Welcome Inside the Vault

Tedd Huff here and I have been keeping a not so secret, secret….

We are launching Inside the Vault, a new Fintech Confidential series that brings you fintech banking conversations that usually stay inside closed-door meetings. Not platform pitches. Not recycled talking points. You get what actually happened: partnerships that printed money, compliance pushbacks that killed deals, pricing calls that strained relationships, and risk decisions that changed entire product roadmaps.

Why we built this

Bank executives, fintech founders, and product leaders keep saying the same thing. They are tired of surface-level content. They want to know what worked, what failed, and what the operator across the table would do differently next time. The fintech-bank partnership space is changing fast and the gap between strategy and execution is costing real money. Inside the Vault is designed to close that gap.

What you are getting

Real operators walking through real decisions. Product launches. Board debates. Compliance standoffs. Revenue models that scaled and the ones that did not. Each episode is recorded around live industry moments at Money20/20, the Money Pot stage, and other key events so the content stays current and grounded in what is actually happening right now.

How we are delivering it

Straight talk. No hype. No vague soundbites. Stephen Bishop, our lead Confidential Informant, has built banking as a service programs from scratch at a 60 year old community bank and lived through every compliance battle, examiner conversation, and partner negotiation that comes with it. He is joined by Stacy Bishop, a fintech sales expert who has helped close more than $300 million in deals and worked with over 6,800 fintech founders.

This series is a strong fit if you care about banking operations, embedded finance, sponsor bank relationships, and fintech partnerships that actually generate revenue.

Why Fintech Banks And Financial Institutions Matter Right Now

The fintech-bank partnership landscape is shifting in ways that are reshaping how the industry operates. Surveys show that almost all banks now use fintech partnerships to enhance their products and reduce costs, and many rely on those partnerships to speed up implementation timelines. This is not a passing trend, it is shaping how banks compete.

Community banks and credit unions are feeling real pressure:

• Many community bank decision makers are actively exploring embedded finance as a growth driver.
  

• A large share of community banks and credit unions have partnered with at least one fintech in the past few years.
  

• Market projections show embedded finance reaching hundreds of billions of dollars in value over the next decade.
  

• Credit unions and fintechs are increasingly working as partners, not competitors, which changes how both sides go to market.

At the same time, research from major consulting firms shows that a large number of bank-fintech partnerships never fully operationalize. The gap between intent and execution is where careers are made or broken. Inside the Vault focuses on that gap, with real examples and practical steps from operators who have been responsible for the outcome.

Meet Your Lead Confidential Informant: Stephen Bishop

Stephen Bishop is the President of amBaaSsador and former EVP, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Innovation Officer at OMB Bank, where he built and scaled OMBX, a banking as a service platform that supports multiple fintech programs and more than $100 million in deposits.

At OMB Bank he led a full tech refresh, completed a core conversion, and launched a BaaS platform that was projected to drive meaningful deposit and revenue growth through embedded finance programs. He did it with compliance first frameworks, proactive examiner engagement, and tailored monitoring for each fintech partner.

Stephen started his career at Jack Henry and Associates working on core transitions and platform development. He held roles in finance and operations at AT&T and Citibank, then returned to Jack Henry to manage platform development before joining OMB Bank.

He is a frequent speaker at Money20/20, FinovateSpring, the U.S. Fintech Symposium, and the American Fintech Council Summit. His perspective cuts through the noise:

His background includes completing 11 Ironman competitions and 30+ marathons, and he brings that same resilience to building embedded finance programs that actually work.

What Stephen brings to Inside the Vault

Stephen has lived through the messy reality of launching fintech programs inside a legacy bank. He knows what examiners ask. He knows what compliance will push back on. He knows which partnership structures generate revenue and which ones drain resources. He has been in the room for board debates, pricing negotiations, and risk calls that shaped product roadmaps. That is the experience he brings to every episode.

Confidential Informant: Stacy Bishop

Stacy Bishop is the Founder of Selling Fintech, Chief Ally of amBaaSsador, and a fintech sales expert with more than 25 years of experience. She spent nearly a quarter century at Jack Henry and Associates, progressing from customer education to senior sales leadership and helping close more than $300 million in revenue.

Stacy has deep expertise in how fintechs actually sell to banks; what works, what fails, and why founders keep making the same mistakes. She has worked with thousands of fintech founders to refine sales processes, prove value, and close more deals.

If you are trying to sell into banks without long cycles, endless pilots, or margin erosion, Stacy gives you a clear playbook from both the bank side and the fintech side.

She specializes in translating technical products into clear value for buyers, helping startups position products effectively and build strategic partnerships without leaning on heavy discounting or aggressive tactics. Stacy is the Founder/CEO of Selling Fintech, the Founder / Chief Ally at amBaaSsador and speaks at Finovate Spring and other industry events.

Her vision:

Her vantage point, married to a BaaS banker while consulting fintech founders, gives her both sides of the conversation that most people never hear.

Why This Matters Now

The regulatory landscape around bank-fintech partnerships continues to evolve. New expectations on risk management, vendor oversight, and third party relationships are raising the bar for both banks and fintechs.

Many sponsor banks report real challenges managing compliance in their fintech partnerships. They cite issues like limited control over partner policies, difficulty applying consistent standards across jurisdictions, and uncertainty about how regulators will view specific partnership models.

The winners in this environment will be operators who understand both sides of the table, who can work through third party risk management, build sustainable partnership models, and make real money while staying compliant. That is the type of practical insight Inside the Vault is built to share.

Subscribe Now

If you care about modern banking, detailed breakdowns of how financial institutions work with fintechs, and partnerships that actually perform, and you want access to candid conversations that usually stay inside the vault, this series is built for you.

Subscribe now to get the first episodes as soon as they drop and stay ahead of the next wave of bank-fintech moves.

Listen on your favorite podcast platform: Listen.frominsidethevault.com

Watch full conversations and clips: watch.frominsidethevault.com

Get email recaps and future drops: subscribe.frominsidethevault.com