cover of episode The hidden world behind your new "banking" app

The hidden world behind your new "banking" app

2024/8/16
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H
Hillary Allen
J
Jordan Gonzalez
M
Mike Hsu
S
Sharinda Gonzalez
Topics
Erika Beras和Sally Helm：许多看似提供诸多好处的线上银行服务实际上并非真正的银行，而是金融科技公司，存在潜在风险，Yotta事件是典型案例。 Sharinda和Jordan Gonzalez：他们使用Yotta金融科技应用储蓄，起初体验良好，但因Synapse公司破产，导致无法取回储蓄，这说明金融科技公司并非真正的银行，存在风险，他们对金融科技的信任度下降，选择回到传统银行。 Hillary Allen：金融科技公司（Fintech）与传统银行在监管和运作模式上存在显著差异，金融科技公司通常规避了严格的银行监管，这造成了风险，Yotta事件暴露出金融科技公司与传统银行合作模式中的监管漏洞。 Mike Hsu：当前金融监管体系对金融科技公司监管不足，需要新的法规和监管机构来弥补监管漏洞，传统银行监管机构对金融科技公司监管的局限性，以及供应链风险。 Erika Beras和Sally Helm：Yotta事件揭示了金融科技公司与传统银行运作模式的差异，以及监管的不足，Synapse作为中间公司，其破产导致大量用户资金无法取回，暴露出金融科技行业监管的不足。

Deep Dive

Chapters
Sharinda and Jordan, a couple in Texas, were drawn to Yotta, a fintech app offering lottery-like prizes for saving. They deposited their entire paychecks, but one day, Sharinda's debit card was declined. It turned out thousands of Yotta users couldn't access their money due to issues with Synapse, a middle company handling deposits.
  • Yotta, a fintech app, offered lottery-like prizes for saving.
  • Sharinda and Jordan deposited their entire paychecks into Yotta.
  • Synapse, a middle company, handled Yotta's deposits.
  • Thousands of Yotta users lost access to their money due to Synapse's issues.

Shownotes Transcript

You might have seen ads for online banking services that seem to offer a lot of great stuff — accounts you can open in minutes and without a minimum balance or monthly fees. The ads seem to say: "These aren't your parents' boring old banks." But the truth is: Even though they might resemble banks, they aren't.These "bank-like" companies are a type of "fintech" or financial technology company. And this is a story about the potential risks of putting your money into these apps.Banks go through a whole regulatory gauntlet in order to exist. But, in the past several years, there has been a rise in fintechs that skirt regulations. And many of these pose a real threat to even the most savvy of depositors.When a little known tech company filed for bankruptcy a few months ago, thousands of people couldn't access the millions of dollars they saved. On today's show, we meet some of the people affected and learn what the fintech industry reveals about banking regulation.*Today's show was hosted by Erika Beras and Sally Helm. It was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler and Sofia Shchukina with help from James Sneed. It was edited by Jess Jiang and fact-checked by Kevin Volkl. It was engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez with help from James Willetts. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts) or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney).*Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices)NPR Privacy Policy)