Barefoot Innovation Podcast

Jo Ann's guest today is Kosta Peric, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Deputy Director of Financial Services for the Poor. In this episode, he talks to us about the art of how to do the uniquely difficult type of problem solving required to achieve full financial inclusion in the world’s emerging markets.

May 11, 2022

My guest today is one of the world’s leading innovators in this effort. Rajesh 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 taking TechSprints to a whole new level as a method of regulatory innovation

May 05, 2022

My guest today is Michael Hsu, the Acting Comptroller of the Currency, and we are talking all things– and only things – crypto. Financial regulators everywhere have escalated this issue in 2022, as the volumes of activity and flows of capital in crypto markets have skyrocketed. Until recently, US regulators have tended to emphasize crypto’s risks, but that framing shifted in March when President Biden issued an executive order on the topic. It calls on multiple agencies to develop strategies that will aim for a balance, seeking to reap the potential benefits of this new technology while also minimizing its dangers. More and more agencies and officials are weighing in.

April 27, 2022

There 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 History Month. She is the CEO of a startup that turns a profit. Many don’t. She is one of a very small group of bank CEOs whose roots are in technology, not banking. Her university degree was in chemistry and computer science.

April 20, 2022

This 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. Featuring Stuart Watkins and Jo Ann Barefoot.

April 04, 2022

I began doing regulatory compliance work many decades ago. During that span of  time, regulatory requirements have grown and grown. Compliance expertise evolved into an entire profession. Bank compliance spending skyrocketed – today the industry spends hundreds of billions of dollars every year on compliance work. And yet, the outcomes achieved through all this effort are mixed at best. We know money laundering compliance produces a 99% failure rate in finding crime. We know many consumers are insufficiently protected from unfair practices. We know systemic bias persists, especially unintentionally.

March 28, 2022

I 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.

March 07, 2022

This is a special episode of Barefoot Innovation because I have no guest – it’s just me. As we go into 2022, I want to share the advice I have on my mind for everyone (including myself). And I’m also going to share a quick overview of what we’re doing at AIR. We are a small organization doing very big work, in the US and worldwide. I’m going to describe the highlights, partly to encourage you to engage with us if we have points of connection.

February 08, 2022