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strategy
How Fintech Partnerships Actually Work: Banks, BaaS, and Distribution
Chime has 22 million customers. It offers checking accounts, savings accounts, a debit card, and direct deposit. It looks like a bank. It markets like a
regulation
PCI DSS Compliance Explained: What Every Product Team Needs to Know
In December 2013, attackers installed malware on Target's point-of-sale systems and stole 40 million credit card numbers over 19 days. The breach cost Target
regulation
RegTech Explained: How Technology Is Automating Financial Compliance
Compliance Is Eating Financial Services The global financial services industry spends over $270 billion annually on compliance. That figure, from LexisNexis Risk Solutions and corroborated by
regulation
KYC and Identity Verification: The Technology Behind Know Your Customer
Every Financial Relationship Starts With a Question: Who Are You? Before a bank opens your account, before a fintech issues your card, before a payment processor
regulation
Anti-Money Laundering for Executives: What You Actually Need to Know
The Most Expensive Compliance Problem in Financial Services Anti-money laundering compliance is, by a wide margin, the largest regulatory cost burden in global financial services. LexisNexis
fintech
Embedded Finance Explained: Why Every Company Wants to Be a Bank
The Premise Is Simple. The Implications Are Not. Shopify lends money to its merchants. Uber issues debit cards to its drivers. Amazon extends credit to its
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crypto
Stablecoins Explained: USDT, USDC, and the Future of Digital Dollars
In May 2022, TerraUSD — a stablecoin with an $18.7 billion market cap and supposedly pegged to the US dollar — went from $1.00 to $0.
crypto
What is Blockchain? A No-Hype Guide for Business Professionals
A 2018 McKinsey analysis found that over 80% of blockchain pilots were failing to reach production. A 2022 review found the numbers had not significantly improved.
economics
How Interest Rates Actually Affect Fintech Companies
When the Federal Reserve raised rates from near zero to 5.25% between 2022 and 2023, the fintech sector split in two. Companies that had raised
banking
Open Banking Explained: What PSD2 and APIs Mean for Your Money
Open Banking Is a Power Struggle, Not a Tech Story Banks spent forty years building a very specific kind of moat. Not a product moat — your
payments
How Mobile Wallets Work: Apple Pay, Google Pay, and the Tech Behind Tap-to-Pay
When you tap your phone at a coffee shop terminal, your actual card number never leaves your device. Not to the terminal. Not to the merchant.
careers
Day in the Life: What Fintech Engineers Actually Do
It's 2:14am. Your phone screams at you. The PagerDuty alert says: ACH batch file rejected — $40M in payroll stuck. Somewhere, thousands of people
technology
DevOps Explained: How Modern Companies Build and Ship Software
Stripe deploys code to production more than 100 times every single day. Your bank deploys four times a year. That gap is not a footnote in
banking
How Banks Actually Make Money: The Business Model Explained
JPMorgan Chase made $49.6 billion in net income in 2023. That is more profit than Walmart, Coca-Cola, and McDonald's combined. JPMorgan employs 309,
technology
APIs Explained: How Modern Software Connects Everything
In 2002, Jeff Bezos sent an internal memo that changed how Amazon — and eventually how the entire technology industry — worked. The memo had one core mandate:
technology
Cloud Computing Explained: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know
When your CTO says "we're moving to the cloud," they could mean three completely different things. They might mean renting raw computing
ai
How AI is Changing Banking: 5 Things You'll Notice as a Customer
How AI is Changing Banking: 5 Things You'll Notice as a Customer You're at a coffee shop in Seattle — a city you&
ai
Machine Learning Explained for Finance Professionals
Machine Learning Explained for Finance Professionals Introduction The phrase "machine learning" comes up in every fintech meeting, every vendor demo, every job description. Product
ai
What is AI in Fintech? A Plain-English Guide
What is AI in Fintech? A Plain-English Guide You probably interacted with AI in financial services before you finished your first cup of coffee today. Your
careers
How Fintech Startups Get Licensed: A Country-by-Country Guide
Getting a fintech license is one of the most consequential decisions a founder can make. Whether you're building a payments product, a neobank, or
careers
Fintech Product Manager: Role, Skills, and Salary in 2026
Shipping a feature at a consumer app startup means updating a config file and watching the dashboard. Shipping a feature as a fintech product manager means
payment-systems
How Visa Processes a Transaction in Milliseconds
How Visa Processes a Transaction in Milliseconds Every time you tap, swipe, or click "Pay" with a Visa card, a message travels across VisaNet
careers
Top 50 Fintech Companies to Work For in 2026
If you're evaluating where to take your next career step, the top fintech companies in 2026 span a wider range than ever — from profitable
payment-systems
The Anatomy of a Wire Transfer: From Initiation to Settlement
The Anatomy of a Wire Transfer: From Initiation to Settlement A wire transfer sounds simple: you tell your bank to move money to someone else, and
careers
How to Get Into Fintech: The Complete Career Guide
Fintech is now one of the fastest-growing sectors in the global economy, and the demand for talent has never been higher. If you have been wondering
payment-systems
BNPL Explained: How Buy Now Pay Later Actually Works
BNPL Explained: How Buy Now Pay Later Actually Works Buy Now Pay Later, or BNPL, processed over $300 billion in global transaction volume in 2023 — and
payment-systems
Payment Gateway vs Payment Processor: What's the Difference?
Payment Gateway vs Payment Processor: What's the Difference? Ask most people what happens when they tap their card to pay for coffee, and they&
payment-systems
How Cross-Border Payments Work (And Why They're So Slow)
How Cross-Border Payments Work (And Why They're So Slow) You want to send $1,000 from your US bank account to a friend in
payment-systems
Real-Time Payments (RTP) Explained: How Instant Transfers Work
Real-Time Payments (RTP) Explained: How Instant Transfers Work Real-time payments allow money to move instantly between bank accounts — 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,
payment-systems
SWIFT vs SEPA vs UPI: Global Payment Networks Compared
SWIFT vs SEPA vs UPI: Global Payment Networks Compared If you've ever sent money abroad, you've encountered SWIFT. If you live in
payment-systems
How ACH Payments Work: A Complete Guide
How ACH Payments Work: A Complete Guide ACH payments move more money than any other payment system in the United States. In 2023, the ACH network
How does digital payments work?
In this article, we will cover the basics of the credit card processing industry. We will review various components and how they are inter-connected and list
Basics
What are Search Funds,SPAC(special purpose acquisition company) and SPE?
"Entrepreneurship through acquisition"(eTA) is a model wherein entrepreneurs buy businesses that have proven product-market fit and generating revenue. Why would someone sell a
Basics
GameStop and Short Squeeze
Background Most of you may already be aware of the episode with GAME STOP (NYSE: GME) stock ,which is now all over the news. The sequence
Google
Regulation in Fintech - Use case : Rise of fraudulent lending apps in INDIA
Regulations are essential for fundamental institutions in society, such as banking. Each country's government must walk a fine line between too much regulation ( too
Economics
China 2020-Stagflation to Growth
Last year, just before the onset of the global pandemic, I wrote an article about stagflation [https://fintekcafe.com/stagflation/] (a good read on GDP). There
What is Card Not Present (CNP) Transaction?
In an earlier post [https://fintekcafe.com/what-is-card-present-cp-transaction], we reviewed the Card Present(CP) [https://fintekcafe.com/what-is-card-present-cp-transaction] transaction. In the current post, we will review
Basics
What is Card Present (CP) Transaction?
In this post, we will review the Card Present(CP) transaction. Let us say you have a credit card issued from your bank, and you go
Basics
Contact less Payments - QR Code
Background QR (Quick Response) found its origin in Japan to overcome the limitation of Barcodes. Barcodes solved a significant problem in retail cash registers wherein the
Google
Mobile Payments - Parking
In this post will cover some basics of Mobile Payments related to Parking Tech using recent Google Maps partnership announcement. Google recently(Sep 2020) announced a
Basics
Stagflation
Basics of stagflation,GDP,Nominal GDP,Real GDP,Inflation,deflation,hyperinflation,disinflation
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Deep coverage across finance, technology, and the intersection of both.
Payments
ACH, cards, wires, RTP, and cross-border
Banking
Neobanks, licensing, and financial infrastructure
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