advice to all of their clients.2.33: Tom Burmeister, Vice President of Financial Planning with Naviplan and now h