The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 64: Josh Foreman, Founder & CEO, Indebted

As Founder and CEO, Josh has led InDebted from a startup to a high-growth industry disruptor. His strategic vision of merging cutting-edge technology with customer-first solutions has redefined industry standards, transforming InDebted into a global leader that's revolutionising how businesses manage collections.

InDebted is the global leader in human-centered debt resolution. Through its AI-powered platform, InDebted partners with forward-thinking organizations to deliver intelligent, compliant, and empathetic collections at scale. Its proprietary solutions — Collect and Receeve — help consumers navigate repayments in ways that are stress-free and aligned with their financial wellbeing. Founded in Australia and now operating across seven markets, InDebted is on a mission to change the world of consumer debt for good.

Discover more at www.indebted.co

In this episode:

1. How Josh stumbled into debt collection
2. How Josh wants to change the stigma of debt collecting, using technology
3. How josh started in B2B and then pivoted to B2C
4. Growth via technology AND acquisition
5. How do digital collections work versus the human touch?
6. The psychology and economics of ‘nudging’ people to pay
7. Expansion to USA – via Canada! How did that work?
8. Josh discusses the size and growth of the business: Indebted is now in 7 countries and have 500 employees, has 300-400 clients, 3-4m daily communications; 88% of payments now made via nudges from digital comms vs 12% via humans
9. Will “Ai Voice” change collections? Yes, it’s coming!
10. Josh looking for MD of the Australian business!
11. Josh discusses capital raising ($100m to date, latest Series C), investors who have been with him since the beginning: shout outs to Danny at Reinventure, and Dean from Carthona Capital; comments on Airtree coming on for the latest round (and why they passed on previous rounds!)

Making digital currencies available for everyone: from retail to Stablecoins to DeFi/Web3: a discussion with Coinbase

The FinTech Report Podcast: Episode 63: John O’Loghlen, MD Coinbase APAC

Founded in 2012, Coinbase is a digital currency wallet and platform where merchants and consumers can transact with digital currencies like bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. Coinbase want to make digital currency accessible and approachable for everyone.

Coinbase is listed on the NASDAQ – ticker code is ‘COIN’ – so they are regulated by the SEC. Coinbase has just under 3800 employees, and US$320 Billion funds under management.

John O’Loghlen is MD for Coinbase APAC - Prior to Coinbase John spent a decade with Ant Group and Ali Baba, spent many years working in China and other Asian countries. He started his career with Goldman Sachs in London.

In this episode we cover:

Fundamentals of digital assets: are they an asset, a currency, a commodity?

Over the past decade we’ve seen crypto adoption increase. How many Australians are holding digital assets? In addition to crypto, what other types of digital assets are they holding?

Retail, institutional and ‘Base’ – the developer platform.

Coinbase’s developer platform, Base, has been growing both in user numbers and transaction volume.

What is Base and what are some of the innovative projects being built on it?

We recently saw Australian institutions like AMP and Future Fund take positions – albeit small ones - in Bitcoin. Are we starting to see a shift in adoption from retail to institutional investors?

Is growing your SMSF, institutional investor, private wealth client book a priority for exchanges? Institutional investors tend to have lower risk thresholds than retail investors. How can you get them over line with this asset class?

We know Coinbase has advocated to urgently establish a national regulatory framework for digital assets. Why is this so important?

The issue of de-banking is a major barrier in adoption of digital assets, whereby banks are closing accounts of individuals and businesses for activities that relate to digital assets.

Why is de-banking such a problem?

https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-o-loghlen-b25494b/

Dan Jowett, CEO, Openmarkets Group

“It’s been a stunning change” says Jowett, when discussing retail equity trading

Prior to OMG, Dan was COO of stockbrokers Shaw & Partners, and prior to that was with accounting and consultancy firms PWC and KPMG.
Openmarkets Group describe the business as a technology-driven stockbroker with a mission to provide innovative products on a global scale to advance wealth management.

The business comprises Openmarkets, one of Australia's largest retail brokers providing a white-labelled tech stack for intermediaries and connecting fintechs to markets via enterprise APIs, and TradeFloor, Australia's leading risk management solution used by over 60% of the addressable market.

In this podcast we discuss:

1.Openmarkets founded in 2013. How has the business evolved?
2.You’re one of Australia’s largest retail brokers, what’s the competitive landscape?
3.A recent game-changer in the trading and wealth industry has been the rise of many low-cost / ultra-low brokerage digital trading services. What opportunity does this pose for Openmarkets?
4.In the past decade, Australia’s traditional wealth and advice models have changed (especially since 2018 Royal Commission). Has this created an opportunity for technology platforms?
5.Does Openmarkets have a view on AI and how AI could shape wealth management, trading tools, insights, advice?
6.Finfluencers – what do you think of them? rise of online investment education content across YouTube and Tik Tok. Has this new wave of online trading education changed how you or your customers think about your business now and into the future?
7.M&A opportunities? and you’re considering a potential listing?
8.What sort of influence has the US volatility had on your business/clients, be it regulatory activity, tariffs, markets, listing plans?