4 ms·

If HN has any requests for future topics in intersection of tech and finance, let me know. (I just kicked off this newsletter last Friday.)

hayksaakian 5y ago
would be interesting to hear about the 'big unsolved problems' in fintech as of 2021.
Ozzie_osman 5y ago
Just going to say this was a great read (I'm working on something in the fintech space). I originally submitted it and was surprised it didn't make the HN front page, but happy to see it got a chance from the second-chance pool!
neolander 5y ago
This was a super interesting and digestible read. I especially liked the angle of how public policy influences trends in fintech. I'd love to learn more from examples over the past few decades.
dan-robertson 5y ago
My interest in the large companies could be summarised by saying that it seems that after the GFC, Goldman had their balls cut off by the US government, and the question is what they do to work around the regulations and how other companies filled the gaps (and what those gaps were/are). It seems to me that Goldman’s push to retail is less motivated by magic massively large edge and more by the fact that they can’t do the trades they used to do (though maybe Goldman is a particularly bad example here and a more traditional IB+retail bank would be better to talk about). I’m sure there are lots of quirky things going on in the US financial infra but I think I just don’t know what they are. A simple question is what actually happens when money is wired (internationally) and how does that line up with the legal and intuitive concepts of owning the money, but I don’t know if that is actually an interesting question.
jkhdigital 5y ago
I think it would be fascinating to take a deep dive into transaction settlement, especially in securities markets.
pgwhalen 5y ago
HN readers might care to know that this newsletter comes recommend by HN-favorite Matt Levine: https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1451586620872867842 https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1451586620872867842
- richardw 5y ago
  And was written by HN mini-deity patio11. He’s been quiet for a while but has added enormous value in the past. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11 https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11
MaxGabriel 5y ago
Maybe how international wires work and on what ways providers like Wise or CurrencyCloud are different Maybe European banking API standards vs Plaid? Different banking charters, like ILCs. Maybe talking about what tech startups are doing which license? OnlyFans and banking issues, especially what their CEO said blaming a bank for not processing their wires (iirc) You’ve tweeted before about a future where tech companies enable a “bank for Beyoncé fans” and such. Maybe that? (I am still skeptical of this) Maybe different ways tech companies comply with laws vs traditional banks? How much is it taking on extra risk vs improved KYC tech and such?
pgwhalen 5y ago
This is probably a challenge unless you're in the industry, but I'm curious about how the specific details of a payment for order flow arrangement works. How does a brokerage choose which provider they route an order to (since they have relationships with multiple)? Does a provider have to execute an order if it is routed to them? Etc.
contingencies 5y ago
Origin of SWIFT. Not the official version, but an actual history.
Ozzie_osman 5y ago
Couple ideas: 1) what happens when I transfer money to someone in another country (eg SWIFT). 2) if you had to design a business model for financial institions from scratch, that was aligned with customers, what would it look like?

hayksaakian 5y ago

would be interesting to hear about the 'big unsolved problems' in fintech as of 2021.

Ozzie_osman 5y ago

Just going to say this was a great read (I'm working on something in the fintech space). I originally submitted it and was surprised it didn't make the HN front page, but happy to see it got a chance from the second-chance pool!

neolander 5y ago

This was a super interesting and digestible read. I especially liked the angle of how public policy influences trends in fintech. I'd love to learn more from examples over the past few decades.

dan-robertson 5y ago

My interest in the large companies could be summarised by saying that it seems that after the GFC, Goldman had their balls cut off by the US government, and the question is what they do to work around the regulations and how other companies filled the gaps (and what those gaps were/are). It seems to me that Goldman’s push to retail is less motivated by magic massively large edge and more by the fact that they can’t do the trades they used to do (though maybe Goldman is a particularly bad example here and a more traditional IB+retail bank would be better to talk about). I’m sure there are lots of quirky things going on in the US financial infra but I think I just don’t know what they are. A simple question is what actually happens when money is wired (internationally) and how does that line up with the legal and intuitive concepts of owning the money, but I don’t know if that is actually an interesting question.

jkhdigital 5y ago

I think it would be fascinating to take a deep dive into transaction settlement, especially in securities markets.

pgwhalen 5y ago

HN readers might care to know that this newsletter comes recommend by HN-favorite Matt Levine: https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1451586620872867842 https://twitter.com/matt_levine/status/1451586620872867842

richardw 5y ago
And was written by HN mini-deity patio11. He’s been quiet for a while but has added enormous value in the past. https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11 https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11

MaxGabriel 5y ago

Maybe how international wires work and on what ways providers like Wise or CurrencyCloud are different Maybe European banking API standards vs Plaid? Different banking charters, like ILCs. Maybe talking about what tech startups are doing which license? OnlyFans and banking issues, especially what their CEO said blaming a bank for not processing their wires (iirc) You’ve tweeted before about a future where tech companies enable a “bank for Beyoncé fans” and such. Maybe that? (I am still skeptical of this) Maybe different ways tech companies comply with laws vs traditional banks? How much is it taking on extra risk vs improved KYC tech and such?

pgwhalen 5y ago

This is probably a challenge unless you're in the industry, but I'm curious about how the specific details of a payment for order flow arrangement works. How does a brokerage choose which provider they route an order to (since they have relationships with multiple)? Does a provider have to execute an order if it is routed to them? Etc.

contingencies 5y ago

Origin of SWIFT. Not the official version, but an actual history.

Ozzie_osman 5y ago

Couple ideas: 1) what happens when I transfer money to someone in another country (eg SWIFT). 2) if you had to design a business model for financial institions from scratch, that was aligned with customers, what would it look like?