Consumer Protection

We had hoped to post this episode during Pride Month and didn’t quite make it, but, of course, the topic is timeless. Jo Ann's guest is Rob Curtis, CEO and Co-founder of Daylight, a fintech startup that focuses on serving LGBTQ customers.

Given 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. Jo Ann's 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 Superintendent of Virtual Currency.

In a paper published by the Brookings Institution, Alliance for Innovative Regulation co-founder Jo Ann Barefoot lays out multiple use cases for government agencies to use artificial intelligence to power their innovation strategies.

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. Available as an audio podcast and video.

In this episode, Ian describes the vision that is driving ING’s new innovation group, Neo. He outlines its five value spaces, including the one he runs – safe and compliant. He describes how they are developing regtech solutions that meet both the needs of the bank and also an external market. In our conversation, Ian explains why regtech is the future of compliance.

My guests today are Lisa Rice, CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance, and Kareem Saleh, founder and CEO of Fairplay. Lisa is a civil rights activist. Kareem is a tech guy who founded a startup that uses AI analytics to deliver what he calls Fairness as a Service. They come from two different worlds, but they have teamed up to work on the problem of unfair lending.

A half century ago, the US government embarked on an effort to protect financial consumers through proactive regulation. Starting with the Truth In Lending Act in 1968, Congress enacted an ever-growing set of laws, and regulators and industry undertook an ever-growing effort to implement them. So, how’s it going, 53 years later? Are consumers now well-protected? Is it a rarity for consumers to be harmed in the financial system, like it’s a rarity for planes to crash, or drinking water to make people sick. Do we have a situation where failures shock us and make news? Most of us -- certainly I -- would say no.. But, think also about this: we really have no idea how well we’re doing.

AIR partnered with with Consumer Reports and Consumer Federation of America to explore Hot Topics in how fintech impacts consumers.