Hey, fintech fam 💜

Welcome back — how are we feeling?

At Fintech Is Femme HQ, this week was what we lovingly call a burn week: recording, writing, directing, and building something new in collaboration with Fintech Meetup. I can’t say much yet, but I can say I’ll see you in Vegas this March.

Behind the scenes, we’ve also been sharpening what this ecosystem is meant to feel like. The world is loud right now. The news is heavy. And fintech — like everything else — can feel wildly overstimulating.

My goal here has always been simple: to make Fintech Is Femme a place you actually want to show up to. A space to focus on building a better financial future — together. One where founders, operators, and leaders have each other’s backs while doing the hard, meaningful work of shaping an economy that works for everyone.

That work matters. And it leaves a mark. I’m grateful to build this stage with you.

Today, I’ve got three new stories — and make sure you scroll, because our upcoming events are very much calendar-worthy.

Let’s get into it. ✨

#TRENDING

Every Thursday, I break down the fintech stories that matter most—grounded in my reporting, interviews with industry leaders, and what I’m seeing unfold across the industry.

The nation’s largest bank has reached a deal to become the new issuer of the Apple credit card, assuming roughly $20 billion in balances and closing the book on Goldman Sachs’ short-lived (and costly) experiment in consumer banking. 

For JPMorgan, it’s a power move. The bank deepens its grip on the U.S. credit-card market and gains direct access to one of the most loyal consumer ecosystems in the world. 

For Apple, it’s a reset — swapping a struggling partner for a bank with the balance sheet, risk infrastructure, and scale to actually support mass-market lending, savings, and payments. 

Mastercard stays on as the network, keeping the payments rails unchanged.

Goldman? It’s exiting at a reported $1B+ discount, an expensive but clarifying step as the firm retreats from consumer finance and refocuses on its core businesses. 

This deal is less about a credit card — and more about how financial products now reach people at scale.

We’re firmly in the era of distribution-driven finance. Payments, credit, and savings increasingly live inside the devices people already use every day — phones, watches, apps — rather than inside bank branches or standalone fintech apps. 

Apple controls one of the most powerful consumer distribution channels in the world. JPMorgan controls one of the deepest balance sheets and most sophisticated risk engines in finance.

But here’s the open question: can this partnership actually get users on the Apple Card?

And maybe more importantly — is that even what matters?

Because the bigger story here isn’t about rehabilitating a single credit product. It’s about who controls distribution in modern finance — and how much that control is worth.

Apple didn’t need Goldman to innovate. It needed a bank willing and able to scale risk across tens of millions of users, absorb losses when cycles turn, and quietly make the plumbing work. JPMorgan, for its part, isn’t chasing sleek UX awards. It’s buying access — to Apple’s ecosystem, behavioral data, and embedded surface area across phones, watches, and wallets.

That’s the real asset.

In that context, whether the Apple Card becomes a “great” card matters less than whether it becomes a gateway — a durable on-ramp into savings, payments, and lending that lives where consumers already are. JPMorgan reportedly planning an Apple savings product points directly at that strategy.

There’s also a harder question lurking underneath: do these players even intend to expand meaningfully into Apple’s more subprime customer base?

The portfolio JPMorgan is inheriting contains more lower-credit borrowers than the bank would typically target. Historically, big banks don’t move down-market out of altruism — they do it when distribution, data, and cross-sell potential justify the risk. 

If JPMorgan can use Apple’s ecosystem to graduate customers up the credit curve — from entry-level credit to deposits, payments, and eventually higher-margin products — inclusion becomes a byproduct of strategy, not a standalone goal.

That’s embedded finance at scale.

For fintech founders and operators, this is the signal to pay attention to in 2026:

The winners won’t just build better products — they’ll secure irreplaceable distribution, align with balance sheets that can survive volatility, and design pathways that let customers grow over time.

Apple and JPMorgan aren’t betting on a card.

They’re betting on control of the financial interface — and that’s where the future of fintech is being decided. JPMorgan said that the deal will take about 24 months to close.

Fintech app penetration has hit 78%, up 20 points since 2020, according to Plaid’s Fintech Effect 2025 report based on a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults conducted with The Harris Poll.

After writing in Tuesday’s column about affordability breaking down, this data solidifies our industry’s role in the larger economy and culture. Nearly 1 in 5 consumers now expects to use six or more fintech apps in the next six months.

Payments remain the top use case, but wealth, credit, and payroll-advance tools have increased users since 2020.

Five years ago, fintech was optional.

In 2025, it’s the default infrastructure.

This is the shift fintech leaders can’t afford to miss.

That’s not passive usage — that’s dependency.

Consumers aren’t just checking balances anymore. They’re asking fintech to help them make decisions, navigate uncertainty, and regain a sense of control in an economy that feels increasingly unstable.

And the pressure is real:

So people are adjusting — fast.

85% have taken conscious action to manage their finances, from cutting discretionary spending to finding new income streams. Nearly half of Gen Z reports taking on side hustles, not as a flex — but as survival strategy.

One of the most interesting findings? Consumers are more open — but only if the value exchange is clear.

Open banking isn’t a feature anymore.

It’s table stakes.

Same with AI:

Consumers don’t want magic. They want explainable intelligence.

This report isn’t just consumer sentiment — it’s a strategy memo.

Consumers are telling us:

Fintech is no longer competing on novelty.

It’s competing on reliability, clarity, and outcomes.

And that’s the real takeaway: In an economy defined by volatility, fintech has become a financial partner — not just a product.

“Getting paid shouldn’t be the hardest part of running a business,” Garima Shah, Co-Founder & President of Biller Genie, told me in an interview. “But for most small businesses, it still is.”

That simple truth is what Biller Genie was built to fix — and why the company just raised $22 million in Series B funding to expand its accounts receivable automation platform for small and mid-sized businesses.

The raise, announced this week, will fuel Biller Genie’s global expansion and continued product development, helping SMBs automate invoicing, payment collection, follow-ups, and reconciliation across the accounting systems they already use.

Since launching in 2020, the company has grown revenue at a 126% compound annual growth rate, a signal that the problem it’s tackling isn’t niche — it’s foundational.

Small businesses don’t fail because demand disappears.

They fail because cash flow breaks.

The average SMB waits 47–50 days to get paid on an invoice. Nearly two months. That delay turns into missed payroll, deferred growth, and reliance on credit just to stay afloat.

AR automation may not be flashy — but it’s foundational.

According to PYMNTS Intelligence, 59% of SMBs say cash flow forecasting is their top challenge when AR is manual. Tools like Biller Genie cut payment cycles down to about a week, which can be the difference between survival and shutdown — especially in volatile economic moments like this one.

This raise is a reminder of where fintech’s most durable value lives right now:

Biller Genie doesn’t sell flashy dashboards. It acts like a quiet AR assistant — nudging customers, offering payment options, reconciling in the background — and it largely sells through banks and financial institutions SMBs already trust.

SMBs employ nearly half the U.S. workforce. When they don’t get paid, the economic impact is immediate and local.

Fintech doesn’t need another app promising reinvention.

It needs more founders like Shah focusing on the basics — and executing them relentlessly.

Sometimes the biggest fintech wins are about fixing what never worked — and making sure people get paid, on time, for work they’ve already done.

You can catch my full conversation with founder Garima Shah for the deeper story behind the company here.

Booked and busy? Same. Every Thursday, I share fintech events worth adding to your calendar— both IRL and online.

I’m so excited to officially share FTW: New York — a three-day, three-summit anchoring New York Fintech Week.

From April 28–30, the most influential operators, founders, investors, and decision-makers in fintech will gather in New York City — not for surface-level panels, but for real conversations about where this industry is actually headed.

After two years of strong growth from our flagship Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit and the successful launch of the Fintech Security Summit, we’re expanding with intention. This year, we’re partnering with leaders across venture, go-to-market, identity, and security to host three focused summits, each designed to go deeper — and deliver real value.

Here’s how the week breaks down:

The Fintech Summit — hosted by Fiat Growth and Drew Glover

→ AI, stablecoins, growth, distribution, and the next phase of fintech scale

The Fintech Is Femme Leadership Summit — with me, Nicole Casperson

→ Power, capital, executive leadership, and the people shaping fintech’s future

The Fintech Security Summit — led by Frances Zelazny

→ Fraud, identity, biometrics, and trust as economic infrastructure

🎟️ Early bird tickets are live now.

If you have questions or are interested in sponsorship, just reply to this email, and I’ll get you connected with my team.

On February 16, we gather for one of the most intimate and meaningful nights in fintech: The FEMMY Awards, presented by The Academy of Fintech.

The Academy of Fintech is a private, invite-driven membership community of 150+ fintech leaders inside the Fintech Is Femme ecosystem — founders, operators, investors, and executives shaping how money actually moves. Inside the Academy, we host ongoing masterclasses, closed-door conversations, and exclusive interviews with the people building momentum across fintech every single day.

The FEMMYs are our moment to come together — in person — and make that community visible.

This isn’t a typical awards show. It’s a rare room. One where relationships are built before the applause, where access is real, and where proximity matters. It’s also the one night a year when we open the doors and invite new members to experience the Academy in action.

During the FEMMYs, we’ll honor four women whose work is actively shaping fintech’s present and future:

Awarded to a builder redefining what’s possible through technology, scale, and execution.

Last year’s honoree: Sheila Lirio Marcelo — founder of Care.com, founder and CEO of Ohai.ai, the seventh woman ever to take a company public, and the first Asian American woman to do so.

Recognizing an industry leader whose long-term impact has pushed fintech forward in enduring ways.

Last year’s recipient: Lule Demmissie, former CEO of eToro US, for her trailblazing leadership in fintech and wealth management.

Presented to an Academy member whose dedication to the community went beyond participation — hosting her own summits, bringing in sponsors, and actively strengthening the ecosystem from the inside.

If you’re thinking about joining the Academy, expanding your network, or simply want to be closer to the leaders shaping fintech right now — this is the night you don’t want to miss.

✨ Come dressed to celebrate.

✨ Come ready to connect.

✨ Come because proximity changes everything.

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That wraps up today’s edition—thanks for reading! Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜