At Money 20/20, financial services and fintech leaders reflect on 2024 achievements and plan for the future

I wasn’t able to make it to Money 20/20 this year and it was a shame. From everything I heard, the energy was great and people really came away from the event with a renewed sense of purpose to get stuff done. My partner and Tearsheet’s CEO Aaron Singer met with a wide swath of executives from traditional financial services and fintech to compile this series of executive interviews, as they shared their key accomplishments from 2024 and looked ahead to share their strategic goals for 2025.

Amazon Web Services

John Kain, who leads market development efforts for financial services at AWS, has been instrumental in guiding cloud adoption strategies for financial institutions, with a particular focus on helping banks modernize their systems and leverage emerging technologies like generative AI. In 2024, Kain highlighted significant progress in helping financial services clients transform their digital experiences, with notable examples like NatWest using generative AI to personalize customer communications and achieve a remarkable 900% increase in applications for a savings product. Looking ahead to 2025, Kain is excited about more complex generative AI use cases, such as the work he’s doing with MUFG on a corporate sales research assistant that has already demonstrated a 10x efficiency increase and 30% conversion rate. As he noted, the industry is moving beyond simple AI tasks to breaking down more intricate business problems and reconstructing them with advanced technological approaches.

Validify: Fraud Prevention Focus

Validify’s CEO John Gordon noted the company’s significant progress in 2024, launching a comprehensive suite of fraud prevention products, including fraud checks, account validation checks, and risk scoring. He emphasized the importance of these capabilities as “pay by bank and ACH continue to grow.” Gordon explained that these payment methods are a critical focus area for Validify, as they represent a rapidly expanding segment of the market. Validify also secured a major partnership with JPMorgan Chase, which Gordon says will help enhance their industry coverage and allow them to better serve clients who work with the banking giant. Looking ahead, Gordon stated that Validify will continue investing in its fraud prevention solutions to stay ahead of the curve as digital payments evolve.

Sorbet: Rapid Expansion into B2B2C

Sorbet CEO Veetahl Eilat-Raichel reported “explosive growth in 2024, projecting to end the year about 20x what we started.” The company successfully expanded from its direct-to-consumer roots into the B2B2C space, partnering with benefit brokers and platforms to serve large enterprise employers. Eilat-Raichel attributed this success to finding “the classic indications of product market fit,” noting that “people are truly like knocking on our door” to work with Sorbet. She explained that the company’s platform and services have resonated strongly with both small and large businesses looking to offer enhanced benefits to their employees. Moving forward, the company plans to maintain its rapid growth trajectory, with a focus on driving greater market awareness and education to further expand its customer base.

First International Bank & Trust/Kotapay: Cloud-Native Banking Infrastructure

Trent Sorbe, Chief Payments Officer at First International Bank & Trust/Kotapay, highlighted the launch of their Kavinu platform in 2024 – a “cloud-based infrastructure” with a “developer-friendly cloud-native RESTful API environment.” Sorbe emphasized the strategic importance of this new offering, stating, “For us that’s as strategic as it gets. The unique thing we think about Kavinu is that it really is a direct-to-bank relationship.” This platform aims to provide First International Bank & Trust/Kotapay’s clients with a more streamlined and efficient banking technology solution, allowing them to better serve their own customers. Sorbe believes this direct integration with the bank will be a key differentiator in the market and help drive continued growth for the organization.

FV Bank: Strengthening Foundation for Growth

FV Bank’s CEO Miles Paschini shared that after a challenging 2023, the bank used 2024 to strengthen its foundation, serving over a thousand customers with a balanced portfolio of U.S. and international business clients. Paschini explained that the bank’s focus on serving both domestic and global businesses has been a strategic priority, allowing FV Bank to diversify its revenue streams and better weather economic uncertainties. Looking ahead to 2025, Paschini is optimistic about “potentially better regulatory headwinds coming our way” and is preparing for the bank’s next growth phase, including plans to raise a Series B round of funding. This additional capital will enable FV Bank to further expand its product offerings and geographic reach to better serve its growing customer base.

Trustly: Reaching $100B in Payment Volume

Trustly VP Marketing Andres Suay reported that the company is on track to process $100 billion in Total Payment Volume (TPV) in 2024, serving 9,000 merchants worldwide. Suay noted that 2024 was a pivotal year for open banking, as new regulations “brought a level of excitement about new technologies” in the industry. He explained that these regulatory changes have helped legitimize and drive broader adoption of open banking solutions like Trustly’s. Moving forward, Trustly aims to capitalize on this momentum and focus on penetrating the mainstream retail and e-commerce markets, where Suay sees significant growth potential. The company will work to expand its direct integrations with merchants and payment gateways to make its payment services more widely accessible to consumers.

Coinstar: Expanding Into New Services

Coinstar CEO Kevin McColly marked 2024 with the launch of their digital wallet “CINQ by Coinstar”, leveraging the company’s extensive physical presence – “92% of Americans live within five miles of a Coinstar.” McColly explained that this new digital offering is part of Coinstar’s broader vision to expand beyond its traditional coin-counting services and focus on “financial empowerment for our customers.” The company sees this as a critical step in diversifying its product portfolio and better serving its customer base, many of whom are underbanked or underserved by traditional financial institutions. Coinstar aims to leverage its widespread physical footprint and brand recognition to introduce more accessible digital banking services to these communities.

Q2: Expanding Cloud Migration and AI Implementation

At Q2, VP of Product Management Corey Gross discussed the company’s focus in 2024 on cloud migration and AI implementation, including enhancements to their fraud prevention capabilities. Gross explained that these infrastructure and technology upgrades were essential to keep pace with rapidly evolving industry demands and provide Q2’s banking clients with more robust digital capabilities. Looking ahead to 2025, Gross shared plans to expand the use of their virtual assistant “Andy” across Q2’s product portfolio and further develop AI-powered fraud detection and prevention tools. These efforts aim to deliver more personalized experiences for end-users while also strengthening security measures to protect against emerging threats.

Worth: Shifting to Enterprise Solutions

Worth’s CEO Suneera Madhani said the company shifted its focus to enterprise solutions in 2024, signing “about a dozen customers, large enterprise banks, institutions.” Madhani explained that this strategic pivot was based on market feedback, as the company found that customers were more interested in its onboarding and integration capabilities than its initial risk management focus. For 2025, Worth plans to launch a small business product suite, as Madhani explained, “Our biggest mission is to create an equitable landscape for small businesses.” The company aims to leverage its experience working with large enterprises to develop tailored solutions that empower smaller companies with access to financial services and technology.

DailyPay: Expanding Bank Partnerships

DailyPay’s Director of Commercial Banking Rob Nardelli reported expanding the company’s bank partnerships in 2024, now serving “almost 200,000 eligible employees.” Nardelli stated, “The value that we deliver is too great. And working with our bank partners, we now have almost a dozen prospects that I am beyond excited about.” He explained that DailyPay’s earned wage access solutions have seen rapid adoption, particularly as real-time payments continue to gain traction. Looking ahead, the company plans to pursue a public offering and further expand its network of banking relationships to bring its services to an even broader customer base.

BalancedTrust: Compliance Platform Launch

BalancedTrust founder Travis Dulaney shared that the company’s compliance and risk management platform secured an alpha customer in 2024, with “a waiting line for implementations right now, about a dozen deep for the banks and for some aggregator aggregators.” Dulaney noted that BalancedTrust’s focus on providing structured guidance and flexibility for financial institutions has been a key differentiator. In 2025, he plans to continue prioritizing implementation and onboarding, particularly for newer companies facing regulatory scrutiny. Dulaney believes BalancedTrust’s solutions will be essential for these organizations as they navigate the complex compliance landscape.

Wise: Investing in Global Infrastructure

Wise’s Head of US Engineering Balazs Barna emphasized the company’s continued investment in global infrastructure, stating, “We are building all these direct integrations all around the world to make it cheaper and faster for customers.” Barna explained that this focus on reducing transaction costs and increasing payment speeds is a core part of Wise’s value proposition. Additionally, he aims to localize the product experience, making it feel like “a US product in the US and it’s a European product in Europe.” This tailored approach allows Wise to better serve the diverse needs of its international customer base.

Personetics: Transforming Consumer Engagement

Personetics CEO Udi Ziv shared that the company serves over 150 million consumers globally through bank partnerships, transforming how financial institutions engage with customers. Ziv explained that Personetics’ platform “makes people smarter about their financials” by providing personalized insights and proactive guidance, capabilities that were previously only accessible to wealth management clients. He noted that with Personetics’ technology, “you almost get the same experience as you get with a wealth manager, but everyone gets it.” Moving forward, Personetics plans to further enhance its data enrichment and transaction categorization capabilities to deliver even more precise and valuable financial intelligence to its users.

Extend: More Partnering with Incumbents

Extend CEO Andrew Jamison takes a distinctive approach, focusing on “helping the incumbent banks in this world compete more effectively against emerging fintechs.” In 2024, the company strengthened its partnership with American Express and expanded its platform reach, now covering approximately 60% of commercial cards issued. Jamison believes this “Intel Inside” model, where Extend’s solutions are embedded within banks’ offerings, is a key differentiator. For 2025, Extend will integrate bill payment systems, develop expense management solutions, and expand its embedded finance offerings to provide banks with a more comprehensive suite of tools to serve their commercial clients.

Finzly: Modernizing Core Banking Infrastructure

Finzly CEO Booshan Rengachari secured partnerships with notable institutions like Frost Bank and Metropolitan Commercial Bank in 2024, as the company works to modernize core banking infrastructure. Rengachari identified a key challenge in the industry, explaining that “a lot of the banks, they still think the legacy core platform is not touchable. They think they’re stuck with it forever and nobody is addressing that much.” Finzly’s 2025 growth strategy includes market expansion, moving upmarket from their initial mid-market focus, as well as global market entry. Additionally, the company will prioritize payment innovation, including leveraging the FedNow instant payments network to enable real-time, connected banking experiences for their clients.

Raisin: Focused on Growth

Raisin’s President and CMO Ben McLaughlin reflected on the company’s growth in 2024, noting they “really benefited from” the rising interest rate environment, offering savings accounts and CDs with rates reaching over 5%. McLaughlin acknowledged that consumer expectations may need to adjust as rates moderate, but he remains optimistic about the market’s long-term attractiveness. Looking ahead, McLaughlin aims to continue Raisin’s national expansion and empower smaller financial institutions by providing them with a platform to compete with larger players. He believes Raisin’s ability to give banks a national presence, while highlighting their unique qualities, will be a key differentiator in the market.

Credit Sesame

Adrian Nazari, founder and CEO of Credit Sesame, navigated a challenging 2024 by transforming his company from a direct-to-consumer model to an enterprise SaaS platform focused on credit wellness. In 2024, Nazari launched the AI-powered Sesame platform, obtained four new patents, and accumulated over 7 trillion data points on consumer and financial institution behaviors, positioning the company to serve 100-200 million customers through direct and indirect channels. As he explained, “We’ve actually signed a very large marquee customer which will be announced shortly, the public company that serves tens of millions of consumers,” highlighting the company’s strategic pivot. Looking ahead to 2025, Nazari is focused on expanding enterprise partnerships, leveraging AI and advanced analytics to help financial institutions offer more personalized credit management solutions, with a vision of bringing more transparency and thoughtful decision-making to consumers’ credit journeys.