Podcast with Garry Reeder, Center for Financial Services Innovation
In this edition of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, Christian Rolon (WG ’19) leads a fireside chat with Garry Reeder at the Financial Inclusion Summit. The fireside Q&A follows prepared remarks from Garry, where he discusses CFSI and the Financial Solutions Lab, its shift from financial inclusion and access to financial health, and the public good benefits of real-time payments, among a few other topics.
A video recording of the fireside chat is also available on YouTube.
Podcast Overview:
- CFSI’s founding history, original mission, and its recent shift from prioritizing financial inclusion and access to financial health
- New regulatory developments for the Fintech ecosystem, including the potential impact of real-time payments, and regulation of financial data
- How Garry’s personal upbringing and professional experience in financial services and Treasury led him to CFSI and shape his approach to financial innovation
- The kinds of firms and entrepreneurs the Financial Solutions Lab invests in, and the funding gap that CFSI looks to fill
- Garry’s views on financial education versus financial automation
- How real-time payments can solve potential financial risks for the underbanked
- Potential blockchain applications to improve financial health for the underbanked
- Books recommended: Financial Diaries, Winners Take All
Garry Reeder is the Vice President of Innovation and Policy at the Center for Financial Services Innovation. Garry also leads the Financial Solutions Lab at CFSI. The Financial Solutions Lab is a partnership between CFSI and J.P. Morgan Chase. The Financial Solutions Lab invests in entrepreneurs and startups that are working on improving the financial health of consumers around the world. Past startups that have gone through the program include: Dave, Digit, EarnUp, LendStreet, Nova, Scratch, and WiseBanyan.
Prior to his current role at CFSI, Garry had an extensive background in the public and private sector. Within the private sector, Garry has a decade of asset management experience, spanning across Ziff Brothers Investments and Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Garry later went on to co-found Fenway Summer Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm investing in Fintech firms. Garry has also advised a number of financial service institutions around the regulatory landscape, first at BlackRock, where Garry led the Consumer Financial Services Advisory Practice, and then at Chain Bridge Partners, where Garry was a Managing Director.
Garry also spent time in the public sector, specifically at the U.S. Treasury. At Treasury, Garry worked on the Auto Team, overseeing TARP’s investments in the auto sector, and the General Motors IPO. Garry went on to serve as the Chief of Staff for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, helping to develop Project Catalyst. Garry has his BA from Yale, and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
The Financial Inclusion Summit was organized by Rex Salisbury, the founder of Fintech Devs and PMs Meetup. The community has roughly 2,000 members, hosting monthly events highlighting many exciting Fintech firms in the Bay Area. Past Meetups have featured speakers from: a16z, Affirm, Branch, EarnIn, Plaid, SoFi, Wealthfront, and many others. Learn more at: https://www.fintechdevsandpms.com/.
