COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT ADVOCATES, TECH LEADERS, AND FINANCIAL SERVICES INNOVATORS ANNOUNCE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF FINTECH FUTURE: FINANCIAL INNOVATION FOR EQUITY AND OPPORTUNITY

Fintech Future brings together a diverse array of leaders from across the country to support responsible innovation in financial services and advocate for greater access for communities historically excluded or left behind by the traditional banking and financial system

Founding Members Include U.S. Black Chambers, Operation HOPE, Cross River, former SBA and Treasury Officials, Finance and Philanthropic leaders

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- To advocate for policies that support innovation, equity, and opportunity for all, leading community empowerment advocates and financial services innovators today announced the official launch of Fintech Future: Financial Innovation for Equity and Opportunity ("Fintech Future"). Fintech Future supports responsible innovation that breaks down traditional barriers to wealth creation and bridges the access gap to modern financial services in historically excluded communities. Responsible fintech innovation democratizes finance to create equity and give millions of Americans access to the resources they need to realize their dreams.

Through advocacy, public policy and coalition building, Fintech Future will work with community leaders and organizations, government partners, and regulators to support equal access to modern financial services while supporting responsible policies and efforts that ensure the highest levels of compliance, accountability, and consumer protection.

"For far too long the pathways to wealth creation have been closed off to non-white and underserved communities. Innovation across the financial services sector has broken down those barriers, offering new opportunities for families and small businesses who were long left out and behind. It is vital that our community of responsible innovators come together and speak out in support of policies that preserve and protect opportunity for all," said Tom Soto, a founding member of Fintech Future and Founder/Managing Partner at Latimer Partners, LLC.

"The rapid innovation in financial services has led to a generational shift in how non-white and low-income communities can access the resources they need to achieve their dreams. Responsible fintechs also stepped-up during times of crises to reach those who needed the help the most and are far too often left behind. Responsible fintechs launched safe and efficient application portals that were available to any eligible small business in need, regardless of whether or not they had a pre- existing relationship with a bank. Two years later, 1 in 4 Black-owned companies applied with fintech lenders to receive the support they needed to get through the crisis. What that tells us is fintech opened the gates to all, challenged the status quo and overcame the traditional biases and barriers to financial services normally reserved for the few. Fintech Future will advocate for responsible policies that embrace this innovation and guide its growth so it can deliver for our communities across the country,' said Natalie Madeira Cofield, founding member of Fintech Future and Former Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

As recently as 2008, when the system failed with the great recession, it was primarily marginalized, middle-class and low-income families, businesses and communities who bore the brunt with foreclosures and layoffs. Coming out of the great recession then and more recently the global pandemic, financial and tech innovators saw an opportunity to disrupt a broken system and build a 21st century financial infrastructure with the mission of democratization, inclusion and breaking down the barriers that had traditionally ostracized many disenfranchised borrowers. 

"It's time to embrace policies that support safe and proven financial innovation so that communities can get access to equitable financial services. Fintech Future is leading this mission and bringing to the forefront a national debate to advance policies that embrace innovation and support economic opportunities for all," said Gilles Gade, founding member of Fintech Future and Founder and CEO of Cross River.

To learn more, visit www.fintechfuturecoaltion.org or follow us at @fintech_future.

Our Story

For generations, legacy big banks have become the gatekeepers to wealth creation in America, and people of color have been systematically left behind financially. While some financial institutions have taken steps to invest in underserved communities, the 20th-century financial system's fundamental business model favored—and continues to favor – big businesses and the wealthy.

The history of innovation and disruption is the breaking down of old systems in favor of new paradigms to improve people's lives. The transformation of the modern financial system
is no different. Though some traditional institutions fear change, policymakers must approach the rapid innovation powering fintech as an opportunity to finally create real and long-lasting access and generational wealth for long marginalized communities, and regulators must follow suit.

We know change has been long needed. We support and vie for more digital banking solutions and shun check-cashing stores and predatory lenders including those who use technology to lend irresponsibly.  

In that spirit, our founding members have already gathered from at events from OUR KAIROS, from Tunica to DC, to Mississippi River Cities Initiative to Smart City Expo USA to lead the necessary dialogue about how fintech is meeting historically excluded communities where the traditional industry has left them seeking modern solutions. Now is the urgent moment to embrace responsible innovation and policies so that all communities can finally get access to equitable financial services.

Founding members include
Ashley Bell – CEO, ReadyLife. ReadyLife is a Black-founded fintech creating generational wealth for underserved communities. 

Hon. Kevin L. Boyce, Franklin County (Ohio) Commissioner

Melissa Bradley – Managing Director and General Partner, 1863 Ventures

John Hope Bryant – Entrepreneur and philanthropist who has built more than 40 organizations, entities and companies, including Operation HOPE, the largest non-profit financial inclusion organization in the country

JC Burton – Founder and CEO of Maven Construction, a women-owned Boston, Massachusetts-based company provides full-service general construction management, energy solution and energy retrofits in the built environment

Ron Busby Sr. – President and CEO of U.S. Black Chambers

Natalie Madeira Cofield – Former Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Gilles Gade – Founder, President and CEO of Cross River

Harry Johnson, Sr. – President and CEO of The Memorial Foundation dedicated to promoting awareness of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and its tenets of Democracy, Justice, Hope and Love.

Jill L. Johnson – Chief Executive Officer, Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership (IFEL)

Jade Melvin – National Minority Supplier Development Council 

Ambassador Crystal Nix-Hines – Partner, Quinn Emanuel and former United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.

Tom Soto – Founder/Managing Partner at Latimer Partners, LLC and environmental justice activist, impact investor, and leader in environmental technology and renewable energy

Calvin Williams, Jr. – CEO & Founder Freeman Capital

SOURCE Fintech Future