Barefoot Innovation Podcast
218 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 1 month ago - ★★★★★ - 40 ratingsJo Ann Barefoot discusses disrupting innovation in the financial services sector and beyond.
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Episodes
Transformation by TechSprint: Closing the Credit Gap in South Africa
June 13, 2024 18:22 - 59 minutes - 81.3 MBNthupang Magolego from the National Credit Regulator (NCR) of South Africa and Collen Masunda of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) join Jo Ann to discuss using a TechSprint model to tackle really hard problems in financial inclusion.
Taming the Machine: AI Ethicist Nell Watson
May 09, 2024 10:00 - 58 minutes - 80.9 MBAI Ethicist Nell Watson and author of Taming the Machine describes the foundations we need to put in place to build legal, regulatory and ethical systems to channel fiercely powerful new AI technology away from the bad, and toward the good.
Community Banks: Darragh Buckley on a Tech-Enabled Future
April 18, 2024 13:37 - 36 minutes - 50.2 MBCommunity banks face a tech revolution. Explore the challenges & opportunities with Increase CEO Darragh Buckley, who has a unique perspective and novel ideas. Hear his thoughts on how smaller banks can survive & thrive in a changing landscape.
Cutting Edge Consumer Finance: Upgrade CEO Renaud Laplanche
April 11, 2024 18:36 - 46 minutes - 63.3 MBUpgrade's visionary CEO, Renaud Laplanche, unpacks his pioneering thinking on consumer finance. He unveils 3 key financial consumer needs and explores the evolving landscape of fintechs — progress, challenges and what's next.
Women’s History Month: Jo Ann Joins Shelley Anderson to look back and forward
March 27, 2024 00:13 - 1 hour - 85.9 MBTo mark Women’s History Month, AIR’s Shelley Anderson interviews Barefoot Innovation host Jo Ann on her perspective about the progress, and lack thereof, on efforts to drive toward gender equality.
Fintech 2.0: Itai Damti and Alex Acree of Unit
March 12, 2024 13:57 - 1 hour - 84.8 MBItai Damti and Alex Acree delve into Unit's design as a "technology operating system" for bank-fintech partnerships, the legal framework they establish between partners, and their view that compliance must be built into these systems from the start.
Innovation in Africa: Bank of Ghana’s Kwame Oppong
February 26, 2024 15:30 - 58 minutes - 80.8 MBKwame is the charismatic head of innovation at the Bank of Ghana. He shares advice for regulators on how to adapt to tech transformation and emphasizes collaboration to break down silos and foster innovation
How to Include Everyone: The Gates Foundation’s Michael Wiegand
February 05, 2024 15:13 - 52 minutes - 72.5 MBMichael talks about the global evolution of financial inclusion and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s ongoing efforts. Learn about digital financial inclusion, consumer protection, digital public infrastructure, and barriers to fair finance.
Presidential Assistant Elizabeth Kelly: White House Policy on AI
January 23, 2024 14:05 - 39 minutes - 54.4 MBKelly serves on the White House National Economic Council and helped lead the executive order issued in 2023 on AI. She discusses what the order requires, the challenges it aims to address and the upside opportunity of the technology.
Year-End Roundup from Digital Dollar Foundation Head Chris Giancarlo
December 11, 2023 14:29 - 58 minutes - 80.9 MBFormer CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo updates on the evolution of Central Bank Digital Currencies around the world and predicts where we’re headed.
How Minority-Backed Institutions Can Stay Competitive in Digital Age
November 14, 2023 16:21 - 35 minutes - 48.4 MBIn this special episode recorded live at the Annual Conference of the National Bankers Association in Washington, D.C., Jo Ann speaks with three innovators working to help Minority Depository Institutions modernize their technology to continue serving communities of color.
AI, AI and AI: Game-Changing Technologies Will Dominate Fall Gatherings
October 25, 2023 20:08 - 8 minutes - 11.4 MBGenerative artificial intelligence is sure to be a hot topic for regulators and financial innovators on the upcoming conference circuit. Here is how attendees can get the most out of events likely to be a harvest of new ideas.
Fully Fair Lending: NFHA CEO Lisa Rice
September 28, 2023 15:44 - 1 hour - 85.5 MBDiscrimination in the credit markets is a persistent problem. Lisa Rice, head of the National Fair Housing Alliance, says we can solve it if we understand the role of structured, hidden bias, and use new technology to root it out.
Jason Cave on FHFA’s Goal to Modernize Mortgage Process With New Tech
September 18, 2023 14:14 - 46 minutes - 64.4 MBFollowing the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Velocity TechSprint, the official leading the agency’s conservatorship and fintech strategies joins Jo Ann to discuss all the ways the mortgage market is ripe for a technology overhaul.
How the FCA is Attacking Both Prongs of Regulatory Innovation
August 18, 2023 13:20 - 1 hour - 99 MBMost agencies focus largely on how technology affects the industries they oversee, but the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority’s innovation approach is also inward-focused. Jessica Rusu and Nathalie Lowe, two leaders driving the FCA’s strategy, discuss the regulator’s achievements.
NCRC’s Van Tol on How Technology Can Change Consumer Finance
August 01, 2023 17:07 - 1 hour - 119 MBJesse Van Tol, CEO of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, joins Jo Ann for a discussion on the upsides and downsides of technologies designed to expand access to homeownership and small business capital.
Making Payments FASTT: The World Bank’s Holti Banka
June 30, 2023 13:19 - 51 minutes - 70.7 MBBanka helps lead the World Bank’s initiative to make payments interoperable and fast. In this episode, he discusses the launch of Project FASTT, the principles that make fast payments work and how to meet key financial inclusion goals.
How Delicia Reynolds Hand Works to Empower Fintech Consumers
June 15, 2023 19:53 - 54 minutes - 75 MBHand, the Director of Financial Fairness Advocacy at Consumer Reports, leads the magazine’s initiative to evaluate new fintech products to give customers greater awareness of the rapidly changing financial services market. The ratings system could be a game-changer for pricing and product development.
Barefoot Innovation Podcast Hits 200-Episode Milestone
June 02, 2023 18:49 - 54 minutes - 74.9 MBIt has been quite a ride since our first episode in 2015. Over more than eight years, this show helped mark AIR’s founding, unpacked what the pandemic and other events meant for financial regulation, and hosted so many enlightening discussions about disruptive technology.
Brave New World: A Conversation with ChatGPT
April 26, 2023 21:12 - 44 minutes - 61.6 MBIn this episode, Jo Ann interviews the most famous generative AI. The chat is “unsmart” but it gave responses to complex questions that were accurate and displayed the ability to grasp subtle issues.
Cecilia Skingsley on How BIS Innovation Hub Showcases ‘Art of the Possible’
April 19, 2023 13:10 - 38 minutes - 52.9 MBThe head of the Bank for International Settlements’ innovation initiative offers insight on ways that central banks and other regulatory organizations can boldly explore technological change.
Demystifying DeFi and Web3 with Tomicah Tillemann
April 05, 2023 14:09 - 58 minutes - 80.3 MBTillemann, Chief Policy Officer of Haun Ventures, shares his views about the crypto winter and how the confluence of blockchain, open source and digital tokens could solve stubborn problems.
BIS Executive Tara Rice on Need for Global Standards in New Payments Era
March 15, 2023 17:56 - 41 minutes - 57.5 MBThe Bank for International Settlements, which ensures payment systems work, has prioritized technology. Tara Rice, who heads the BIS Secretariat of the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures, discusses CPMI’s stablecoin guidance and more.
‘There Were Zero Plane Crashes Before We Had Planes’: Kyle Hauptman
March 03, 2023 20:14 - 1 hour - 96.1 MBKyle Hauptman, vice chairman of the National Credit Union Administration, comes on the show to discuss how his agency encourages credit unions to take steps to stay relevant in the digital era.
Delicia Hand, Cleve Mesidor on Rethinking Consumer Protection Paradigm
February 17, 2023 21:32 - 1 hour - 139 MBThe question of how to expand access and ensure fairness for people of color deals with finding the right balance of regulation, technology and traditional finance. Two leaders on this issue speak with Jo Ann about finding the best answers.
Machines that Read Regulations: FINRA's Goal Could Soon Be Reality
January 31, 2023 17:25 - 45 minutes - 62.6 MBIn this episode, Jo Ann speaks with innovation leaders at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Haimera Workie and Alex Khachaturian, about a new tool to help transform financial regulation and compliance.
How Credit Unions Cut an Innovation Path: NCUA Chair Todd Harper
January 17, 2023 14:45 - 45 minutes - 62.6 MBTodd Harper is the first head of the National Credit Union Administration appointed after serving in the agency’s own ranks. His conversation with Jo Ann touches on the NCUA’s new innovation office, and the technology pressures and opportunities facing credit unions.
Simon Taylor on How Crypto and DeFi Move Forward
January 09, 2023 14:12 - 55 minutes - 76 MBThe first 2023 episode is Jo Ann’s discussion with Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy at the anti-fraud tech firm Sardine. He weighs in on crypto’s “massive fraud problem,” and the pros and cons of building trust through decentralization and code.
FCA CEO Nikhil Rathi on How Regulators Can Be ‘Data-Driven’
December 14, 2022 16:40 - 31 minutes - 43.4 MBRathi heads the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority, which has raced ahead of other agencies in recognizing the importance of digital transformation. He sits down with Jo Ann for a wide-ranging discussion on the FCA’s sandbox initiative, why the ‘G’ (for Governance) in ESG matters, and how the agency aspires to be a “data-driven regulator.”
The Bold Vision of Singapore Central Bank Chief Ravi Menon
December 07, 2022 18:47 - 24 minutes - 34.2 MBRavi Menon, the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has charted a bold course on regulatory innovation, inventing new models that are being emulated throughout the world.
Talking Web3 with Jai Ramaswamy of A16z
November 22, 2022 19:07 - 1 hour - 87.5 MBRamaswamy, the Chief Legal Officer of Andreessen Horowitz, speaks to Jo Ann about the World Wide Web’s evolution and how version 3.0 aims to improve on earlier shortcomings through blockchain technology, tokenization and smart contracts.
Innovator Spotlight: Zero Hash’s Ed Guerra on Making Compliance Cool
November 02, 2022 14:24 - 48 minutes - 66.7 MBGuerra leads compliance work at the five-year-old B2B platform enabling financial firms to offer crypto services. He says tech innovation challenges the assumption that compliance efforts are not aligned with business goals.
The Future of Compliance: RegTech Association CEO Deborah Young
October 19, 2022 17:06 - 51 minutes - 71 MBYoung speaks to Jo Ann about the alliance that she leads and how its innovative members are building the bridge from traditional compliance to digitized solutions.
Innovator Spotlight: Upgrade CEO Renaud Laplanche
October 05, 2022 17:11 - 41 minutes - 57.5 MBRenaud Laplanche, the CEO and co-founder of Upgrade, explains how the company aims to create a healthier credit card by converting debt into an installment loan with zero fees.
‘Bold and Boring’ Innovation: Fed Chief Innovation Officer Sunayna Tuteja
September 30, 2022 16:07 - 59 minutes - 81.7 MBThe first appointee to lead the Federal Reserve’s innovation office is focused on modernizing the technology of the central bank itself. Her goal is to bring the agency into the 21st century, and to keep it up-to-date as change accelerates.
IIF’s Jessica Renier on Crypto Winter, CBDCs and Regulatory Overhauls
September 19, 2022 18:43 - 53 minutes - 72.9 MBRenier, a veteran of both the Treasury and the Fed and now managing director of digital finance at the Institute of International Finance, speaks with Jo Ann about the recent correction in the crypto markets and the need for regulators to hone new digital tools to get ahead of the curve.
Jack Henry's CEO on How Community Banks Can Make Digital Leap
August 22, 2022 16:02 - 57 minutes - 78.8 MBDavid Foss runs one of three core processors that small financial institutions rely on for tech services. He and Jo Ann discuss community banks' tough times, how cores can help clients compete and the need for small banks to “plug in” to vendors.
Innovator Spotlight: The MSRB’s Brian Anthony and Adam Cusson on Modernizing Regulation of Municipal Securities
August 09, 2022 14:18 - 52 minutes - 72.1 MBToday’s show is required listening for our regulator audience, and is also packed with practical advice for ANY organization, public or private, that has to transition from the analog to the digital age. The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, or MSRB, is a small US regulatory body that’s doing outsized work in technology innovation. Our guests are Chief Data Officer Brian Anthony and CTO Adam Cusson, and they are leading the way in one of the most exciting regulatory technology projects ...
Former Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Randal Quarles
July 19, 2022 12:42 - 1 hour - 85 MBMy guest today is Randal Quarles, Chairman of the Cynosure Group and previously the Federal Reserve Board’s Vice Chair for Supervision, a role in which he also chaired the US Financial Stability Board. He left the Fed at the end of last year, which makes this the perfect time to chat with him – I think it’s always extra-interesting to talk with government officials shortly after they leave office. In this conversation, he shares candid and thoughtful insights drawn from his tenure, including...
Innovator Spotlight: Daylight CEO Rob Curtis on serving LGBTQ customers
July 07, 2022 13:01 - 36 minutes - 50.3 MBWe had hoped to post this episode during Pride Month and didn’t quite make it, but, of course, the topic is timeless. My guest is Rob Curtis, CEO and Cofounder of Daylight, a fintech startup that focuses on serving LGBTQ customers. In our conversation, Rob shares the story of why and how Daylight came to be. He talks about the stigma and bias encountered by LGBTQ people in seeking financial services; about the unique kinds of financial needs they experience in their lives; and about other ch...
Force of Nature: Ribbit Capital’s Sigal Mandelker on How to Modernize Government Technology
June 16, 2022 18:30 - 1 hour - 85.7 MBToday’s show is different. My guest, Sigal Mandelker, is the former U.S. Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and she talks to us with exceptional reflexion and, frankly, frustration, about why and how we need our government to work better. That’s not a novel theme, of course – the world is noisy with critiques of government. Sigal’s message is distinct, though, and desperately needs to be heard, because it’s about technology. Now a General Partner at Ribb...
New in New York: Talking Innovation and Crypto with Kaitlin Asrow and Peter Marton of New York DFS
June 08, 2022 16:52 - 53 minutes - 72.9 MBGiven New York’s unique role in global finance, the state always has top notch regulators and is normally at the forefront in addressing market change. It’s not surprising, then, that the state is focused today on the technology transformation underway in finance, including crypto. My two guests today are both leaders at the New York state Department of Financial Services – DFS. Kaitlin Asrow is Executive Deputy Superintendent of Research and Innovation. Peter Marton is Deputy Superintende...
Saving Minority Depository Institutions: Nicole Elam and Robert James
June 02, 2022 22:44 - 1 hour - 86.7 MBMy guests today are Nicole Elam, CEO of the National Bankers Association, and Robert James II, who chairs the NBA’s board of directors and is also president of Carver Financial Corporation in Savannah, Georgia. The NBA is the trade association for Minority Depository Institutions, or MDIs. It was founded nearly a century ago, in 1927, to build on the work being done by a group of Black-owned banks that were chartered shortly after the US Civil War, because white-owned banks were not serv...
Castles and Sandboxes: The Gates Foundation’s Konstantin Peric
May 10, 2022 21:53 - 1 hour - 94.9 MBHow do you solve the biggest, hardest problems in the world? Usually, we just don’t. They persist. Today, though, we live in an age that’s putting powerful new technologies into our hands, opening up ways to make seemingly impossible solutions suddenly, theoretically, possible – if we can put them to use. These are the challenges that get taken up by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In financial services, the foundation’s goal is to achieve full financial inclusion by bringing all th...
Rajesh Bansal CEO, Reserve Bank Innovation Hub
May 05, 2022 19:34 - 46 minutes - 64.2 MBMy guest today is one of the world’s leading innovators in this effort. Rashesh Bansal is the CEO of the Reserve Bank of India’s Innovation Hub. In April, AIR worked with the RBIH and other partners on the Swanari TechSprint, named for the Hindi word meaning “self-reliant woman.” I’m excited to have Rajesh on the show today to share a perspective that is fascinating on so many dimensions. It’s a story of a bold new innovation strategy invented by a major central bank. It’s a story about t...
OCC’s Michael Hsu on crypto policy: ‘We want to get it right’
April 27, 2022 13:00 - 56 minutes - 78 MBMy guest today is Michael Hsu, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, and we are talking all things– and only things – crypto. Our conversation covers a lot of other ground: the lack of interoperability among today’s stablecoins; whether and how stablecoin issuers should have bank charters; problems with blockchain technologies; the evolution of Central Bank Digital Currencies; the role of the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency; whether US regulation could undermine America’s inte...
Challenger Banker: Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden
April 20, 2022 04:57 - 56 minutes - 77 MBThere are a lot of very rare things about my guest today, Anne Boden. She is one of a very small group of people who have founded what the U.K. calls challenger banks – banks that were chartered after the financial crisis as part of regulators’ newly minted mandate to foster competition in the financial sector. She is one of the very small group of bank CEOs, worldwide, who are women – which makes her a great guest for an episode that we recorded at the end of March – which was Women’s Hi...
A Call to Action for Ukraine Refugees - Stuart Watkins, CEO of Zenoo
April 02, 2022 14:59 - 39 minutes - 54 MBThis is a special emergency episode of Barefoot Innovation with a call to action for helping to protect Ukrainian refugees from being preyed upon by human traffickers. Yesterday, I got a message from Stuart Watkins, the CEO of Zenoo, in Prague. I got to know Stu two years ago when AIR ran our first TechSprint on the US Paycheck Protection Program, which provided rescue funding for small businesses hit suddenly by the covid shutdowns. Zenoo, based in London and Prague, worked with the Tech...
Regtech Comes of Age: ING Bank’s Ian Hollowbread
March 27, 2022 01:40 - 48 minutes - 67.2 MBMy guest today is Ian Hollowbread, the Global Innovation Lead for Safe and Compliant at ING Bank. Ian and I have known each other since the early days of regtech, and even fintech, as I visited him in London to see the innovation lab he built at ING, figuring out how to do compliance better, using the best technology.
Financial Frontiers: Matt Van Buskirk, Co-CEO of Hummingbird Regtech
March 07, 2022 04:02 - 1 hour - 88.3 MBI started the Barefoot Innovation show in 2015. My guest today is the person who suggested I create a podcast. He is Matt Van Buskirk, Co-CEO of Hummingbird Regtech and also, among many things, a member of AIR’s Advisory Council. We are starting a new special series of shows where we’ll bring in guests and, instead of having them talk about what they’re doing, we’ll ask them to talk about what they are seeing, and learning, and thinking. In a way, we’ll be going back to the original concep...