Matthew O'Neill

Matthew O'Neill from Financial Technology Partners asked about how users are utilizing stablecoins and requested a deeper explanation for the increase in the crypto take rate.

Answer

CEO Yoni Assia noted that eToro only recently enabled crypto and stablecoin deposits in Europe post-MiCA regulation, which is expected to attract a new crypto-native user base. CFO Meron Shani added that the crypto take rate saw a slight increase due to better internalization of volume but remains within historical norms.

Matthew O'Neill of Financial Technology Partners asked how users are utilizing stablecoins and sought a deeper explanation for the increase in the crypto take rate, questioning if it was driven by activity mix or pricing.

Answer

CEO Yoni Assia noted that eToro recently enabled crypto deposits in Europe under the MiCA license, which he believes will attract a new crypto-native user base. CFO Meron Shani added that the crypto take rate increased slightly in Q2 due to a better ability to internalize volume, but it remains within historical ranges. Assia also mentioned that the company recently unbundled crypto fees from the spread to improve transparency.

Matthew O'Neill of Financial Technology Partners asked for the specific value of the one-time license renewal for modeling purposes and inquired about the degree of conservatism in the Q4 guidance.

Answer

CFO Steve Weber declined to separate out the specific license value but noted it was a significant part of the quarter's point-in-time revenue. He stated the Q4 guidance is confident, as there is little uncertainty remaining with only two months left in the fiscal year.

Matthew O'Neill from FT Partners asked a more open-ended question about FICO's strategic priorities for the remainder of the year and beyond, particularly any previews for the upcoming FICO World conference.

Answer

CEO Will Lansing previewed that FICO World would feature announcements of new platform capabilities, more details on the company's use of AI, and innovations on the Scores side, including a 'little taste' of the upcoming FICO 11 score.

Matthew O'Neill from FT Partners asked a broad, open-ended question about FICO's strategic priorities for the remainder of the year and beyond.

Answer

CEO Will Lansing previewed that the upcoming FICO World conference would feature announcements on new platform capabilities, expanded use of AI, and upcoming innovations in the Scores business, including an early look at 'FICO 11.'

Matthew O'Neill asked if recent announcements by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to charge fees for API data pulls would have a direct impact on Equifax.

Answer

CEO Mark Begor gave a direct response, stating that Equifax does not expect this to have an impact on the kind of data it receives from financial institutions.

Matthew O'Neill inquired about recent trends in white-collar hiring and asked how Equifax plans to balance its new share repurchase program with its ongoing tuck-in acquisition strategy.

Answer

CEO Mark Begor stated they have not seen a real change in the Talent (hiring) vertical in the last couple of weeks. He reiterated a balanced capital allocation plan where CapEx and the dividend are key priorities. The share repurchase program will be executed consistently, with flexibility to be opportunistic or adjust based on M&A activity, all while maintaining a strong balance sheet.

Matthew O'Neill asked for more detail on where hiring weakness is most pronounced and whether the recent mortgage score price increase has been implemented smoothly.

Answer

CEO Mark Begor described the hiring slowdown as "very broad-based," driven by general economic uncertainty. Regarding the price increase, he said it was "received as expected" but has likely contributed to some lenders shifting to single-bureau pulls for initial shopping, reinforcing Equifax's differentiation strategy.

Matthew O'Neill asked how the recent turmoil in global trade has impacted merchant demand, specifically their willingness to invest in demand generation services or expand into new cross-border opportunities.

Answer

President Nir Debbi responded that they have observed mixed signals without a clear overall direction. Some merchants are increasing spending on demand generation in new geographies to find growth, while others are negatively affected by their product mix. He reiterated that same-store sales are slightly below historical averages, but there is no clear indication yet of the long-term impact from the changes.

Matthew O'Neill asked about the significance of the Logitech win for the consumer electronics vertical and how Global-e manages the complexities associated with shipping electronics cross-border.

Answer

Executive Nir Debbi highlighted that consumer electronics are indeed more complex to ship, which is why brands in this vertical typically use Global-e's multi-local solution. He positioned the Logitech win as a major case study that opens up a new addressable market for Global-e, building on past successes with brands like Jabra. He expressed optimism that this win will help attract more consumer electronics clients.

Matthew O'Neill asked about the significance of the Logitech win for the consumer electronics vertical and how Global-e manages the added complexity of moving electronics products cross-border.

Answer

President Nir Debbi affirmed that consumer electronics are more complex, which is why such brands typically utilize Global-e's multi-local solution. He highlighted the Logitech win as a major case study that opens a new addressable market for the company, building on past successes with brands like Jabra, and expressed optimism for accelerating growth in the vertical.

Matthew O'Neill from FT Partners requested an update on international expansion, particularly in the U.K. following the Adyen partnership, and asked where generative AI is proving most successful.

Answer

CEO Max Levchin explained the Adyen partnership primarily speeds up merchant implementation in the U.K. and noted a significant step-up will occur when the Shopify integration goes live there. On AI, he cited internal productivity and automated dispute resolution as successes, while emphasizing that the empathetic "human touch" in customer service remains irreplaceable.

Matthew O'Neill sought to clarify if the $60 million RLTC margin benefit from securitization and loan sales was larger than expected and asked for an update on the performance of wallet partners.

Answer

COO Michael Linford clarified that while the pricing on capital markets deals was better than anticipated, the transactions themselves were planned and a meaningful portion of the benefit was already factored into their guidance. CEO Max Levchin added that wallet integrations are performing well, contributing positively to user metrics and credit quality, and that the company has been working to harmonize consumer offers across all platforms.

Matthew O'Neill asked if achieving GAAP profitability accelerates any potential plans for Affirm to become a bank, a topic previously discussed at an Investor Day.

Answer

CEO Max Levchin firmly stated that becoming a bank is not a requirement for their business model and is not a path they are actively pursuing. He characterized GAAP profitability as a momentous but natural outcome of the business scaling as planned, where strong unit economics finally exceed total costs, rather than a strategic pivot or a forced action.

Matthew O'Neill requested an update on international expansion, particularly in the U.K. following the Adyen partnership, and asked where AI is proving most successful versus where the human touch is still essential.

Answer

CEO Max Levchin explained the Adyen partnership speeds up merchant integration time in the U.K. and that the next major step will be launching Shopify there. On AI, he distinguished between foundational machine learning (for credit) and newer GenAI, which is used for internal productivity and as a flexible user interface for tasks like dispute resolution. He maintained that human empathy remains irreplaceable in certain customer service scenarios.

Matthew O'Neill from FT Partners asked for an update on crypto pricing, specifically regarding the ongoing experimentation with take rates and volume-based pricing tiers.

Answer

CFO Jason Warnick stated that crypto take rates in April were in a similar zone to Q1. He identified tiered pricing as the big opportunity, allowing Robinhood to offer a better price to the highest volume traders to attract volume that may not be on the platform today. He clarified that they are still early in these experiments.

Matthew O'Neill followed up on the OnePay/Walmart partnership, asking if its potential impact was included in the updated guidance, and inquired about any other significant changes to the full-year outlook.

Answer

CEO David Girouard clarified that the OnePay deal is not expected to be materially financial in 2025 and is therefore not a significant factor in the current guidance, though it presents upside potential. He reiterated that the guidance assumes a stable macro environment with no Fed rate cuts, with growth driven by internal model and technology improvements.

Matthew O'Neill of Financial Technology Partners asked about the internal modeling of the Upstart Macro Index (UMI), specifically questioning if the internal assumptions would converge with the actual UMI if it remained flat, given the lag in recognizing improvements.

Answer

CFO Sanjay Datta clarified that the company will maintain an 'enduring conservatism' in its underwriting. He stated that even if the UMI remains flat, their internal assumptions will intentionally remain above it to provide a buffer against potential downturns in credit risk. This conservative buffer is expected to persist until the UMI returns to a long-term normal level, and even then some buffer would be maintained.

Zachary Gunn, on behalf of Matthew O'Neill, asked about the rollout of 'day zero' telematics, which boosted conversion by 60%, inquiring how widely it is deployed and what factors are limiting a broader push.

Answer

CFO Timothy Bixby stated that the feature is not yet broadly rolled out. The current focus is on fine-tuning experiments in a few states with favorable regulatory environments. A wider, more uniform rollout will occur once they feel the product has reached a stable point and is ready for 'primetime'.

Matthew O'Neill asked about any changes in the car market or internal progress on cross-sell and the waitlist since the Investor Day. He also sought to confirm the strategy of restrained car growth until testing is complete and inquired about the durability of the recent improvement in the car product's gross loss ratio.

Answer

CEO and Co-Founder Daniel Schreiber reported no major macro changes but noted that internal trials for the car product are progressing 'better, faster, more compelling' than anticipated at the Investor Day. He confirmed the strategy is to restrain rapid growth until testing is complete, prioritizing gross profit growth and the path to profitability. Regarding the car loss ratio, he expressed confidence in the durability of the improvement, citing a 'night and day' difference in their current pricing and filing capabilities compared to a year or two ago.

Matthew O'Neill asked about the potential for Paymentus to see increased demand during an economic downturn as billers seek to improve payment conversion. He also inquired about any observed behavioral changes in bill payment trends from either billers or their customers.

Answer

Dushyant Sharma (Executive) affirmed that Paymentus's value proposition of reducing costs and improving customer experience resonates strongly in all economic cycles, especially when businesses want to accelerate revenue collection. He stated that the company is currently seeing encouraging payment trends across its network with no signs of a slowdown.

Matthew O'Neill from Financial Technology Partners sought confirmation that the company's guidance philosophy remains unchanged and asked about the dynamics causing revenue per transaction to rise despite offering volume discounts to large enterprises.

Answer

CFO Sanjay Kalra confirmed that the prudent guidance philosophy, which has served them well, remains the same, with the top end of the range achievable without new bookings. He explained that the revenue per transaction is increasing because new large enterprise clients have a higher average payment amount, which lifts the company-wide average. While contribution profit per transaction remains stable, the higher revenue combined with strong operating leverage drives improved adjusted EBITDA and margins, which are the company's primary metrics.

Matthew O'Neill sought to understand the magnitude of the Q3 outperformance by asking for a breakdown between recurring and potentially non-recurring benefits, such as faster-than-expected implementations.

Answer

CFO Sanjay Kalra did not provide a quantitative breakdown but offered significant color, stating that the early go-live of a cohort of large clients de-risked 2025 and provided a material upside in 2024. He quantified this impact by noting it contributed approximately 500 basis points to the full-year adjusted EBITDA dollar growth. He also confirmed that same-store sales trends are improving.

Matthew O'Neill from FT Partners inquired about the current performance of the Global Blue business amid macro shifts and confirmed the timing of interest expense payments.

Answer

Taylor Lauber, President and incoming CEO, described the Global Blue business as resilient and diversified, having historically grown through major travel shocks by focusing on digitizing the consumer experience. He noted its performance is more quickly impacted by FX rates. CFO Nancy Disman confirmed that the large interest payment is semiannual and occurs in Q1 and Q3.

Matthew O'Neill asked about the company's capital allocation plans following the debt paydown and share repurchase authorization. He also questioned if the operating leverage gained from AI efficiencies justifies increased spending on customer acquisition efforts like the movie sponsorship.

Answer

Executive Ryan Schaffer explained that the capital allocation priority was first to pay down high-interest debt. Going forward, the focus is on investing in sales and marketing and hiring, with share buybacks viewed favorably as a use for remaining free cash flow. Both Ryan Schaffer and CEO David Barrett affirmed that the improved operating leverage makes it logical to invest in growth, but emphasized that they remain disciplined and will only spend on initiatives they feel good about, rather than spending for the sake of it.