Hey, fintech fam 💜
This week's stories all come back to the same question:
What does it actually take to earn trust at scale?
Whether it’s a frontier AI lab proving it can be trusted with a bank’s data, a fintech founder relocating her family to build credibility in a brand-new market, or an entire industry rethinking what different generations need to feel secure with their money, trust is becoming one of the most valuable currencies in financial services.
And conveniently, it’s also at the center of so many conversations we’re having at FTW: San Francisco.
If you’re building anywhere near AI in financial services right now, these are the conversations that matter. Leaders are investing millions of dollars into AI infrastructure, but the technology is only part of the equation. They also have to figure out what to build, where to deploy it, and how to earn enough trust for people to actually use it.
And the room keeps getting better. This week alone, I booked incredible new speakers from Plaid, Visa, Fiserv, Baselayer, Mastercard, and more to join an already stacked agenda.
They’re coming to FTW: SF to get specific about what they’re building, what’s actually working, and what they’ve learned along the way.
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.
#1 OpenAI's Financial Services Launch Proves Data Is Fintech's Real Moat
Image Source: ChatGPT
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT for Financial Services on September 10, a version of ChatGPT built for investment bankers and equity researchers, developed through a design partnership with Morgan Stanley and Evercore.
The headlines will focus on the model: GPT-6 Astra, frontier reasoning, pitchbooks generated in a firm's own template.
But to me and my fintech friends like you, the more interesting story is what OpenAI had to go get to make any of that useful.
The Real Product? The Data Layer.
A frontier model with no financial data behind it can't build a valuation, trace a citation, or reconcile adjusted EBITDA.
So OpenAI built its product around specialized data providers: Daloopa, PitchBook, LSEG News, Crunchbase, and connected it to existing subscriptions through S&P Capital IQ, LSEG, MSCI, Dow Jones Factiva, and Moody's.
None of these are household names the way OpenAI is, not outside of finance households anyway.
Most operate deep in the infrastructure layer, licensing structured financial data to institutions that need it verified, sourced, and up to date.
That's exactly why they matter here, because OpenAI didn't build this product by out-innovating the data layer.
It built it by needing the data layer, badly enough to make design partnerships and shared sign-in integrations with a half-dozen specialized providers a prerequisite for launch.
Data Is the Moat, and This Launch Just Proved It
I've said it before, most recently in a podcast with my FTW: SF cohost, Drew Glover: data is what makes any of “this” (AI, partnerships, integrations… you name it) trustworthy at scale.
A company with OpenAI's resources and reach still had to route through Daloopa for earnings transcripts, through Crunchbase for private company data, through LSEG for licensed Reuters content.
That’s fantastic news for fintech companies.
Our businesses have endless amounts of data, just sitting there, ready for a company like OpenAI to capitalize on.
Jager McConnell, CEO of Crunchbase, made this point directly in OpenAI's own announcement:
"The value of financial research depends on the quality of its inputs, but reliable private market data can be difficult to find and validate from public sources."
That’s why specialized data companies still have leverage in an era when everyone assumes the foundation model wins by default.
Image Source: ChatGPT
Governance Is What Turns Data Access Into Institutional Trust
None of this works without the compliance layer built alongside it.
ChatGPT for Financial Services runs on ChatGPT Enterprise's SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, and role-based access controls, and OpenAI says it doesn't use firm data to train its models by default.
Firms can stand up multiple workspaces to enforce information barriers, the same separation banks rely on to keep material non-public information from crossing between deal teams.
Emily Prince, Group Head of Enterprise AI at LSEG, framed her company's involvement around exactly this: making "LSEG's trusted, licensed content and analytics available to customers wherever they want to work."
Sally Moore, Chief Client Officer and Co-Head of Market Intelligence at Kensho Data & Platforms, S&P Global, echoed it in a LinkedIn post announcing S&P Global's own expanded collaboration with OpenAI: customers get "the confidence that every answer traces back to trusted S&P Global sources."
Why It Matters
The assumption in fintech has long been that whoever builds the biggest model wins, but this launch says otherwise.
OpenAI needed a coalition of specialized, mid-sized data providers to make its frontier model usable inside a bank, and every one of those providers is now positioned as critical infrastructure for the AI era of finance, not a commodity input.
Want to hear more about the data moat fintechs are building to get noticed by companies like OpenAI? Join us at FTW: SF – use code FTWPARTNER26 for 20% off!
#2 Nubank Launches in the U.S., Two Years After Cristina Junqueira Moved to Miami to Build It
Two years ago, Cristina Junqueira moved her family from São Paulo to Miami with one job: get Nubank into the United States.
Last week, that work became public.
Nu, the $16 billion digital bank Junqueira co-founded and now leads as CEO of Nu US, launched a full suite of American banking products, including a 3.50% APY deposit account, a no-fee metal credit card, and Nu Global, a multi-currency account built for customers moving money across more than 35 countries.
David Vélez, Nu's founder and CEO, told Fortune he studied why other foreign fintechs failed to crack the U.S. market before deciding how to approach this launch.
His conclusion:
They moved too early, before their home markets were profitable.
They launched single-purpose products rather than a full suite.
They sent executives who were "too junior" to actually run the market.
So instead, Vélez sent a co-founder, someone with full authority to make decisions on the ground rather than report back to headquarters.
Junqueira has been in Miami building toward this for two years, here’s what she said about the goal:
"We want to earn the place of being people's primary banking relationship," she told Fortune, "and capturing even a small share of the U.S. market will be transformative for our business."
Ten million American customers would double Nu's business, by her own math, since one U.S. customer is worth roughly four in Brazil.
Why It Matters
Global fintech expansion keeps failing for the same structural reason: companies treat new markets as a product rollout rather than a leadership commitment.
Nu is testing whether sending your most senior, most invested person, someone willing to relocate her family and stay for years, is what actually determines whether a fintech can win outside its home market.
And while Nu isn't the first to send an executive to the market they are trying to expand into, it reminds other fintechs there is another model for global expansion. You don’t have to follow the same playbook.
Executives and founders have the tools and, quite frankly, the personal resources to bring international growth to fruition. They also have the most to gain by making the move themselves.
Every founder expanding into unfamiliar territory should be asking: “Who are we willing to send?”, not just what they’re willing to launch.
P.S. – Fintech is Femme is a community of immigrants. Our team, our Academy of Fintech members, our event speakers…
So if you’re exploring international expansion or serving the immigrant consumer base (wise choice if so: they transact billions of dollars every single year to their families back home, plus most of America’s billion-dollar companies were founded by immigrants), join us at FTW: SF.
International expansion and this specific consumer demographic (and how it all relates to AI in fintech) will undoubtedly come up multiple times throughout the week.
We want you there learning with us from companies like Chime, Silicon Valley Bank, and Mastercard in real time. Get your tickets now while they’re still available!
#3 Clarity, Coordination, Control, Protection: What Each Generation Actually Wants From Their Bank
A new Alkami study of 1,500 digital banking users, conducted with The Center for Generational Kinetics, organizes generational banking behavior around four words:
Gen Z wants clarity
Millennials want coordination
Gen X wants control
Baby Boomers want protection
It's a more useful framework than the usual shorthand that younger customers want an app and older customers want a branch, and the data backs it up.
Gen X is the clearest example. 91% say phone support matters to them and 87% want online virtual assistance.
But 67% of Gen X also say they're comfortable with AI flagging suspected fraud and recommending next steps.
What this generation is asking for isn't a human instead of AI, but rather AI paired with a visible way to reach a person when something goes wrong.
And to me: this reads as them wanting more control of how AI is used in their banking, not flat-out resisting AI as a concept or in their technology.
The more consequential finding sits underneath all four generations: banking loyalty itself is eroding, including among the customers assumed to be least likely to leave.
Average relationship length declined year over year across every generation, including Baby Boomers, even though they remain the most tenured group in the study.
And the gap driving that shift isn't age. Only 38% of regional and community bank customers find their institution's recommendations relevant, compared to 50 to 51% at megabanks and online-only providers.
Why It Matters
Banks are failing to personalize at the level customers can get elsewhere.
If clarity, coordination, control, and protection are the actual currencies of loyalty, the fintechs and banks that win the next decade will be the ones building for what each life stage needs and what builds trust in that generation, not for a single generic customer.
You’ll find every generation – from student to seasoned CEO – at FTW: SF.
The commonality: each attendee is building (or helping build) something in fintech that they hope outlasts them and can serve as a tool for the next generation. If you’re building something great, join us at FTW:SF. Tickets are available for a limited time!
THANK YOU TO OUR FTW: SAN FRANCISCO SPONSORS
A huge shoutout to the incredible companies sponsoring our FTW: San Francisco Summit Series.
Building a room like this takes a village. Our sponsors aren't just helping us put on an event. They're making it possible to bring together the founders, financial institutions, investors, AI leaders, and operators shaping what comes next in financial services.
Over three days, we're tackling some of the biggest questions facing the industry, from where fintech is going next, to how we lead through the AI era, to who controls trust in the next financial system.
And I’m incredibly grateful to the companies investing in this community and helping us create a space where those conversations can actually happen.
Thank you for betting on FTW, our community, and the future we’re building together. 💜
FINTUNES
A throwback Thursday Miley song! 🎵
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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 💜
