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Inside the BaaS Challenge

Inside the BaaS Challenge

Battle Scars, Breakthroughs, and What’s Next from the Money 2020, Money Pot

Tedd Huff & Stephen Bishop
December 09, 2025

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“We don’t need to see that your program is perfect, we need to see something that we can actually believe and get behind.”

Rodrigo Suarez, Chief Banking Officer | Piermont Bank

TLDR:

Sponsor banks are now treating Banking as a Service like a serious stress test for every fintech that wants to plug into their rails. At Money20/20, host Tedd Huff sits down with confidential informant Stephen Bishop, Chief Payments Officer AnaLiza Grandner of First Bank of the Lake, and Chief Banking Officer Rodrigo Suarez of Piermont Bank to unpack what must be true before a program gets approved or survives its first shock. You hear how banks judge product fit, funding strength, and operating discipline, and why some pitches are declined even when the idea sounds clever. The discussion also calls out concrete steps any team can take to tighten oversight, set clear guardrails, and prepare for an orderly exit if needed. If you care about BaaS, embedded finance, and sponsor bank risk, this breakdown gives you a clear edge before your next partner meeting.

From the Money Pot at Money 2020

Inside the Vault opens with its inaugural episode live from Money20/20 in Las Vegas, and we are excited to kick this series off with host Tedd Huff joined by confidential informant Stephen Bishop, along with Chief Payments Officer AnaLiza Grandner of First Bank of the Lake and Chief Banking Officer Rodrigo Suarez of Piermont Bank. They sit down live on the Money Pot stage to break down what really happens inside Banking as a Service programs when things go right, go wrong, or go missing.

This episode gives a clear look at how sponsor banks now think about Banking as a Service after several painful failures. You hear why some banks now act more like investors than simple service providers, how they size up new programs, and what makes them pause or walk away. The discussion focuses on real decisions that banks face every day: who they will partner with, how they measure risk, and what it takes to stay in these programs when markets shift.

Listeners get a direct view into the criteria banks apply to new and existing partners. The conversation breaks down how banks evaluate leadership teams, product focus, and funding plans, and why each of those can make or break a deal. You also hear how banks think about rewards programs, reserves, and exposure when a fintech wants to scale fast. The group is open about where things have broken in the past and what has changed inside risk and compliance teams as a result.

The episode also challenges common beliefs that founders and product leaders often bring into sponsor bank conversations. You learn why being self-funded is not always seen as a strength, how hype from an accelerator or investor deck can backfire, and what happens when a concept is interesting yet does not have the economics to last. The discussion turns those lessons into practical filters that builders can apply before they ever sit across from a bank.

For operators inside banks, the episode may validate concerns they already feel but do not always hear said out loud. The guests talk through what it is like to inherit a book of BaaS business, find out that a flagship program is in trouble, and then have to rebuild trust inside their own institution. They explain how one failure can change appetite for new deals, shift policy, and slow or stop programs that would have been easy approvals a few years ago.

If you work at a fintech, this conversation helps you understand what sponsor banks expect from serious partners. You get specific questions to ask your own team about business models, risk controls, and runway. You also hear what banks look for when they decide which programs get more support and which ones they prepare to exit. That context can shape how you plan product, capital, and compliance from the start.

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The episode also looks ahead at where BaaS and embedded finance appear to be heading next. The group points to areas that keep coming up in side conversations at Money20/20, including cross-border activity and new ways to structure accounts and flows. They do not treat any of these ideas as guaranteed wins; instead they share where experienced operators are placing attention and what they are watching for as signals.

Inside the Vault is built for people who want the real story behind partner banking, not just the headlines. This inaugural episode sets that tone early. It gives banks, founders, and investors a shared language for talking about BaaS risk, shows where past efforts went off track, and highlights where the next wave of durable programs is likely to come from. If you want to understand how today’s BaaS decisions are actually made, this session is worth your time.

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Key Highlights:

BaaS Blowups Reshape Bank Thinking

This highlight walks through how a large BaaS program collapse forced a sponsor bank to reset its appetite for risk, tighten oversight, and face the internal fallout when a high profile partnership fails faster than anyone expected. The group breaks down what changed inside the bank once leaders saw how fast things can go from promising to shutdown, and what that shift means for any new fintech asking for a shot.

Neobank Gimmicks Get Exposed

Here the panel reviews the wave of hyper specific neobank for niche audiences and explains why many of them were never built to last. They share concrete examples of use cases that sounded clever on stage but fell apart once real costs, customer numbers, and revenue potential were tested, giving operators a blunt filter to apply to their own ideas.

Banks Screen Like Investors Now

This segment shows how sponsor banks quietly adopted an investor style mindset when they review new programs. They talk about digging into business models, unit economics, and survival odds, not just surface level features, so listeners hear what actually gets discussed inside risk and credit meetings when a new fintech is under review.

When Self Funded Becomes A Risk

In this clip, the group explains why a self funded badge can raise concerns inside a bank. They compare founders with real capital from prior exits to teams with only a basic budget, then lay out how banks assess who is likely to stay in the game long enough to support customers, handle issues, and meet every financial obligation.

Sixty Million Missing Changes Everything

This highlight focuses on what happens inside banks when tens of millions of dollars disappear from a well known platform. The panel talks about how that kind of loss reshapes risk appetite across institutions, triggers new controls, and sets a tougher bar for any future partner that wants access to accounts and payment rails.

Too Small To Really Matter

Here the guests explain what it means when a program is seen as too small to matter inside a large bank. They walk through how that label affects resource allocation, support levels, and the speed of decisions, and why serious operators need to think about scale and relevance if they want to avoid being quietly deprioritized.

Partnership Speed And Flex

This segment highlights the traits that banks and fintechs actually value in each other once contracts are signed. You hear how responsiveness, practical flexibility, and effective day to day collaboration often beat pure brand power, and why these traits keep coming up when operators talk about programs that work well under stress.

Funding Filters For Risky Ideas

In this clip, the panel breaks down how banks approach bold or unusual product ideas tied to BaaS. They talk about looking at total reachable customers, the strength of the use case, and the quality of funding behind it, then explain how those checks help them decide whether a risky concept is worth backing or should be declined early.

Designing For Orderly Unwinds

This highlight focuses on what a responsible unwind looks like from the bank side. The guests discuss reserve accounts for rewards, contractual tools to manage payouts, and the planning needed so that if a program does shut down, customers get treated fairly and the bank can close things out with control instead of chaos.

Where The Next BaaS Wins

In this segment, the group points to areas that keep surfacing in their own work, including more complex flows across borders and new account structures that aim to balance control with scale. They share how they think about these emerging plays, what signals they watch, and why only well prepared teams are likely to benefit from them.

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Takeaways:

1️⃣ Decide If BaaS Is Core

Before you sign any new program, decide if BaaS is a core part of your strategy or a side experiment, then size limits, staffing, and board updates to match that choice so you do not overextend when growth comes faster than planned.

2️⃣ Lock Clear Ownership Across Stack

Map out who owns compliance, customer support, tech changes, and money flows at each step, then write that into your contracts and playbooks so no one argues about duties when issues show up.

3️⃣ Set Hard Performance Guardrails Early

Agree on simple, trackable guardrails for things like active accounts, funding levels, and loss tolerances before launch, then commit to slow or pause the program if those markers trend the wrong way instead of waiting for a crisis.

4️⃣ Make Oversight A Standing Habit

Put a recurring operating rhythm in place with shared dashboards, fixed review meetings, and named decision makers, then keep that cadence even when things appear calm so small warning signs do not get missed.

5️⃣ Rehearse Your Worst Day Now

Run regular internal drills on what you will do if a partner stalls, pulls back, or exits, then update your contracts, data access, and customer messaging so you can act fast if that day ever comes.

About The Guests:

AnaLiza Grandner

AnaLiza Grandner is the Chief Payments Officer at First Bank of the Lake and a widely recognized leader in fintech-focused banking with more than 17 years of experience. She leads the bank’s payments strategy and its private-label banking business, drawing on a career that spans both banks and high-growth fintechs. Her work has helped major brands such as Google Wallet, Chime, Varo, Simple, Seed, Walgreens, and Bento design, launch, and refine payments programs. Before joining First Bank of the Lake, she led Banking-as-a-Service efforts at Cross River Bank and has been a featured keynote speaker at multiple global industry events.

First Bank of the Lake

First Bank of the Lake is a nationally active SBA lender with deep expertise in government-backed small business financing. From its roots in Osage Beach, Missouri, it has grown into one of the top SBA 7(a) and 504 lenders in the country, funding thousands of loans and more than a billion dollars in capital for businesses across the United States. The bank focuses on tailored SBA solutions, strong customer relationships, and a high-touch approach that helps business owners secure the funding they need to grow.

Rodrigo Suarez

Rodrigo Suarez is the Chief Banking Officer at Piermont Bank, where he is responsible for keeping the bank ahead in modern product delivery and client service. He oversees the innovation-focused banking and payments lines of business and leads strategies that support fast-growing, entrepreneurial clients. Rodrigo also manages product development, technology applications, and channel delivery so that the bank’s offerings stay aligned with the needs of scale-ups and high-growth companies.

Piermont Bank

Piermont Bank is a tech-forward commercial bank built for startups, scale-ups, and modern mid-market businesses. The bank focuses on fast decisions, flexible structures, and banking solutions designed around the pace of high-growth companies. It combines experienced bankers with modern technology to offer tailored lending, payments, and treasury services that help clients move from early growth to larger scale without getting stuck in rigid legacy processes.

Confidential Informant

Stephen Bishop

Stephen “Steve” Bishop is the President of amBaaSsador, an education and advisory platform focused on embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service for both financial institutions and service providers. He previously led strategic growth and new initiatives at OMB Bank as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, where he also helped create and build OMBX, the bank’s embedded finance brand. His background includes senior roles at Jack Henry & Associates, Citi, and AT&T, and he holds graduate degrees in operations, finance, strategy, and information management from Washington University in St. Louis.

amBaaSsador

amBaaSsador is a strategic advisory and ecosystem platform dedicated to helping banks, fintechs, and service providers succeed in embedded finance and Banking-as-a-Service. The firm focuses on clear education, practical strategy, and curated connections, giving clients a neutral place to understand market shifts and choose a path that fits their goals. Its work spans consulting, community programs, training, events, and research, all designed to turn complex BaaS questions into practical, workable plans.

Host

Tedd Huff

Tedd Huff is a long-time fintech leader with more than 25 years of experience across payments, banking, and software. He is the Founder and CEO of Voalyre and the creator of Fintech Confidential, a network of shows and newsletters focused on how money and payments really work. Over his career he has served as a founder, board member, and executive for multiple startups and has provided strategic direction to organizations such as Global Payments, OpenEdge, Heartland Payment Systems, Nuvei, and TSYS. His work centers on growth, clear strategy, and user experience, and has included collaborations with companies like Apple, Google, Amazon, Walmart, Cabela’s, and Restoration Hardware.

Voalyre

Voalyre is a global fintech enablement firm that helps payments and financial technology companies grow with a mix of advisory services and hands-on execution. The firm works with banks, processors, and fintechs on issues such as go-to-market strategy, product and experience design, partner programs, and operational readiness. By combining deep industry experience with practical support, Voalyre helps clients reduce friction in their payments stack and move faster from idea to measurable results.

DD3, Media:

DD3 Media is a media creation, management, and production company delivering engaging content globally

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