How to Lend Money to Strangers
Episodes
Lending without guessing, with Christo Georgiev
30 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This episode was recorded live at Money20/20 in Bangkok, so first and foremost, a huge thanks to the team there that are always exceptionally professi...
The house that bitcoin bought, with Josip Rupena
23 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Life got in the way of my episode release schedule for a bit there, and so a few months have passed since I sat down with Josip Rupena to discuss...
Empowered brokers sell better mortgages and better mortgages are, well, better for everyone, with James Tucker
16 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Smater advice leads to smoother lending, so today I am sitting down with James Tucker, CEO at Twenty7tec Group, talking about how his solutions, helps...
How lenders are navigating volatility in 2026, with David Silverstein
01 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Happy New Year! I'm in Tallinn, hopefully showing my South African nieces some snow, though this winter is staying stubbornly mild. Anyway, that's not...
How AI and behavioural economics can re-humanize financial services, with Diederick van Thiel
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"We live in a world where AI is transforming everything, but the real opportunity isn’t in automation: it’s in reimagining systems around people."...
Giving credit credit in the board room, with Marlize Buys
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Data analytics is no longer an isolated and arcane backroom activity to be understood by only a handful of geeks, it's at the core of every successful...
Put a bit of juice in the tank, with Katherin Chan
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We typically explain SME under lending as a supply gap: staid banks don't want to, or simply don't know how to, lend to new-fangled businesses. And to...
Your branch on your phone , with Albert Howard
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
the world's most widely-sourced lending insights Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to teach money to students, with Latreace Wells and Rod Griffin
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
While it is true that our mistakes are a great source of learning, it is also true that they can be a very expensive source of learning. This is parti...
P2P funding for Europe's farmers, with Nikita Goncars
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Agricultural loans offer a unique combination of high collateral and EU subsidies – in a crisis-resistant sector. Lande gives us exclusive access to...
The loans that fund life's biggest moments, with Scott Baker
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
People don't want mortgages; they want houses, and mortgages are just the unavoidable, often overly-complicated means to that end. Scott Baker underst...
Modern fraud solutions for modern fraud problems, with Rob Meakin
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We’re increasingly seeing collaboration between cybercrime, fraud, organised crime and money laundering. Organisations face mounting challenges...
Cashflows and credit for SMEs, with Guga Gorenstein
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Corporate cards, payments, accounting, and credit for growing businesses in 25+ countries - there's a lot to cover today, and then we also chat about ...
Collecting from debtors is hard, but often not as hard as selling to strangers, with Amanda Morrison
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you're fed up with chasing unpaid invoices and debts, iCollect's DIY debt collection software might be the solution for you. You don't have to be a...
Flexible and intelligent collections for improved returns, with Hannah Baynham
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Getting out of debt has never been harder, and, yes, a sluggish economy and the cost of recovering from a global pandemic play a big role in this, but...
Work's a joke anyway, so they made it a game!
07 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Suren Rastogi started his career in financial services, but, called to do something a little more exciting, he has broken away to pursue his dream of ...
Banking (and lending) for the eco-conscious masses
31 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Banking that's good for you and the planet. You can see the GreenFi offering first-hand at https://www.greenfi.com/. GreenFi helps you save money, ear...
Unbankable, making a movie about lending
24 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Luke Willms is an award-winning writer, director, and producer... and he's interested in lending. Unabnkable is the culmination of a seven-year, seven...
Embracing GenAI in credit risk
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
McKinsey recently surveyed senior credit risk executives from, among others, nine of the top ten US banks, and they asked them about their organisatio...
An AI-powered link in the chain
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Simplified funding for SMEs: pre-qualification in minutes, funded within a day, this is not the business lending of yesteryear. Credibly is at home on...
What are the odds?
30 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
I've just added a new section to the website, featuring affiliate links to all the books written by the great guests we've featured on this show - htt...
Outsourcing AI
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Very early in my career, back in the days when the details from paper forms had to be typed into a computer to get the application process started, I ...
Behind the scenes: investing in loans
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
You can't lend money if you don't have capital. And you can't grow your capital if you don't deploy it. There have long been matchmakers to link those...
Growing a business in vitro
19 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with high ability on a given task tend to underestimate their competence, while those with ...
Funding the green home revolution
16 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This is an unscientific guess, but I have to believe that the vast majority of us would prefer to get our power needs met by renewable sources in our ...
How to Lend Money to Billders
12 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live in Austin, Texas at the offices of Billd, this episode of HTLMTS explores the ways in which Christopher Doyle and his team are removing ...
How to Lend Money to Regenerative Farmers
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
"I am done with apologies. If contrariness is my inheritance and destiny, so be it. If it is my mission to go in at exits and come out at entrances, s...
Selling clarity in a volatile market
05 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Twenty years ago, the economy of Zimbabwe hit global headlines for its hyper-inflation: Wikipedia tells me prices rose 89.7 sextillion percent in 2008...
How to set goals and actually achieve them this time!
31 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A cross-over episode to celebrate our crossing over from 2024 to 2025 😜 a time we traditionally think about goals for the future. But while goal se...
How to try a new podcast aka the hAIghtened senses feed take-over
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I've been busy with the kids' end-of-year activities, with a bit of camping, with a bit of drinking in Belfast, with a bit of planning for a trip to P...
Innovation for interesting markets
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Adrian Pllay has an unusually deep understanding of some of the world's more interesting markets. We've heard a lot about the US and the UK on this sh...
Lenders leaping forward, with Paul Weiss (Simbuka)
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"If my mom asks me what I do, I say I work for a company that helps financial institutions worldwide to make lending simple". Paul Weiss is talking ab...
A global study of credit self-monitoring, with Charlie Wise (TransUnion)
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the last five years, one hundred million Americans have started to monitor their credit reports with TransUnion for the first time. One hundred mil...
A modern, digital loan for India with Kabeer Chaudhary (ClickMyLoan)
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"So as I as I always say, Brendan, India is now the coolest party in town and if you are late, you might not get in!"The story of Indian fintech is on...
Building a green credit score, with Daniel Mclean (4most)
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As an industry, we've been using scorecards as objective and comparable measures of credit risk for generations. We've used this experience to get mor...
Closing the SME funding gap, recorded live at Money20/20 with Rob Straathof (Liberis)
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week I had the pleasure of hosting back-to-back live recordings of this podcast in the MoneyPot studio, a glass-walled thing of beauty on the Mon...
Real-time data for collections, recorded live at Money20/20 with James Hill (Flexys)
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last week I had the pleasure of hosting back-to-back live recordings of this podcast in the MoneyPot studio, a glass-walled thing of beauty on the Mon...
Lessons from the Chinese model, with Richard Turrin (Author & Consultant)
30 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Five years ago, cash was involved in every fourth POS transaction in China. Today, it is involved in 1 in 14, and in two years, it is expected to be i...
Funding growth in modern economies, with Ritwik Ghosh (Seedflex)
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Grab is by far the largest ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia, the largest food delivery platform, one of the largest digital payment methods, an...
Fighting illegal money lending, with Catherine Wohlers (Stop Loan Sharks)
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last time the research was done in England, 1.1 million people were borrowing from illegal lenders... and that was two years ago, before the cost of l...
Funding families, with John Aronica (Gaia)
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Roughly 15% of hopeful parents worldwide would be eligible for IVF - from a medical eligibility perspective - but today, only about 2% are able to ac...
Cross-border lending in the EU, with Kaido Saar (MiFundo)
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I was going to use a quote from Drachen here, because I remembered being quite proud of how I described Tallinn in there, but it turns out I remembere...
Understanding customers. Getting them into houses. with Chris Schutrups (The Mortgage Hut)
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"It started by just going out and networking, listening to people, asking them what worked, what didn't work, you know, ringing up estate agents sayin...
Zero interest Zero fees Zero new credit, with Alex Forsyth-Thompson (Float)
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“Buy now and pay in up to 24 monthly instalments using your existing credit card. Zero interest. Zero fees. Zero new credit.” With copy that go...
Lending: it's a risky business, with Carolyn Rohm
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Always curious, always outspoken, Carolyn Rohm has a deep passion for helping analysts and analytical teams to engage with the wider business and stak...
Automating complex data-driven decisions, with Martin Chudoba (Taran)
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The global covid pandemic shut down a lot of things, but new vehicle supply chains were among the hardest hit. A knock-on effect of that was that Tara...
Mobile-first lending in Tanzania, with Nassor Abubakar (NMB Bank)
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Caleb Maru called M-Pesa the "company that changed Kenya forever", and the crazy thing is, its impact was even bigger than that - because the dominoes...
Unleashing CreditPy, with Ayhan Diş
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the world of data science, there are people like me, who have signed up for an online Python course but just not got around to starting it yet, and...
Have you talked to your kids about data science? With Daniele Forni (HSBC)
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"Data is a bit like the blood of an organisation. It goes everywhere. However, because it goes everywhere, you cannot just silo it somewhere. Of cours...
Streamlining Australian home loans, with Vincent Turner (Uno Home Loans)
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Designers speak about 'the job to be done' - you don’t need a taxi or an Uber or tuk-tuk, you need to get home to bed; you don’t need a mortgage, ...
Rwanda on the rise, with Sam Tayengwa (TransUnion)
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Rwanda is rising as a regional financial centre, catching the East African fintech wave to drive economic and social transformation and to broaden fin...
A massively more inclusive credit score, with Charles Wandia (gnuGrid CRB)
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The story of East African fintech is built around the mobile phone. Not the smartphone, mind you, but the humble feature phone. In markets where all b...
A canary in the credit mine, with James Fell (Credit Canary)
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"At its core, Credit Canary is a data platform that consolidates and reconciles multiple different data sources in a standardised way to produce a rea...
The only mortgage you'll ever need, with Arjan Verbeek (Perenna Bank)
15 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
"It's important that in every interest rate environment, in every market environment, an average family can afford an average home" - Arjan Verbeek, c...
Turbocharged AI analytics, with Carey Anderson (1datapipe)
08 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Big data analytics used to require multiple sources of data, fed into your systems via a complex array of pipes of varying structural integrity: leaks...
Tokyo: Asia's next FinTech hub, with Morris Iwai
01 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Japan is an uncommon blend of known and unknown: I drive a Nissan, you might drive a Toyota, my TV is a Sony, and since my time in Hong Kong, my go-to...
Agile decision systems for modern lending needs, with Dmitriy Wolkenstein (Timvero)
21 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
You can't afford rigid systems in a world that moves fast, but also, for a long time at least, you couldn't afford agile systems in a more dollars and...
Aiming when you can't see the target, with Clare McCaffery (DirectID) and Jacobus Eksteen (Matogen AI)
17 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you want a model, you typically start with a target variable in mind. But sometimes that's not possible. Perhaps you're entering a new market or ...
Optimising credit limit increases for profit, with Cristian Bravo (Western University)
07 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Causality is the new explainability."We all know credit limit increases are one of the most, if not the most, important levers in the card profit mod...
Multi-currency and cross-border lending, with Jorge Juttner (Ritmo) and Maggie Gemmill (Currencycloud)
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I've got a drawer in my bedside table that is filled with an assortment of foreign notes and coins: euros and dollars and Rands that I need relatively...
Who defaults on Covid loans, with Maurizio Fiaschetti (University College London)
23 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
No good deed goes unpunished and no well-intentioned government loan program goes undefaulted upon, even more so when that government program was desi...
AI-powered lending for Colombian businesses, with Viviana Siless (Quipu Bank)
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly two out of every three Colombian jobs are in the informal economy! That's a huge number that needs to come down, and no doubt it will, but unti...
The right content in the right hands at the right time, with Nicky Senyard (Fintel Connect)
09 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We all love how easy it is to change bank accounts these days... until it is our customers (and their planned-on deposits) who are moving. After all, ...
Lithuanian fintech is compact and agile, with Jekaterina Rojaka (Creditinfo)
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's only thirty years since Lithuania's broke free from the Soviet Union, but already it's home a buzzing fintech scene: "Leapfrogging was probably t...
KYC Better, with Sasha Marley (Bonafidee)
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Trust matters more than ever, but in today's anonymous landscape, it is becoming rarer by the day. (At Bondafidee) we want to change that."I recently...
Building the scaffolding for a Nigerian credit boom, with Adedeji Olowe (Lendsqr)
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy. Or maybe not quite, economic variables can be hard to measure and somewhat fickle, but whatever way you slice thi...
Loans to build communities, with Moishe Gubin (Optimum Bank)
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Moishe Gubin is a workhorse, a mule. And now it's paying off: for him, for the banks he leads, and for the communities they serve. In today's episode ...
Lending against distressed properties not to distressed borrowers, with Todd Pigott (ZINC)
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Distressed property can always be repaired, not so distressed people. And so we focus on distressed properties. And that platform has worked very, ve...
Enhancing decision accuracy, with Maik Taro Wehmeyer (Taktile)
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"If you help a bank to create lending IP, there's always a question around 'who now understands how it works' and 'who owns it'. And the lending IP, t...
In the end, it's all about the people, with Robbie Blake (Northreach)
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We've spoken about lending systems, we've spoken about lending models, and we've spoken about the nuance of diverse markets and even more diverse mark...
Bridges to Credit: Alternative Data and Inclusive Finance, with Santiago Espinoza (LexisNexis Risk Solutions)
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most exciting things about working in emerging markets is the opportunity to leap frog old systems - a tool that once had a cutting edge is...
Cross-border BNPL in Brazil, with Vinícius Vieira (BEXS)
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Fifa World Cup is the biggest prize in football. So, about ten years ago now, the world's best men's team headed to Brazil with glory on their min...
Advanced analytical models, with Dr Joseph Breeden (Deep Future Analytics)
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Joseph Breeden is an entrepreneur and a researcher. or perhaps I should describe him as an entrepreneur and a discoverer, so keen is his curiosity....
Resilience and speed, with Svitlanka Sergiichuk (NeoFin)
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today is Ukraine’s National Day, so there's no better time than to support the people in their endeavours to survive and resist the Russian invasion...
A look at revenue-based finance, with Pratik Sawal
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It’s hard enough for consumers who earn precipitable salaries to manage unpredictable expenses, so imagine the situation for fast-growing e-commerce...
A path to profitable lending, with Maik Taro Wehmeyer (Taktile)
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Profitability is paramount for the global lending industry in 2023. But for lenders to increase profitability under the new status quo, much of the i...
Know good | catch bad, with Sjoerd Slot
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Criminals keep changing the game. Which is annoying, don't they know our models depend on them re-enacting the past behaviours over and over and over ...
Scaling your impact, with Adriaan Schiphorst (Lendahand)
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This week sees a Dutch double-header on HTLMTS, with two episodes I recorded in Rotterdam while attending Money20/20. First up, a bonus episode that e...
Financing everyday essentials for everyone, with Mayur Patel (M-Kopa)
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We Finance Progress... when you visit www.m-kopa.com you're met with this brief but powerful message that, I think, captures the dual business and soc...
How to lend money to astronauts, with Russell Shaw (Equatorial Launch Australia)
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode stretches the lending niche, but fifty-four years ago, humanity landed on the moon, so I'm feeling flexible. And anyway, people lend t...
Pioneering mobile fintech services, with Seymur Mammadov (Simbrella)
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
"Living without a bank account is not only a hindrance to everyday life, but also stunts the financial growth of families and communities. Seymur Mamm...
Familiar but digital, with Rohit Bhargava (BOMTech)
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When I lived in Hong Kong, which was not all that long ago, there were these rather complicated-looking ATMs around town, covered with instructions to...
Credit for African creators, with Chinedu Enekwe (Nandi Labs)
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“So eventually we raised capital, left our previous platforms, and built this place where the black community around the world could feel like they ...
Buy Now Report to the Credit Bureau Now, with Simon Forster (Experian)
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It's no secret that I am a fan of the BNPL concept while still being a little nervous about how it has been implemented. Some of the valuations have b...
How to lend money to underestimated entrepreneurs, with Demi Ariyo (Lendoe)
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lendoe are a UK-based lender focused on supporting black, ethnic minority and early stage entrepreneurs. Their journey started when a few young adults...
It's people helping people, with Craig Smith (JustLend)
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded yesterday in front of live audience at Money2020 Europe, I welcome Craig Smith back to the show. Last time we spoke, all the way back in epis...
Bridging the trade financing gap for Sri Lankan small businesses, with Lakshan De Silva (iLoan)
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Recycling is a good thing, right? Well, in that case, let me recycle this from yesterday’s show notes. Most consumers borrow to manage expenses. It’...
From bankrupt borrower to millionaire lender, with Matt Haycox (Funding Guru)
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Most consumers have a fairly steady income stream that turns hours into wages on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. Sure, we hope those payments r...
The evolution of consumer lending in Poland, with Bartek Staszewski
05 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Bartek Staszewski has seen the credit industry change during his career, but he's also seen his country change, and in the amplification of those two ...
This unicorn wants to eliminate the cost of consumer credit, with Philip Belamant (Zilch)
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
“So how is it that we can make credit more equitable and affordable? The question hasn't changed, it is the answer that needs to change.”In a trad...
Bridging the academic-practitioner divide at the Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference XVIII
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When I first conceived of this show, I actually assumed it would be more academic in nature, more about the practical 'how' than the strategic 'how' a...
Bringing their financially inclusive world to the UK, with Matt Davies (Nova)
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I've been an immigrant three times: into Denmark with Experian, into Hong Kong with HSBC, and most recently into the UK with TransUnion. So, I underst...
A Practitioner's Guide to Unsecured Lending Risk Management, with Frank Tian
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A credit risk specialist with over two decades in credit risk spread across Canada and the US, Frank Tian now writes, teaches, and consults on a wide ...
Flexible and adaptable loan terms, with Damien Burke (Custom Credit)
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
☝️ Click above ☝️ to follow the show, it is pretty much the only thing that keeps the show visible and it makes me very happy.Paydown curves a...
Special re-release: How to stop lending money to strangers and follow your dreams, with Gideon Griebenow (World Turtles)
03 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Hawking starts A Brief History of Time with an anecdote he attributes to Bertrand Russel who, having just finished a lecture on the heliocentr...
Untangling bureau data, with Dillon Harindiran (Slipstream)
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Last week I compared credit bureaus to city walls, defensive structures that, because they’re solid and immovable, can keep the riskiest of customer...
'New to credit' shouldn’t mean 'too risky for credit', with Charlie Wise (TransUnion)
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
About five years into my time in Hong Kong, I slipped my foot into a shoe only to bump into a frog sleeping inside it. Rough calculations say that, by...
Community-sourced loans for SMEs, with George Cook (Honeycomb Credit)
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I scheduled this episode to follow the Honey Badger episode because I liked the alignment of their names, but I could just as easily have linked it to...
Imagery that only your customers will know, with Matt Salisbury (Honey Badger)
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
I'm bad at passing KYC checks. I know the classics, mother's maiden name, first pet, colour of my first car, all that sort of stuff. But, chances are,...
Your interest paid in fine wine, with Maxime Debure (WineFunding)
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
When you lend someone money, you give up the usage of those funds - temporarily if things go well, permanently if they don't - and so, to make it wort...