New banks, Podcasts
The Challengers 16: SoFi gets a charter, N26 rethinks product-led growth, Starling goes platform
- Our Challengers Podcast is back and hosts Josh and Zack catch up on the big news in digital banking.
- They drill down into what's happening at N26, Marcus, Starling, with BNPL and much more.
In this episode of The Challengers, Josh Liggett and Zack Miller explore SoFi's move to get a bank charter and what it may mean for the company, as well as for its platform business, Galileo. Josh and Zack talk about N26's recent admission that in a push to globalize, it missed the move to crypto.
Lastly, your hosts discuss the UK's Starling Bank and its move to become a platform. Josh and Zack discuss how good unit economics enable challenger banks -- particularly ones focused on B2C -- to turn into software plays, supporting banking products and services for other fintechs.
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Resources mentioned in the show:
- N26 got it wrong on global expansion and crypto, co-founder admits (FT)
- Anne Boden confirms Starling’s global launch of banking-as-a-service (AltFi)
- What’s next for Goldman’s Marcus banking strategy? (The Financial Brand)
- Revolut launches stock trading in the US (TechCrunch)
- How will BNPL evolve? (Tom Noyes)
- Zopa deposits hit £1 billion (Finextra)
- Investing app Acorns scraps $2.2 billion SPAC (Reuters)
- SoFi clears final regulatory hurdle to become a bank (CNBC)