Isabelle Castro Margaroli

London

Reporter at Freelance

AI Anthropologist | Fountain of Youth Seeker | Web3 Witch | Chaotic Good | Leading the Utopia in Beta newsletter

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Articles

The Fintech Coffee Break - Don Muir, Arc

Nov 26, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I’m your host Isabelle Castro. This week I shared my coffee break with Don Muir CEO and founder of Arc. This episode was a special one. It was the last one of a very busy year and I wanted to kind of take stock of what had happened and how it had affected the fintech ecosystem. Arc works closely with startups and fintechs and has had a great insight into what’s going on in the landscape.
The Fintech Coffee Break - Dani Fava, Envestnet

Nov 20, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I’m your host, Isabelle Castro. This week I joined Dani Fava Group President of Product Innovation at Envestnet for my coffee break to talk about the promise of generative AI for the financial advisory. With AI being one of the topics of the year for finance, I wanted to ask her how she sees the technology impacting financial advisors and the customers they serve.
Fintech Nexus Newsletter (November 15, 2023): Tel Aviv Fintech Adapts to the Ongoing Challenges of Wartime

Nov 15, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

The Israel-Palestine conflict rages on, and for many fintech workers in the tech hub that is Tel Aviv, 44 miles from Gaza, life has had to continue through the chaos. Today, American Banker published a piece looking into the impact the conflict has had on many fintechs that have offices in the area. Although some, like Pagaya and Bluevine, have headquarters in the US, many have hundreds of employees based in Israel.
Fintech Nexus Newsletter (November 14, 2023): Fnality's Payment System: The first “Private Sector CBDC?”

Nov 14, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Today, I woke up to a rush of news reports covering blockchain-focused company Fnality’s latest successful funding round. The round was led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, joined by a number of other banks, raising a total of £77.7 million ($95.2 million) – no mean feat in today’s climate. CEO Rhomaios Ram said that he felt that “small pockets” of optimism were finally emerging in the funding space, despite it being difficult to close the round. So what exactly are they so optimistic about?
Section 1071 Requirements are Coming; Banks Need a Strategy

Nov 14, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

American banks have faced a barrage of regulatory changes during the course of this year. With many of the CFPB’s new rules involving data collection, bankers are feeling the strain. At a certain point, the collection, analysis, and reporting of all this data increasingly becomes a challenge regardless of the bank’s size,” said Peter Dugas, Executive Director at Capco. “Financial institutions are just being overwhelmed with data.
Fintech Nexus Newsletter (November 13, 2023): Zelle-ously Refunding Impersonator Fraud

Nov 14, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Authorized payment scams have been a bit of a grey area regarding customer reimbursement. While in the US, federal rules require banks to reimburse customers for payments made without their authorization, when customers make the transfer themself, this protection ends. On the surface, this makes sense, but it doesn’t account for the rash of fraud operations that have targeted trusting consumers who make payments in good faith only to find they have been duped.
A Rise in Recommerce Could Bring Payments Opportunities

Nov 14, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

In response to heightened living costs, some have turned to credit cards, bringing Americans’ total balance to record highs. Others have taken on extra jobs and “side hustles” to make up the deficit. A recent Bankrate Survey found that 39% of Americans have a second income, and even more in younger generations. This has taken on several forms, but in some cases, people are selling old clothes and items to make some extra cash.
Custodia Launches Bitcoin Custody Solution

Nov 13, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Crypto’s history of centralized custody is not a positive one. For most of the crypto-curious, high-profile failures of crypto custodians spring to mind. MtGox, FTX, and Prime Trust are just some that have left investors with little hope of recovering their assets in full. Now, for many, self-custody is the only way forward. But when it comes to institutions, the idea of crypto self-custody becomes more complicated.
The Fintech Coffee Break - Nico Simko, Clair

Nov 12, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

Hi guys, welcome to the Fintech Coffee Break. I’m your host, Isabelle Castro. This week, I shared my coffee break with Nico Simko, CEO and founder of Clair, an earned wage access and banking app. Now, I’ve covered earned wage access before, but Claire is a different player within the space. The company approaches earned wage access like a loan, also offering employees other banking services. I asked Nico about this approach and why he went through the long, arduous process to be able to do this.
Fintech Nexus Newsletter (November 10, 2023): JPMorgan brings programmable money to banking

Nov 10, 2023 | fintechnexus.com | Isabelle Castro Margaroli

For years, Big Tech has been edging in on financial services, largely without the regulatory constraints befitting a bank or credit union, despite operating similar services. But that may all come to an end soon if the CFPB’s latest proposal comes to pass. One of the big appeals of digital currencies has been it’s programmability. Being able to bake in rules for a currency opens out a whole world of possibilities.