Purpose Driven FinTech

Hosted by Monica Millares

Business EntrepreneurshipInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

Latest episode

Aug 2026

Language

About the show

Welcome to Purpose Driven FinTech! I'm your host, Monica Millares - Product Leader and fellow FinTecher. These days, with the rising cost of living, financial stress among customers, loss of trust in banks, speculation of crypto, and uncertainty, we're facing unprecedented challenges. But there is hope. We as FinTechers have the power to make a positive impact. Our products, the how we do product, and our people can make a difference on customers’ financial lives - and as a result, in the quality of their lives. However, more than ever Founders, CEOs, Leadership teams and all FinTechers have a ton of pressure to build solutions that actually solve customer problems, that people want, that are differentiated And profitable Yes that's you and me too! That's why I've created this podcast! I speak with FinTech CEOs, Founders, and Csuites to uncover their stories, challenges, and lessons learnt in building products with impact. You'll get to hear real-life conversations, and you’ll walk away with practical questions, frameworks and insights that you can apply to your own FinTech products. So, are you ready to make a bigger difference in FinTech? Let's come together and discover how Purpose, Product, and People can help us create a future of better financial wellbeing while building sustainable and profitable FinTechs. Follow me on LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube to stay connected and be part of the conversation. Cheers to making better FinTech and making FinTech better! Love, Moni

Listen to episodes

60 recent

August 25, 202652 min

How Ocean Regeneration Is Winning Bank Customers | Mathias Boissonot, Founder & CEO at Handprint

Banks spend millions on carbon footprint. Banks have an engagement problem. Something is not working! This week I speak with Mathias Boissonot, Founder and CEO of Handprint and he makes a commercial case for a different model: instead of tracking what your customers do wrong, quantify what they're building right. Handprint powers ocean regeneration programs for banks like DBS, including coral reef restoration and mangrove planting that customers own, watch grow, and choose to fund with their spend. The result isn't just goodwill. It's an 875% increase in customer engagement compared to legacy carbon programs, and $23 million a year in verified ecosystem value returned to society. We get into why Mathias measures success by a metric most founders have never heard of: the "phoenix" over the unicorn, and the sales and founder lessons he's learned building the company from scratch. What you'll learn Why carbon offsetting and "your carbon footprint" features fail to change customer behavior, and what the psychology actually is The handprint model: quantifying positive impact instead of negative impact, and why that flips the entire customer relationship How banks turn nature engagement into a growth engine: referral programs with co-owned impact, nature cashback instead of standard cashback Why 62% of customers would switch banks over purpose misalignment, and 52% already have The phoenix metric: measuring company success in ecosystem value generated, not just valuation Mathias's biggest founder mistakes, and the best sales advice he's ever received: "implicate the pain" Timestamps 00:00 — Cold open: has carbon offsetting failed? 04:40 — What Handprint actually does 06:55 — Phoenix vs. unicorn: a new metric for success 09:00 — $23 million in ecosystem value, every year 18:30 — Why donation and carbon-guilt features don't work 24:40 — Kill the cashback war: nature cashback instead 27:30 — From cost center to growth engine: the 875% number 32:30 — Building a company from Bali 35:30 — Every mistake we could have made, we've made 41:35 — Implicate the pain: the best sales advice he's received 44:00 — Resilience, mindset, and having fun in the pain Connect with Mathias: 🔗 Handprint:https://handprint.tech/ 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boissonot/ Connect with Monica 🔗 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ 🔗 Purpose Driven FinTech. English: https://www.youtube.com/@monica_millares/videos 🔗 Purpose Driven FinTech. Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/@MonicaMillares_Español/videos Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

August 20, 202652 min

Agentic Commerce: Who's Actually Liable? | Global Payments

What does it actually mean when an AI agent completes a purchase on your behalf? I sit down with Anatole Baboukhian, Executive Lead, Corporate Responsibility & Strategic Advocacy, and Lucy Anderson, Head of Asia Solutions, SMB Product; colleagues at Global Payments on opposite sides of the business, policy and product. We start with a plain english definition of agentic commerce and where it fundamentally changes from how we pay today. From there we talk through consent, trust, and the liability question every fintech founder needs an answer to before they build. We had a ton of fun, talk about Taylor Swift and bill payments! What you’ll learn: Agentic commerce splits into two models: instructed vs. fully autonomous KYB still isn't solved. KYA (Know Your Agent) is next, and it's harder: identity, mandate, scope Liability isn't one framework: it depends where in the chain the failure happens Boring, high-friction use cases (utility switching, ticket buying) will win before exciting ones (travel) Why Marketing is about to need a second audience: agents, not just people TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – What agentic commerce actually means 01:27 – The two use cases nobody separates 07:19 – What regulators are really asking 09:32 – KYC → KYB → KYA: the trust gap nobody's closed 16:42 – The three-layer KYA framework: identity, mandate, scope 18:44 – Why the "boring" use cases will win first 21:49 – Taylor Swift tickets vs. switching your utility provider 26:15 – Marketing to agents, not people 28:43 – Fraud, inclusion, and vulnerable consumers 32:38 – Liability: why there's no single framework 44:18 – Who will actually build these agents 49:25 – The one piece of advice for every fintech founder 👉 Connect with Lucy and Anatole: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anatole-baboukhian/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucykanderson/ 👉 Connect with Monica: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ Website: https://fintech-product-ai-lab.lovable.app/ Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

August 5, 202650 min

How Fraud Networks Hide in Plain Sight And How to Stop Them | João Moura, Founder & CEO at Fraudio

João Moura built a fraud detection platform operating in 188 countries not by making fraud prevention safer, but by turning it into a growth lever. This conversation gets into how organized crime runs modern fraud, why siloed data guarantees you'll lose, and how connecting institutions across borders changes everything. What you'll learn Why 70% of fraud today is backed by organized crime networks, and what that means for your detection strategy (02:46) How mule accounts operate as layered networks across institutions and why catching one account misses the point (32:20) What false declines actually cost you in revenue, customer trust, and operational overhead (09:03) How fraud detection becomes a growth enabler when it lets acquirers onboard merchants same-day with confidence (20:19) Why connecting data across institutions creates a network effect that makes every client's fraud model stronger (28:40) What the third generation of AI-powered fraud detection looks like and why it's fundamentally different from siloed models (14:45) How agentic AI introduces a new authorization problem that nobody in payments has solved yet (37:15) What João learned about distribution, decisiveness, and sunk cost fallacies after spinning Fraudio out of a bank (46:20) TIMESTAMPS 1:35 João's background: 20 years in AI before it was cool 2:46 How organized crime powers modern fraud 7:55 The real cost of false declines on revenue and customers 14:45 Three generations of AI fraud detection explained 16:34 How generative AI acts as a force multiplier for fraud teams 20:19 Detecting fraudulent merchants before chargebacks arrive 25:13 How much fraud Fraudio actually stops: the numbers 28:40 The Philippines rule that becomes available to 188 countries 32:20 Why mule accounts are really mule networks 37:15 Agentic AI and the unresolved authorization problem 43:30 The lazy insight that became Fraudio 46:20 What João learned: distribution, decisiveness, and sunk cost fallacies 👉 Connect with João: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mourajoao Website: https://www.fraudio.com/ 👉 Connect with Monica: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ Website: https://fintech-product-ai-lab.lovable.app/ Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

June 22, 202618 min

Agentic Payments: The Questions the Industry Needs to Answer Before Scaling | Robert Kraal, Co-Founder at Silverflow

Everyone is talking about Agentic Payments! So I sat down with Robert Kraal, Co-Founder of Silverflow, live at Money20/20 Asia and we had a chat. Robert brings a commercial perspective to the conversation, and we focus on the what are the hard commercial questions the industry still needs to answer before agentic payments can truly scale. We cover: (00:00) Is the card system ready for agents? (01:00) The commercial model nobody is talking about (02:30) Neutral agent vs. paid agent: the Spotify analogy (04:00) What happens when your agent talks to another agent? (06:00) Liability: who's responsible when the agent gets it wrong? (08:00) The tokenization gap in emerging markets (10:00) Where to start: simple use cases first (12:00) What Silverflow is doing to prepare for agentic transactions (14:00) What excites Robert most about this space (16:00) What payment professionals should be doing right now 👉 Connect with Robert: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertkraal/ Website: https://www.silverflow.com/ 👉 Connect with Monica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/ — Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

June 9, 202629 min

You Can't Beat Wise on FX. So Now You Partner With Them | Samarth Bansal, General Manager at Wise Platform

If you can't beat Wise on FX, and reality is most fintechs can't; then the smarter move is to partner with them. Let’s go into the why! In this episode recorded live at Money20/20 Asia, I speak with Samarth Bansal, General Manager at Wise Platform. We go behind the scenes and I ask the questions I’ve always had hypothetical answers to. For years my mandate as a Neobank Product leader was to beat Wise, and I knew unless we were to change our business model to properly compete, the answer is we can’t. But now, FinTechs and banks can partner with Wise through Wise Platform. It’s a fascinating conversation! We cover: [01:00] How Wise approaches cost efficiency: the obsession behind the pricing model [02:30] What actually drives Wise's infrastructure advantage [04:30] Going direct into local payment rails and optimising treasury FX forecasting [08:30] How embedding Wise Platform made life easier for banks and their customers [09:30] Standard Chartered, Bank Mandiri, Morgan Stanley: who's using Wise Platform and why [17:00] How Wise prioritises market expansion, and what drives corridor decisions [19:00] Instant payment rails in APAC: PayNet, PromptPay, and what sits on top [21:00] How Wise achieves sub 20 second transfers: compliance, liquidity, and rail access [23:00] Where AI fits, and where Wise is being deliberate about deployment [25:00] Why APAC will redefine global cross border payments standards within three years 👉 Follow Samarth: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samarthbansal/ Website: https://wise.com 👉 Connect with Monica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

May 21, 202650 min

55X in 12 Months: The Clearing and Settlement Layer No One Is Rebuilding Till Now | George Davis, CEO and Co Foudner of Lorum

Most fintechs treat cross border payments as a cost centre. George Davis built a business that treats it as the $100B infrastructure opportunity nobody else is rebuilding, and grew 55X in 12 months doing it. In this episode I speak with George Davis, Co-Founder and CEO of Lorum, a global clearing and settlement infrastructure business serving financial institutions across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and beyond. George is a serial founder who previously co-founded BVNK before leaving to rebuild the layer of the payments stack that big banks have left untouched. Key takeaways: The payment system isn't broken; banks running it are wrongly incentivised Why stablecoins add friction to cross border payments rather than removing them How mid market fintechs can access wholesale treasury rates and turn FX into a profit centre What access to clearing infrastructure actually means for remittance, payroll, and import-export businesses Why Lorum 55X'd in 12 months by going after the bottom of the payments stack George also shares the founder mindset behind Lorum's growth: first principles thinking, radical adaptability, and hiring for obsession over experience. 👉 Connect with George: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgedavis-lorum/ Website: https://www.lorum.com/ 👉 Connect with Monica: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/ [00:00:00] Why clearing and settlement is the real barrier to cross border payments [00:01:00] George's journey: machine learning startup to co-founding BVNK to Lorum [00:04:00] Why big banks are wrongly incentivised [00:07:00] What clearing and settlement actually means in plain English [00:10:00] Access is the real problem; not speed, not cost [00:18:00] How to turn FX and clearing into a profit centre, not a cost centre [00:26:00] Why stablecoins don’t fix cross border payments [00:35:00] The founder mindset: first principles thinking and obsession as a superpower [00:46:00] Lorum's OCC banking licence application and the road to $100B [00:49:00] Why the opportunity outside the US is bigger than inside it Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

May 14, 202629 min

Who is Liable in Agentic Payments? The Question the Industry Can't Answer Yet | Camilla Bullock, CEO of Emerging Payments Association Asia

AI agents are about to start spending our money, and we as a payments industry are not ready. I love this episode as it’s recorded live at Money2020’s famous MoneyPot podcast booth! Yea the fancy, cool one LOL Today I’m joined by Camilla Bullock, CEO of Emerging Payments Association Asia, and we unpack one of the most pressing questions in FinTech right now: when an AI agent transacts on your behalf, who is actually in control and who is liable when something goes wrong? Key highlights: Why "shared liability" is not an answer; and what the industry needs to define first The emerging KYA (Know Your Agent) framework and why banks may refuse agentic transactions without it How real time payments in APAC already show us what agentic fraud will look like at scale The quantum encryption threat that less than 20% of senior payments leaders are actively tracking Why standards interoperability is the single most important unlock for agentic commerce We discuss: the $1 trillion agentic payments opportunity in APAC, the governance and audit trail gap, intent vs. authorization in agentic transactions, data sharing as fraud defense, the quantum threat to payments encryption, who is setting the rules (and who isn't yet), and why trust industry-wide, not just brand-level is the real battleground. 👉 Connect with Camilla LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/camillabullock/ Website: https://emergingpaymentsasia.org/ 👉 Connect with Monica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/ Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

May 11, 202620 min

Trust Is the New Security: The AI & Quantum Threat Reshaping Finance by 2029 | Maxwell Denega, Founder & CEO of Quantum Chain

The encryption protecting banks was built 50 years ago, and quantum computing is about to break it. In this pod I sit down with Maxwell, Founder and CEO of Quantum Chain, to unpack why AI and quantum computing together represent the biggest untold threat to global financial security, and what FinTech leaders need to do about it before 2029. Why 50 year old encryption is no longer sufficient to protect financial services How AI is already being used to exploit smart contracts and financial infrastructure today Why quantum + AI together create a 24/7 attack threat no current protocol is ready for Why trust, not technology, is the real battleground for the future of finance We cover: [00:00:00] The $4M hack that started a mission to secure global finance [00:01:00] What is Quantum Chain and why does it exist [00:02:00] Quantum computing explained in plain English [00:03:00] Why 50 year old financial encryption is already failing [00:04:00] The real risks to banks, neobanks and financial services [00:05:00] Trust is the new security [00:08:00] AI as the elephant in the room [00:09:00] Quantum + AI: the compounding threat no one is preparing for [00:12:00] From military to banking: Max's unconventional founder background [00:15:00] How banks can become quantum safe [00:16:00] Quantum assets, QRC standards and the quantum blockchain alliance [00:17:00] What every neobank CPO and founder should be doing right now [00:18:00] Founder mindset: resilience, consistency and showing up every day 👉 Follow Max: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-denega-14300178/ Website: https://www.quantumcha.in/ 👉 Connect with Monica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/ Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

May 8, 20268 min

Why Neofin Killed Its Niche and Rebuilt From Scratch. And What They're Launching Next | Svitlanka Sergiichuka, CEO & Co-Founder, Neofin

Recorded live at Money20/20 Bangkok, 2026 The FinTech infrastructure race isn't just about payments anymore. Neofin has spent three years rebuilding from a geo-agnostic lending tool into a full financial super app engine; and the businesses buying in aren't banks. They're retailers, telcos, and gas station networks. In this short conversation recorded live at Money2020, I catch up with Svitlanka, Co-Founder of Neofin (and 2nd time Purpose Driven FinTech podcast guest), on what's changed, who they're building for, and why transactions alone no longer create loyalty. Key takeaways: Why non FinTech businesses with large user bases are Neofin's core customer How NeoFin sits between the retailer and the bank, and what each party covers The product evolution from standalone lending to wallet, BNPL, and full financial ecosystem Why 360 experiences beat pure transaction infrastructure for long-term retention What's next….agentic payments and a major European launch We cover: (00:00) Three years on, what's changed at Neofin (01:30) From lending infrastructure to full FinTech ecosystem (02:30) Who NeoFin's customers are and why retailers are launching BNPL wallets (03:45) The bank + Neofin partnership model explained (04:30) Why transactions don't build loyalty; and what does Follow for more discussions on building FinTech products with customer and commercial impact and to stay updated on the latest episodes. 👉 Connect with Svitlanka: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/svitlanaromaniuk/ Website: https://neo-fin.com/ 👉 Connect with Monica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/ Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

May 7, 202613 min

From Roaming Fees to Retention Engine: The Telecom Layer Your Neobank Is Missing | Vince Vissers Co-Founder at Fristy

Recorded live at Money20/20 Bangkok, 2026 What if the next big embedded finance opportunity isn't payments or lending, but connectivity? In this live conversation from Money20/20 Bangkok I sit down with Vince, Co-Founder of Fristy, to unpack why the world's leading neobanks and super apps are quietly embedding telecom into their product stack. Fristy is building what Stripe did for payments and Wise did for FX; but for global telecom infrastructure. Already live with Grab, Uber, GXS Bank. Firsty is turning connectivity from a consumer pain point into a retention and revenue driver for FinTechs. In this episode: How Grab and Uber are using embedded connectivity to reduce revenue leakage from traveling users The B2B infrastructure layer that lets neobanks offer seamless global connectivity without building it themselves Why connectivity should be on your product roadmap The founder mindset on failure: VInce shares how he turns setbacks into forward momentum We cover: (00:00) Telecom meets FinTech: The opportunity nobody's building for (01:30) The consumer pain point: roaming fees, SIM swaps, and broken experiences (02:30) The B2B problem (03:30) Why neobanks should embed telecom; the Grab and Uber case study (05:30) How Fristy works: one connection, every operator, local pricing globally (06:30) Where to access Fristy today: Grab, GXS Bank, KBC (07:30) The commercial case: retention, revenue, and user experience metrics (09:00) Founder mindset: How Vince approaches failure and keeps moving forward 👉 Connect with Vince & Fristy LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vince-vissers/ Website: https://www.firsty.app/ 👉 Connect with Monica LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares Website: https://www.purposedrivenfintech.com/ Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email Monica at fintechwithmoni@gmail.com Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.