Happy New Year! I'm in Tallinn, hopefully showing my South African nieces some snow, though this winter is staying stubbornly mild. Anyway, that's not why you're here. The flipping over of the calendar is also a great time to think of the year ahead, and the trends that might shape it - and that's exactly what I did with David Silverstein, founder and CEO of Ned, whose 'Beyond the Breaking Point' report describes how lenders are looking to navigate volatility and rebuild for 2026.

Built for growth. Powered by cash flow. Ned's white-label platform transforms real-time financial data into faster credit decisions, smarter portfolio management, and more transparent borrower experiences. You can find them at home online at https://www.nedhelps.com/

David is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-silverstein-b904a27b/ (or https://www.linkedin.com/company/nedhelps/)

I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

Friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

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"We live in a world where AI is transforming everything, but the real opportunity isn’t in automation: it’s in reimagining systems around people." In today's episode, I'm speaking to Dr Diederick van Thiel, fintech entrepreneur, executive, academic, and, most recently, author of Brilliant Data, a call to leaders, innovators, and policymakers to create intelligent systems that don’t just think quickly, but also care deeply. "The future doesn’t belong to those with the most data. It belongs to those who understand it".

Oh, and because Dr van Thiel is a fintech founder, too, we also discuss a range of other topics, including how AdviceRobo's personality-based credit scoring can open up new sectors and thus approve more loans than traditional methods.

AdviceRobo is at https://advicerobo.ai/ and at https://www.linkedin.com/company/advicerobofixingglobalcredit/

Find links to the book at https://advicerobo.ai/brilliant-data/ (or via my featured book page https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads)

Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

As is the show, please follow its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/ (once you have followed, look for the circle with the three dots in the header section, click that and then 'invite connections' and invite any of your colleagues who you think might like the content

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

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Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

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Data analytics is no longer an isolated and arcane backroom activity to be understood by only a handful of geeks, it's at the core of every successful lending business.

For those of us that have grown up in data science, that's great news, but that rising prominence also means that a new audience must now come to terms with the implications of machine learning versus logistic regression scores, with gini coefficients and information values and bins and weights, etc. And that new audience is an important one: the Board.

Marlize Buys started her career getting hands-on with credit scorecards, then she helped to build a lending business of her own, and now she is advising the boards of major banks with that particular transition.

Marlize has been so busy optimising lending businesses that she hasn't quite got her website up and running, but Most Probably is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/most-probably/

Or you can speak to her directly https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlizebuys/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

As is the show, please follow its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/ (once you have followed, look for the circle with the three dots in the header section, click that and then 'invite connections' and invite any of your colleagues who you think might like the content

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.