In the AI Stampede, Who’s Stopping to Ask the Right Questions? [LIVE FROM MONEY 2020]
June 11, 2025
In this special live episode from Money 2020 Europe in Amsterdam, host Merusha Naidu explores the AI revolution in payments with Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Ventures and author of "Banking on Artificial Intelligence," and Tim Joslyn, CTO at Paymentology. Together, they unpack the realities of AI in financial services, what’s working, what’s performative, and what’s missing the mark. They explore how AI is improving productivity, speeding up onboarding, powering internal support, and automating loan origination, while also confronting the risks of bias, misuse, and hype-driven decision-making.
In this special live episode of The Issuer Academy podcast, recorded at Money 2020 Europe in Amsterdam, host Merusha Naidu is joined by Theodora Lau, founder of Unconventional Ventures and author of "Banking on Artificial Intelligence," and Tim Joslyn, Chief Technology Officer at Paymentology. Together, they cut through the AI hype dominating fintech and ask what really matters: are we solving the right problems, or just adopting tech for the sake of it? From loan origination and multilingual support to productivity tools and internal AI agents, they share real-world examples of AI that works and call out where it doesn’t.
What You'll Learn:
- Why identifying the problem comes before choosing the AI solution
- How to move beyond "low-hanging fruit" AI implementations to create real value
- The difference between using AI for efficiency versus using it for transformation
- Practical examples of AI working well in financial services (loan origination, fraud detection, multilingual support)
- Why productivity gains should be your starting point for AI adoption
- The importance of democratizing AI access within organizations
- How regulatory environments affect AI implementation speed across different regions
- Why trust and transparency must be the foundation of AI in financial services
About the Guests: Theodora Lau is the founder of Unconventional Ventures and author of "Banking on Artificial Intelligence." She's a recognized thought leader in fintech innovation, focusing on responsible technology adoption and financial inclusion. Her work emphasizes moving beyond AI buzzwords to create genuine value for customers and communities.
Tim Joslyn serves as Chief Technology Officer at Paymentology, where he leads technology strategy for a global payments processing company. His pragmatic approach to AI implementation focuses on productivity gains and practical applications rather than technology for technology's sake. He's known for his hands-on leadership style and emphasis on democratizing AI tools across engineering teams.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode, and don't forget to rate and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify - we appreciate all feedback from our listeners!
Episode Resources:
The Issuer Academy: Innovate. Scale. Impact Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so