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5 People to Watch in 2019

Jake MartinbyJake Martin
December 27, 2018
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
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Bank Innovation’s list of people to watch in 2019 include the head of a large bank, the head of a community bank, a regulator, an investor with money to burn and the head of one of the biggest fintechs in the industry. The people on the list were chosen by BI’s editors and are listed in no particular order. While no one can predict what they’ll do, it’s a good bet these five people will help set the tone in banking next year.

Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase

He was one of BI’s top 5 influential people of 2018, but there’s no reason to think this CEO of the largest bank in the U.S. will be anywhere but in the spotlight again next year. In September, he said he was “as tough” and “smarter” than President Donald Trump and could beat him in an election, but quickly walked his statements back. Dimon said his off-the-cuff outburst proved he “wouldn’t make a good politician,” but this is 2018 after all, and next year is 2019, meaning the year after that is 2020. We’re just saying…. Aside from that, it’s worth noting that investor Warren Buffett recently added a $4 billion stake in Dimon’s bank to Berkshire Hathaway’s stock portfolio. One would assume he had a reason for doing that. On the innovation front, JPMorgan Chase launched a new bank brand, Finn, this summer, and was growing its lead in mobile banking over rival firms. Will the momentum continue?

Gilles Gade, Cross River Bank

His New Jersey-based Cross River Bank powers some of the most well-known financial technology startups in the U.S, including online lender Affirm, money transfer company TransferWise and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. The community bank was on the receiving end of a $100 million investment round led by private equity firm KKR & Co. earlier this month. The bank did not disclose its valuation following the deal, but Gade, Cross River’s founder, president and CEO, said the cash will go toward growing its workforce and investing in compliance infrastructure. By joining forces with Gade’s bank, a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. member, fintechs are able to access banking infrastructure without the hassle and cost of securing a federal banking license. The latest influx of cash could indicate there are plenty of potential partners out there looking to take advantage of what Gade’s bank can offer in order to provide cheaper, user-friendly financial services.

Jelena McWilliams, FDIC

This chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board of directors is joining a push among regulators to revisit banking rules adopted after the 2008 financial crisis. She was nominated to the position by President Donald Trump and confirmed earlier this year. Shortly after taking office in June, McWilliams said her priorities would be examining the regulatory burden on small banks, speeding up review of bank-charter applications and helping banks roll out new financial products for underserved communities. In October, she announced her agency would create an innovation office to help banks compete on developing financial technology. In November, she cautioned against opening the door for fintechs and other alternative providers to banking without the same kind of oversight traditional banks face. What all these changes spell for banks and fintechs alike could come into clearer focus in 2019.

Masayoshi Son, SoftBank

He’s got a $100 billion Vision Fund and he’s not afraid to use it. This CEO of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank is targeting fintech as well as IoT, virtual reality, robotics and, frankly, whatever else he wants. Such prominent firms like small business lender Kabbage, renters and home insurer Lemonade, and online personal finance company SoFi are funded by SoftBank, as are dozens of other fintechs. What will he set his sights on this coming year?

Jack Dorsey, Square

Here’s someone with his hands full. Dorsey is the CEO of Square, which he co-founded in 2009, and CEO of Twitter, which he rejoined in 2015 after co-founding it in 2006 and leaving in 2008. Despite a number of Twitter-related issues Dorsey faced in 2018, such as testifying on Capitol Hill in September for hearings on foreign influence over social media platforms, he can take some comfort in the fact shares in Square are up about 55% over last year, at least as of Thursday morning. However, it should also be noted shares climbed as high as 170% in September, before a market pullback that began in October. Dorsey’s San Francisco-based fintech nonetheless managed to release three new hardware devices, including Register, an all-in-one point-of-sale system for big retailers, in just over a year. In July, Square’s Cash App surpassed PayPal-owned Venmo in cumulative downloads. The firm in December reapplied with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for a special industrial loan company license that allows less traditional firms to accept government-insured deposits. Dorsey is also in the market for a new CFO for Square after Sarah Friar left the company this year to become CEO of social networking company Nextdoor.

Tags: AffirmCoinbaseCross River BankExclusiveFDICFinnJPMorgan ChaseKabbageKKRlemonadePremiumSoFiSoftbankSquareTransferWiseVenmo
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