Banking on Information · 2025-11-16 · 15 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
48 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
ASA is an embedded finance platform operating as an app-within-an-app inside bank and credit union digital channels, solving the fragmentation problem created by the 12+ fintech apps most consumers juggle. Rather than requiring consumers to share credentials repeatedly with different services, ASA creates a private, secure vault connecting their entire financial ecosystem through their existing trusted institution. The platform integrates pre-vetted tools like rent-to-credit-reporting solutions and tax filing services, removing signup friction while keeping money and data within the consumer's chosen financial institution - a critical distinction from services like Synapse that failed. For banks and credit unions, ASA increases engagement, relevance, and member retention by offering sophisticated fintech capabilities without requiring direct infrastructure buildout. Glenn's vision extends to 2030, where KYC-verified bank identity replaces Google/Apple/Facebook login across the internet, enabling anonymous commerce with zero digital footprint, tokenized payments, and single-click checkout. The company has already signed its first enterprise contract with a major core banking provider, rolling out to 300 credit unions and 1.5 million users.
ASA is an embedded finance platform accessible as an app within your bank or credit union's existing app. It connects all your fragmented financial accounts, cards, and fintech apps into one unified, private vault where you can see your entire financial picture and access integrated tools like tax filing or credit-building services without leaving your trusted institution.
Unlike open banking where fintechs hold customer money in their own accounts (creating risk as seen in Synapse's failure), ASA keeps your money in your chosen bank or credit union while layering fintech services on top. This removes counterparty risk and eliminates the need to repeatedly share credentials and personal data across multiple platforms.
Banks and credit unions gain a way to offer modern fintech capabilities to compete with big tech, increase member engagement and time-in-app, and stay relevant without building proprietary technology. They can also offer pre-vetted, integrated services like rent-to-credit reporting and frictionless tax filing to drive member retention.
Glenn envisions bank-verified identity becoming the login standard across the entire internet, enabling anonymous commerce where users prove they have funds or meet requirements through zero-knowledge proofs without revealing personal information. Loans, real estate transactions, and all financial interactions would close in minutes or with a single click rather than lengthy paperwork.
ASA has signed its first enterprise contract with a major core banking provider, with plans to roll out to 300 credit unions and 1.5 million users. The company is pursuing enterprise partnerships to reach millions of consumers through single app updates rather than signing individual banks one at a time.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode contains some substantive business model explanation (embedded finance, the vault concept, Synapse failure reference) but is heavily padded with repetitive affirmations, vague aspirational language, and the host's frequent filler statements ('Yeah, yeah, mm-hmm'). The concrete insights - how ASA integrates with bank apps, the rent-reporting use case, the single sign-on vision - are present but thin relative to the runtime and could have been explored with much greater depth.
So instead of the FinTech having banking as a service where they would get their own cards and loans and your money would go into the FinTech, and all the risk as we saw with the Synapse failure and the money lost, your money stays at your credit union
we could analyze and see that they've paid their rent on time for the last two years and say, hey, we have a solution already integrated that will report your rent on your credit report and you'll get a better rate on your car loan
The core pitch - an embedded fintech aggregator living inside bank apps rather than standalone - is pragmatic but not particularly novel; similar concepts exist in open banking and super-app spaces. The 2035 vision of bank-backed identity as a sign-on layer touches on real differentiators (KYC verification, privacy, tokenization) but frames them in language that circulates broadly in fintech without deep first-principles reasoning or surprising contrarian claims.
We are an embedded finance platform that helps consumers to be able to connect their entire financial world seamlessly in one place
So it's this world where you'll have a virtual email, a handle, tokenization when you go to buy a piece of property. You won't have to tell them who you are. You can do a zero knowledge proof
Lyndon Glenn is a founder and CEO with relevant operational track record - prior company (Bonsai) in financial literacy with claimed 70% school penetration; launched ASA with early enterprise traction (300 credit unions, 1.5M users signed). However, the interview does not deeply test his expertise or press on execution risk, competitive dynamics, or revenue models, so we rely on his claimed credentials rather than demonstrated depth on difficult operational decisions.
I am driven to help consumers take control of their financial lives
My most recent company is called Bonsai. It's the largest financial literacy company in the country. It's in 70% of schools in America.
The episode includes some named reference points (Synapse failure, Bonsai's school penetration, 300 credit unions, 1.5M users, patent claim beating Apple by 3 months) but lacks concrete metrics on adoption rates, revenue, churn, or customer acquisition cost. The use cases are illustrated but vague: 'better rate on car loan' and tax-filing functionality are mentioned without specifics on impact or pricing. Most claims remain unquantified.
We've already signed our first enterprise contract with a core banking provider and digital banking providers, the fifth largest credit union core. And we're rolling out 300 credit unions, 1.5 million users.
It's in 70% of schools in America.
The host asks reasonable opening questions but rarely pushes back, probes deeper, or challenges assumptions. Most follow-ups are affirmations ('Yeah, yeah, that sounds amazing') rather than genuine inquiry. The host does not ask about competition, unit economics, regulatory hurdles, customer acquisition costs, or how ASA makes money. Difficult questions about platform stickiness, fintechs' incentives to integrate, or adoption timelines are absent.
Now that sounds very, very powerful and very easy. right?
I like that ambition to sort of say, Hey, look, this is probably where we should be or where we're going to be 10 years from now, but I want to be there five years from now.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
ASA’s CEO Landon Glenn shares how an embedded “app inside the bank app” unifies consumers’ financial lives, enabling private, secure connections to fintech tools and a KYC-backed, anonymous future of one‑click commerce.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
Rutger Van Faassen (00:02.485) Thank you for joining and Welcome to another episode of Banking on Information. Today, my guest is Lyndon Glenn, who is CEO and founder of ASA Welcome to the podcast, Lyndon. Landon Glenn (00:16.
152) Thanks for having me, Rutger It's good to be here. Rutger Van Faassen (00:18.387) Now, yeah, It's great to have you here. We always start with that very important question that I ask everyone.
Why Lyndon do you do what you do? Landon Glenn (00:28.95) I am driven to help consumers take control of their financial lives. So it all comes down to financial empowerment.
Rutger Van Faassen (00:37.867) So helping consumers take control of their financial lives and empowering them. Where did that come from? Landon Glenn (00:45.
934) You know, it came from at a young age, you know, seeing things in my personal life and being impacted in ways that caused me to do things differently and think about them. And, you know, as I grew when I was 18, I had an older brother that helped me get my first credit card and I didn't even know what it was. But that decision changed my trajectory and helped me to be able to buy my first piece of real estate when I was 22 years old. And get into real estate investing and having that mentor, having somebody that can guide you or some sort of tool makes a big difference.
And so my most recent company is called Bonsai. It's the largest financial literacy company in the country. It's in 70 % of schools in America. And ASA is really the next step in that in helping people to have the tools to manage their finances so everyone can have that mentor.
Rutger Van Faassen (01:41.515) Yeah. Yeah. Now that is amazing backstory.
And that really explains your why. right? You were looking for that yourself. You were looking for a mentor.
You found one and then realized how powerful that was. And now you want to pay it forward and help other people take control of their financial lives. That's a great why to start this conversation from. Now tell us at ASA, what is the number one use case that you help people solve for?
Landon Glenn (02:11.266) We are an embedded finance platform that helps consumers to be able to connect their entire financial world seamlessly in one place and helps them to be able to understand and be able to get the help they need in their finances for things they may not even realize. So if we're doing our job right, people are going to be making better decisions automatically. They're going to have better opportunities.
They're going to be doing better financially. Rutger Van Faassen (02:39.797) Yeah. So embedded finance solution.
So what does that mean in layman's terms or what practically does that mean for the consumer? How did they see that? Landon Glenn (02:45.966) Ha Landon Glenn (02:49.
41) Yeah, we're an app inside of an app. So we're part of the bank app. So whatever bank or credit union you use, you would have a button, you'd be able to hit it and it would open ASA vault. And then this would be your entire financial world.
So I've got mean, I'd say, I think 12 different fintechs and apps and credit cards on my phone. And I still have no idea what happened last week because it's so fragmented. Rutger Van Faassen (02:54.399) Yep.
Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.
Rutger Van Faassen (03:08.405) Yeah. Yeah. Landon Glenn (03:16.
322) So what ASA allows you to do is to bring them all into one single place seamlessly, but then also privately and securely, and then allows you to be able to use AI machine learning and then also combine that data with other technology solutions in a private secure way. So it basically gives you a vault where you have your whole financial world seamlessly connected to anything that you want through your trusted credit union, your trusted bank. Rutger Van Faassen (03:39.445) Yep.
Right. Right. And that's an important point. right?
You're basically saying in the app of the financial institution that you already trust, ABC Bank, just making an example, not naming any names, but like an ABC Bank or XYZ Credit Union, you go into their app and then the vault is in there like an app store. Is that how you can compare it? Landon Glenn (04:04.93) Yeah, so we have a lot of the basic features you'd get through like a quicken or mint or rocket money type thing.
And then we have, you know, an app store of solutions where we have pre-vetted, pre-connected tools, but it essentially replaces open banking. So instead of the FinTech having banking as a service where they would get their own cards and loans and your money would go into the FinTech, and all the risk as we saw with the Synapse failure and the money lost, your money stays at your credit union, but whatever card is in your wallet could literally become like an Acorns card or like a, you know, all the different fintechs out there, there's apps for different use cases and we layer those into your existing checking accounts and cards through whatever bank or credit union use.
Rutger Van Faassen (04:37.159) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Rutger Van Faassen (05:00.
607) Now that sounds very, very powerful and very easy. right? For people that have already selected their financial institution and sort of say, yes, I want something extra, but I already trust this one organization. So if I can get it through them, through the app that I already know, that's pretty powerful.
Now, how do your customers, so banks and credit unions that use that solution, and maybe also hear from end consumers, how do they talk about it when this works successfully? Landon Glenn (05:27.138) Yeah, it's increasing relevancy. So engagement, time in digital, consumers need a lot of things.
And if they have tools through their trusted credit union, where, for example, we could analyze and see that they've paid their rent on time for the last two years and say, hey, we have a solution already integrated that will report your rent on your credit report and you'll get a better rate on your car loan. Or we have a tool in our digital app that replaces TurboTax completely to file your state and federal taxes. It's already integrated, direct integration to IRS. it removes friction of the consumer having to go through a 10 or 20 minute sign up process, putting their name and social into all these other websites, putting their credit card and data on the internet.
And it allows them to sign up for things very easy, very simple, and sometimes with one click. Rutger Van Faassen (05:59.199) Yeah. Yeah.
Landon Glenn (06:22.912) and so it gives them access to the tools they need to live their best lives. Rutger Van Faassen (06:26.667) Yeah.
Yeah. So easy use, extra value for the end consumer, but also relevance for the credit union that can now offer all these new things and new FinTech offerings to their member base, where they otherwise would have to go and look for it themselves. they are looking bigger than they might have looked before, and they're actually looking as being very helpful. Landon Glenn (06:53.
28) Absolutely, yeah, for the financial institutions, they want to stay up to speed with the latest technology and trends. And then for the fintechs, they're looking for a customer acquisition engine distribution. And for the consumers, they get increased privacy, security, and reduced friction. Rutger Van Faassen (07:08.
575) Yeah. Yeah. Rutger Van Faassen (07:15.051) Yeah, no, That is very powerful.
It works for both the financial institution and the end consumer. That seems like a win-win. Now, I like to do this thing called Futures Thinking, where we think about a possible future. So we don't know what the future is going to hold.
We don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow. But we're going to try to envision a possible future 10 years out. So we're in 2035. What does the banking landscape look like?
What is... What do credit unions look like? What do fintechs look like? What are your thoughts on that 2035?
Paint us a picture. Landon Glenn (07:50.286) Yeah, in 2035, you'll be able to use your KYC verified bank identity to log into any website on the internet to do business with any company. And you'll be able to do it completely anonymous and with zero digital footprint.
So you'll be able to log in like think login with Apple or Google or Facebook. But you think of all the fraud on Facebook marketplace, they don't KYC verify. Rutger Van Faassen (08:13.397) Yeah.
Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Landon Glenn (08:19.
214) You know, just because you have an iTunes account doesn't mean you're real. So credit unions and banks have a constant KYC verification, but combining that identity to create trust on the internet where you can engage in commerce, but then bringing with that login all of your data connections, payment functionality, billing functionality, all tokenized. So imagine you go to a website and you're able to click and sign up. Rutger Van Faassen (08:29.
323) Mm-hmm. Yeah. Rutger Van Faassen (08:39.883) Mm-hmm.
Yeah. Landon Glenn (08:47.278) essentially with single sign-on within a few seconds without having to create an account. And you get to choose which accounts to share, what to link up.
You get to do a checkout that's anonymous and the card is charged and paid through a clearing account. So not even Visa is going to know what you're buying. It's completely different than the world today where today you're giving your information to hundreds of companies sometimes. They have your credit card numbers, they have your emails.
So it's going to be a world where you'll have a virtual email, a handle, tokenization when you go to buy a piece of property. You won't have to tell them who you are. You can do a zero knowledge proof and prove that you have the cash in escrow to fund the entire purchase and make an offer that is completely unbiased and the seller would be able to buy, you know, sell the property and get paid seamlessly. so removing a lot of the friction from other things like in real estate, all the loans that I've had to go through that process is a nightmare.
All the paperwork you fill out over and over and over again for no good reason. You'll have a digital financial statement that's verifiable, that'll prove your cash flow, that'll prove your ability to pay, and you'll be able to get those loans in a fraction of the time. Rutger Van Faassen (09:49.983) Yeah.
Yeah. Landon Glenn (10:07.222) and in some cases one click. Rutger Van Faassen (10:09.
813) Wow, that does sound like a very interesting future where basically your trusted financial institution is basically the gateway to everything. They can basically let you take care of a lot of things financially without having to share again and again all that data. Because we've all seen how, unfortunately, There's lots of breaches. right?
So every time you again, share that data, there's another risk that they're going to lose it. That is very powerful. And I think a lot of people are looking forward to that and might be a little bit kind of tired of having to share their data every time again. And yeah, I'm potentially losing it, right?
And they can pick that one trusted partner. That sounds like a very interesting future. that is the future in 2035. What do we need to do today to start getting ready for that?
Landon Glenn (11:03.95) Well, we've already signed our first enterprise contract with a core banking provider and digital banking providers, the fifth largest credit union core. And we're rolling out 300 credit unions, 1.5 million users.
We've got a pilot signed with one that has four times as many digital banking users. And so we're hoping that just by getting the technology in the hands of people and showing them a better way, a more private, a more secure and an easier way to engage in commerce that we can get this done before 2035. The only thing I'd change, I'd like to have it by 2030. So I think the consumers need more and there's so much that we can do with what we're putting together.
Rutger Van Faassen (11:41.651) Right, okay. Rutger Van Faassen (11:48.843) Yeah.
I like that ambition to sort of say, Hey, look, this is probably where we should be or where we're going to be 10 years from now, but I want to be there five years from now. That is, that is, I like that. I like that you, you're not going to just take this like lying down. You're actually going to try to beat the clock.
That's, that's amazing. Um, what, What do you think are the elements that will determine how quickly this goes? So you're, saying consumer adoption or any other things that will play into how, if we make it 2030 or 2035. Landon Glenn (12:18.
382) Yeah, I mean, with any platform, especially one with a multi-sided, you know, different participants in many different areas, the platform can really take off quickly once the adoption and the benefit is evident. And so having this first major rollout and having the first 300 credit unions turn it on, That's going to lead to people talking to their friends and saying, I can do this with my bank or credit union. where'd you get that? Or how are you doing that so easily?
yeah, it's this. And Now that's going to lead to increased engagement, more people asking for it. And then on the other side, with this first 1.5 million users, there's a lot of businesses and tech companies that want access to that user base as a distribution channel.
Rutger Van Faassen (13:09.984) Yeah. Landon Glenn (13:11.416) So that increases the value of people adopting a particular functionality for single sign-on.
You you look at Google or Apple or Facebook, they have a lot of users and that's the value of their login is a wide user base to add convenience. But when you factor in all the things that the bank brings to the table with KYC and trust and security and access to money to do all these things, I think that they're much, better positioned to be that source of technology. They just haven't had the tech stack to be able to offer that to their consumers. And so we're not doing it on a one by one basis with one bank at a time.
We're looking for enterprise partnerships, reaching millions of people at a time with just an app update. And then everybody has it on their and their bank app with just one update on Apple. And so from that standpoint, it's really just getting as many enterprise contracts signed as fast as we can. Rutger Van Faassen (14:11.
721) Right. Well, I'm actually quite excited about this because this will give financial institutions a fighting chance against big tech. right? Because obviously Apple and Google are also offering things like this.
right? We're encroaching way deeper into financial services. So this does seem to be like something that can really help the more quote unquote traditional financial institutions actually catch up. Landon Glenn (14:36.
958) Absolutely. Yeah, we actually beat Apple by three months on our first patent. So we're very much in the space trying to bring some of the biggest brand solutions and companies, equivalent technology, in some cases that can do more with bearer tokens and managed identities. Just what I mean by that is the ability to be able to control what is permission to every single login.
Like how many times do you pull up an app? and it's got three or four different logins and you're like, did I use Facebook or Google or Apple? You click on the wrong one and you're like, where's my Taco Bell rewards? I can't get my free chalupa.
This is terrible. It ruins your day. it's because none of them are differentiated. They're convenient.
It's good tech, but there's no differentiator. And what we can bring to the table in partnership with your trusted bank or credit union is that login, Rutger Van Faassen (15:08.619) All right, yep. Rutger Van Faassen (15:13.
673) Yep, right. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Rutger Van Faassen (15:28.683) Mm-hmm. Yep.
Landon Glenn (15:32.974) plus everything that the bank can do. The ability to move money, do payments, get loans, connect data, verify KYC, prove that you're 18, all anonymously. And those are things that you just can't do through Facebook, you know, the same way.
Rutger Van Faassen (15:40.651) Okay. All right. Rutger Van Faassen (15:47.
871) Now that sounds amazing. That's probably a great point to wrap this up on. Thank you very much, Landon, for being on the podcast. Landon Glenn (15:54.
85) Yeah, thank you. It was great. Rutger Van Faassen (15:57.011) And until next time, choose to be curious.
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