Fintech Impact

During this 32nd episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Randy Cass, the CEO, Founder, and Portfolio Manager of Nest Wealth. Nest Wealth is the second largest robo adviser in Canada, and a platform provider of digital solutions for the client onboarding experience in asset management. The conversation digs into what has led Randy Cass to creating Nest Wealth, how the company has evolved and expanded, and how they fit into the financial space in Canada.●01:11 – Nest Wealth helps firms, individuals, even employers move whatever process they’ve been using historically and allows them to run it all digitally in the B2B space.●02:07 – Randy decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer and later started trading currencies derivatives at TDSI.●05:15 – He performed a hosting job on BNN for several years with guests that were CEOs, CFOs, and also the heads of regulatory bodies.●07:00 – Nest Wealth was originally started as a direct-to-consumer robo advisor.●07:47 – When compressed margins arise, it becomes about getting more efficient in your operation and scaling your operations above past levels.●12:00 – All on a single stack, Nest Wealth is a Sass-based company and a licensed product that controls their technology.●14:26 – A large financial institution wanted to by Nest Wealth in the past.●17:58 – The average consumer on the direct-to-consumer side of Nest Wealth:78% of consumers have done multiple transfer-in assets in the first six months.●19:00 – Nest Wealth puts more control of the financial process on consumers.●25:03 – In 2013, Nest Wealth launched in the midst of the media saying there will never be a digital advisor in Canada.●27:39 – The financial advisement space isn’t disappearing because of robo advisors, it just needs to continue to focus on adding value.●34:03 – Customers are generally open to change, especially when it benefits them.●40:14 – Nest Wealth is currently the only direct-to-consumer platform with a flat fixed fee regardless of how much someone puts into their account.●43:01 – Randy Cass is most excited about driving transparency and better creating outcomes for investors.3 Key Points:1. On the direct-to-consumer side of Nest Wealth, 78% of consumers have done multiple transfer-ins of assets in the first six months.2.The average account balance of assets contributed to an account doubles in the first six months from the initial contribution.3.The average client on Nest Wealth has an account of about $175,000.Tweetable Quotes:-“Think of us (Nest Wealth) as an engine that powers digital wealth.” – Randy Cass.-“I left to start Nest Wealth as a direct-to-consumer robo advisor.” – Randy Cass.-“Once there is a substitutable similar product in the marketplace, you’re going tohave price competition and margin compression throughout the entire industry.”– Randy Cass.Resources Mentioned:●LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn●Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook●Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial●Randy Cass – LinkedIn for Randy Cass●@Randy_Cass – Twitter for Randy Cass●Nest Wealth – Website for Nest Wealth Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 31st episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira interviews Kesem Frank, Co-Founder, and COO of Nuco, a company that helps implement blockchain technology for financial service companies—in banking and securities. Kesem will speak about his career in Nuco, the effects of the blockchain, and cryptocurrencies, of which he has his own.●     01:00: – Kesem started Nuco with two partners: Matthew Spoke and Jin Tu.●     02:30: – Nuco was faced with the question of serving or building?●     03:24: – He was working in technology, but went to school for law and business.●     08:12: – Blockchain adds a new way to validate data.●     12:09: – Cuts currently take 16-19 days to reconcile where the problem occurred.●     14:19: – Blockchain is like a universal ledger to help stakeholders know the truth of what is happening in the value chain.●     18:30: – The future of blockchain: private stake owners that have skin in the game that are going to run their own blockchain.●     20:50: – Does the fact that I want to do business with you mean I have to blindly trust you?●     23:09: – We have to make sure that capital markets are played fair.●     26:09: – The Canadian Exchange likes what Nuco is doing with natural gas, and wants them to apply that to other areas and wants the inter-blockchain communication issues to be addressed.●     29:09: – The conversation in the blockchain industry is evolving from what is the best blockchain to how do we take these excellent innovations and create one cohesive fabric that works as an ecosystem.●     32:09: – A relay is an intermediary that steps in between two blockchains and mitigates between them—but isn’t a good solution.●     36:40: – Bitcoin has had slow adoption in North American countries.●     39:09: – Aion is a non-for-profit blockchain organization while Nuco has become its own business.●     42:50: – The difference between the current age of platforms is not as fair as decentralization. 3 Key Points:1. The trust engine was most crucial to Kesem Frank with blockchain.2. How do you go to market where you don’t already do business?3. A blockchain should be what goes in between any two blockchains. Tweetable Quotes:           -   “How do you actually bring it (blockchain) to a business and create a return that you                could quantify?” – Kesem Frank.           -   “When a cut happens it takes the exchange 16-19 days to figure and reconcile who                 dropped the ball.” – Kesem Frank.           -   “(Blockchain) Universal ledger that is helping all of these fragmented multitude of                stakeholders kind of know what is true and what’s not.” – Kesem Frank. Resources Mentioned:● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn● https://www.finally.technology/ – Website for Finally Technology● Kesem Frank – LinkedIn for Kesem Frank● Twitter – Kesem Frank’s Twitter  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 30th episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Amelia Young the Founder of Upside Consulting, which works within the fintech space, advising enterprises on how they can meet the challenges of the technology world and how it impacts finance. ●     00:49 – Amelia founded the Upside Consulting firm about 12 years ago●     01:33 – She started off her career an equity analyst and trader, did investor relations, and ended up in corporate strategy.●     04:15 – The biases that are relevant to our financial well-being: Choice Overload, Doing Nothing, The Hangover Principle.●     08:14 – She got involved in fintech because it opens up a wealth of tools to simplify the process.●     13:14 – Amelia is an Executive in Residence with the Scotia Bank Digital Banking Lab.●     16:20 – Open Banking is that consumer bank information is their own property and that they have the right to share their information with who they want.●     28:51 – Amelia completed a substantial research project on Millennials and Investing for the OSC.●     38:06 – If you don’t have at least $100,000 for financial management, it is hard to find an advisor to spend the time with you.●     39:40 – Complete Financial Advice: Insight into where you money is going, Savings Nudges, Goal Setting, and Construction and Maintenance of an Asset.●     43:31 – People that live in the wealth business tend not to think about daily banking.●     45:31 – She is excited about fintech’s potential to assist Canadian’s financial well-being.●     48:54 – Financial literacy is highly important to teach kids and everyone in general. 3 Key Points:1. Biases that effect our financial wellbeing:2. The biases that are relevant to our financial well-being: Choice Overload, Doing Nothing, The Hangover Principle.3. China is by far the world leader in fintech adoption and Canada was third from the bottom. Tweetable Quotes:-     “Our goal is to help our clients benefit from the transformation of the wealth       management industry.” – Amelia Young.-     “Open banking, if done properly, should be more secure. But, people need to really       get under the covers and understand what is involved in these things to get that.” –       Amelia Young.-     “Canada was one of the first adopters of contactless payment.” – Amelia Young. Resources Mentioned:● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook● Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial● LinkedIn – Ameilia Young’s LinkedIn● Upside Consulting – Website for Upside Consulting  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 29th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira interviews Danish Yusef, the CEO and Co-Founder of Zensurance, a Canadian organization that manages the insurance needs of startups and small businesses. ●     01:09: – Zensurance helps small business manage and curate their insurance affairs.●     01:40: – Danish is a software engineer by trade, and worked as a developer at IBM.●     03:50: – Most people in the insurance industry have grown up in the industry— change is slow.●     05:15: – These days you can’t buy stock in insurance companies.●     07:30: – Zensurance is building internal risk models to assess the risk of a business type based on factors like industry, location, and size.●     10:40: – Zensurance started with technology companies, then they added construction, health care, consultants, cannabis, and sports—general liability and cyber insurance are popular policies.●     13:26: – Auto insurance could phase out in the next 10-15 years.●     21:10: – Zensurance currently works with about 25 insurance companies.●     26:03: – The Ryerson DMZ growth accelerator program was beneficial to Zensurance, and November 2016 was when the first round of funding came through.●     30:57: – The Zensurance team is about 17 people, only in Ontario and Alberta at the moment, and have helped over 5,000 businesses.●     32:15: – Danish is excited about the possibility of being able to automate advice. 3 Key Points:1. A small $500 insurance policy could be touched by eight different people before its   issued.2. Two-thirds of Zensurance customers by their services after hours.3. Zensurance started with technology companies, then they added   construction, health care, consultants, cannabis, and sports. Tweetable Quotes:“Zensurance helps small business manage their insurance.” – Danish Yusef. “We (Zensurance) work in the property and casualty insurance space, not the life, and health and benefits.” – Danish Yusef.“Auto insurance is probably going to go away in 10 or 15 years. So the industry is betting on cyber security taking the place of auto insurance, because half of all premiums are on the auto side.” – Danish Yusef. Resources Mentioned:Facebook – Jason Pereira’s FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedInhttps://www.finally.technology/ – Website for Finally TechnologyDanish Yusef – LinkedIn for Danish YusefTwitter – Twitter for Danish YusefZensurance – Website for Zensurance  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 28th episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Eva Wong, the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Borrowwell. As a Canadian credit score and lending recommendation engine, Borrowwell helps people manage their credit score and gives them advice on how to apply for credit cards and other solutions to improve their credit.●     01:14 – Borrowwell was the first company to give Canadians their credit scores for free.●     02:07 – Eva Wong doesn’t come from financial or business background.●     04:20 – When you carry a balance on a credit card you are actually borrowing money on their previous purchases but on every purchase after that—at over 20%.●     04:50 – Borrowwell offers loans from ($1,000-35,000) online that can be customized interest rate (under 6% into the mid-20%) based on their credit score.●     07:00 – They are funded by Equitable Bank, a few angel investors, and VCs that include White Star Capital and Portage.●     09:21 – Many people are unfamiliar with their credit file and advice.●     13:11 – They currently have 45 teams members in Toronto after starting 3 years ago and have over 500,000 members that they serve.●     14:47 – They work with about 40 partners and most of the largest banks.●     18:09 – Factors for determining interest rates for their loans include: credit scores, debt service ratio, credit utilization, and the loan amount.●     20:56 – Information is updated once a month.●     22:54 – Diversity is slowing improving.●     26:00 – Eva is excited about the impact that Borrowwell is having.3 Key Points:1. Borrowwell helps consumers by giving them a free credit score, offering a loan product, along with credit advice.2. Borrowwell offers a loan product online that can be customized interest rate (under 6% into the mid-20%) based on their credit score.3. There are currently 45 teams members in Toronto working for Borrowwell and over 500,000 members that they serve.Tweetable Quotes:-     “At Borrowwell, our mission is to help Canadians make great decisions and credit.” – Eva Wong.-     “If you look at bank profits by country…if you look after China Japan, and the U.S., all of which have much, much larger populations than Canada, Canada is the next.” – Eva Wong.-     “We just crossed 500,000 members, which we think makes us one of the largest Fintech companies in Canada. ”– Eva Wong. Resources Mentioned:● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook● Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial● Eva Wong – LinkedIn for Eva Wong● @eva_toronto – Twitter for Eva Wong● Borrowwell – Website for Borrowwell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 27th episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Davyde Wachell, a Stanford graduate in artificial intelligence and the CEO of Responsive AI. ●   01:26 – The integral trust of clients comes from: service excellence and actionable insights. ●   02:30 – Davyde studied AI before it became overwhelmingly popular. ●   03:20 – Responsive AI identifies through aspects of who the client is or where they are in their life, that could be acted on to help both the client themselves and the enterprise serving the client.●   08:50 – Davyde believes that Canadian institutions and culture have a specific way of looking at innovation, which Is very consensus-driven ●   11:16 – 2017 and 2018 were the years of “fake news.”●   17:25 – How do you make sure people live up to the policy?●   18:41 – The future for the company is to see how wealth management can add value for clients and financial advisors. ●   20:14 – Process automation and AI create the chance to create better outcomes and push away tasks that slow down the workflow. ●   21:25 – Human beings using AI tools will outperform raw AI and raw human beings. ●   26:17 – Davyde foresees that the AI hype will calm down in the next three years and people will realize transfer learning and complex heterogeneous problems aren’t easily solved with AI.3 Key Points:1. The integral trust of clients comes from: service excellence and actionable insights. 2. Responsive AI technology is only for wealth management serving mass affluent and high net worth clients. 3. Humans that use AI tools will outperform raw AI and raw humans. Tweetable Quotes:-   “Those of us tracking wealth tech know that digital is a big story, and it’s expected to reach $4.6 trillion by 2022.” – Davyde Wachell. -   “Wealth is built on trust. And our clients will trust us when we serve them well and they feel taken care of, and when they trust our judgement.” – Davyde Wachell.-   “What our AI looks at is identifying through aspects of who the client is or where they are in their life, that could be acted on to help both the client themselves and the enterprise serving the client.” – Davyde Wachell.  Resources Mentioned:● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook● Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial● Davyde Wachell – LinkedIn for Davyde Wachell● Responsive AI – Website for Responsive AI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this 26th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira has an interview with Don Whalen, the Co-Founder and CEO of PreciseFP, a Unites States-based questionnaire company. PreciseFP makes it easy for financial advisers to make custom questionnaires that integrate into various utilities. ●01:03: – PreciseFP is involved in gathering data and engaging.●02:14: – Don started off in IT for a company called SAP.●04:49: – PreciseFP is highly customizable for financial advisors through a secured process.●08:14: – Advisors initially thought that clients wouldn’t fill out the questionnaires and that older people would feel alienated—neither was the case.●14:47: – PreciseFP’sonly competition is “Google Docs, paper, and PDF.”●15:35: – Canada, United States, and the United Kingdom are among locations with PreciseFP access.●18:50: – Version 5: simplifying the interface, client surveys, more template library content, and IPS.●21:42: – The current price for PreciseFP is $60 a month for a one-user seat and ID sharing isn’t allowed—$30 per additional user.●26:09: – The company has 10 members, and mostly are developers.●27:11: – Don is excited about talking to advisors, and listening to the way PreciseFP has transformed their business. 3 Key Points:1.PreciseFP is a data gathering and a client engagement platform that has been around for 12 years.2.Two initial fears of PreciseFP that proved to be wrong: clients wouldn’t fill it out and older people wouldn’t want to use it.3. Version 5 of PreciseFP will have data quality measures. Tweetable Quotes:-“The power of our system, of our platform, the advisor can make the experience custom.”– Don Whalen.-“We have to keep that client data complete, but also current.”– Don Whalen.-“I would steer advisors away from our competition, which at the end of the day, is Google Docs, paper, and PDF.”–Don Whalen. Resources Mentioned:● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn● https://www.finally.technology/– Website for Finally Technology●Don Whalen– LinkedIn for Don Whalen● PreciseFP – Website for PreciseFP Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary:In this 25th episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Richard Arundel, the North American General Manager for Currencycloud, that is a solution for international exchange online through a series of APIs. Richard discusses his involvement in the company and the ways in which it is expanding.Show Notes:●01:11 – Currencycloud offers a payment software that enables companies to optimize their payment process.●03:01 – Currencycloud began in 2012.●07:26 – They are a B2B company with customers that include AirHelp.●13.27 – They charge a small percentage based on the flow.●17:02 – Very often companies don’t know what kind of exchange fees that are being charged.●18:02 – Obstacles that Currencycloud has faced: defining who these are, their value proposition, and how fast customers, could be serviced, and getting compliances right.●19:39 – Compliance has been an opportunity not a threat to Currencycloud.●23:09 – Currencycloud can send payments to pretty much any unsanctioned country, and they have local payout options in over 30 countries, and there are 40 different currencies they can currently process.●24:51 – The size of the market and opportunity excite Richard about his industry.3 Key Points:1. Obstacles that Currencycloud has faced: defining who these are, their value proposition, and how fast customers, could be serviced, and getting compliances right.2.The challenge is how to partner with banks and make customers aware that there are options.3.Currencycloud can send payments to pretty much any unsanctioned country, and they have local payout options in over 30 countries, and there are 40 different currencies they can currently process.Tweetable Quotes:-“If I am giving up the payment process to these banks or to these other third-party people, then I lose complete control over a.) my customer experience and b.) the cost for the customer, which also affects their revenue.” – Richard Arundel.-“There are companies out there that charge 2.75% or 5%. But often you don’t know what you’re being charged.”– Richard Arundel.-“When we originally set the company (Currencycloud) up, Fintech was really just a buzzword. But now it’s I guess more of a movement, more of a thing. We were lucky enough that we were dealing with some really interesting customers from day one.”– Richard Arundel.Resources Mentioned:●LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn●Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook●Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial●Richard Arundel – LinkedIn page for Richard Arundel●Currencycloud – Website for Currencycloud Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Summary:In this 24th episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Charlie Conron, the CTO, and Co-Founder of Life Design Analysis, an online tool for analysis and illustration of different insurance policies and products available to customers. Life Design Analysis is both a sales tool and tracking tool that allows financial advisors to track their policies and mine the data.Show Notes:●01:09 – LDA is designed to help advisors service existing policyholders as well as present new opportunities.●01:44 –Charlie Conron went to school for mechanical engineering and has been self-taught in coding.●05:00 – LDA noticed an opportunity to streamline the big pool of fragmented data that was available.●11:10 – LDA has some Whole Life capability in the system and has built an interface with every carrier software.●13:23 – Ways LDA clients typically use their software: the PDF for digital report, reports on laptops or tablets, and a sharable proposal as a leave-behind piece.●18:04 –LDA has built an easy way to request from the carriers to get information for inforce policies.●20:16 – About five carriers have kits feeds for inforce data.●24:23 – Life Design Analysis is working on integrations with Cronos, Blue Sun, and Razor Plan.●25:21 – The LDA team is approaching 10 members with people in London Ontario, Toronto, and in British Columbia.●26:09 –The biggest challenges have been the cooperation of some industry partners, and the quality of data.●32:22 – Charlie is excited about the education about robots and the consumer experience getting smoother.3 Key Points:1. Charlie Conron’s stepfather Larry Kinlin, the Founder of Life Design Analysis, is a 50+financial veteran.2. Life Design Analysis solves the problems of how to present insurance so it’s more understandable to the consumer and they offer sales and compliance options for advisors. 3.The ways LDA clients typically use their software: the PDF for digital report, reports on laptops or tablets, and a sharable proposal as a leave-behind piece.Tweetable Quotes:-“We (LDA) really wanted to be your go-to software for the complete insurance sales process, so whether it’s a prospect or serving an inforce client.” – Charlie Conron.-“Critical illness rates are built into the system. They are a great comparison contrasting a T10 to a 75.” – Charlie Conron.-“Because a lot of new proposals come through our system, we’ve added this ability to mark a policy as sold, which will save the entire renewal schedule.” – Charlie Conron.Resources Mentioned:●LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn●Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook●Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial●Charlie Conron – LinkedIn for Charlie Conron●LifeDesign Analysis – Website for Life Design Analysis Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the 23rd episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, and Jason Pereira interviews Ben Styles, the General Manager of product and Partner Development for Xero, one of the world’s leading online accounting software programs. Learn more about Ben’s work with Xero, and how the company is impacting the Fintech industry.●02:56 – Xero started with the concept of a single ledger in the cloud, then an account or a bookkeeper for a small business able to work in this space in real time.●03:45 – Ben Styles has been focusing his energy in digitizing businesses and products.●06:12 – Xero zeroed in on removing manual entry.●09:21 – In two of Xero’s core markets there are between 500-1000 small businesses joining Xero a day. the small business owners, the people that work in the small businesses, and the accountants and bookkeepers that work for those small businesses.●18:18 – Picking partners is a challenge the Xero has, as most businesses do.●22:25 – Xero is weary about totally digital currencies.●23:12 – Nations where Xero has high penetration like Australian and the U.K. they are seeing many small businesses that have suppliers or customers that are also Xero customers.●24:42 – Ben is excited about the realization amongst small businesses about how powerful running their entire business in the cloud can be for them for growth and company management.●30:46 – Workflow Max is an important tool for accountants and bookkeepers to run the workflow within their accounting practice.●31:49 – Projects software is about is about real-time time tracking and job managing of billable work, and making it available on mobile and desktop.3 Key Points:In two of Xero’s core markets there are between 500-1000 small businesses joining Xero a day.Xero is now at 1.4 million small businesses globally.Xero has customers in 180 countries. We’ve got operations in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, London, San Francisco, New York, Denver, and now in Canada.Tweetable Quotes:-“Having the single view of the ledger was going to be the core of solving cloud accounting.” – Ben Styles.-“We (Xero) are now at 1.4 million small businesses globally.” – Ben Styles.-“We’ve (Xero) got customers in 180 countries. We’ve got operations in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, London, San Francisco, New York, Denver, and now in Canada.” – Ben Styles.Resources Mentioned:●LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn●Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook●Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial●LinkedIn– Ben Styles’ LinkedIn●Xero– Website for Xero Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.