Fintech Takes
Fintech moves fast. But here at Fintech Takes, Alex Johnson and his rotating panel of guests move faster so that you can stay on top of the latest and greatest news in the industry without breaking a sweat.
Welcome to Fintech Takes—the place where fintech’s biggest nerds come to sit back, relax, and completely geek out.
Join Alex and a lineup of fintech’s brightest minds as they dissect what’s happening in fintech and banking.
Each week, Alex and his guests recap the most interesting developments in fintech and explore the industry’s most pressing questions, diving headfirst into the intricate workings of some of the industry’s most ground-breaking business models and unpacking the emerging players that promise to shape fintech’s future.
From riveting conversations with fintech’s most relevant operators to comprehensive recaps of the month's most compelling news stories and in-depth analyses of the latest regulatory developments, Fintech Takes is your one-stop-shop for navigating the fintech universe.
Subscribe now to join fintech’s nerdiest podcast around!
- Update frequency
- every 5 days
- Average duration
- 57 minutes
- Episodes
- 160
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
Fintech Recap: BNPL’s Black Box, Synapse’s Maybe-Bailout, and Crypto Dreams
Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I’m Alex Johnson, joined (as always) with my partner-in-fintech-recapping, Jason Mikula. Let’s get into it.
First up: at long last, FICO score versions now include B…
01:03:05 |
Wed 02 Jul 2025
Fintech Takes: Credit Scores, Cash Flow, and the Coming Trust Collapse
Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m your host, Alex Johnson, joined by Martin Kleinbard; advisor at Granular, ex-CFPB, and author of the absolute banger of a research report How Cash Flow …
00:53:47 |
Wed 25 Jun 2025
Fintech Takes: Are Stablecoins a Threat…or Just Better Infrastructure?
Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I’m Alex Johnson, and today we’re lucky enough to dig into stablecoins (again!) with James Wester, co-head of payments research at Javelin Strategy & Research, who prev…
01:01:01 |
Wed 18 Jun 2025
Not Fintech Investment Advice: Nekuda, Vontive, Atticus, & Affiniti
Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where Simon Taylor and I talk about fintech companies that we're definitely not giving investment advice on!
We kick things off with Nekuda. Human-n…
01:07:22 |
Wed 11 Jun 2025
Fintech Recap: Chime’s Rorschach Test, Fintech vs. Sand, and Crypto’s Legislative Makeover
In this week’s episode of Fintech Recap, Jason Mikula and I break down a surprisingly busy run of headlines. The IPO window is open after all: eToro priced above its range, Circle (the issuer of the …
01:21:38 |
Wed 04 Jun 2025
Fintech Takes: Gambling, Finance, and the Fallout
Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m your host, Alex Johnson, and today we’re digging into one of the most urgent (and underdiscussed) financial issues in America: gambling. My guest is Ale…
00:59:43 |
Wed 28 May 2025
Not Fintech Investment Advice: Cardamon, Sprive, Figg, & Glide
Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, the podcast where Simon Taylor and I (Alex Johnson) talk through fintech companies we’re intrigued by, puzzled by, and occasionally want to manifest int…
00:53:38 |
Wed 21 May 2025
Fintech Takes: What the Hell’s Going On (Bank Regulation, Stablecoins, and Credit)
Welcome back to Fintech Takes. I’m your host, Alex Johnson, and joining me for his second spin on the podcast merry-go-round is Rob Blackwell (Chief Content Officer at IntraFi and host of the Banking…
01:00:27 |
Wed 14 May 2025
Fintech Recap: BaaS Breakdown, Super App Déjà Vu, and the Tomo Trainwreck
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 tr…
00:57:16 |
Wed 07 May 2025
Fintech Takes: The Prodigal Return of Frank Rotman; On Financial Nihilism and Rebuilding The Game
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 Investo…
00:56:47 |
Wed 30 Apr 2025
Bank Nerd Corner: Trust, Charters, and the Cost of Uncertainty
Welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner, featuring yours truly and—plot twist—not Kiah Haslett. Today we’re flying without our usual co-pilot, but in her place we’ve got Jason Henrichs: CEO of Alloy Labs, B…
01:01:00 |
Wed 23 Apr 2025
Not Fintech Investment Advice: Ubyx, Codex, Agent AV, & Experian
Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where Simon Taylor and I talk about fintech companies that we're definitely not giving investment advice on! The theme of this episode is infrastructure…
00:53:48 |
Wed 16 Apr 2025
Fintech Recap: Klarna Goes Public, Mercury Splits, and Lending…Can Hurt
Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, and as always, I’m joined by my partner-in-crime, Jason Mikula. Today, we’re unpacking Klarna’s public debut, the growing rift between Mer…
01:03:25 |
Wed 09 Apr 2025
Fintech Takes: Will Stablecoins Disrupt Retail…or Just Disappear?
Welcome back to Fintech Takes! I’m Alex Johnson, and today we’re unpacking stablecoins with James Wester, co-head of payments research at Javelin Strategy & Research.
James isn’t new to the space—he…
00:57:44 |
Wed 26 Mar 2025
Not Fintech Investment Advice: Payma, Shiboleth, Stablecore, and Astrada
Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice! I’m Alex Johnson, creator of Fintech Takes, recording live (!) at Fintech Meetup with my co-host, Simon Taylor—the genius behind Fintech Brain Food—sitt…
00:58:13 |
Wed 19 Mar 2025
Bank Nerd Corner: The "Would You Rather?" of Fintech Regulation
This week on Bank Nerd Corner, Kiah and Alex welcome a special guest (arguably the MOST special?), former Acting Comptroller of the Currency, Michael Hsu. Together, they explore the fascinating cross…
01:26:30 |
Wed 12 Mar 2025
Fintech Recap: Regulator Shuffle, Varo's Struggles, and BNPL's Dark Side
Welcome back to the Fintech Takes podcast. I’m Alex Johnson, and as always, I’m joined by my partner-in-crime, Jason Mikula. Today, we’re unpacking the chaos around regulatory shifts, fintech's shift…
01:13:03 |
Wed 05 Mar 2025
Fintech Takes: Regulatory Roulette on Capital Hill
Welcome to Fintech Takes! I’m Alex Johnson, and today we’re heading straight into the belly of the beast—Washington, D.C.—where regulators, banks, and fintechs are jockeying for position. Joining me …
01:09:52 |
Wed 26 Feb 2025
Bank Nerd Corner: CFPB, De Novos, and The Crypto-BaaS Reckoning
Welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner, featuring yours truly and #1 among all bank nerds, Kiah Haslett, Banking and Fintech Editor at Bank Director.
By the time you’re reading this, we’ve had ~3 weeks of …
01:22:17 |
Wed 19 Feb 2025
Not Fintech Investment Advice: Rail, Anchor, Sencillo, and ClosingLock
Welcome back to Not Fintech Investment Advice, where instead of doling out investment advice (we’re not doing that), we spotlight interesting, new fintechs and share our perspectives. I’m Alex Johnso…
01:01:00 |
Wed 12 Feb 2025
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