Arjan Schutte

Finding new ways to spend money you do and don't have makes up the two largest segments in consumer finance: payments and credit, respectively.  Finding new ways to save money - for a large purchase, a rainy day - is a barren landscape.  Of course, saving is like flossing your teeth: you know you...
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The past two years Core Innovation Capital has issued a national challenge for who makes the most innovative product or service serving the emerging middle class, aka the un- and underbanked, the cash-preferred, the credit underserved.  Sign up here at corevc.com/megachallenge. This year, we're improving and expanding.  It's not just a Challenge; it's a Mega...
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Yesterday, back-end processor TSYS and prepaid card proprietor NetSpend announced the former would buy the latter for $1.4 billion.  This is not just another acquisition.  It's interesting because it affirms the value of the much beleaguered general purpose reloadable prepaid (GPR) card industry, it concedes value to a much maligned consumer segment - the...
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Goal and resolutions?  Too personal. Predictions for this coming year? Too much pressure. Post mortem on last year? Too boring. So, instead, here is my wish list for our industry for the year of the Snake. An Iconic Brand. Confidence in banking is at historic lows.  Perception of alternative financial services are even lower.  I would...
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Walmart made Green Dot.  Now it's making Blue bird.  The low-cost merchant has long offered a full suite of payments products to its customers, at record low prices.  From international money transfer to bill-pay to check cashing and prepaid, Walmart has long been a pioneer of financial services for the emerging middle class.  In...
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The CFPB is meant to be an enforcer of consumer protections.  Many of its staff sit in offices of our biggest banks and are hard at work ensuring financial services work for everyday Americans.  But uniquely, its mandate extends also to provide access and encourage innovation.  They have a carrot and a stick.  So...
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People generally assume serving the underbanked is a noble thing to do.  And it is, if you do it right.  You can make an incredible difference in the lives of a quarter of the US population by providing them with better tools with which to spend, borrow, plan and save.  Check out CFSI's Compass...
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About a year ago, a friend set up a call for me with Suze Orman, while she was still planning her Approved Card.  She was somewhat weirdly obsessed with the vision of a digital cash economy.  No paper. No credit.  Also, not realistic. General purpose prepaid has basically gotten a bum rap.  The press...
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The House Financial Services subcommittee contemplated a new Act today.  It goes by H.R.6363, but its friends know it as Credit Access and Inclusion Act. Basically, it encourages utilities to report to the credit bureaus information about whether I pay, or do not pay said utility on time.  This is interesting because usually utilities (and many...
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The FDIC updated its 2009 figures (based on 2008 Census data) of who uses what kind of basic financial services and released them yesterday.  It's not just any four years later, but marks a period that represents significant change in the economy and individual American's lives.  What did we learn?  Basically, there are more...
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