Episode Details

Briana Marbury grew up in Detroit with one bank in the neighborhood. She opened an account after her first job. Then came the overdraft fees, and the fees on the fees. She had a choice: gas and groceries, or the bank. The bank account closed. So she went to the check-cashing place on the corner, five dollars at a time, for years — while the unpaid fees went to collections and marked a credit file that had barely started.

Financial exclusion doesn't always look like someone outside the banking system. Sometimes it looks like a closed account, a check-cashing counter, and a damaged credit file. Briana Marbury, President & CEO of Interledger Foundation, joins Theodora Lau to talk about living it — and about the unglamorous infrastructure work that could stop it happening to someone else.

But technology in and of itself was not going to be enough. They close the conversation on what’s next: Mexico, Colombia, and a growing push into US community banks and CDFIs. And on what gives Briana hope: that when she walks into a room with a government, they're not asking whether interoperability matters. They're asking how fast it can happen.

Hot take 🔥"I have a choice between either buying gas, buying groceries, or paying a bank fee bill — when I can go access my money right away at this corner store for five dollars."

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.

Keywords: fintech, personal finance, financial inclusion, payments, cross-border payments, remittances, Interledger Protocol, Briana Marbury, Interledger Foundation

#FinancialInclusion #CrossBorderPayments #Fintech #Payments

Timestamp:

00:00 Welcome and Introductions

01:09 Interledger Foundation Origins

02:59 Hidden Financial Exclusion

05:54 Personal Stories and Literacy

07:55 Interoperability for Inclusion

09:16 Fixing Cross Border Payments

13:48 Why Fees Persist

15:50 Lessons Working with Regulators

18:11 Plans for 2027

More about our guest

🌐Briana Marbury on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianamarbury/

🌐Interledger Foundation: https://interledger.org/

More about our host and One Vision Podcast

🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/

🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/

🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/

🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by Theodora Lau (Founder, Unconventional Ventures; author of Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence). One Vision goes beyond the headlines on AI, agentic commerce, dig