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Jo Ann Barefoot explores how to create fair and inclusive consumer financial services through innovative ideas for industry and regulators

Fintech4Good: Sunrise Banks CEO David Reiling

Barefoot Innovation Podcast

Fintech4Good: Sunrise Banks CEO David Reiling

Jo Ann Barefoot

Most of the country, and much of the world, is locked down to counter the pandemic. If you’re like me, most of your interactions with people center on the virus. We’ll be doing shows on those topics, but I also think it’s worth remembering that life goes on and there are other things to talk about..

In that vein, we have a series of shows that we recorded before the crisis, and I’m going to keep bringing them to you.

Today’s guest is David Reiling, CEO and Chairman of Sunrise Banks and author of the book, Fintech4Good

My conversation with Dave is very rich, partly because he looks at the issues we discuss on Barefoot Innovation from multiple angles that most people don’t combine --  from the vantage point of community banks, of fintechs, of social mission, and of regulatory change.

Dave’s banking career started as a teller in inner city Los Angeles amidst social unrest, near the site of the Rodney King riots. The bank, which was robbed three times in his first month, was in a neighborhood of good people who were being poorly served because of where they lived. Dave learned a lot from the experience and took his insights back to his hometown in Minnesota. There he bought a community bank that was struggling and would have failed, if its neighborhood had failed. 

In our conversation, he tells the story of learning how to serve the unique needs of that community, and help it thrive. Today he leads a group of innovative banks in a billion dollar organization that is the country’s third largest issuer of prepaid cards. Sunrise is a certified legal benefits corporation -- a B corp -- and a Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI. It is also a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values, operating in ten countries through fintech partners.  

David likes to emphasize the business advantages of being a mission-driven, double bottom line company. He says, for example, that it gives him a huge edge in recruiting top talent. He also believes it also saves on compliance costs. It’s a fallacy, he says, to assume that banks operate in a “scarcity” marketplace in which profits and values have to be traded off against each other.

He also offers insights on key steps regulators should consider, including on the need to push their innovation agendas quickly out to their field examiners.

We talked about David’s book, Fintech4Good. He offers community bankers practical advice about how to accelerate their technology journey and argues that, far from fearing technology, they should seize on it as a massive opportunity to better serve their customers and expand access, especially by engaging with fintech companies and thinking beyond their traditional product lines. 

David says the difference between banks that will succeed and those that fail is going to be entrepreneurial spirit, good governance, willingness to partner, engagement with regulators, and courage. He says anyone who still has a mindset of “this is how my father and grandfather did banking,” will not survive.

He also said something I believe and try to live by, myself:  In today’s fast-changing world, it has become more risky to stay the same than to try something new.

Links

More on David

David Reiling is a social entrepreneur who is an innovator in community development finance and financial inclusion. He is the Chief Executive Officer of Sunrise Banks and has been in the community development banking industry for more than 25 years. Under David’s leadership, Sunrise Banks became the first Minnesota bank certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a certified B-Corp, a legal Benefit Corporation, and a member of the Global Alliance of Banking on Values.

Sunrise has grown its assets its and social and environmental impact tenfold since David’s arrival in 1995. Total assets exceed $1.4 billion and is ranked by B Lab as one of the best banks in the world for positive social and environmental impact. Sunrise executes a two-fold strategy under one mission: to be The Most Innovative Bank Empowering Financial Wellness. As a place-based community development bank, it serves the urban core of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. As a people-focused financial institution, Sunrise partners with values-aligned financial technology firms to provide better access to convenient, easy-to-use, and fairly-priced financial services globally.

David is currently a board member of the Entrepreneur’s Organization of Minnesota and the Community Development Bankers Association. He is immediate past-Chair of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Community Bank Advisory Board. David has been recognized by Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal as a Most Admired CEO and by Ernst & Young as Entrepreneur of the Year. Trust Across America named him Most Trusted CEO for five years running and recently gave him their Lifetime Achievement Award.

David is a graduate of the University of San Diego and the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking. He is an avid surfer, bicyclist, and traveler. 

More for our Listeners

Remember to leave us a five-star rating on your favorite podcast platform so we can help more listeners find us. Please subscribe to Barefoot Innovation -- our newsletter, podcast, and updates, donate to keeping the show going, and follow me on Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also visit AIR to learn about the Alliance for Innovative Regulation and the exciting work we are doing in the Regtech space.

Coming soon, we will have conversations with Ellison Anne Williams, CEO of Enveil, and Colin Walsh, CEO of Varo. We’ll talk with Sarah Willis of the Metlife Foundation and Allie Burns, CEO of the nonprofit Village Capital. We’ll hear from Albert Forkner, State Banking Commissioner of Wyoming and from the founders of Sila, Shamir Karkal and Angela Wilson.

Finally, a note of caution:  Conferences are all suspended and so everyone is meeting virtually. We at AIR recently hosted a meeting on Zoom, which unfortunately experienced what’s called a zoom bomb, in which malicious actors briefly took control of the screen and microphones to project highly offensive materials. We solved the problem and were back up and running within a few minutes, but I’m mentioning it as a caution, especially if you have kids learning at home using a Zoom or similar platform. Check your security settings.

I hope everyone listening is well. Stay safe.

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The views and opinions expressed during the Barefoot Innovation podcast series are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Barefoot Innovation Group and its employees. Barefoot Innovation Group does not verify for accuracy the information contained in the podcast series. The primary purpose of this podcast series is to educate and inform.