
Episodes

Thursday Feb 06, 2025
Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty of Boomi on Unbundling the Enterprise
Thursday Feb 06, 2025
Thursday Feb 06, 2025
Our guests on this episode of Data Driven Finance are Stephen Fishman and Matt McLarty, authors of the book “Unbundling the Enterprise – APIs, Optionality, and the Science of Happy Accidents.” Stephen is North America Field CTO at Boomi and a Strategic Advisor at Revenium, while Matt is Boomi’s Chief Technology Officer. There’s a lot in the book about APIs, what they can power, and how they can be leveraged to create the experiences we’ll be experiencing ahead. Topics covered include:
- What finance businesses should know about what APIs can do that tech experts already know?
- Why companies who leveraged APIs early rapidly became some of the biggest in the world.
- Did you know Google Maps never intended to make their API available to third party developers? Hear why they did.
- Who are the financial businesses that gave themselves an advantage years ago?
- What does it mean to “unbundle the enterprise”?
- How are financial institutions doing in terms of awareness and adoption of API opportunities?
- What is capability capitalization?
- Why it’s better for finserv companies to go on offense with optionality than to engage in “reluctant compliance” with regulations.
- The three methodologies financial businesses need for an effective API strategy.
- The value in data being non-fungible, non-rivalrous, and experience-dependent.
- What are the risks of this kind of API-driven digital transformation?
Helpful Links
Stephen Fiscman
Matt McLarty
Unbundling the Enterprise book
Boomi
Yodlee

Thursday Jan 09, 2025
Steve Szpytek of Axos Bank on Consumer Product Development
Thursday Jan 09, 2025
Thursday Jan 09, 2025
Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Steve Szpytek, SVP and Head of Consumer Product Development at Axos Bank. Axos Bank is a diversified technology-driven financial services company with a well-balanced portfolio of verticals within the bank. Topics discussed include:
- How technology is moving so fast, there’s always a new product out there to help you service or enhance your platform that needs to be vetted.
- Balancing what’s available vs. what really going to move the need for customers.
- The importance of mobile and why 70-75% of Axos Bank’s customers interact with the bank on the mobile app.
- How connecting accounts provides a better, fuller picture of the customer than the traditional small deposit verification method.
- The enormous advantages of account linking for personalization and more targeted customer offers.
- The four pillars that comprise Axos Bank’s strategy: customer/user experience, tracking, training, and communication.
- The move toward better, easier, faster, simpler loan applications and processing.
- The vital nature of transparency for trust building.
- What’s most on the minds these days of those tasked with creating financial customer products.
- Are physical banks on their way out?
Some Helpful Links

Thursday Dec 05, 2024
Kat Cloud of Yodlee on CFPB 1033 Rule Compliance
Thursday Dec 05, 2024
Thursday Dec 05, 2024
Our guest on this episode of Data Driven Finance is Kat Cloud, Principal Director of Open Banking Compliance at Yodlee. Kat is also a Board member at the Financial Data Exchange, and prior to her time at Yodlee was head of UK Public Policy for Plaid. We discuss open banking compliance, specifically touching on the new CFPB 1033 rule, which is important for all financial institutions to be aware of. Topics covered include:
- What is open banking? How does it differ from how financial institutions operate today?
- What has to happen for open banking to reach its full promise?
- API as the “plumbing” behind financial data connections.
- What is the CFPB 1033 rule?
- What kind of data is and isn’t included under the CFPB 1033 rule.
- What happens if banks don’t meet the CFPB 1033 rule deadlines?
- What all this means for innovation in finserv and fintech.
- How are banks responding to both the rule and its timeline?
- How are all these stakeholders going to achieve true standardization?
- What does a new administration mean for the CFPB 1033 rule?
Helpful Links

Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Larry Rosenberger of FICO on Analytics for Decision-Making
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Thursday Oct 03, 2024
Our guest this episode is Larry Rosenberger, Research Fellow at FICO and formerly CEO and VP of R&D at FICO. The views Larry expresses in this episode are his and not necessarily those of FICO. He’s also an advisor and serves on multiple Boards of Directors for early-stage startups. Larry came out of MIT and the UC Berkeley College of Engineering. We talk about predictive and behavior analytics for decision-making, covering such topics as:
- How the FICO Score got started.
- What FICO brings to the financial system beyond the score.
- What is the Champion/Challengers approach to analytics with a learning element attached?
- The 3-step method for evaluating where you stand in your career.
- An overview of predictive analytics.
- The evolution from predictive only analytics to prescriptive analytics.
- The four pillars of behavior analytics.
- Creating conversations that actually work.
Some helpful links:
Fico.com
Larry Rosenberger on LinkedIn
Envestnet Yodlee

Tuesday Sep 10, 2024
Avery Miller of RBC on Data in Loyalty Programs
Tuesday Sep 10, 2024
Tuesday Sep 10, 2024
Our guest this episode is Avery Miller, VP and Head of Digital Consumer Product and the Avion Rewards Platform at RBC. Avery got his MBA at the University of Richmond and spent time before going to RBC at Capital One and PayPal. We talk about how connected finance impacts shopping and card use and loyalty programs. Topics include:
- How are financial services organizations doing at keeping up with modern shopper expectations, wants, and needs?
- How consumer expectations are changing generation to generation.
- Where the data that powers purchasing and rewards programs comes from.
- How interconnectivity is being achieved to facilitate shopping and payments.
- Implicitly and explicitly given data and the proper way to use that data for better consumer experiences.
- Is the current infrastructure enough to build the connected finance ecosystem of tomorrow?
- The impact cloud, AI, and quantum computing will have on verifiable sources of trust.
- What are the odds we can ever get to open banking on a global scale?
Helpful Links:
Avion Rewards
Avery Miller on LinkedIn
Envestnet Yodlee

Friday Aug 23, 2024
Chris Gifford of USAA Bank on Data and Analytics Strategies
Friday Aug 23, 2024
Friday Aug 23, 2024
Our guest today is Chris Gifford, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at USAA Bank. We talk about data strategies, building with a mobile-first mentality and why people remain at the heart of innovation, covering such topics as:
- Working for a mission-driven organization and how this shapes USAA’s approach to data and analytics.
- The value of Advice as a product – and how data drives better outcomes for the consumer.
- How institutions can embrace innovation in a measured approach, while still moving at the speed of change.
- Near- and longer-term applications for AI in banking.
- Where and how the banking industry is finding innovation outside of AI.
- What data and analytics capabilities does a major bank in 2024 need to thrive?
Helpful Links:
USAA Bank
Chris Gifford on LinkedIn
Envestnet Yodlee

Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Justin Zeidman of Navy Federal Credit Union on Connected Finance
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Thursday Aug 08, 2024
Our guest this episode is Justin Zeidman, VP of Digital Strategy at Navy Federal Credit Union. We talk about how credit unions are approaching and adopting digital transformation and leveraging digital financial data. Topics covered include:
- How the credit union membership model differs from other banking institutions.
- Balancing tech with maintaining the human touch value proposition of credit unions.
- How credit unions are approaching open banking and connected finance.
- The security concerns around connected finance.
- How the regulatory environment affects credit unions.
- Executing digital transformation in legacy financial institutions
- How a more open flow of data might change the lending process for borrowers.
Helpful Links
Navy Federal Credit Union
Envestnet Yodlee

Thursday Jul 25, 2024
Bruce Schilder of Accenture on Open Banking Transformations
Thursday Jul 25, 2024
Thursday Jul 25, 2024
Bruce Schilder, North American Open Banking and Fintech Lead at Accenture. Bruce comes out of Syracuse’s Whitman School of Management, and before Accenture spent time at JPMorgan Chase and Sterling National Bank. We talk about open banking and digital transformation in banking from a consulting perspective. Topics covered include:
- How far we’ve already come in open banking.
- Achieving the balance of all the conveniences data can provide while reassuring consumers their data is used properly.
- Can existing infrastructures accommodate the connected finance future?
- How is the US set up compared to other countries and regions in establishing finance frameworks and standards?
- The factors challenging financial institutions from enacting digital transformations.
- What the competitive environment looks like in terms of speed of technology adoption.
- The new norm of data being shared beyond the four walls of a financial institution.
- Advice for financial organizations from a big picture perspective.
Helpful Links
Bruce Schilder on LinkedIn
Accenture
Envestnet Yodlee

We Are Envestnet Yodlee
As a global leader in data aggregation and data analytics, Envestnet | Yodlee enables innovation and insights that help people live better financial lives. More than 1,400 financial services and tech companies, including 17 of the top 20 U.S. banks, rely on our global network and data science tools to empower financial services today—and tomorrow.