Share

cover art for Convera with Patrick Gauthier | E353

Fintech Impact

Convera with Patrick Gauthier | E353

Ep. 353
•

The podcast features an interview with Patrick Gauthier, CEO of Convera Holdings, who discusses the organization's innovative approaches in the financial technology sector, focusing on cross-border commercial payments. Gauthier highlights the transformation and modernization efforts at Convera post-its acquisition from Western Union, emphasizing the challenges and opportunities embedded in this transition. The conversation revolves around the use of cloud technology, AI, and a significant focus on rendering advanced payment solutions in several market segments. Additionally, the episode explores the strategic direction of the

company, underlining the critical importance of cooperation with financial institutions and the adoption of real-time payment systems.


Episode Highlights:

  • 00:10: Introduction to the podcast and guest Patrick Gauthier, CEO of Convera Holdings.
  • 00:29: Patrick Gauthier expresses gratitude for being on the show.
  • 00:34: Overview of Convera, a large cross-border commercial payment network.
  • 01:46: Explanation of Convera’s core business value and services offered.
  • 01:51: Historical context on how Convera Holdings was formed from Western Union assets.
  • 03:19: Efforts and challenges in transforming Convera post-acquisition.
  • 03:38: The complexities involved in separating from Western Union.
  • 05:04: Details on modernizing the company with cloud technologies.
  • 06:36: How the company is balancing current services with future innovations.
  • 08:28: Adaptation to cloud telephony for better client services.
  • 10:00: Advantages realized from adopting new technologies.
  • 13:16: Collaboration and competition dynamics within financial services.
  • 15:17: The segmentation strategy in targeting market segments.
  • 19:00: Technological advancements enabling better customer experiences.
  • 21:15: The wish for simplified global payment rail infrastructures.
  • 28:05: Major challenges faced during company extraction from Western Union.
  • 30:00: Motivations behind Patrick’s continued efforts in fintech innovation.
  • 32:01: Conclusion and podcast closing remarks.


Key Points:

  • Convera Holdings is leveraging cloud technology and AI to provide innovative cross-border payment solutions.
  • The company has transitioned from Western Union into a separate entity, marking a significant milestone in its growth.
  • Real-time payment systems are seen as a future transformative force in financial transactions.
  • There is ongoing innovation in the fintech sector to enhance user experiences for commercial and consumer payments.


Tweetable Quotes:

  • "With the proper level of investments in modernization, we really see an opportunity to better serve our clients."
  • "In many ways, I think there is a need to simplify some of the underlying infrastructure."
  • "We have an opportunity to totally transform how services like ours are delivered."


Resources Mentioned:

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 453. Bretton AI with Will Lawrence | E453

    26:36||Ep. 453
    In this episode of FinTech Impact, host Jason Pereira sits down with Will Lawrence, co-founder and CEO of Bretton AI, where he’s building agents to help banks catch fraud and streamline compliance. Will shares how the idea took shape back at Meta Payments, where he led risk and compliance products and realized that sharp detection systems were just piling on repetitive follow-up work for investigators. He walks through how AI agents have evolved—from basic step-by-step prompts to reasoning models, and finally to tool-driven agents that can manage long, complex workflows. That momentum is already reflected in the numbers: Bretton has now run over five million investigations.Will breaks down what actually makes a “harness” work in practice: solid baseline instructions and guardrails with full citations and audit trails, paired with tools, performance checks, and memory that adapts to regulatory nuance. The conversation also tackles why banks are finally moving fast on AI, pointing to mounting costs, heavier regulations, industry consolidation, and fierce competition, while unpacking how those pressures play out differently at large versus small institutions. They wrap up by touching on the everyday friction of rolling out agents in established teams, and how Bretton is shifting from a fraud-focused tool into a wider platform for any regulated back-office job.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome to Fintech Impact00:38 Meet Bretton AI01:04 Origin Story at Meta02:24 Why Agents Beat Humans03:31 Three Eras of Agents06:15 Roles vs Skills Debate09:05 Domain Specific Harness13:57 Selling Banks on AI16:52 Big Banks Move Fast18:21 Jobs Fear and Adoption20:37 Platform Expansion Vision22:34 Rapid Fire Closing Questions25:23 Final Thanks and Wrap25:45 Outro and SponsorResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorBretton AILinkedIn - Will Lawrence’s LinkedIn

  • 452. Forms Logic Revisited with Rick Burgess | E452

    35:25||Ep. 452
    Host Jason Pereira welcomes back Rick Burgess, CEO of Forms Logic, to discuss how the company has evolved into a data-focused platform that makes onboarding, maintenance, and especially account transitions faster—often completing custodian moves in 30–35 days by knowing where data goes, what’s missing, and how to route it across systems. They explore why accurate, normalized data is essential for any AI use, and why deterministic logic still matters for critical workflows like account opening, names, and householding. Burgess argues AI mainly makes good developers faster and should be used cautiously around PII and core codebases, while its best near-term use in wealth management is improving client interactions and outcomes through long-term data patterns. He highlights industry challenges like legacy infrastructure, “formless” onboarding adoption, and the need for data normalization.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome Back Rick00:35 Forms That Don’t Suck01:59 Two Years of Growth02:21 Transition Engine Migrator04:05 Data Engineering Basics05:21 Mining Data for Predictions07:57 Agents Hype and Reality09:33 Security and Determinism15:51 AI Strategy for Advisors18:12 Why Universal AI Fails19:03 Why Profiles Fail20:27 CRM Data Limits21:36 Process Data Matters23:07 Legacy Tech Reality26:54 Guardrails For AI30:15 Formless Future Debate32:57 Rapid Fire Wrap Up34:43 Closing And CreditsResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorForms LogicLinkedIn - Rick Burgess’ LinkedIn

  • 451. AcquireUp with Greg Bogich | E451

    27:03||Ep. 451
    Host Jason Pereira interviews Greg Bogich, CEO of AcquireUp, a wealth-management-focused marketing services firm that helps advisors drive organic net-new asset growth by filling in-person seminars and workshops using direct mail, digital targeting, and data enrichment. Bogich explains AcquireUp’s origins as a merger of White Glove (digital-driven educational seminars with post-event pay models) and AcquireDirect (direct-mail and market/registrant insight technology) backed by Rockbridge Growth Equity. He outlines the process: define goals and ideal client profile, map local opportunity in Perspectix, target households near venues, capture registrations in LeadJig, and augment attendee data to help advisors prepare and prioritize follow-up. Typical campaigns involve two events, ~30 attending households from ~60 registrations, 8–14 meeting requests, and 1–2 closes, often producing strong ROI; AcquireUp runs about 100 seminars per day and sees opportunity in nurturing non-converting registrants.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro00:37 What AcquireUp Does01:03 Origins and Early Success02:19 Merger and Private Equity04:24 Advisor Onboarding Process05:40 Targeting and Lead Data07:59 Conversion Tracking Limits09:11 Ideal Client and ROI Math10:54 Data Sources and Local Focus12:26 Why In-Person Works13:55 Campaign Example Breakdown16:41 Scaling and Nurturing Leads20:22 Relationship Building Lessons22:32 Rapid Fire Closing Questions26:17 Wrap Up and SponsorResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorAcquireUpLinkedIn - Greg Bogich’s LinkedIn

  • 450. Episode 450 with John O'Connell | E450

    58:08||Ep. 450
    In episode 450 of FinTech Impact, host Jason Pereira welcomes back John O’Connell, founder and CEO of The Oasis Group, to unpack how generative AI has reshaped wealth management technology since ChatGPT’s launch. They discuss the proliferation of large language models, falling token costs, and why most advisory workflows don’t require frontier models. The conversation emphasizes pairing probabilistic AI for design and prototyping with deterministic tools like Python for repeatable, secure execution, and clarifies the difference between true agents and “glorified calculators.” They also cover the risks of vibe-coding into production, the importance of SDLC, vendor due diligence, and training, plus how orchestration layers are still immature. Looking ahead, O’Connell predicts more embedded agentic AI, reduced busywork, faster career paths, and previews Tara, Oasis’s digital worker for wealth tech intelligence.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome Back, John00:58 Oasis Group Overview02:12 Gen AI Changes04:52 Model Costs Matter07:10 Low-Cost Agents09:40 Deterministic Workflows12:13 What Is An Agent17:31 Vibe Coding Limits20:51 SDLC And Security27:05 Orchestration Agents29:36 Alfred Orchestration Limits32:03 Agents Need Real Engineering33:59 Vibe Coding Reality Check37:20 Hallucinations And Determinism39:19 Future Of Agentic Advisors43:20 Digital Worker Defined47:24 AI As Team Multiplier50:15 Training And Adoption Advice55:50 Tara Digital Worker Launch57:20 Wrap Up And CreditsResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorThe Oasis GroupLinkedIn - John O’Connell’s LinkedIn

  • 449. Enfi with Joshua Summers | E449

    32:16||Ep. 449
    In this episode of Fintech Impact, host Jason Pereira sits down with Joshua Summers, co-founder and CEO of Enfi. Enfi is an AI platform built to take the grind off lending teams—automating everything from document extraction and underwriting to portfolio monitoring and credit memo drafting.Summers says the company started after he spotted a glaring bottleneck in credit: lenders are bogged down doing 70 to 80 percent of their work on repetitive, low-value tasks. He walks through why off-the-shelf LLMs don’t cut it for this kind of work. Credit decisions require a tightly controlled framework—specialized ontologies, strict routing, built-in quality checks, and the kind of audit trails and explainability that regulators actually expect.They dig into why vertical, specialized AI agents are a better fit than broad, general-purpose models in regulated finance. Summers shares some hard numbers, too: clients have unlocked $300 million in additional lending volume without adding a single head, cut annual review turnaround from eight hours down to 45 minutes, and completely cleared an indirect auto backlog in just 90 minutes.The conversation wraps up with Enfi’s hands-on “proof of value” rollout strategy, and the human side of the equation—how teams actually adjust their workflows and mindset when bringing AI into established credit departments.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro00:34 What Enfi Does01:24 Origin Story and Insight02:42 The Human Capacity Crisis04:56 How Enfi Fits Workflows07:12 Credit Harness and Ontology10:00 Why Generic LLMs Fail11:01 Harnesses and Regulation15:57 Routing Models and Evals20:04 Customer Results and ROI22:07 Scaling Adoption and Change25:53 Rapid Fire Closing Questions31:11 Wrap Up and SponsorFacebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorEnfiLinkedIn - Joshua Summers’ LinkedIn

  • 448. Vanilla with Gene Farrell | E448

    32:42||Ep. 448
    In this episode of FinTech Impact, host Jason Pereira interviews Gene Farrell, CEO of Vanilla, an estate planning platform built to help advisors deepen multigenerational client relationships by creating, managing, and analyzing estate plans. Farrell explains the company’s origins with founder Steve Lockshin, who turned a manual, time-intensive document-review process into software, then scaled it into a standalone business after raising a Series A led by Venrock in 2021. The conversation covers Vanilla’s client engagement tools like Estate Health Check, state-specific document building, and AI-driven analysis that flags gaps such as improperly executed documents, unfunded trusts, or outdated plans after interstate moves. Farrell also details why Vanilla was built for enterprise early—driven by clients like Vanguard—emphasizing security, role-based controls, and obfuscating PII from AI models, while staying focused on end-to-end estate planning depth rather than expanding into adjacent tools.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome to Fintech Impact00:33 Future-Proof Ice Cream Banter01:12 What Vanilla Does01:58 How Vanilla Started04:44 Gene Joins as CEO06:15 Getting Clients Engaged07:32 Estate Planning Explained11:25 AI Document Analysis12:43 Growing AUM and Family Ties16:19 Attorney Network and Flexibility18:17 Why Enterprise First22:54 Staying Focused on Estate25:42 Rapid Fire Closing Questions31:51 Final Thanks and Wrap UpResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorVanillaLinkedIn - Gene Farrell’s LinkedIn

  • 447. Practifi Revisited with Adrian Johnstone | E447

    39:46||Ep. 447
    Host Jason Pereira interviews Practifi founder/CEO Adrian Johnstone about how Practifi has evolved for a post-GenAI world, launching a second product, Sentir, alongside its existing Naya platform. Johnstone explains Practifi’s OEM approach on Salesforce (platform-as-a-service, not a simple industry overlay) and why bolting AI onto a traditional navigation-led CRM is limiting, leading to a “burn the boats” redesign. Sentir is positioned as an AI-native CRM with a digital workforce of 16 agents, native ingestion of email and call transcripts, role-specific insights for advisors, operations, and executives, and auditable, citation-backed outputs to address regulated-industry trust and compliance concerns. They discuss structured vs. unstructured data, deterministic vs. probabilistic AI, risks of fragmented point solutions and “vibe-coded” layers, the importance of robust APIs, and objections to variable AI consumption pricing in favour of predictable subscription use.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome Back Adrian00:35 Naya Versus Sentir01:39 Salesforce OEM Difference03:23 Why Rebuild For AI06:59 Giver, Not Taker CRM08:37 Burn The Boats11:19 Digital Workforce In Action13:56 Audit Trails And Trust15:14 AI Pricing Debate20:36 MCP Versus APIs24:24 Vibe Coding Risks32:42 Small Firms Big Power33:27 Sixteen Agent Categories37:13 Final Three Questions38:56 Wrap Up And GoodbyeResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorPractifi LinkedIn - Adrian Johnstone’s LinkedIn

  • 446. DeepVest with Toby Wade | E446

    25:23||Ep. 446
    In this episode of FinTech Impact, Jason Pereira sits down with Dr. Toby Wade, CEO of DeepVest, to explore how wealth management firms can leverage AI without worrying about false information or incorrect math. Wade explains how DeepVest’s "hallucination-free" AI stack uses pre-coded, deterministic calculations for structured financial data, ensuring the system returns exact portfolio analytics and refuses to guess unsupported numbers. Listeners will learn how DeepVest evolved from natural-language backtesting into a complete advisor platform that accelerates proposal generation, portfolio stress-testing, and meeting prep. By integrating directly with existing CRMs and custodians, the platform helps advisors win new business and scale AUM without taking on the role of a custodian or trading desk.  Give this episode a listen to discover how deterministic AI is giving wealth managers institutional-grade analytics without the risk of hallucinations.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome to Fintech Impact00:37 What DeepVest Does00:57 Origin Story and Focus01:56 Deterministic Analytics Engine04:25 Why LLMs Hallucinate07:04 Expanding Into Proposals08:41 All In One Advisor Platform10:15 Data Context and Guardrails14:34 Real World Advisor Wins18:33 Future Butler Service Vision19:59 Where DeepVest Wont Play21:20 Rapid Tech Adoption Wish23:23 Startup Challenges and Wrap24:39 Closing and Sponsor MessageResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorDeepVestLinkedIn - Toby Wade’s LinkedIn

  • 445. Launch Lemonade with Cien Solon | E445

    30:55||Ep. 445
    In this episode of FinTech Impact, Jason Pereira sits down with Cien Solon, founder of Launch Lemonade, to explore how domain experts can build custom AI tools without writing code. Solon explains how the platform acts as an AI marketplace, allowing industry experts to package their knowledge into specialized AI "agents" that businesses can safely deploy.The conversation highlights how Launch Lemonade solves low corporate AI adoption by providing a secure, audit-friendly environment that supports over 100 language models. By combining flexible model options with natural-language workflow tools, the platform allows regulated businesses to automate complex tasks while ensuring complete data privacy and compliance.Be sure to give this episode a listen to discover how custom AI agents are helping experts monetize their knowledge and giving businesses a safer way to adopt AI.Episode Highlights:00:00 Welcome and Guest Intro00:30 What Launch Lemonade Does01:12 Origin Story and Branding02:24 Why Generic AI Fails04:15 Expert Built Agents and Security05:50 Defining Agents and Harnesses08:38 Multi Model Strategy and Costs16:13 Building and Running Workflows18:41 Customers and Use Cases21:46 Roadmap Payments and Collaboration25:00 Founder Q and A Wrap Up29:55 Final Thoughts and OutroResources:Facebook – Jason Pereira's FacebookLinkedIn – Jason Pereira's LinkedInWoodgate.com – SponsorLaunch LemonadeLinkedIn - Cien Solon’s LinkedIn