x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Fintech Layer Cake

Welcome to Fintech Layer Cake. A podcast where we slice big Financial Technology topics into bite-sized pieces for everybody to easily digest. Our goal is to make fintech a piece of cake for everyone. Fintech Layer Cake is powered by Lithic — the fastest and most flexible way to launch a card program.

technology

All Episodes

26:11

Simon Taylor on Where Agentic Spend is Going

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2026/04/02

Will stablecoins replace cards — or is that narrative missing how payments actually work? In this episode, Reggie Young sits down with Simon Taylor, founder of Fintech Brainfood and Head of Market Development at Tempo, to unpack one of the most debated topics in fintech: agentic commerce. Simon challenges the idea that stablecoins will displace card networks, explaining why cards don’t move money, how stablecoins actually fit into the stack, and why virtual cards may be the first real payment...

en-us

22:50

A Primer on US Fintech Expansion with Klaros' Andy Kampf

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2026/03/12

What actually breaks when a fintech expands to the U.S. — product, licensing, hiring, or assumptions? In this episode, host Reggie Young sits down with Andy Kampf, Partner at Klaros Group and former Klarna US legal lead, to unpack the real framework behind cross-border fintech expansion. Andy breaks down the four pillars every foreign fintech must get right — product, bank partnerships, hiring, and budget — and the hidden pitfalls that derail U.S. launches. From misconceptions about European ...

en-us

34:56

Middesk CEO Kyle Mack on AI, Good Data, and Business...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2026/02/24

What happens when you try to build AI-driven fintech products on top of messy, incomplete, or unreliable data? In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Kyle Mack, CEO of Middesk, to unpack why data—not AI—is the real bottleneck holding fintech innovation back. Kyle explains how KYB has evolved far beyond a compliance checkbox, why poor data foundations can amplify risk instead of reducing it, and what it actually takes to support real-time, automated decisioning...

en-us

26:51

Reducing Oversight Costs for Fintechs and Banks with...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2026/01/29

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, Reggie Young sits down with Gokul Dhingra, Co-Founder and CEO of Narrative, to unpack how AI is reshaping compliance, oversight, and growth in the fintech ecosystem. Narrative is tackling one of the industry’s biggest pain points—the rising cost of compliance and risk management—by turning oversight into a source of efficiency and even competitive advantage. Gokul shares how banks and fintechs can align around shared objectives, why complaints data is an...

en-us

28:09

2025 Cards Year in Review with Matthew Goldman

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/12/04

Why are crypto credit cards exploding — and what does the Coinbase x Amex partnership signal about where the card ecosystem is heading next? In this episode, host Reggie Young sits down with Matthew Goldman, founder of Totavi and one of the most respected card experts in fintech, for their annual “State of the Cards Union.” Matthew breaks down why 2025 became a breakout year for crypto-linked cards, how Amex is selectively stepping deeper into fintech partnerships, and why HELOC-backed credit...

en-us

19:57

Sarah Wilson, Circle's General Counsel, on the IPO...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/11/20

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Sarah Wilson, General Counsel at Circle, to explore how Circle is shaping the global legal and regulatory frontier for stablecoins and digital assets. She shares her path from big law to fintech, why stablecoins represent the perfect intersection of finance, technology, and regulation, and how Circle manages compliance across 185 countries. Sarah breaks down the Genius Act—its real scope, biggest misconceptions, and...

en-us

34:53

AI Adoption Survey and Fintech Trends with Jas Randhawa

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/11/06

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young welcomes back Jas Randhawa, Founder and Managing Partner at Strategy Brix, for a candid look at how fintechs are really using AI in compliance. Drawing insights from a new survey of nearly 100 fintech companies, Jas shares what’s hype versus reality, why most teams are still in the ‘talking’ phase, and where budgets and talent investments are falling short. He also explores how AI will reshape compliance roles, the importance of t...

en-us

28:37

MTLs and Money Transmission Primer with Evan Minsberg

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/10/23

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Evan Minsberg, Partner at Morrison Foerster, about the nuanced world of money transmission licenses (MTLs). Evan explains what MTLs are, why fintechs need them, and the trade-offs between pursuing a license, partnering with a bank, or using alternative models. He also unpacks the hidden costs, both in dollars and time, behind getting licensed, and how fintechs can think strategically about when it makes sense to pursue one. ...

en-us

42:26

Imprint CTO Will Larson on Fintech Engineering Strategy

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/10/09

What does it take to run engineering at the heart of modern fintech? In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, Imprint CTO Will Larson unpacks lessons from leading engineering teams at Stripe, Carta, Calm, Uber, and more. Will shares how fintech engineering differs from SaaS, the tradeoffs executives face when joining new companies, and why the art of leadership lies in balancing seemingly incompatible frameworks, moving fast while preserving reliability, innovating while managing legacy systems...

en-us

34:51

Fixing SMB Cash Flow with Ariel Blum, Founder of Receive

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/09/25

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, Reggie Young sits down with Ariel Blum, Founder of Receive, to unpack the challenges of small business cash flow and why “earned revenue access” could transform how SMBs operate. Ariel shares his journey from watching his parents struggle with delayed payments, to working at Amex, Green Dot, and Melio, to ultimately founding Receive. They explore the future of embedded finance, fintech’s shift from “hot or not” to “essential,” and how solving cash...

en-us

35:31

The Future of Agentic Financial Crime Work with...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/09/11

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Will Lawrence, Co-Founder and CEO of Greenlite AI, to explore how AI is transforming background checks and employment verification. Will shares how his team is building a platform that makes identity verification faster, smarter, and more reliable, from parsing unstructured data to detecting fraud in real time. Along the way, they discuss the challenges of scaling AI in high-stakes industries, the balance between automat...

en-us

33:27

Bank Data Crash Course with Lee Easton of iDENTIFY

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/07/10

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Lee Easton, founder and president of iDENTIFY, to unpack one of fintech’s least understood layers: bank transaction data. Lee breaks down why raw bank data is so unreliable out of the box, and what it actually takes to clean, enrich, and classify it so that it's usable for real-time fraud detection, underwriting, and customer engagement. From manual tagging nightmares to building classification models across 1.2 billion t...

en-us

35:05

Taktile Cofounder Max Eber on LLMs and Risk...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/06/26

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, Reggie Young sits down with Max Eber, Co-Founder of Taktile, to explore how modern fintechs are rethinking risk infrastructure. Max shares insights from building a flexible decision engine used by leading lenders and fintechs around the world. They dive into what it really takes to customize underwriting, how Taktile is approaching AI and LLMs in production, and why success often hinges on enabling teams, not just engineers, to iterate faster. Whether yo...

en-us

28:38

Taktile’s Journey with CEO Maik Wehmeyer

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/06/18

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Maik Wehmeyer, co-founder and CEO of Taktile, an AI-powered risk decisioning platform redefining how fintechs, banks, and even telcos approach mission-critical decisions. Maik shares the multi-year journey from MLOps tooling to a hyper-flexible decisioning platform, and how Taktile now powers over 150 institutions. They discuss the evolution of embedded finance, overlooked AI opportunities, and why enterprise deals are where...

en-us

28:23

Vertical SaaS & Fintech Opportunities, Founder...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/06/05

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Matt Brown, early-stage investor at Matrix Partners and former product leader at Afterpay. Matt dives into the evolving landscape of vertical SaaS, why embedded fintech still has massive untapped potential, and how PE and VC are converging to create new opportunities. He also shares lessons from founding Bonsai, including counterintuitive insights about customer feedback and learning rate. They cover founder-investor dynamic...

en-us

40:58

New Fintech Bank Charter Opportunities with Michele...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/05/22

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Michele Alt, Co-Founder of Klaros Group, about new opportunities in fintech bank charters. They unpack the recent SmartBiz approval, what it signals for the industry, and the realities of the charter process—from regulatory hurdles to risk management. Michele also shares why now might be the best time in years to act—and why ILC charters could be the next big thing. If you're thinking about chartering, partnering, or futur...

en-us

41:06

Simon Taylor on Agentic Payments and Opportunities

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/05/07

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young welcomes back Simon Taylor—fintech thought leader, writer of Fintech Brainfood, and Head of Strategy & Content at Sardine. They explore the rapidly emerging world of agentic payments and what Visa’s new tokenization framework means for AI-driven commerce. Simon also unpacks real-world use cases, from “vibe shopping” to automated business purchasing, and what hurdles—like consumer trust and fraud—still stand in the way. The conversat...

en-us

37:40

Card Processor 101 with Braulio Lam from EQ Bank

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/04/24

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, Reggie and Ali are joined by Braulio Lam, Senior Director of Engineering at EQ Bank, to unpack the essential ingredients of selecting and integrating a card processor. With experience across multiple processors and fintech startups, Braulio breaks down what to look for in API documentation, how to assess a processor’s operational and customer support readiness, and what a real-world integration looks like. From technical deep dives to agile b...

en-us

30:08

Lessons from Loop, Canada’s #1 Business Banking...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/04/10

In this episode of FinTech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young speaks with Cato Pastoll (Co-founder & CEO) and Nik Nampalli (Head of Strategic Projects) of Loop—Canada’s #1 business banking platform. Loop offers multi-currency credit cards, global payment tools, and financial services that save SMBs thousands each year. Cato and Nik break down how Loop evolved into a fintech solution for Canadian businesses with cross-border needs, why multi-currency capabilities matter, and what makes Canada’...

en-us

36:29

LoanPro’s Scott Johnson on launching credit cards,...

Fintech Layer Cake ·

2025/03/06

In this episode of Fintech Layer Cake, host Reggie Young sits down with Scott Johnson, President of the Card Division at LoanPro. Scott shares his deep expertise from over two decades in fintech, including his time at Galileo and his current work at LoanPro, where they are pioneering transactional-level credit. Together, they discuss the core pillars of launching a credit card, common mistakes fintech founders make, and how the lending landscape is evolving. Whether you’re a fintech builder o...

en-us

71 results

Similar Podcasts

Lead With AI

Tamara Nall

Linux in the Ham Shack

Black Sparrow Media

Data Engineering Podcast

Tobias Macey

Eye On A.I.

Craig S. Smith

Reflections

Livewire Labs