Our guest on this episode of Yodlee’s Data Driven Finance podcast is Amy Morris. Amy is Senior Director, ACH Network Rules at Nacha and prior to that, she was Business Leader for Global Operating Regulation Development at VISA. She is a true specialist in the electronic payments world, having worked for more than 15 years as part of multiple councils and working groups that deal with electronic payment rules. There are some new rules and deadlines coming from Nacha that financial institutions should know, so in this episode we cover topics such as:

• What Nacha does and who it serves
• Some of the big changes to the Nacha ACH Network Operating Rules
• How a business or financial institution can be ready for the rule changes
• Compliance deadlines you need to know
• How new rules or amendments get suggested and implemented
• Rules that are currently under consideration for passage
• How rules are enforced
• How improvements in data gathering and analysis influence ACH Network rules and operations
• How electronic payments development and usage are trending
• The challenges institutions face in compliance and how Nacha helps
• Best high-level advice for financial institutions

Some Helpful Links:

Nacha

Nacha on YouTube

Nacha on LinkedIn

Nacha News

Nacha free end user webinar

Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Theo Vaughn, Director of Product Services at Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners. Prior to his current role, Theo was Chief Experience Officer at Catapult Credit Services and Product Engagement Manager at Agora Data. He is celebrated as someone skilled in the art of cross-collaboration, and product development and management. We explore Theo’s experience guiding products in the finance space, covering such topics as:

• The approach and philosophy around product directing and product management.
• Aligning stakeholders around what the best product should be.
• How do you know what’s “right” for the product? What signals do you take in and take seriously?
• Scaling technology to match ambitions.
• What typical organizational needs product directors are finding.
• Maintaining the balance between human and technological interactions.
• The challenges product directors tend to face.
• How connectivity in the financial space leads to product possibilities.
• The pillars of trust that lead to consumer product adoption and high usage.
• Is it even possible for product development to keep up with today’s huge and rapid changes?

In this episode of Data Driven Finance, we talk with David Silberman. David is a Visiting Lecturer in Law at Yale Law School as well as a Senior Advisor to the Center for Responsible Lending, the Financial Health Network, and other notable organizations. He taught and lectured at Georgetown University and Harvard University, and was the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Associate Director for Research, Markets and Regulation from November 2010 to February 2020. In this episode, we cover such topics as:

• What the Center for Responsible Lending does
• Results of some of the Center’s research
• What the Financial Health Network aims to do
• What lenders are doing to get better information and data to make better decisions
• The current problems with credit scores as indicators of credit-worthiness
• Where technology has (and hasn’t) made the loan application process easier for consumers
• What lenders are looking for in cash flow data
• Improving inclusivity while still making responsible loans
• What defines financial health
• Advice on wealth building for Gen Z

Some Helpful Links:

Center for Responsible Lending

Financial Health Network

Yodlee

Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Jeff Cain, VP Fintech Research at Fidelity Investments. Before that he was Head of Partnerships at Brightside and spent eight years at Yodlee. Jeff got his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at Stanford and a Masters from Harvard. We’re not really talking about Fidelity; we’re going bigger picture and getting Jeff’s personal take on wealth building and tech’s role in that. Topics covered include:

• How customers can be segmented to track behaviors, demographics, and goals.
• Are behaviors driving technology or are tech innovations changing what consumers want?
• How are finserv businesses doing at keeping up with consumer demands and innovating around those?
• What are the big trends in financial consumer behavior?
• And likewise, what are the coming trends in fintech?
• When it comes to the third-party apps and players, what’s going to separate the winners from the losers?
• Why should banks and financial institutions fully embrace APIs, data sharing, and open banking?
• What to look forward to and what to be cautious about as we move through 2025.

Helpful Links:

Fidelity Center for Applied Technology

Jeff Cain on LI

Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Gretchen Rodriguez, Head of Product for Payments at TD Bank. She approaches products with an entrepreneur’s mindset and has designed and launched products in fintech, e-commerce, cybersecurity, and identity & trust. Gretchen spent time as a Senior Product Manager and Product Owner at eBay, serves on a couple of boards, and is a product adviser to Med Fem Wellness. We talk about emerging payments and the ecosystems that support it. Topics covered include:

• The way we pay for products and services is changing.
• Consumer preferences and practices for online payments
• The ideal end game for payments from a consumer’s point of view.
• The obstacles still in the way of seamless, superior payment systems.
• How we can accomplish the interconnectivity required for improved payment experiences.
• The opportunities open banking offers for opening and funding accounts.
• Additional benefits of connectivity for business account holders.
• The payment enhancements that are being explored today.
• A warning for the banks allowing themselves to fall behind.

Our guests on this episode of Data Driven Finance are Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty, authors of the book “Unbundling the Enterprise – APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents.” Stephen is North America Field CTO at Boomi and a Strategic Advisor at Revenium, while Matt is Boomi’s Chief Technology Officer. There’s a lot in the book about APIs, what they can power, and how they can be leveraged to create the experiences we’ll be experiencing ahead. Topics covered include:

• What finance businesses should know about what APIs can do that tech experts already know?
• Why companies who leveraged APIs early rapidly became some of the biggest in the world.
• Did you know Google Maps never intended to make their API available to third party developers? Hear why they did.
• Who are the financial businesses that gave themselves an advantage years ago?
• What does it mean to “unbundle the enterprise”?
• How are financial institutions doing in terms of awareness and adoption of API opportunities?
• What is capability capitalization?
• Why it’s better for finserv companies to go on offense with optionality than to engage in “reluctant compliance” with regulations.
• The three methodologies financial businesses need for an effective API strategy.
• The value in data being non-fungible, non-rivalrous, and experience-dependent.
• What are the risks of this kind of API-driven digital transformation?

Helpful Links Stephen Fiscman Matt McLarty Unbundling the Enterprise book Boomi Yodlee

Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Steve Szpytek, SVP and Head of Consumer Product Development at Axos Bank. Axos Bank is a diversified technology-driven financial services company with a well-balanced portfolio of verticals within the bank. Topics discussed include:

• How technology is moving so fast, there’s always a new product out there to help you service or enhance your platform that needs to be vetted.
• Balancing what’s available vs. what really going to move the need for customers.
• The importance of mobile and why 70-75% of Axos Bank’s customers interact with the bank on the mobile app.
• How connecting accounts provides a better, fuller picture of the customer than the traditional small deposit verification method.
• The enormous advantages of account linking for personalization and more targeted customer offers.
• The four pillars that comprise Axos Bank’s strategy: customer/user experience, tracking, training, and communication.
• The move toward better, easier, faster, simpler loan applications and processing.
• The vital nature of transparency for trust building.
• What’s most on the minds these days of those tasked with creating financial customer products.
• Are physical banks on their way out?

Some Helpful Links

Steve Szpytek on LinkedIn

Axos Bank

Envestnet Yodlee

Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Kat Cloud, Principal Director of Open Banking Compliance at Yodlee. Kat is also a Board member at the Financial Data Exchange, and prior to her time at Yodlee was head of UK Public Policy for Plaid. We discuss open banking compliance, specifically touching on the new CFPB 1033 rule, which is important for all financial institutions to be aware of. Topics covered include:

• What is open banking? How does it differ from how financial institutions operate today?
• What has to happen for open banking to reach its full promise?
• API as the “plumbing” behind financial data connections.
• What is the CFPB 1033 rule?
• What kind of data is and isn’t included under the CFPB 1033 rule.
• What happens if banks don’t meet the CFPB 1033 rule deadlines?
• What all this means for innovation in finserv and fintech.
• How are banks responding to both the rule and its timeline?
• How are all these stakeholders going to achieve true standardization?
• What does a new administration mean for the CFPB 1033 rule?

Helpful Links

CFPB website

Open Banking with Yodlee

FDX (Financial Data Exchange)