These are some of the most active fintech influencers and experts (as well as their newsletters) that we recommend you follow in 2022 to understand what’s happening in the financial technology ecosystem.
The capital raised by fintech companies globally in 2021 more than doubled the year before, reaching a record $621 billion, according to CB Insights data.
In 2022, things like Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), crypto, Web 3.0, open banking, and open finance will likely continue to attract funding and growing interest.
Fintech influencers in 2022
To help you navigate this booming sector (and get some interesting readings in your inbox every day), here’s a selection of some of the most relevant international influencers in the fintech sector that analyze the latest fintech news and stories through their newsletters, podcasts, and articles.
Before we get to them though, we couldn’t not share our own contribution to this list: the Open Views newsletter.
Open Views
With content curation by Belvo, Open Views is a monthly newsletter that brings the most relevant news about the Open Finance ecosystem: regulatory changes, new companies and solutions, analysis and debates, technology news, and even job opportunities across Latin America.
Subscribe to have it delivered monthly to your inbox.
Marcel Van Oost
Marcel Van Oost is a former fintech startup founder, now advisor, and investor. Through his daily updates about fintech and digital banking, he helps everyone interested in the financial technology world to “cut through the noise” and get concise summaries of the most relevant updates in the industry.
He also curates several newsletters. Pro tip: If you’re interested in the Latin American fintech ecosystem, he’s got one for you.
Simon Taylor
If you’re looking for well-written deep dives about what’s going on in the fintech industry, you should definitely check out Fintech Brain Food, a weekly newsletter where Simon Taylor unravels the latest news and provides thoughtful analysis into the intricacies behind the big fintech headlines.
Simon is one of the cofounders of 11FS, a consultancy firm specializing in fintech, and the founder of GDF, an organization promoting best practices for the crypto industry. He’s also the host of the Fintech Insiders podcast.
Marie Walker
If you’re interested in the growing ecosystem of open banking and open finance, then Open Future World is for you.
Marie Walker is co-founder and Head of Content of this global reach publication focused on the world of open banking and open finance that shares daily updates on what’s worth paying attention to in the open finance ecosystem.
Jason Mikula
Jason Mikula is a digital banking and fintech product builder and marketer (former Goldman Sachs). His newsletter Fintech Business Weekly provides in-depth analysis around the biggest fintech trends and stories. He often focuses on the most challenging aspects of building new fintech business models as well as on the regulatory side of things.
He recently launched a podcast “to recap the most interesting news, trends, and ideas in fintech on a regular basis”.
Alex Johnson
Fintech Takes is another ‘must read’ weekly newsletter focused on analyzing the underlying stories that are reshaping the financial technology industry.
It’s curated by Alex Johnson, Director of Fintech Research at Cornerstone Advisors. Expect “thoughtful takes on fintech and the future of financial services,” as the author puts it.
Marc Rubinstein
This one goes a bit beyond fintech. With over 27,000 subscribers around the world, Net Interest is the perfect newsletter for finance ‘nerds’. It focuses on one topic per week and goes through its nuances extensively. Expect a high dose of anecdotes, well-researched facts, and interesting thoughts.
It’s curated by Marc Rubinstein, a former hedge fund manager who likes to go deep into complex topics such as the power of networks in finance or the ‘behind the scenes’ machinery of investment banking.
Bianca Lopes
Based in Brazil, Bianca Lopes is the co-founder of Talle, a global strategic media group specializing in supporting banks and fintechs.
As a former banker, she’s particularly interested in topics such as identity, ethical data usage, DeFi, and financial literacy. Follow her for updates around the growing fintech ecosystem in Brazil and worldwide.
Lex Sokolin
The world of crypto assets, NFT, and web 3.0 are becoming ‘the’ fintech topic. And The Fintech Blueprint, curated by Lex Sokolin, is the best way to stay up-to-date and understand the latest trends in digital assets, blockchain, decentralized finance (DeFi), and autonomous organizations (DAOs).
Lex is the Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys, a blockchain technology company building the infrastructure, applications, and practices that enable a decentralized world.
Nik Milanovic
Nik Milanovic is another well-known voice among the fintech ecosystem. He’s the former head of strategy at companies like Petal, Funding Circle, and Google Pay.
He curates This Week in Fintech, a weekly newsletter with his opinions on “all things financial technology”. The newsletter also has regional editions in Latin America, Asia, and UK and Europe. Follow them for an in-depth analysis of how the financial sector is renewing its infrastructure across regions.
Nik recently announced the creation of his own fintech fund to support fintech and decentralized finance projects.
Edwin Zacipa
Edwin Zacipa is one of the main fintech influencers in Latin America. Based in Colombia, he is an entrepreneur with experience in retail banking, co-founder and former managing director at the Colombian Fintech Association.
He works as an advisor for financial institutions, associations, and fintech companies. Follow him for the latest news about regulation in the Latin American financial sector.
Spiros Margaris
Considered one of the most prominent voices in the fintech ecosystem, Spiros Margaris is a former top executive in the private banking and hedge fund industry, now venture capitalist and founder of margaris ventures. He advises startups in the insurtech, blockchain, and artificial intelligence spaces.
Margaris is also a senior advisor and/or board member of many companies.
Efi Pylarinou
Efi Pylarinou is an independent advisor in the fintech and blockchain spaces with a Ph.D. in finance.
Through her social media profiles and Medium blog, she shares interesting news, figures, and thoughts about how the financial ecosystem is being disrupted by emerging companies worldwide.
Linas Beliūnas
Linas Beliūnas is one of the influencers you definitely need to know if you follow the crypto space, but also generally to understand the “bigger picture” of what’s going on in the fintech ecosystem.
He focuses on three big stories weekly through his newsletter and also shares interesting bits of analysis on his Twitter account about topics like the crypto-assets market, how blockchain technology is evolving, and how fintech business models are changing the financial landscape.
Mary Ann Azevedo
Mary Ann is a senior reporter at TechCrunch, covering fintech and proptech topics in Latin America. She’s the co-host of the Equity Podcast, which received the Webby award for best technology podcast in 2021.
She also writes a weekly column about fintech. “Besides the fact that over 20% of all venture dollars last year went into fintech startups, I am particularly excited about the many ways that this technology is helping boost inclusion all over the world,” she writes. You can subscribe here!
Bruno Diniz
Bruno Diniz was named the most influential person in Brazil’s fintech sector in 2016 by the European portal INVYO Insights. He is a fintech advisor, author, and professor, also co-founder of Spiralem, a consultancy firm focused on innovation for the financial market. After developing his career in Brazilian financial institutions, he started to get involved in the startup and fintech scene in the country.
In 2019, he published his book “O Fenômeno Fintech”, the first book on Fintech by a Brazilian author published by Alta Books.
Danylo Martins
Danylo Martins is a journalist covering the fintech sector and startup ecosystem in Brazil.
He’s also the founder and editor at Finsiders, an important main digital media outlet in the country that follows the latest updates about Brazilian neobanks, fintech startups, and emerging digital players.
Gabriel Pereira
Brazil’s Open Banking regulation is moving fast this year. If you want to stay up to date about the evolution of this ecosystem we recommend you to follow Gabriel Pereira, Open Banking Specialist working at the Brazilian company Truepay.
Through his newsletter Open Box, he shares weekly updates on this industry “with plenty of depth and a pinch of good humor.”
Indeed, one of the top topics that fintech influencers are focusing on this year is open banking –or open finance–, if you want to learn more about how this new paradigm is disrupting banking across Latin America, check out our report 👇
