Couchonomics with Arjun

How Alan Built an €840 Million Health Insurance Business From Scratch

918 views · 2mo ago · 46:07

Health insurance is one of the few products people pay for while hoping they never have to use it. Alan is trying to change that. In this episode, Jean-Charles Samuelian, Co-founder and CEO of Alan, shares how the company built a full-stack health insurance platform designed around prevention, personalization, and everyday engagement rather than simply paying claims when something goes wrong.

Topics: What is Alan and “prevention insurance”? · Why build in a market customers traditionally dislike? · Why Alan became an insurer instead of a broker · Why combining insurance and healthcare changes the economics · How Alan is using AI across the business · Why AI shouldn’t determine your insurance premium

Why Brazil’s $225 Billion Lending Market Was Ripe for Disruption

99K views · 2mo ago · 41:37

Latin America has a massive consumer credit market, but high interest rates and short loan maturities continue to put pressure on borrowers. In this episode, Sergio Furio, Founder and CEO of Creditas, shares how the company built an asset-backed lending model around cars and homes, giving customers access to longer-term credit at better rates.

Topics: Why Sergio left New York to build Creditas in Brazil · The $225 billion lending opportunity Creditas saw · Why Creditas stopped relying on banks · Why complexity became Creditas’ competitive moat · Can cheaper credit and profitability coexist? · How Creditas cut the cost of producing a loan

Can Islamic Finance Compete With Conventional Banks on Experience?

166K views · 2mo ago · 52:17

Islamic finance must look beyond labels to compete on customer experience and everyday usefulness. Abdullo Kurbanov joins to share how Alif and Ayan Capital are scaling in Central Asia and the UK. In this conversation, Abdullo Kurbanov, co-founder of Alif and Ayan Capital , explains how building competitive financial products requires a rigorous focus on technology.

Topics: The Reality of Building a Digital Bank · Why Islamic Fintech Stays Under the Radar · The Unconventional Path Back Home · The Strategic Necessity of Owning the Core · The Next Frontier for Global Islamic Banking

The $80 Billion SME Lending Opportunity Banks Keep Missing

225K views · 2mo ago · 51:45

SMEs are central to the UAE economy, yet access to credit remains one of their biggest challenges. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Hassan Reda, Co-Founder & CPO of CredibleX, and Anand Nagaraj, Co-Founder & CEO of CredibleX, unpack why SME lending has remained difficult for banks and fintechs, and what needs to change to close the financing gap.

Topics: Why SME credit remains difficult to solve · How CredibleX approaches embedded SME lending · The three working-capital products CredibleX offers · Why payments data alone cannot solve SME lending · Building the balance sheet to scale lending · Who will win the race for SME lending?

Why Most Digital Banks Will Never Make Money

39K views · 3mo ago · 55:46

Digital banks have spent years chasing customer growth. But scale alone does not create profitability. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Simon Loong, Founder and Group CEO of WeLab, explains what it takes to build a successful digital bank across Asia.

Topics: Building one of Asia’s largest fintech companies · Leaving banking to become a fintech founder · Why fintechs pursue banking licences · The playbook behind profitable digital banks · Serving mature and underbanked markets · Can a pan-Asian digital bank succeed?

Who Should Control The Data You Create?

51K views · 3mo ago · 52:51

Every day we create data, but almost none of us know who really owns it. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, André Vellozo, Founder and CEO of DrumWave, joins the show to explore one of the biggest questions facing the digital economy: what if people could own their data the same way they own money?

Topics: What DrumWave is building · Why data behaves more like money than information · How data wallets could work · Turning everyday data into an asset · Who should issue data wallets? · Can people really earn from their data?

Can AI Build Fintech Unicorns Faster?

98K views · 4mo ago · 49:27

Can Europe build the next generation of global fintech leaders? In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Stefan Klestil, General Partner Fintech EMEA, joins the show to discuss venture capital, fintech investing, AI, digital assets, founder psychology, and why the Middle East and Africa have become one of the world's most compelling investment opportunities.

Topics: Why the next fintech giants may come from emerging markets · Investing across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa · What investors really look for in founders · Stablecoins, tokenization, and on-chain finance · Is European fintech losing momentum? · Meta Reality: AI, MENA, and the future of fintech

Why Open Finance Could Change UAE Banking

91K views · 4mo ago · 54:44

Is digital banking really about technology anymore? It is becoming a battle for customer relationships, trust, data, and who owns the financial experience. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Raheel Ahmed, Group CEO of RAKBANK, returns to discuss open finance, AI, stablecoins, SME banking, regulation, and the future of financial services in the UAE.

Topics: The future of banking, AI, and open finance · How UAE banks handled recent uncertainty · Regulation and the changing banking landscape · Why digital banking still needs a human touch · Payments, partnerships, and customer data · Stablecoins and tokenized deposits

Why Uzbekistan May Be Digital Banking’s Next Big Story

66K views · 5mo ago · 49:18

Digital finance is no longer only about banking apps and payments. It is becoming a question of infrastructure, trust, customer behaviour, and how financial systems evolve in emerging markets. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Uzbekistan, joins the show for a sharp conversation on digital banking, AI, open banking, and why Uzbekistan is becoming one of the most interesting financial markets to watch.

Topics: Trust, AI, and the future of banking · Why Uzbekistan is attracting investor attention · Lessons from Kaspi and digital banking growth · Open banking and interoperability in Uzbekistan · Building a digital financial ecosystem · Why AI became a major bet for TBC

When Hackers Understand Banks Better Than Banks Understand Hackers

197K views · 5mo ago · 54:32

Guest: Ralph Echemendia

Cybersecurity is no longer just a technical issue, it is now a human, business, and financial system challenge. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Arjun is joined by Ralph Echemendia, Ethical Hacker and Cyber Security Expert, for a sharp conversation on hacking psychology, cybercrime, AI-driven fraud, and why financial institutions need to rethink security.

Topics: Inside the mind of a hacker · Meet Ralph Echemendia, The Ethical Hacker · How hacking started for Ralph · Why banks struggle with human vulnerability · The penetration test that exposed a data centre · Cybersecurity myths and realities

What Happens When Trading Infrastructure Starts Changing the System

16K views · 6mo ago · 47:28

Guest: Yoshi Yokokawa

Before a trading app reaches a user, there is an entire system underneath it doing the real heavy lifting. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Arjun is joined by Yoshi Yokokawa, Co-Founder and CEO of Alpaca, for a sharp and wide-ranging conversation on brokerage infrastructure, on-chain finance, market access, and what it really takes to build financial products at global scale.

Topics: Why infrastructure matters more than people think · Meet Yoshi Yokokawa and what Alpaca does · Why this is a big moment for brokerage infrastructure · How trading behaviour has changed over time · Why financial products need cultural context · Trading, gambling, and the role of infrastructure

What Crypto Looks Like When It Starts Touching Real Money

12K views · 6mo ago · 47:18

Guest: Anton Golub

Money is no longer just held. It is moving, earning, and quietly reshaping the system around it. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Arjun is joined by Anton Golub, Founding Member of RWA Labs, for a sharp, grounded conversation on what is actually happening beneath the surface of crypto, stablecoins, and tokenization.

Topics: Bitcoin, yield, and why stablecoins are everywhere · What broke the crypto market and liquidity after October · Who really owns Bitcoin today · Strategy, leverage, and systemic risk · Stablecoin yield and regulatory pressure · Stablecoins vs monetary policy in emerging markets

Is Faster Money Making Financial Crime Faster Too?

161 views · 7mo ago · 59:12

Guest: Navin Gupta

Fraud is not new. But the scale, speed, and sophistication have changed. In this episode of Couchonomics with Arjun, Arjun is joined by Navin Gupta, CEO of Crystal Intelligence, and Nick Smart, Chief Intelligence Officer at Crystal Intelligence, to unpack the evolving world of crypto-related fraud, institutional risk, and the uncomfortable truth about financial crime in a 24/7 digital economy.

Topics: Fraud in the digital era and why crypto attracts it · What Crystal Intelligence actually does · Is crypto more opaque than traditional finance? · Industrial-scale scam compounds and modern fraud · The Lazarus Group and the Bybit hack · Velocity of money vs cost of fraud