Chris Dean of Treasury Prime

03/28/24 • 28 min

The area of fintech that has been in the news most so far this year is, without doubt, banking as a service (BaaS). We have seen consent orders, layoffs, banks ending fintech programs, ongoing disputes between BaaS companies and fintechs and there have been pivots from some of the BaaS providers.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Chris Dean, the CEO and Co-Founder of Treasury Prime. They were one of the original BaaS providers and have recently announced a pivot to working directly with banks. This resulted in the layoff of around half of the company. We do a deep dive into this pivot during our conversation, which took place live at the recent Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas.

In this podcast you will learn:

How his experience at Silicon Valley Bank led to the founding of Treasury Prime.
Their original three lines of business.
The driving force behind their pivot to dealing with banks directly.
The reaction they have received from their fintech clients.
How their direct service works for banks.
Why banks will continue to want to partner with fintechs.
Details of the process they go through when onboarding a new bank.
The different ways that are working with banks today.
Why Chris thinks the original banking as a service model is dead.
Why banks have been universally positive on their recent pivot.
How involved they are with the fintech sales process at the bank.
The impact on the fintech startup scene of banks only wanting to work with established fintechs.
Their approach to compliance automation.
Why he never sees the alternative core banking providers.
How Chris sees the bank-fintech partnerships evolving in the long term.
How he defines success going forward.

Connect with Chris Dean on LinkedIn
Connect with Treasury Prime on LinkedIn

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

Tweet me @PeterRenton
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

In this podcast you will learn:

How his experience at Silicon Valley Bank led to the founding of Treasury Prime.
Their original three lines of business.
The driving force behind their pivot to dealing with banks directly.
The reaction they have received from their fintech clients.
How their direct service works for banks.
Why banks will continue to want to partner with fintechs.
Details of the process they go through when onboarding a new bank.
The different ways that are working with banks today.
Why Chris thinks the original banking as a service model is dead.
Why banks have been universally positive on their recent pivot.
How involved they are with the fintech sales process at the bank.
The impact on the fintech startup scene of banks only wanting to work with established fintechs.
Their approach to compliance automation.
Why he never sees the alternative core banking providers.
How Chris sees the bank-fintech partnerships evolving in the long term.
How he defines success going forward.

Connect with Chris Dean on LinkedIn
Connect with Treasury Prime on LinkedIn

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

Tweet me @PeterRenton
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Previous Episode

Julie Szudarek of Self Financial

Until fintech came along, there was a serious catch-22 when it came to establishing credit. There was no easy way to establish your own credit score without first obtaining credit. This became a real problem with Gen-Z and even younger millennials who have avoided credit cards. But for most people, successfully establishing a good credit score opens doors that are otherwise unavailable. Fintech has come up with some creative solutions to help both establish a credit score or reestablish one that has dropped significantly.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Julie Szudarek, the CEO of Self. She has been in this role for almost six months, taking over from founder James Garvey (listen to the episode with James here). Self was the inventor of the credit builder account and the space has grown a lot in the last few years as consumers are more aware than ever of the importance of a good credit score.

In this podcast you will learn:

What attracted Julie to the CEO role at Self.
How she describes Self today.
The different types of people who are coming to Self.
How their credit builder account works.
What people do once they have been through their 12-month program.
What their customers like most about Self.
How much on average the typical Self customer increases their credit score.
Details of their new rent and bills reporting product.
How they approach financial literacy with their customers.
How she responds to the criticism of credit builder products.
Why they decided to partner with SpringFour.
What they do to help their customers when they get into financial difficulty.
Why they decided to sponsor the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA.
Where is Self going in the short to medium term.

Connect with Julie on LinkedIn
Connect with Self Financial on LinkedIn

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

Tweet me @PeterRenton
Connect with me on LinkedIn
Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Next Episode

Christina Riechers of Square Banking

I don't think any fintech company has done more for small business than Square. They started with payment acceptance and have since expanded into many different areas of fintech. In fact, their lending business is now the largest in all of fintech. But it was the addition of Square Banking that has allowed this fintech pioneer to bring it all together.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Christina Riechers, the General Manager of Square Banking. She has been at Square nine years and was one of the architects of Square's push into banking. This is the second podcast in the series that I recorded live at Fintech Meetup in early March.

In this podcast you will learn:

What first attracted Christina to Square.
Block's mission and how that resonated with her.
The origins of Square Banking and Christina's role in it.
How they built out their banking capabilities.
The different starting points for small businesses in joining their ecosystem.
Why established small business switch to Square Banking.
The scale they are at today for Square Lending.
How they are underwriting these loans.
How they are able to see a holistic view of the small business's finances.
How their customers are using the proceeds from their Square loans.
The astounding percentage of women-owned business they are serving.
What is top of mind for Square sellers today.
How their payroll service works.
What integration opportunities there are between Cash App, Afterpay and Square Banking.
What they doing around Generative AI.
The fintech trends that Christina is paying closest attention to right now.

Connect with Christina on LinkedIn
Connect with Square on LinkedIn

Connect with Fintech One-on-One: