FINANCIAL INNOVATION FOR EQUITY AND OPPORTUNITY

Fintech Future brings together a diverse range of leaders from across the country to support responsible innovation in financial services and advocate for increased access for communities historically excluded or left behind by the traditional banking and financial system

Founding members include US Black Chambers, Operation HOPE, Cross River, former SBA and Treasury officials, finance and philanthropic leaders

WASHINGTON, 19 October 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Advocating for policies that support innovation, equity and opportunity for all, leading community empowerment advocates and financial services innovators today announced the official launch of Fintech Future: Financial Innovation for Equity and Opportunity (“Fintech Future”). Fintech Future supports responsible innovation that breaks down traditional barriers to value creation and bridges the access gap to modern financial services in historically excluded communities. Responsible fintech innovation is democratizing finance to create equity and give millions of Americans access to the resources they need to realize their dreams.

Through advocacy, public policy and coalition building, Fintech Future will work with community leaders and organizations, government partners and regulators to support equal access to modern financial services, while supporting responsible policies and efforts that ensure the highest levels of compliance, accountability and consumer. protection.

“For far too long, the paths to wealth creation have been closed to non-white and underserved communities. Innovation across the financial sector has broken down these barriers, offering new opportunities for families and small businesses that were long left behind and left behind. It is important that our community of responsible innovators coming together and speaking out in support of policies that preserve and protect opportunity for all,” said Tom Sotoa founding member of Fintech Future and founding/managing partner of Latimer Partners, LLC.

“The rapid innovation in financial services has led to a generational shift in how non-white and low-income communities can access the resources they need to achieve their dreams. Responsible fintechs have also stepped up in times of crisis to reach those who needed help the most and are becoming too often left behind. Responsible fintechs launched safe and efficient application portals that were available to all eligible small businesses in need, regardless of whether they had an existing relationship with a bank or not. Two years later, 1 in 4 black-owned companies applied to fintech lenders to receive the support they needed to get through the crisis. What tells us is that fintech opened the gates to all, challenged the status quo and overcame the traditional biases and barriers to financial services normally reserved for the few. Fintech Future will advocate for responsible policies that embrace this innovation and guide its growth so that it can deliver for our communities across l duck,” said Natalie Madeira Cofieldfounder of Fintech Future and former Assistant Administrator of the US Small Business Administration.

As recently as 2008, when the system failed with the Great Recession, it was primarily marginalized, middle-class and low-income families, businesses and communities that bore the brunt of foreclosures and layoffs. Emerging from the Great Recession then and more recently the global pandemic, financial and technological innovators saw an opportunity to disrupt a broken system and build a 21st century financial infrastructure with the mission of democratization, inclusion and breaking down the barriers that had traditionally driven out many disenfranchised borrowers.

“It is time to embrace policies that support safe and proven financial innovation so that communities can access fair financial services. Fintech Future is leading this mission and bringing to the forefront a national debate to promote policies that embrace innovation and support economic opportunity for everyone,” said Gilles Gadefounder of Fintech Future and founder and CEO of Cross River.

To learn more, visit www.fintechfuturecoaltion.org or follow us on @fintech_future.

Our history

For generations, legacy big banks have become the gatekeepers of wealth creation in America, and people of color have been systematically left behind financially. While some financial institutions have taken steps to invest in underserved communities, the basic business model of the 20th century financial system favored—and continues to favor—big business and the wealthy.

The story of innovation and disruption is the breaking down of old systems in favor of new paradigms to improve people’s lives. The transformation of the modern financial system
is no different. Although some traditional institutions fear change, policymakers must approach the rapid innovation driving fintech as an opportunity to finally create real and long-lasting access and generational wealth for long-marginalized communities, and regulators must follow suit.

We know that change has been needed for a long time. We support and fight for more digital banking solutions and avoid check cashing shops and predatory lenders, including those who use technology to lend irresponsibly.

In that spirit, our founding members have already gathered at events from OUR KAIROS, from Tunica to DC, to the Mississippi River Cities Initiative to the Smart City Expo USA to lead the necessary dialogue about how fintech meets historically excluded environments where the traditional industry has left them to seek modern solutions. Now is the urgent moment to embrace responsible innovation and policy so that all communities can finally access fair financial services.

Founding members include
Ashley Bell – CEO, ReadyLife. ReadyLife is a black-based fintech that creates generational wealth for underserved communities.

Hon. Kevin L. Boyce, Franklin County (Ohio) Commissioner

Melissa Bradley – Managing Director and General Partner, 1863 Ventures

John Hope Bryant – Entrepreneur and philanthropist who has built more than 40 organizations, entities and companies, including Operation HOPE, the largest non-profit financial inclusion organization in the country

JC Burton – Founder and CEO of Maven Construction, a woman-owned company Boston, Massachusetts-based company delivers full-service general construction management, energy solutions and energy retrofitting in the built environment

Ron Busby Sr. – President and CEO of the US Black Chambers

Natalie Madeira Cofield – Former Assistant Administrator for the US Small Business Administration.

Gilles Gade – Founder, President and CEO of Cross River

Harry Johnson, Sr. – President and CEO of The Memorial Foundation dedicated to promoting awareness of Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and its principles of democracy, justice, hope and love.

Jill L. Johnson – CEO, Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL)

Jade Melvin – National council for the development of minority suppliers

Ambassador Crystal Nix-Hines – Cohabitant, Quinn Emanuel and former United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Tom Soto – Founder/Managing Partner of Latimer Partners, LLC and environmental law activist, impact investor and leader in environmental technology and renewable energy

Calvin Williams, Jr. – CEO and founder Freeman Capital

SOURCE Fintech Future