Green Finance Podcast

Tearsheet is a leading modern media publication, a daily must-read among influencers obsessed with the future of money.

Based in New York City, Tearsheet has deep experience identifying and analyzing existing and future trends, in its coverage of rising startups raising new capital to the digital moves of the largest players in finance and investing.

Tearsheet was launched as Tradestreaming in 2007 and has been an active participant in the rise of the global fintech industry. In 2016, it was acquired and relaunched by Digiday Media. In 2017, it was rebranded to Tearsheet.

Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring financial services together

Green finance is all about what the finance industry is doing to address climate change - we know business as usual isn’t sustainable, so we are essentially in the middle of a transition towards reaching net zero. 

But this is not an easy thing to do, it involves collaborations between many institutions, companies and people - so let’s talk about how to get there.

In light of this, my very first guest on this podcast is Aspiration CEO Andrei Cherny. Aspiration is a fintech that wants to help customers use their deposits for sustainable investments and gives them the option to offset their carbon footprint - a fundamentally different strategy from traditional banks.

The Green Finance Podcast Ep. 1: Banking and sustainability with Aspiration CEO Andrei Cherny

Green finance is not just about investing in clean energy or carbon sequestration. The core of the problem is sustainability - how to create financial systems that enable people to thrive over the long term. 

A lot of the focus today goes to the E in ESG investing, which represents the environmental factor, and the latter two parts - Social and Governance - are often overlooked. 

Today I’d like to explore what the S in ESG stands for. My guest is Timothy Flacke, who is the co-founder and executive director of Commonwealth, a national nonprofit helping the financially vulnerable build security.

The Green Finance Podcast Ep. 2: The S in ESG and the role of inclusive product design

Today we’re talking about banks and their role in the climate crisis. Big banks historically supported the global fossil fuel industry through massive amounts of funding, and now they’re being pressured to change.

To help me unpack this I’ve called Chris Skinner, a financial technology expert, global commentator, bestselling author of multiple books and the website The Finanser.

Chris is out with a new book, called Digital For Good, which explores how financial systems influence the economy, the purpose of banks, and how they impact society and the planet.

The Green Finance Podcast Ep. 3: Banks' role in the climate crisis with Chris Skinner

My guest today is Mathias Wikstrom, CEO of Doconomy. 

Doconomy provides data services that help businesses monitor and assess their environmental footprint based on transactional and financial data. Consumers can find out the footprint of their lifestyle choices, brands can calculate their product’s footprint. 

And they’re also working to develop a tool that enables banks to aggregate the information provided to their consumers – this is really important because it means helping banks report on their ESG impact, by harnessing the data and insights from their total consumer credit portfolio.

Me and Mathias had a really awesome conversation, so tune in for more on climate data, how it helps us understand our impact on the world and how the financial system can facilitate a net zero economy

The Green Finance Podcast Ep. 4: How banks can leverage carbon data to enable a net zero future

Patch is an API-based solution enabling companies to embed carbon footprint estimation and removal directly into their digital products and experiences.

Today I’m talking to its CEO Brennan Spellacy to tell us how Patch works, as well as his insights on the whole carbon offsetting market, which has grown tremendously over the past few years, attracting a lot of interest. 

While it’s not a central solution to the wider problem of climate change, carbon offsetting an important piece of the puzzle, so tune in to find out how it all works.

The Green Finance Podcast Ep. 5: The rise of carbon offsets with Patch CEO Brennan Spellacy

In addition to making a profit, banks can be a societal force for good. This is why Ken LaRoe came out of retirement to start Climate First Bank, the world’s first climate-focused, FDIC-insured commercial bank. 

Climate First Bank joined the Net-Zero Banking Alliance in January 2022 and is currently in the process of building out its 2050 plan.

Climate First Bank is based in Florida, a state destined to be the epicenter of climate change-induced effects. They really want to set an example for other banks, especially when it comes to emissions reporting. 

We also chat about the politicized world of climate change. It's not easy to be a climate advocate in Florida, where the political winds blow against this agenda.

To read the transcript of our conversation, please visit tearsheet.co.

The Green Finance Podcast Ep. 11: Running a bank with climate change at its core

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

SMBs have taken it on the chin during this crisis.

Nicole Jass, senior vice president of small business and fraud products at FIS joins us to discuss how small business needs have changed and how FIS has responded with product and an evolving product roadmap. The payments technology firm has rolled out upgrades and new products for customers in the past couple of months and Nicole checks in to describe how they’re using them.

Nicole Jass is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

FIS' Nicole Jass on helping SMBs with new products during this crisis

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

Artificial intelligence in finance has long been overhyped, but AI is making an impact in lending decisions. Online lender Upstart exemplifies how the set of technologies can expand lenders’ inclusiveness without necessarily taking on any more risk.

Paul Gu, a co-founder at Upstart, joins us on the podcast to talk about his firm’s new AI-powered credit decisioning API that’s letting banks and other lenders deliver instant credit decisions for auto, personal, and student loans. We discuss Upstart’s performance during COVID as well.

Paul Gu is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast

Upstart's Paul Gu: 'AI is a mindboggling change in the economics of lending'

Welcome to Tearsheet’s Outlier Briefing. This subscriber-only content is exclusive for our Outlier members. We go deeper with subject matter experts, to take actionable steps that can impact your business and practice.

Rina Plapler has been working in brand strategy for over 20 years. That means she’s worked with many of today’s top financial brands with market positioning, messaging, and their product portfolios. As a partner at MBLM, she was instrumental in creating her firm’s research on brand intimacy — the emotional science that measures the bonds we form with the brands we use and love. She’s applied this research to the financial industry in an effort to rank the companies and characteristics that make for today’s strongest brands.

Rina joins to discuss what makes up brand intimacy and how emotional people feel around financial services. We look at her rankings and the attributes of today’s strongest financial brands. Lastly, she provides advice to companies to make themselves into more intimate brands.

To hear the full audio and to access all of our exclusive, member-only material, head on over to Tearsheet.co/outlier

Outlier Briefing: MBLM's Rina Plapler on improving brand intimacy in financial services

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller.

Student lending is undergoing a significant transformation. Earnest 

Earnest has refinanced over $10 billion for over 124,000 people, helping them pay off their debt and giving them the financial capital to reach their goals.

The company combines design and data to build an innovative model for consumer lending, available through a simple, easy to use mobile application. David Green, chief product officer at Earnest, joins us on the podcast to talk about lending in our economic environment, as well as the firm’s relatively new product, in-school student loans. Lastly, we talk about the lender’s product pipeline.

David Green is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Earnest's David Green on student lending in the current economic environment

A few weeks back, payments API firm, Galileo launched Instant, which dramatically simplifies and accelerates launching a debit card — taking what can be a multi-month process and turning it into a couple of weeks. Galileo claims it had hundreds of companies signed up for a beta when it went live and the interest is still very strong. Founder and CEO Clay Wilkes talked about Instant when he addressed Tearsheet’s Resilience Conference a couple of weeks ago. 

Galileo Managing Director Cole Wilkes joins us on the podcast today to talk more about Instant.

Galileo's Clay Wilkes on launching Galileo Instant

Tearsheet is news, opinion, and analysis on the business of finance.

Candid conversations with senior executives, fintech entrepreneurs, investors, industry experts -- all weigh in on the trends impacting the industry and the disruptive impact technology is having on the business.

Where social media, technology and finance intersect.