Lisa Violet, Chief Auditor, Varo Bank, joins us for our ongoing series – FTT Chats – where we sit down with the great and the good of FinTech to discuss innovation, new entrants, and emerging technologies.

We spoke with Lisa Violet about what it means for Varo to be the first FinTech to be granted a national banking charter and whether it will open up the flood gates to more FinTechs to follow suit. She also gave us her view on the impact FinTech has had across the financial services sector – from infrastructure to the creation of new tools for consumers. Violet also noted the importance of community and collaboration – from the regulators to established players – that has allowed them to break into the mainstream of financial services.

We also discussed the impact of the current Covid 19 crisis, the importance of digital provision and the opportunity that a lower cost offering can afford under-served consumers to build up some resilience at a time when there is little income to spare. Given that the average American consumer had less than $400 to spare going into the crisis and spends an average $108 per year on bank charges, highlights the extent to which she feels the business model needs to be changed.

Violet has broad experience across the financial services and technology sectors and notes joining Varo was “like Coming home, full circle to a FinTech which is both technology and a finance player”.

Hear more from Lisa Violet at FTT Virtual North America on September 9th.