Welcome to Season 2 of Collections Conversations, a new miniseries from Fintech Takes, sponsored by our friends at C&R Software.
The series digs into how generative AI is reshaping debt collections, and this season, we’re surveying everything that happens after origination by bouncing around different markets and talking to folks with different experiences.
In Episode 3, I sit down with Tal Schwartz, General Partner at North Exit Ventures, whose Canadian Fintech newsletter I’m a big fan of and whose background in Canadian financial services, particularly fintech and lending, shapes much of what we discuss.
We start with the Canadian lending market, where a handful of enormous banks control the vast majority of financial assets and nonbank lenders have found opportunities in the credit categories that banks can’t (or won’t) serve.
Tal estimates that Canada tends to lag the U.S. by 5-8 years in fintech product innovation. But that delay has its advantages. Canadian companies get to see what works elsewhere, and regulators get to see what doesn’t.
Many early-stage fintech lenders treat servicing and collections as a future problem because, well, they haven’t issued any loans yet. Tal thinks the irony is that, in the age of AI, this overlooked part of the lending lifecycle is particularly ripe for disruption.
We get into:
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Why Canada’s new interest rate cap could push some borrowers out of regulated credit markets, even as the country finally appears to be making progress on open banking
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How cash flow underwriting became an advantage for Canadian nonbank lenders long before traditional banks started warming to the idea
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Why Canada’s wave of mortgage renewals could show up in credit card and auto-loan delinquencies before it shows up in mortgage performance
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How AI could take on some surprisingly complicated servicing problems (including contact strategies that comply with different provincial laws)
Canada has a habit of watching which U.S. fintech products take off and Canadianizing the best of them. Maybe the U.S. could return the favor when it comes to open banking?
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This episode is brought to you by C&R Software.
More than just debt collection, C&R sets the global standard for AI-native, humanized credit management. They simplify the complex with end-to-end credit-risk lifecycle support, powered by automated workflows, AI-native intelligence, and real-time, data-driven decisioning. Learn more at https://hubs.ly/Q03Wl1DY0.
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