Interview: Current CTO Trevor Marshall & Hillel Olivestone, Cross River's Head of Strategy and Corporate Development

In this episode of the FinTech Business Podcast, host Jason engages with Trevor Marshall, CTO of Current, and Hillel Olivestone, Cross River Bank's head of strategy and corporate development, to explore the collaborative dynamics between their companies. Current, a challenger bank, emphasizes the strategic decision to build and own its technology stack, which has proven pivotal for differentiation and product innovation. Cross River, a pioneer in partner banking, provides backend infrastructure and funding, enhancing Current's offerings like the Build card, which significantly boosts users' credit scores. Both companies stress the importance of strategic alignment and regulatory compliance in fostering successful partnerships, while also anticipating advancements in personalized financial services and embedded finance as key trends for 2025.

• Current, a US-based challenger bank, collaborates with partner banks like Cross River to provide fintech services.
• Cross River Bank is a pioneer in the partner banking model, offering backend infrastructure and compliance for fintech clients.
• Both companies emphasize the importance of owning their technology stacks for flexibility and innovation.

"Current is a challenger bank here in the US. We work with partner banks under the hood. So we're really just a fintech technology platform."

• Current positions itself as a technology platform, working with partner banks to deliver financial services.

"We really provide backend infrastructure, regulatory and compliance to a wide array of FinTech clients and companies providing payment services, card issuing, acquiring accounts, capital markets, loan origination, and even investment banking today."

• Cross River Bank offers a comprehensive suite of backend services to fintech clients, enabling them to provide a variety of financial services.

• Current's decision to build and own its technology stack is a key differentiator in the fintech market.
• Owning the tech stack allows for better product integration and long-term differentiation.
• Early decisions were influenced by the lack of existing fintech infrastructure and the need for digital transformation.

"Building and owning your own technology stack has been a key differentiator versus some of the other players in the market."

• Owning the technology stack is crucial for differentiation and integration of financial products.

"In order to win on product and in particular win on how you stitch financial products together, there is no other long-term path than creating those systems yourself."

• Creating proprietary systems is essential for delivering interconnected financial products and services.

• The fintech landscape has evolved significantly, with new building blocks emerging for customer onboarding, account opening, and more.
• The decision to build technology internally was driven by the absence of suitable solutions at the time.
• Current partners with banks like Cross River to offer regulated products, highlighting the importance of collaboration.

"The kinds of next generation, you know, customer onboarding, account opening, identity loan origination, loan management systems that exist today, those did not exist when I was at Enova in 2010."

• The fintech infrastructure has evolved, with new solutions emerging to address industry challenges.

"Current itself is not a bank. You partner with multiple banks, including Cross River, in order to offer regulated products and services."

• Collaboration with banks is essential for offering regulated financial products and services.

• Both Current and Cross River have built their own technology systems, allowing for seamless integration and flexibility.
• The partnership enables efficient and scalable solutions, avoiding the limitations of legacy systems.
• The integration of technology stacks enhances product innovation and delivery.

"Cross River itself has also built its own technology. So we ourselves really lead the forefront and sort of the push in partner banking and banking as a service by building our own core systems."

• Cross River's own technology development complements Current's systems, enhancing integration and innovation.

"This allows us and enables us to have a perfectly reconciled platform unlike some of the other scenarios."

• The integration of both companies' technology stacks results in a reconciled and efficient platform.

• Current experienced significant growth, with a 90% revenue increase in 2024 and a new capital raise.
• The company's decision to build its own technology has enabled the development of innovative products like the Secured Credit Builder product.
• Current continues to focus on future growth and product differentiation.

"Current announced record growth last year in 2024 you had an over 90% growth rate in revenue and announced a new capital raise just a few months ago, including capital from Cross River."

• Current's growth trajectory is supported by strategic decisions and new capital investments.

"The ability to innovate and build differentiated products like the Secured Credit Builder product, the Build card."

• Building proprietary technology has facilitated the creation of innovative financial products.

• The company has experienced significant growth, particularly in its credit product offerings, with a 215% increase in new card shipments and account openings between January 2024 and January 2025.
• A substantial portion of new members, over 70%, are opting for the Build card, indicating its popularity and effectiveness in meeting customer needs.
• The partnership with Cross River has been instrumental in funding these products, including a warehouse for credit card receivables and Paycheck advance funding.

"We've seen a 215% increase in the new cards that we're shipping, the accounts that we're opening."

• This quote highlights the substantial growth in the company's credit card offerings, demonstrating the success and demand for their products.

"Cross river has been a fantastic partner, not only on the sort of product and banking side, but also on the funding side."

• The partnership with Cross River is crucial for the financial and operational support of the company's products, contributing to their overall growth.

• Fintech and banking as a service have evolved to offer multiple products to clients, enabling them to build comprehensive platforms.
• Cross River exemplifies this evolution by providing a range of services, including payment services, card issuing, capital utilization, and advisory services.
• The company's strategy involves deep integration with clients to support their growth and trajectory.

"We love being able to grow with the customer and provide them... utilizing our balance sheet and even our advisory services."

• This quote emphasizes the company's commitment to supporting clients through various services, fostering long-term partnerships.

• Traditional secured credit cards often fail to meet customer needs due to requirements like minimum deposits and high APRs, which do not align with the financial situations of many users.
• These cards require a deposit that cannot be used to pay the balance, creating a financial burden and poor user experience.
• The high APRs are intended to drive profitability but result in a negative experience for users, especially those living paycheck to paycheck.

"The security deposit required on most cards is just a non starter."

• The necessity for a security deposit is a major barrier for many potential users, preventing them from accessing credit-building opportunities.

"There is a certain, you have to be constantly managing how much do I have left on this card?"

• The complexity and management required for traditional secured cards create a cumbersome and impractical experience for users.

• The company has developed a new credit solution that automates money movement, allowing users to build credit seamlessly without managing multiple balances.
• By integrating payroll deposits into a secured account, users can use a secured card to build credit history effectively.
• This approach simplifies the user experience and ensures that customers can focus on credit building without the operational burdens of traditional secured cards.

"We created was a way from a customer's perspective to really unify that experience."

• The unification of the user experience through automation and integration is a key innovation, enhancing usability and credit-building potential.

"They're able to use their secured card to build their credit, build their credit history."

• The solution provides a straightforward path for users to improve their credit scores, addressing the limitations of traditional secured cards.

• Cross River's initial focus was on lending, but they recognized the need to expand their services to include payments and other banking functions.
• The development of their own platform allowed them to offer comprehensive services, aligning with the evolving needs of their customers.
• By building additional services, Cross River can support clients across various financial products, enhancing their value proposition.

"We should also be facilitating the payments. It's an ancillary service to the one we're providing."

• Expanding into payment facilitation was a strategic move to offer a more complete service package to clients.

"We saw our customers moving to provide more services to their end users."

• Observing client trends towards offering more comprehensive services guided Cross River's expansion strategy, ensuring they meet the evolving demands of the fintech industry.

• The company aims to expand its platform to capture more market share and grow with clients as they expand their services.
• The debate between building vs. buying technology is significant, especially in regulated spaces like financial services.
• Owning technology allows for better control over unit economics and product release speed.

"On the growing the business, there is a Newtonian physics of unit economics and what you're able to drive when you're not sort of paying others in the stack."

• The quote highlights the importance of owning technology to optimize costs and improve efficiency in business operations.

• Identifying core competencies is crucial for deciding which technologies to own and which to partner for.
• The company focuses on owning critical parts of the business while partnering for non-core areas like data acquisition.
• Example: The company writes and controls its issuing stack but partners for data enrichment.

"Pretty much everything in the issuing stack is something that we've written, code and host and control."

• This quote emphasizes the company's strategy of owning critical technology to ensure seamless customer experiences.

• Data infrastructure is becoming increasingly important for product differentiation.
• Personalization of products is key to retaining customers, even if the products appear similar to competitors.
• The sophistication in data handling allows for better prediction and feature offerings.

"The movement and the level of personalization we've been able to now put into the product is generating sort of the main differentiation."

• The quote illustrates how advanced data infrastructure contributes to product uniqueness and customer retention.

• Owning technology in BaaS allows for real-time capabilities and flexibility that legacy systems lack.
• The company has developed its own core technology to overcome the limitations of existing platforms.
• Customization and scalability are essential for serving clients effectively in the BaaS sector.

"We have a complete real-time core which enables us really to know where the money is at all times in those situations where the ledger really is the source of truth."

• This quote highlights the importance of real-time capabilities in providing accurate and flexible financial services.

• Success in partnerships depends on strategic alignment between the bank and the technology platform.
• Both parties should benefit mutually from the partnership, enhancing growth and success.
• Alignment involves shared goals and leveraging each other's strengths for mutual benefit.

"It's really having a partner that will be more successful when you're more successful and sees that and will push behind that into just drive in the same direction."

• The quote underscores the necessity of strategic alignment for successful partnerships.

• The company's mission is to enhance access to credit and financial services, aligning with partners like Current.
• The bank takes on risk by utilizing its balance sheet, emphasizing the importance of risk management in partnerships.
• The bank believes that risk should primarily lie with the bank, reflecting its commitment to responsible financial practices.

"We've always felt that it lies with the bank and it needs to lie with the bank as much as possible."

• This quote reflects the company's approach to risk management, ensuring that the bank assumes responsibility for financial risks.

• Successful partnerships in fintech require close collaboration between companies, focusing on compliance, regulation, and product development.
• Effective partnerships involve working in tandem to build products and services that meet regulatory standards and customer needs.

"The two companies really need to work closely together. It's not just a checking the box and, you know, slight oversight, but we work very closely with Current in building their products and services."

• Close collaboration is essential for ensuring compliance and effective product development in fintech partnerships.

• The current regulatory environment is more open to fintech and banking as a service, which is a positive development.
• There is a need for responsible regulation to protect end users and prevent situations like SYNAPSE.
• Partnerships in fintech can help navigate regulatory challenges and ensure consumer protection.

"We do think there needs to be responsible regulation for this space... to protect the end users and consumers or businesses."

• Responsible regulation is crucial for protecting consumers and ensuring the stability of fintech services.

• Companies must focus on transparency and real-time oversight of customer accounts to align with regulatory requirements.
• Providing clear and transparent access to customer funds and transactions is essential for customer trust and compliance.

"We are only incentivized by our customers doing well... make sure that customers have transparent access to their funds, clear oversight into what's happening on their account."

• Transparency and real-time access to account information are critical for meeting regulatory standards and enhancing customer trust.

• Stablecoins and digital assets are expected to play a significant role in remittances and network-level transactions.
• Personalization of financial services through consumer data is a growing trend, enabled by advancements in AI and machine learning.
• Smaller banks are increasingly entering the banking as a service space, focusing on building rather than buying solutions.

"I think the biggest trend I'm looking at right now is the way that financial services become more personalized with consumers' data."

• Personalization through data is a key trend, allowing fintechs to enhance customer experiences and offer tailored services.

• Innovations in stablecoins and digital assets are a focus for future development.
• Embedded finance is becoming more significant, with technology and AI enabling new solutions for financial services.

"We are obviously heavily focused on that and evaluating it extensively to dive in there. And innovative technologies is always something that Cross river is going to adopt and use."

• The adoption of innovative technologies like stablecoins and embedded finance is crucial for the future growth of financial services.