Ep. 49: Connecting the Chasm Between Banks and Fintech
Trent Sorbe
Founder and President, Central Payments
Co-founder, Falls Fintech
On This Episode
Trent Sorbe joins the Financial Experience Podcast to discuss innovation in the fintech space, payment partnerships, and why banks should act like a toaster. Yes, a toaster. The comparison will make more sense after you tune in.
Our latest guest is the founder and president of Central Payments, the country’s fastest growing prepaid card issuer, and the co-founder of Falls Fintech, a 12-week accelerator program for fintech startups. Trent visualized Central Payments as a way to fuel bank growth while still connecting consumers who didn’t have full access to great financial products. The platform company was born after taking a focused look into improving banks’ payment infrastructure and how “to be essential” as a tech provider.
Falls Fintech was developed to make difficult partnerships easier and “connect the chasm” between banks and fintechs. The early-stage fintechs in each cohort are given opportunities beyond an investment - including an extensive education and a network of expertise during a high-stress period.
As they approach their fourth cohort, Trent shares a special interest in companies that fix a payment pain point, and he notices how product concepts have morphed over a short period of time with more companies offering non-card based solutions. He also talks about “real" Banking-as-a-Service and what it means to provide this type of solution to companies across the country.
In the coming years, Trent is excited to add feature functionality to the Central Payments platform to remain essential and relevant. He is also looking forward to building more dependable partnerships with companies searching for an enablement solution. Listen to the latest episode to hear more from Hunter and Trent on fintech innovation and the accelerator environment.
More About Trent
Trent Sorbe is the President and Founder of Central Payments, the payments subsidiary of Central Bank of Kansas City. He was an architect of Central Payments’ Open*CP Fintech API MarketplaceSM, one of the only true bank-as-a-service payment platforms and the technology responsible for Central Payments’ rise to the fastest growing prepaid card issuer since 2015.*
With more than 28 years of debit, credit, and prepaid payments experience, Trent is responsible for products garnering nine Paybefore Awards, three of which garnered Best in Class or Category. He is also the inventor on 14 patents related to consumer financial services. Trent previously held senior positions at three nationwide payment card issuers and the FDIC.
In 2016, Trent was named to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Community Bank Advisory Council and chaired the agency’s Cards, Payments, and Deposit Markets Committee. He is a co-founder of Falls Fintech, a startup accelerator program committed to bridging the bank-fintech partnership gap and sits on the Board of Directors for the Central Bank of Kansas City.
Find Trent on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/tsorbe
*Source: The Nilson Report, 2015 to 2019.
