Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
www.dailyjournal.com
Banking on Change
After working at a brand new government agency, Neil M.
Peretz landed at a fintech startup.
Neil M. Peretz
General Counsel
Better Finance Inc.
San Francisco
Size of legal department: 1 attorney
advertise in various dealerships and on carrier
websites. Our partners include T-Mobile,
Sprint and TracFone.
With SmartBiz, we started migrating toward
a line-of-credit product in which people could
borrow money for a longer period of time, and
therefore we could have a more economically
supportable business. We also started talking
to banks about their small-business lending
practices and we realized that there was room
to improve.
Imagine a loan for $20,000. Even if I knew I
wasnt going to lose money on the loan, it still
wouldnt be profitable for me if it costs $2,000
to review the application. So we help small
businesses apply for [Small Business Administration] -guaranteed loans and assist the banks
with the underwriting process, all through our
automated technology. Some of the lenders
we work with are Celtic Bank, Golden Pacific
National Bank and First Home Bank.
DJ: Are you Better Finances first general
counsel and did they approach you?
Peretz: I am. The company did not have
any in-house legal before. I joined in April
of 2013 after some time with the CFPB. One
of the instructions from Congress under the
Dodd-Frank law, which among other things
created the CFPB, was to foster innovation. So
in addition to my day job at the bureau, because
I have experience with startups and an interest
in innovation, I started helping with a side
project there called Project Catalyst. If I was
on vacation in an area with fintech companies,
for instance, I would sometimes sit down and
chat with the founders, try to learn what they
are doing and try to gain some insight for the
bureau, but also get feedback on what these
companies thought about the CFPB. Thats
when I met Ryan Gilbert, the CEO here, who
later asked me to join Better Finance.
DJ: Have you grown Better Finances
legal team?
Peretz: Every few months I aspire to bring
on more attorneys, but we always seem to be
running to get to the next milestone, so Ive
basically had to hold down the fort myself
with two distinct businesses.
DJ: What legal challenges did you face
after joining the company?
Peretz: In financial services, every feature
and function of a product has to be legally
compliant in terms of both the way the product
is defined, as well as how the service around
the product is being delivered. Are we engaged
Reprinted with permission from the Daily Journal. 2015 Daily Journal Corporation. All rights reserved. Reprinted by ReprintPros 949-702-5390.