American Fintech Council

Hayden Cole has not forgotten the #Alamo! We were in #SanAntonio for the National Council of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) for their November meeting this past weekend! We met with legislators from across the country to discuss all things #fintech and had the opportunity to weigh in specifically on proposed #EarnedWageAccess #EWA model legislation! Special thanks to New York State Assembly Member Pamela Hunter for her tireless leadership on this issue and for her #partnership and #collaboration! Dare we stop in #Texas and not spend time with our members at TransPecos Banks, SSB! Great to have lunch with Patrick J. Kennedy, Jr. and his wife! We look forward to advocating in Texas and across the country for #responsible #innovation and #access!

From the moment Ulrico Charles Izaguirre, the Chairman of the #AFC Board Policy Committee and SVP, Government Affairs and Public Policy at Affirm, took the stage to kick off our #Policy #Summit, it was non stop until #Congressman J. French Hill addressed the crowd already enjoying cocktails aptly named #DrinkNowPayLater This is the perfect time to look back to one week ago and thank all of our attendees, sponsors, partners, selfie takers, commenters, and every single person who played a part in making this our biggest and best summit ever! We’ve got some big decisions to make if we are going to top this next year... I can assure you plans are already underway! SAVE THE DATE: November 18, 2025!!! Evan Weinberger, Christian Widhalm, Itai Damti, Aleksandra Teichman, AnaLiza Grandner, Eugene Shvartsman, Charles Potts, Matt Michaelis, Laura Kornhauser

We submitted a comment letter to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) urging the withdrawal of its proposed rulemaking on #BrokeredDeposits. The proposed rule raises significant concerns due to its departure from recently established regulations and its likelihood to harm consumers, stifle competition, and undermine financial innovation. “The FDIC’s proposed rule threatens to undo years of progress in creating a more #inclusive, #innovative, and consumer-centered financial system,” said?Phil Goldfeder, CEO of #AFC. “This proposal would not only harm underserved communities, but also weaken the resilience of the financial services industry. AFC is committed to advocating for sound, evidence-based regulation that promotes responsible innovation and supports all consumers.” We look forward to working with the new administration to ensure we are focusing on the right regulation to enhance consumer protection and bank safety without stifling innovation.

More than a dozen of our members stayed in #DC for another day following the #Policy #Summit to meet with bipartisan members of #Congress to discuss #fintech and our priorities for the coming years! In addition to our meeetings, we were treated to a special visit to the US Capitol Senate balcony overlooking the Washington Monument! We had the chance to meet with Congressmembers William Timmons, #AndrewGarbarino, Gregory Meeks, #ByronDonalds and many other senior members of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services. We were also happy to welcome many incoming house freshman and then on to the Senate to meet with staff for the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and for a private meeting with Senate Majority Leader #ChuckSchumer! Claudia Flores, Chris Hilliard, Maria Paula Abadia, Kristian Lund, Ian P. Moloney, Hayden Cole, Tara Rider, Lamiaa E. Elfar, Tamer El-Rayess, Joseph N. Garba, Ryan Metcalf, RaShawn Mitchell

Please meet the recipients of the 2024 inaugural #AFC Awards during our #Fintech #Policy #Summit on Tuesday! The awards were created to recognize exceptional leaders and advocates in the fintech community who demonstrate a commitment to pragmatic leadership, responsible innovation and are champions for the industry! Over a hundred were nominated and the selection committee was proud to recognize: #PublicService Award was granted to Julián Alcázar, Senior Payments Specialist at the Federal Reserve Financial Services for his tireless work bridging the gap and working to support Mark Gould (a champion in his own right) and make the payments ecosystem faster and safer! #FedNow #EmergingPolicyLeader Award was presented to Claudia Flores, Senior Manager, Public Policy at?DailyPay, Inc., as a rising star with a strong commitment and passion for #responsible #fintech #innovation. Her efforts at DailyPay, a company transforming payroll services and giving workers greater flexibility and control over their wages, exemplify her drive to improve financial wellness and empower workers. #InnovativeBanker Of The Year Award was presented to Chris Black, CEO of Thread Bank for his contributions as a leader at the intersection of banking and technology who is helping to shape the future of finance by managing growth and innovation in a safe and sound manner. His work at Thread Bank, a pioneer in tech-forward banking solutions, showcases his ability to navigate the evolving financial landscape with vision and responsibility. #ExceptionalWoman in Fintech Award was given to?Laura Kornhauser, CEO and Co-Founder of?Stratyfy, for her leadership in transforming the fintech industry while advocating for women and gender equity. Her leadership at Stratyfy, which delivers interpretable machine learning solutions to financial institutions, highlights her commitment to driving innovation and transparency in the sector. #FintechAdvocate of the Year recognized the #PublicPolicy Team at Upstart led by?Nat Hoopes, Vice President, Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs?and?Gilberto Soria Mendoza, Senior Associate, Government Relations for their exceptional leadership in spearheading sound public policy standards in fintech and strenuously advocating for a transparent, innovative, and customer-centric financial system. Their work at Upstart, goes above and beyond to expand financial access by collaborating on initiatives like Office of the Comptroller of the Currency #ProjectREACh and founding collaborative organizations like MoreThanFair!

Just when you thought the #Policy #Summit was slowing down, it kept getting better! Janet Hale, CRCM, CERP of FTI Consulting led a powerhouse session with the nations leading #innovative bank CEO's including Gilles Gade of Cross River, who was credited by fellow panelist as one of the founders of the industry, Eric Sprink of Coastal Community Bank who is a champion advocate with boundless energy (he gives Phil Goldfeder competition), Sean Willett of Lincoln Savings Bank who in only a short time as leader has made a huge mark on #LSB and the industry and Chris Black of Thread Bank who absolutely earned the award you will read about in a later post. Could we have a policy summit without talking #AI! Led by Madeline Fredin from our partners at Alloy Labs, we had an amazing panel with Pankaj Kulshreshtha, CEO of Scienaptic AI, Georgina Merhom, Founder and CEO of SOLO, John Sun, CEO of Spring Labs and the tireless Jeanette Quick, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury! Huge thank you to #Congressman J. French Hill, for his advocacy and support of #responsible #innovation in Financial Services. For many years has been a pragmatic leader and we are excited to continue our work together in the next Congress!

The panels at our #Fintech #Policy #Summit did not disappoint and had standing room only crowds all day! Few moderators can run a panel like Kiah Lau Haslett (who’s a total boss) especially when trying to keep Jason Mikula, Jonah Crane, Simon Taylor and Alex Johnson in line! Congresswoman Brittany Pettersen, a rising star on the US Financial Services Committee, joined Juan Azel of Winston & Strawn LLP to discuss her support for #responsible #innovation and vision for bipartisan work in the next Congress! Who else would you want talking about state regulator engagement than Brandon Milhorn of Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), our very own board member Ryan Naples of DailyPay, Inc., Eric J. Ellman and #Maryland Delegate Adrian Boafo, moderated by Susan Manship Seaman of Husch Blackwell. Can’t discuss #fintech without talking #RegTech and #regualtory #modernization and we were so happy to have Ravi Loganathan, Co-Founder & President of Sonar AI, Neha Narkhede, Founder and CEO, Oscilar, Edward Vincent, and CEO of SRA Watchtower, moderated by our friend and the famous Peter Renton.

Standing room only for Senator #MikeRounds as we kick off our 8th Annual #fintech policy summit in #DC! Huge thank you to our members and the entire #innovative #banking and #fintech ecosystem for your partnership and support! Tremendous fireside chat with our member and Self Financial, Inc. CEO Julie Szudarek on utilizing #safe and #responsible #innovation to help families build credit, moderated by our partner Mike Croxson, CEO of National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC). Scott Sanborn, CEO of LendingClub absolutely crushed his talk moderated by Martin Mitchell of Forvis Mazars US on the transformation and continued evolution and success of #LendingClub! Not enough words to describe Jelena McWilliams and the insights she provided to the audience and huge kudos to Chris Hilliard, CEO of Winnow Solutions, LLC for his masterclass in moderating! #FintechPolicySummit2024

Fintech has descended on #DC! Summit Week kicked at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center where more than 60 of our member companies came together (in advance of our summit) for a full day of strategy and working group meetings to discuss plans and advocacy for the coming year!! Our members spent the day together and had the unique opportunity to hear from the government and regulatory leaders helping shape the future of finance! Our #FintechLending group heard from Shereefat Balogun, Assistant Commissioner at State of Maryland Office of #Financial #Regulation! Our #Innovative #Banking and #Embedded finance group met with a team from the Federal Reserve Board #Novel #Activity Supervisory Program as well as our great friend Amy Zirkle from the markets group at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau! Tremendous thank you to #Congressman Bryan Steil for meeting with our #EarnedWageAccess #EWA working group to discuss his legislation and prospect of the bills passage in the next Congress! #JustGettingStarted #AFCPolicySummit2024

Best way to start the week! Please join us in welcoming MAJORITY as the newest member of #AFC!! As the leading digital financial services company dedicated to serving the foreign-born population in the #UnitedStates they will be an important voice to our growing membership advocating for #responsible #innovation creating critical #access to #FinancialServices. “Since its founding, #MAJORITY has focused on increasing #access and lowering costs within the financial services industry to better serve foreign-born communities in America and help people integrate faster into the US economy,” said Magnus Larsson, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of MAJORITY. “We’re thrilled to join together with like-minded institutions through the AFC to advocate for greater access to banking for all underserved communities and increase the reach of our vision for the future of financial services.” ?? https://lnkd.in/e67yw-tx