Fintech Takes

1 week ago | fintechtakes.com | Alex Johnson

Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I’m Alex Johnson, joined by Jason Mikula, and we are once again unable to resist the siren call of Bass Island. Tour we must. First up on BaaS Island, Increase is trying to buy a tiny Washington state bank to build the BaaS Warp Core of the future: tight tech + charter in one stack. We explore what this means for infrastructure players trying to outgrow their middleware roots. Next, California drops a consent order on Hatch Bank…without the FDIC.

1 week ago | fintechtakes.com | Alex Johnson

The CFPB is expected to make some significant changes to the Personal Financial Data Rights Rule, which had been finalized by Rohit Chopra late last year:The Trump administration is poised to reopen a Biden-era rule allowing customers to share their sensitive bank data with third-party fintechs and potentially vacate it, according to multiple sources.

1 week ago | fintechtakes.com | Alex Johnson

Hatch Bank entered into a consent order with the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI). Among other things, the consent order requires the bank to:Redo its written enterprise money laundering and terrorist financing risk assessment to accurately reflect the bank’s fintech partners, customer types, volumes, and geographies. This must be done within 60 days.

2 weeks ago | fintechtakes.com | Alex Johnson

Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m your host, Alex Johnson, and today, one of our favorite guests is making a triumphant return visit—Frank Rotman, founding partner and CIO at QED Investors. Frank has a theory: in his words, the game of life is getting “harder to win.” Debt is piling up, wages are stagnant, and folks are being told they’re the only ones to blame for their financial struggles. His observation is that more people see themselves as playing PvE (Player vs.

2 weeks ago | fintechtakes.com | Alex Johnson

A couple of interesting stablecoin things. First, a bunch of stablecoin and stablecoin-adjacent crypto companies are considering acquiring bank charters or licenses, according to the Wall Street Journal (emphasis mine):A host of crypto firms including Circle and BitGo plan to apply for bank charters or licenses, according to people familiar with the matter. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global and stablecoin company Paxos are considering similar moves, other people said.