297. News: Talking poop

This week we have some huge stories for you as Sam's joined by:

• Teana Baker-Taylor, Exec Director and Board Member, Global Digital Finance
• Alexa Fernandez, Open Innovation & Ecosystem Builder at BBVA
• Joaquin Ayuso de Paul, CEO of Denizen
• Mark Meisner, CEO of Gen6 Ventures

We kick off the show for a US perspective on the super merger that broke on last week's show. Two of the US’ biggest banks merge to become a super bank, as BB&T buy SunTrust for $28BN in stock. It's a phenomenal merger and every one of our guests has a unique take on the story. The banks are 'super-regional' which just means they're not one of the top five in the USA. They still each have assets of over $200BN. It'll make the new bank the sixth largest bank in the USA with $442BN in assets $301BN in loans and $324BN in deposits. 3100 of their branches are within 20 feet of each other (03:10).

You can watch the YouTube video of our panel discussing the story here.

Next up the US group discuss Chime's incredible acquisition of 10K accounts in a day, starting with a great question from Teana Baker-Taylor on whether digital banks in the US really have different regulations compared to traditional banks. We actually gave them an 11:FS Pulse award for Best US disruptor before this happened, we're geniuses. We take a look at how the UK challengers are eyeing up the USA and how the outage with Wells Fargo was one of the best advertising campaigns for Chime (15:00).

Other stories include:

• Plaid now goes Nationwide - the fintech's now supporting Auth for every bank and credit union in the US
• Venture Capital investment into fintech companies rose to approximately $31BN in 2018
• Revolut's marketing woes continue as the ASA is set to probe the 'spoof' takeaway ad campaign
• OakNorth aims to put down roots in the US after new investment from Japanese mega-investor Softbank. We also have further insight on this story from OakNorth CEO Rishi Khosla
• Mastercard's new groove with Linkin Park. The payments infrastructure and processor company is heading to the Grammys and Brit Awards to debut the audio cue for its new sonic brand identity

All this and much much more on this week's news show.

Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email [email protected]

This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.

Special Guests: Alexa Fernandez, Joaquin Ayuso de Paul, Mark Meisner, Rishi Khosla, and Teana Baker-Taylor.

Links:

• SunTrust and BB&T are merging — here’s what customers need to know - MarketWatch
• Chime adds record number of accounts after Wells Fargo outage - Business Insider
• Plaid - Blog
• Fintech Startups Suck in $31bn As The Big Finance Players Step Up R&D By Proxy
• City watchdog to probe Revolut’s ‘spoof’ takeaway ad campaign | Financial Times
• UK fintech unicorn Oaknorth to nail $440m round led by Softbank | City A.M.
• Mastercard seeks good vibrations with new sonic identity