Episode: The Power of Open Banking in Today’s Economy
Guest: Peter Maher — CEO of Ovanti USA & Founder of Flote

In this episode, I sit down with Peter Maher to break down one of the most impactful shifts happening in today’s financial landscape: open banking—and how it’s completely reshaping the way lenders understand financial health.

Peter leads Ovanti’s U.S. division and is the founder of Flote, the company’s U.S. rebrand that focuses on using real-time cashflow instead of outdated credit scores to evaluate financial wellbeing. The result? More accurate decisioning and far better access for consumers who've traditionally been boxed out by old credit systems.

We dig into:

Why credit scores no longer tell the full story
How open banking gives lenders real-time insight
The evolution from Ovanti to Flote for U.S. expansion
How Flote plans to disrupt payday lending and lease-to-own models
Why financial innovation should protect—not exploit—consumers
What the future of financial accessibility looks like in an open-banking world

Key Takeaways

Open banking provides a clearer picture of financial health.
Ovanti’s U.S. rollout is operating under the new brand: Flote.
Flote uses cashflow-based underwriting rather than credit scores.
Legacy credit systems are restrictive and often misleading.
Open banking is gaining real traction in the U.S. economy.
Flote’s mission revolves around transparency and consumer-first design.

Sound Bites

“Open banking is the future of finance.”
“Credit scores don’t define financial health.”
“Financial innovation shouldn’t come at the cost of the consumer.”
“Real-time cashflow tells the real story.”
“Flote is redefining accessibility in modern finance.”

Chapters
00:00 – Meet Peter Maher & the origins of Ovanti
00:05 – What open banking really is
00:10 – The problem with traditional credit scoring
00:18 – The Flote approach: cashflow over credit
00:28 – Financial accessibility and the future of open banking

Connect with Peter

Ovanti Global — https://www.ovanti.com/
U.S. Leadership Bio — https://www.ovanti.com/ovanti-us-leadership
Flote Partnerships — https://getflote.com/
LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/ptmaher/
Partnerships Email — partnerships@ovanti.com