Couchonomics with Arjun

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Couchonomics with Arjun

Arjun Singh

160 episodes

23 hours ago

What if the next decade of finance isn’t about disruption, but inclusion? In this episode, Arjun sits down with Sopnendu Mohanty, Group CEO of GFTN and Advisor to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to explore how technology, policy, and people are shaping the future of global finance. 🎙️ In this episode: → The three pillars that defined the first wave of fintech: APIs, DPIs, and cloud → Why inclusion remains the biggest unfinished story in finance → How AI and tokenization could rebuild f...

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What if the next decade of finance isn’t about disruption, but inclusion? In this episode, Arjun sits down with Sopnendu Mohanty, Group CEO of GFTN and Advisor to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to explore how technology, policy, and people are shaping the future of global finance. 🎙️ In this episode: → The three pillars that defined the first wave of fintech: APIs, DPIs, and cloud → Why inclusion remains the biggest unfinished story in finance → How AI and tokenization could rebuild f...

Show more...

Episodes (20/160)

Couchonomics with Arjun

The Next Decade of FinTech: AI, Tokenization & Quantum Finance

What if the next decade of finance isn’t about disruption, but inclusion? In this episode, Arjun sits down with Sopnendu Mohanty, Group CEO of GFTN and Advisor to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to explore how technology, policy, and people are shaping the future of global finance. 🎙️ In this episode: → The three pillars that defined the first wave of fintech: APIs, DPIs, and cloud → Why inclusion remains the biggest unfinished story in finance → How AI and tokenization could rebuild f...

1 week ago

47 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

How AI and Stablecoins Are Rewriting Payments

When money moves faster than ever, who really controls it? In this episode, Arjun sits down with Arik Shtilman, Founder and CEO of Rapyd, to explore how AI and stablecoins are rewriting the rules of global payments. From powering transactions across 100+ countries to building an AI-first infrastructure, Rapyd is proving that the next financial revolution is already underway. 🎙️ In this episode: - Why payments companies that aren’t AI-first may not survive the next three years - ...

2 weeks ago

46 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

When AI Becomes the Banker: Inside Vietnam’s Cake Digital Bank

What if AI ran your bank? 🤯 In this episode, Arjun sits down with Quang Nguyen, CEO of Cake Digital Bank, Vietnam’s AI-first bank that’s redefining what digital finance looks like. With only 300 employees serving 6 million customers, Cake has become one of Southeast Asia’s most efficient and innovative financial institutions — proving that the future of banking is lean, intelligent, and fully automated. 🎙️ In this episode: - How Cake uses AI to power 70% of its operations - Building trust ...

3 weeks ago

42 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

The Future of Wealth: AI, Trust & the Great $80 Trillion Shift

Over $80 trillion in global wealth is moving to a younger, more digital generation. But who will manage it—and how will AI, trust, and technology reshape investing? In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Caesar Sengupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Arta Finance (backed by Eric Schmidt, Peak XV, and Ribbit Capital), shares how his company is democratizing wealth management—bringing institutional-grade investing to millions worldwide. Discover how AI is redefining advice, why trust matters mor...

4 weeks ago

51 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Latin America’s Fintech Giant: The Rise of PicPay with 60M Users

Episode 150 of Couchonomics with Arjun is here — and it’s a milestone. For the very first time, we go to Latin America. My guest: Eduardo Chedid, CEO of PicPay — Brazil’s biggest super app and one of the fastest-scaling fintechs in the world. With 60M+ customers, $1B+ in revenues, profits up 7× YoY, and 4,500 employees, PicPay is rewriting the rules of digital banking in one of the most competitive markets on earth. We cover: - Brazil’s fintech revolution and the role of regulation - How P...

1 month ago

54 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

From Crowdfunded Startup to Europe’s Fastest-Growing Wealth Platform

Turning Savings into Wealth — Inside Chip’s Fintech Playbook UK fintech is entering a new chapter. While funding slows, savers poured £103bn into ISAs — proving that trust, not downloads, is the real currency. In this episode, Arjun speaks with Alex Latham, Co-Founder & CMO of Chip, one of Europe’s fastest-growing fintechs, on: - The future of UK fintech beyond banking apps - How Chip grew from a crowdfunded startup to a wealth platform managing billions - Why trust, community, an...

1 month ago

57 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Build Cashflow, Not Hype: Abhi’s Liquidity Playbook

Most fintechs chased hype. Abhi chased cash flow. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we sit down with Omair Ansari, Co-Founder & CEO of Abhi, one of Pakistan’s fastest-growing fintechs. Abhi began with earned wage access, giving workers instant liquidity. Today, it has scaled into payroll financing, SME lending, and invoice factoring — and even acquired a licensed microfinance bank in Pakistan to materially lower its cost of funds. We explore: - Why profitability and cost of c...

1 month ago

53 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Digital Wealth Platforms vs Robo-Advisors: What Investors Need to Know

Wealth management is no longer just champagne perks and 2% fees. The new generation of investors demands digital, transparent, and affordable solutions. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we’re joined by Dhruv Arora, Founder & CEO of Syfe, a digital wealth management platform managing over US$10B. We cover: - Why trust is the biggest competition in digital wealth - The difference between robo-advisors & true digital wealth platforms - How Syfe is scaling across Singapore, Ho...

2 months ago

51 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Africa’s Fintech Boom: From Mobile Money to Purpose-Driven Lending

💡 Africa’s fintech story is no longer a local experiment — it’s a global test case for the future of inclusion, innovation, and capital flows. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we’re joined by Yustus Aribariho, Co-Founder of Furaha Financial (part of SC Ventures by Standard Chartered). Yustus is now on a mission to unlock education financing and opportunity across Sub-Saharan Africa. We unpack: 💸 Why capital inflows into African fintech lag behind the opportunity 📱 How mobile mone...

2 months ago

55 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

The New Rails of Money: Stablecoins, CBDCs & Tokenisation

Stablecoins are no longer on the sidelines — they’re stepping into the core of global finance. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we're joined by Dante Disparte, Chief Strategy Officer & Head of Global Policy at Circle, for his second appearance on the show. Speaking from Washington, DC, Dante brings a timely perspective on how digital finance is evolving — and why it matters now more than ever. We unpack: - Stablecoins as real financial infrastructure for payments, remittances...

2 months ago

57 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Fraud-as-a-Service, Stablecoins & the Future of Financial Crime

Fraud just had its AI upgrade. It’s faster than your payments and industrialised at a global scale. Welcome to the Scamdemic — a global wave of scams and financial crime growing faster than almost any asset class. We’re joined by Simon Taylor, Head of Strategy at Sardine and Co-Founder of 11:FS. Together, we unpack how fraud has evolved, why it’s so hard to stop, and what financial institutions, fintechs, and regulators must do now. Inside the episode: - Why faster payments = faster f...

2 months ago

43 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

How Finternet Labs Is Building the Internet Layer for Finance

Is today’s financial system fit for a digital-first world? Not quite — and Siddharth Shetty is here to tell us why. In this episode of Couchonomics, Arjun speaks with Finternet Labs CEO Siddharth Shetty, one of the architects behind India’s UPI and Account Aggregator framework, to unpack the vision for Finternet — a universal financial infrastructure layer designed to empower users, build trust, and unlock global interoperability. We explore how fragmented rails, legacy systems, and a ...

3 months ago

54 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Stablecoins, Wallets, and the Rise of Embedded Cross-Border Payments

The future of payments won’t be card-swiped or cash-counted — it’ll be fast, digital, and deeply integrated. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Floris de Kort, CEO of Thunes, joins to unpack what it really takes to build a global payments network across 130+ markets, from wallets to banks to mobile rails. What’s inside: - Why real-time payments still face real-world friction - How Thunes is turning compliance into a competitive edge - The rise of B2B payouts — and why corporates ar...

3 months ago

43 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Stablecoins, Tokenization & Regulation: Crypto’s Next Chapter

Crypto isn’t dead, it’s going institutional. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Rifad Mahasneh, CEO of OKX MENA, joins the show to unpack what real digital asset adoption looks like beyond the headlines. We explore how OKX is building for scale, trust, and regulation - especially in the UAE, where crypto is becoming infrastructure, not just innovation. 🎯 What’s inside: • Post-FTX trust rebuild: custody, compliance & proof-of-reserves • Stablecoins, CBDCs &...

3 months ago

58 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Scaling SME Lending Without Burning Capital

💸 What’s the real fintech miracle? Lending to SMEs — and staying alive 9 years later. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we’re joined by Nikhilesh Goel, Co-Founder & CEO of Validus, Southeast Asia’s largest SME financing platform. We unpack how Validus scaled to $5B+ in credit across the region by avoiding the hype and building disciplined, anchor-based lending models that actually work. 💡 Why SME lending is a graveyard for most fintechs 💡 Why 90% of Validus' capital come...

3 months ago

1 hour 1 minute

Couchonomics with Arjun

Neo Ventures, Tokenized Assets & the Future of Wholesale Banking

AI isn’t a campaign. It’s a core banking reset. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we’re joined by Amith Rajan, CEO of Neo Ventures and Head of Digital Wholesale Banking at Mashreq, for a candid conversation on how AI, tokenization, and infrastructure transformation are reshaping the banking stack from the inside out. We unpack: - Why "rip and replace" is a myth and what real legacy evolution looks like -How Mashreq is deploying AI across KYC, onboarding, and customer insights -The...

3 months ago

49 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Fixing the Core: Why Legacy Banking Infrastructure Can’t Be Patched

The core of banking is broken, and duct-taping legacy systems won’t fix it. This week on Couchonomics with Arjun, I’m joined by Myles Bertrand, CEO of Tuum, the modular core banking platform built in Estonia and now scaling across Europe and the GCC. Tuum isn’t selling digital lipstick. They’re rebuilding the real plumbing of modern banking — one composable, cloud-native layer at a time. 💡 In this episode: - Why full core replacement is a myth — and composability is the real unlock - How to m...

4 months ago

52 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

What VCs Get Wrong About Building Durable Startups with Tim Levene

In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, we sit down with Tim Levene, CEO of Augmentum Fintech, the UK’s only publicly listed fintech venture capital firm. From going public to backing infrastructure instead of hype, Tim shares what permanent capital allows that traditional VC structures don’t and why he believes the next decade of fintech will be won with discipline, not just disruption. What we cover: 🛋️ Why Augmentum chose public markets over LP cycles 🛋️ The real story behind growth-...

4 months ago

56 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Why Most Digital Banks Fail - And How Engine by Starling Is Flipping the Script

The next banking stack won’t just be fast — it has to be human. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Nick Drewett, Chief Commercial Officer at Engine by Starling, joins the conversation to share what it actually takes to launch and scale a digital bank — not in theory, but in practice. Engine is the tech spinout from Starling Bank - one of the world’s first profitable digital banks - and it’s now powering next-gen banking infrastructure globally. We cover: - How Salt Bank launched i...

4 months ago

45 minutes

Couchonomics with Arjun

Beyond the Buzz: Beehive’s Real Playbook for SME Lending

There’s a $260B SME financing gap in MENA, and most players are still offering copy-paste solutions. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Craig Moore, Founder and CEO of Beehive, shares how one of the region’s original fintechs is tackling real problems with real results. Since 2014, Beehive has built a lending model that combines technology, regulatory know-how, and operational depth to serve the segment banks continue to overlook. In this conversation, we explore: • What SME...

5 months ago

56 minutes