Name: Wade Arnold on the new challenges in the fintech landscape and open source banking
Uploaded: 2023-06-07T13:54:25.107Z
Duration: 385.49
Description: Wade Arnold, Co-Founder & CEO, Moov Financial, shares his journey in the fintech space and explores the challenges he faced on the way. He also explains the importance of open banking why industry players are hesitant about it. Stay up to date with the community on https://finovate.com/ Find out more about FinovateSpring on http://www.finovatespring.com/

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Wade Arnold.vtt

English

{{00:00:05}}
William Mills: Hi, I am William
Mills here at FinovateSpring in

{{00:00:07}}
San Francisco with my good friend
Wade Arnold, who's CEO of Moov.

{{00:00:11}}
How you doing today, Wade?

{{00:00:12}}
Wade Arnold: Hey, always
doing well for having you.

{{00:00:14}}
William Mills: Great to see you.

{{00:00:14}}
Great to see you.

{{00:00:16}}
For those of the folks that aren't here,
What has been your story, your journey as

{{00:00:21}}
an entrepreneur in financial technology?

{{00:00:24}}
How did you get into it
and, where are you today?

{{00:00:27}}
Wade Arnold: Yeah, so I probably attended
one of the first or second Finovates.

{{00:00:32}}
Got into financial services by
pre-populating forms for loan applications

{{00:00:37}}
right off of core system data.

{{00:00:40}}
Then we realized this mobile phone
thing may catch on in 2008, and started

{{00:00:47}}
a product which eventually became
the company named Banno, which was a

{{00:00:50}}
digital banking mobile first company.

{{00:00:54}}
But that was acquired
by Jack Henry in 2014.

{{00:00:57}}
Helped a friend of mine, Dan Holt,
build a company called BillGO in

{{00:01:01}}
2016 was there for a couple years and
which is a modern bill pay platform.

{{00:01:07}}
And then most recently started Moov.

{{00:01:10}}
Which

{{00:01:10}}
William Mills: is a big
name in the industry.

{{00:01:12}}
But at the time, let's
go back to Finovate.

{{00:01:14}}
It was 2009, right?

{{00:01:15}}
Yep.

{{00:01:15}}
You debuted Banno at Finovate 2009.

{{00:01:19}}
What, were the biggest challenges
you were wrestling with at that time?

{{00:01:24}}
Wade Arnold: I think it was
just a different world where

{{00:01:27}}
obviously there's always been.

{{00:01:29}}
Different incumbent players that
are the distribution channel, but

{{00:01:32}}
it was really at the forefront.

{{00:01:34}}
It was still called financial services.

{{00:01:36}}
We weren't cool enough to be
fintech yet at that point.

{{00:01:39}}
But it was just getting access.

{{00:01:41}}
So the hope and prayer at that time
was that an FIS, Fiserv, Hogan, Jack

{{00:01:47}}
Henry, would allow you to connect
to their systems and That was the

{{00:01:53}}
biggest inhibitor or mote in order
to do something really interesting

{{00:01:57}}
regardless of what you wanted to bring
to the consumer or the small business.

{{00:02:00}}
And so that still, struggle today.

{{00:02:04}}
Not as bad as you

{{00:02:05}}
William Mills: it was harder, right?

{{00:02:06}}
Yep.

{{00:02:07}}
Okay.

{{00:02:07}}
So fast forward to 2023.

{{00:02:10}}
You're CEO of a, you call it
banking as a service, right?

{{00:02:15}}
Would you call it that?

{{00:02:15}}
Wade Arnold: Yeah.

{{00:02:17}}
I don't think there's anything like Moov,
so it's, a hard to put it in a category.

{{00:02:22}}
But like banking as a service,
we have a real-time ledger.

{{00:02:26}}
It's just our ledger, right?

{{00:02:27}}
Like banking as a service.

{{00:02:28}}
We do payments, but it's.

{{00:02:29}}
It's our payment processor.

{{00:02:32}}
We think of ourself as a ledger
service company with direct

{{00:02:35}}
connections to the clearing house,
the Federal Reserve, Visa, MasterCard,

{{00:02:39}}
American Express, and Discover.

{{00:02:41}}
William Mills: Wade, it's 2023.

{{00:02:42}}
What are the biggest
challenges for Moov today?

{{00:02:45}}
Wade Arnold: Yeah, so 10 years
ago is getting access to the

{{00:02:48}}
core banking providers, right?

{{00:02:50}}
And so for me today at Moov it was getting
access to the US payment rails and not

{{00:02:54}}
through a software provider, but actually.

{{00:02:57}}
Connected directly into those systems
and to, become a provider right.

{{00:03:02}}
In, a modern way.

{{00:03:03}}
And so I think that was the moment
where we knew Moov was going to be.

{{00:03:08}}
A real company was once Visa
and The Clearing House and the

{{00:03:13}}
other payment networks allowed
us on, top of their system.

{{00:03:17}}
That was the first time you
could start writing code because

{{00:03:19}}
that was the first time you had.

{{00:03:20}}
The specification from Visa was once they,
actually blessed you and just cuz you

{{00:03:25}}
have Visa and MasterCard doesn't mean the
other two card brands wanna let you in.

{{00:03:28}}
So each one of them was a, pretty big
challenge to get on top of their networks.

{{00:03:32}}
William Mills: That's great
that you're doing that.

{{00:03:34}}
Now, one of the things when I
think about Moov is open source.

{{00:03:37}}
How, important is that to
Moov and what you're doing?

{{00:03:41}}
Wade Arnold: Yeah, so I think a,
key value of Moov is to give first.

{{00:03:46}}
And so whether that's our open source
projects we also host fintech devcon.

{{00:03:51}}
We have over 4,000 people
in our Slack community.

{{00:03:55}}
We write a bunch of articles to just
explain how things work, and that's

{{00:03:59}}
really just leading with knowledge,
but the, open source ecosystem

{{00:04:06}}
how do you, have a proven system?

{{00:04:10}}
Versus the, kind of legacy incumbents.

{{00:04:13}}
And one way of doing that is
our lowest level protocols.

{{00:04:17}}
Our most complex code paths are
free and open source, right?

{{00:04:21}}
And so rather than just Moov and it's
78 million of venture funding working

{{00:04:28}}
on that code base, you have hundreds if
not thousands of companies that use it.

{{00:04:33}}
And so that, that really allows you
to have these very hardened libraries.

{{00:04:37}}
Great.

{{00:04:38}}
That allow us in three years to go from
nothing to production grade payments.

{{00:04:45}}
William Mills: Wade, there's a
bunch of companies out there that

{{00:04:48}}
are hesitant to use open source.

{{00:04:49}}
What would you say to get people more on
the open source bandwagon and fintech?

{{00:04:54}}
Wade Arnold: Yeah, I think
it's it's a misnomer, right?

{{00:04:59}}
Because they're, if you run in
a cloud, you're using Linux,

{{00:05:03}}
you're using open source databases
you're, using these tools, right?

{{00:05:07}}
If you run an Android phone or
run, a Macintosh computer, right?

{{00:05:12}}
You're,  utilizing open source.

{{00:05:14}}
And so I, think it's  the the association
of open source without support is

{{00:05:21}}
probably what keeps people away.

{{00:05:24}}
And if something goes
wrong, who do I call?

{{00:05:28}}
And so there's a large enough
community inside of Linux that

{{00:05:32}}
nobody has that fear, right?

{{00:05:35}}
Because.

{{00:05:36}}
Everybody uses Linux.

{{00:05:38}}
Sure.

{{00:05:38}}
And so I think one of our callings
is we have to continue growing that

{{00:05:43}}
community by growing the community, then
you're decreasing the risk cuz you have

{{00:05:48}}
more people educated in how it works.

{{00:05:50}}
More contributors to the application.

{{00:05:53}}
It's probably high risk for Moov.

{{00:05:55}}
We're betting the company on it.

{{00:05:57}}
But it's interesting now that you
have Bank of America and PayPal

{{00:06:00}}
and Stripe and Feedzai and just.

{{00:06:04}}
Tons of large companies contributing
back, you know that it's more

{{00:06:08}}
than just Moov behind the project.

{{00:06:11}}
William Mills: That makes a lot of sense.

{{00:06:12}}
Makes a lot of sense for Wade.

{{00:06:13}}
I really appreciate the time today.

{{00:06:14}}
And again, this is William
Mills with Wade Arnold here at

{{00:06:17}}
FinovateSpring in San Francisco.

William Mills: Hi, I am William
Mills here at FinovateSpring in

San Francisco with my good friend
Wade Arnold, who's CEO of Moov.

Wade Arnold: Hey, always
doing well for having you.

For those of the folks that aren't here,
What has been your story, your journey as

How did you get into it
and, where are you today?

Wade Arnold: Yeah, so I probably attended
one of the first or second Finovates.

Got into financial services by
pre-populating forms for loan applications

Then we realized this mobile phone
thing may catch on in 2008, and started

a product which eventually became
the company named Banno, which was a

But that was acquired
by Jack Henry in 2014.

Helped a friend of mine, Dan Holt,
build a company called BillGO in

2016 was there for a couple years and
which is a modern bill pay platform.

William Mills: is a big
name in the industry.

But at the time, let's
go back to Finovate.

What, were the biggest challenges
you were wrestling with at that time?

Wade Arnold: I think it was
just a different world where

Different incumbent players that
are the distribution channel, but

We weren't cool enough to be
fintech yet at that point.

So the hope and prayer at that time
was that an FIS, Fiserv, Hogan, Jack

Henry, would allow you to connect
to their systems and That was the

biggest inhibitor or mote in order
to do something really interesting

regardless of what you wanted to bring
to the consumer or the small business.

You're CEO of a, you call it
banking as a service, right?

I don't think there's anything like Moov,
so it's, a hard to put it in a category.

But like banking as a service,
we have a real-time ledger.

We think of ourself as a ledger
service company with direct

connections to the clearing house,
the Federal Reserve, Visa, MasterCard,

What are the biggest
challenges for Moov today?

Wade Arnold: Yeah, so 10 years
ago is getting access to the

And so for me today at Moov it was getting
access to the US payment rails and not

through a software provider, but actually.

Connected directly into those systems
and to, become a provider right.

And so I think that was the moment
where we knew Moov was going to be.

A real company was once Visa
and The Clearing House and the

other payment networks allowed
us on, top of their system.

That was the first time you
could start writing code because

The specification from Visa was once they,
actually blessed you and just cuz you

have Visa and MasterCard doesn't mean the
other two card brands wanna let you in.

So each one of them was a, pretty big
challenge to get on top of their networks.

William Mills: That's great
that you're doing that.

Now, one of the things when I
think about Moov is open source.

How, important is that to
Moov and what you're doing?

Wade Arnold: Yeah, so I think a,
key value of Moov is to give first.

And so whether that's our open source
projects we also host fintech devcon.

We have over 4,000 people
in our Slack community.

We write a bunch of articles to just
explain how things work, and that's

really just leading with knowledge,
but the, open source ecosystem

And one way of doing that is
our lowest level protocols.

Our most complex code paths are
free and open source, right?

And so rather than just Moov and it's
78 million of venture funding working

on that code base, you have hundreds if
not thousands of companies that use it.

And so that, that really allows you
to have these very hardened libraries.

That allow us in three years to go from
nothing to production grade payments.

William Mills: Wade, there's a
bunch of companies out there that

What would you say to get people more on
the open source bandwagon and fintech?

Wade Arnold: Yeah, I think
it's it's a misnomer, right?

Because they're, if you run in
a cloud, you're using Linux,

you're using open source databases
you're, using these tools, right?

If you run an Android phone or
run, a Macintosh computer, right?

And so I, think it's  the the association
of open source without support is

And if something goes
wrong, who do I call?

And so there's a large enough
community inside of Linux that

FinovateSpring

Case Study

Expert Insight

Wade Arnold, Co-Founder & CEO, Moov Financial, shares his journey in the fintech space and explores the challenges he faced on the way. He also explains the importance of open banking why industry players are hesitant about it. 

Stay up to date with the community on https://finovate.com/ 

Find out more about FinovateSpring on http://www.finovatespring.com/ 