When a diverse coalition, including big banks and a civil rights group, this summer called for speedier deployment of cash-flow data to widen Americans’ access to credit, it was a little-known startup research organization that brought them together.

FinRegLab is a new Washington research group led by two women with deep ties to the financial technology industry as well as to Capitol Hill. They are credited with drawing attention to fintech’s ability to improve Americans’ lives.

FinRegLab CEO Melissa Koide and deputy director Kelly Thompson Cochran “are respected by everyone,” former deputy comptroller of the currency and Senate Banking Committee staffer Jo Ann Barefoot told CQ Roll Call. “They are well known by everybody in the field.”

They put together the coalition of bankers and advocates that’s now calling for using data to achieve better credit access, which many consider a crippling impediment to economic growth. The group says better data analysis offers a solution, according to reports the coalition developed.

“It was Melissa’s credibility as a thought leader” that convinced the working group’s participants to convene regularly over a period of months to conduct the research and prepare the reports, said John Pitts, policy lead at Plaid, a financial technology company.

 

Read the full article about FinRegLab from Roll Call here.