Banking Transformed with Jim Marous

A newly opened account usually starts in third place. Here is how banks turn new customers into primary relationships in the first 90 days.   The average checking customer now uses three banks (J.D. Power), so most new accounts land behind two institutions the customer already trusts. In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous breaks down the primacy window, the short stretch after account opening when a bank can still become the one a customer’s financial life runs through, and the ladder every new account has to climb: from available, to useful, to trusted, to primary.   You will hear what high-performing banks do differently: winning the paycheck first through direct deposit, since accounts with a direct deposit stay open about twice as long; running a seven-to-nine-touch onboarding cadence when more than half of institutions still stop at two or fewer; measuring primacy instead of satisfaction scores; and meeting customers inside the AI tools where they now decide where to bank, before the account is ever opened.   A practical playbook for any banker who wants new accounts to become primary relationships, not deposit hotels. Hosted by Jim Marous. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for more on the future of banking.

Ron Johnson created the Apple Store and the Genius Bar. Here is what banks can learn from him about trust, branch design, and the future of human experience in banking. In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous talks with Apple Store creator Ron Johnson about his new book, Shop Different: How Retail Revealed Apple’s Genius, and why the branch becomes more important, not less, as AI and mobile apps absorb routine banking. Ron explains what Apple understood about earning trust one experience at a time, and how banks can turn the branch from a fortress that signals security into a transparent place built for advice. You will hear his Launching, Deepening, and Restoring framework for customer relationships, the case for a Genius Bar for the bank, why Apple hired from bookstores instead of tech stores, and his take on AI as omni-intelligence, the pairing of human judgment with machine knowledge. A practical conversation for any banker rethinking the branch and the role of people in it. Hosted by Jim Marous. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for more on the future of banking.

SoFi is not winning by cross-selling harder. It is building a bank where members reach for the next product on their own.In this episode, Jim Marous breaks down how SoFi moved from a single-product student loan company to a full-service digital bank with a powerful customer growth engine. The key insight is the shift from cross-sell to cross-buy: instead of pushing another product, SoFi creates daily engagement, useful experiences, and timely options that make members want to expand the relationship.The discussion explores SoFi’s 43% product growth from existing customers, its national bank charter, its use of Galileo and Technisys, and the behavioral design principles behind its member experience. For banks and credit unions, the challenge is clear: the future of growth may depend less on selling harder and more on being useful when customers are ready to act.A must-listen for leaders focused on digital banking, customer engagement, fintech strategy, and relationship growth.

The best banking innovation isn't about budget. It's about the distance to the customer.Jim Marous unpacks the 16th Edition Innovation in Retail Banking Report from Infosys Finacle and Qorus and explains why most retail banking innovation never reaches scale. Only 31% of initiatives are deployed at scale and delivering, and fewer than 4% of banks have agentic AI running at full scale. The innovations that win share one trait. They become invisible, embedded so naturally into how customers get paid and save that no one even notices the technology. That advantage comes from proximity to the customer moment, not spending power, which is why community banks and credit unions can out-innovate institutions many times their size.Banking Transformed is hosted by Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report, with new episodes published multiple times weekly.

The relationship managers who resisted AI the hardest became its biggest advocates the first time it made them a hero in front of a client. Recorded live at nSight in Charlotte, Jim Marous talks with Jillian Boyle, SVP at WaFd Bank, and Will Jung, CTO of nCino, about arming front-line bankers rather than automating them. WaFd, with nearly $30 billion in assets, put an app in its bankers’ hands and gave them back the time they used to lose to administrative work. Boyle believes that while change management was an important part of the journey, banker adoption accelerated once teams saw how AI could help them better serve clients. In this episode:• Why WaFd gave its bankers AI tools and data instead of trying to replace them• The moment skeptical bankers flip from resistance to adoption• Why every banking problem does not need a large language modelRecorded at nSight, sponsored by nCino, with research access linked below. Banking Transformed, hosted by Jim Marous, publishes multiple times each week. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Most banks know far more about their customers than the customer ever feels. In this Banking Insight Video, I look at why relationship banking often feels programmed, from the quarterly business banker check-in that goes to voicemail to the small human moments customers actually remember.Using examples from Ritz-Carlton, Delta, Nordstrom, Disney and TD Bank’s Automated Treat Machine, this episode explores what banks can learn from companies that make ordinary interactions feel personal. The point is not to copy those examples. It is to rethink how banks use customer data, technology, frontline judgment and employee empowerment to make customer experience feel more human.For bank executives, retail banking leaders, marketers, digital teams and frontline managers, this is a practical conversation about relationship management, personalization, customer loyalty, surprise and delight, and the human moments banks keep missing.

"The banking industry spends billions competing for deposits, loans, and new accounts. But what if the real competition starts much earlier? In this episode of Banking Insights, Jim Marous explores why attention has become one of the most valuable assets in banking and why many financial institutions are losing the battle without realizing it. Using the FIFA World Cup as a lens, Jim examines how organizations earn attention, why visibility is not the same as relevance, and what banks and credit unions can learn from brands that consistently stay top of mind. You'll discover: • Why customer attention is the leading indicator of future growth • How silent attrition often begins long before balances leave • Why AI search, digital engagement, and financial insights are changing the rules of competition • How institutions can earn attention without increasing marketing budgets • Practical strategies to become more relevant in the moments that matter most Before customers give you their money, they give you their attention. The institutions that understand that difference will be positioned to win the next decade. #Banking #DigitalBanking #CustomerExperience #Marketing #FinancialServices #BankingTransformation #RetailBanking #CreditUnions #AI #BankingInsights"

Traditional financial institutions often view the credit-underserved market as a liability. In this episode of Banking Transformed, Michael Coleman, CMO of Credit One Bank, joins me to demonstrate how that mindset is shifting. We explore the actionable strategies banks can use to reach millions of underserved households by moving from fear-based risk avoidance to purposeful risk management.We break down the pathway to inclusion:• Targeted Outreach: How to leverage pre-approved offers and data-driven insights to lower barriers to entry for millions.• Empowering Through Education: Why proactive, digital-first credit education turns potential risks into loyal, long-term card members.• Transparency as a Tool: Using clear fee structures and open communication to build trust with populations that have been historically excluded. Download the full Digital Banking Report, The Ultimate Subscription: Fees That Unlock the System for Millions, at DigitalBankingReport.com. This episode is sponsored by Credit One Bank #BankingTransformed #FinancialInclusion #CreditOneBank #Fintech #RetailBanking #ConsumerFinance

Only 13% of banks and credit unions are operating at the highest level of digital maturity. They are growing revenues at 5X the rate of their less mature peers, and they are not the largest institutions.In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous draws on new research from Alkami and the Emerald Research Group to explain what digital maturity actually means today, why it no longer correlates with asset size, and the three factors separating the institutions pulling away from everyone else. He walks through the four-segment maturity model, the cost of standing still in the AI era, and what every banking executive should do Monday morning, with a closer look at one community bank that committed early and what its experience tells the rest of the industry.Take the Digital Maturity Model and Assessment Tool. Download the full research report.Banking Transformed publishes multiple times weekly. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Sixty-five million Americans cannot fully participate in the economy that most people take for granted. For many, the issue is not irresponsibility. It is a medical crisis, divorce, job loss, thin credit file, or temporary setback that pushed them outside the traditional credit system. In this Banking Insights episode, I examine why more banks and credit unions are retreating from consumers with credit scores below 670, even as the need for responsible credit access continues to grow. Based on Digital Banking Report research, this episode challenges industry assumptions about risk, regulation, fees, and financial inclusion. The opportunity is not simply to approve more applications. It is to build a better credit model around access, education, and financial momentum, where consumers are given the tools, transparency, and a clear path to improve their financial future. I also share the story of Taeisha Jamison, whose credit score improved by more than 150 points after gaining access to a product that combined responsible credit, embedded education, and a clear path forward. Her story shows what happens when financial inclusion moves beyond messaging and becomes a working business model. In this episode: - The data behind the retreat from lower-score borrowers. - How fees can fund responsible access. - Why education without access, or access without education, falls short. - How banks can create financial momentum through smarter product design, alternative data, behavioral tools, and transparency. Download the full Digital Banking Report, The Ultimate Subscription: Fees That Unlock the System for Millions, at DigitalBankingReport.com. This Banking Insights episode is sponsored by Credit One Bank. #BankingInsights #CreditAccess #FinancialInclusion #FinancialHealth #CreditOneBank #BankingTransformed

How will bankers and AI agents be working side by side five years from now? For most banks, that is no longer a hypothetical. New global research from nCino (link below) finds that 89% of banking executives expect their organization to be a combination of humans and AI agents within five years, and 84% say agentic AI has already changed how most banking roles operate. Leaders frame this as a move toward higher-value work. 91% say AI lets their people spend more time on the customer-facing tasks that matter most. In this episode of Banking Transformed, host Jim Marous sits down with Sean Desmond, President and CEO of nCino. Sean's view is that the real question is no longer whether to adopt AI but how to turn that activity into measurable outcomes. The research backs him up. Four in five executives say their organization prioritizes AI adoption over return on investment. Sean walks through how nCino moved past experimentation, including a personal agent stack he scoped in a single evening, and why he believes the goal is to raise up what bankers can do rather than take work away from them. In this conversation: The dual workforce: how humans and AI agents are beginning to share the workload, and what shifts when they do. Adoption to impact: why so many banks can point to AI activity but not yet to AI return, and how Sean thinks they close that gap. Beyond the sandbox: moving AI from test environments onto live production data without breaking governance. The data reality: why 94% of executives want one end-to-end AI solution while 93% still struggle with siloed or inconsistent data. Sponsored by nCino:nCino's inaugural AI in Banking Benchmark surveyed 150 senior banking executives and the results tell a story of high confidence with a striking blind spot. Nearly 9 in 10 say AI agents are the future, but only 1 in 5 are tying it to revenue. #BankingTransformed #nCino #DualWorkforce #AgenticAI #AIinBanking #FutureOfBanking #Fintech

Americans are saving less than they have in years, and the banking industry is partly to blame.Jim Marous argues that the savings crisis is partly a design failure. Banks spent decades making spending effortless while leaving saving to willpower, and the programs that actually changed behavior, from Christmas Clubs to round-ups to retirement auto-enrollment, all worked the same way: they built a system and removed the decision. The uncomfortable part is why the industry never automated everyday saving behaviors.This episode covers the difference between a knowledge problem and a behavior problem, what Bank of America, Ally, SoFi, and Acorns understood that most institutions ignored, why the clearest signal a customer can send so often goes unanswered, and the single change that would do more than any new technology.Subscribe for new Banking Insights each week as part of the Banking Transformed podcast.#BankingTransformed #Banking #DigitalBanking #FinancialWellness #BehavioralEconomics #Fintech #Saving

The U.S. banking industry is about to enter the largest consolidation cycle in a generation, and the institutions most at risk may not be the ones with the weakest balance sheets. They will be the ones that waited too long to modernize. Drawing on conversations with executives running institutions with $2 billion in assets to over a trillion, and research in conjunction with Alkami Technologies, this episode reframes what resilience means in 2026 and what it requires of leadership.Topics covered: • Why this consolidation cycle is structurally different from the 1990s wave or the post-2008 wave • Why digital maturity now predicts revenue performance more reliably than scale does • What separates the institutions positioned to acquire from the ones positioned to be acquired • Why the grace period banks used to have for technology adoption is gone • The new definition of resilience that determines who survives this cycle #BankingConsolidation #DigitalMaturity #BankingAI #BankingLTransformed #Banking

Why do the same financial brands keep showing up inside ChatGPT recommendations while many traditional institutions barely appear at all?New research from EMARKETER found that brands including Capital One, Klarna, Coinbase, PayPal, and Discover consistently rank among the most visible financial companies in AI recommendations.In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous speaks with Tiffani Montez, principal analyst for financial services at EMARKETER, about what the AI Visibility Index reveals about consumer trust, digital marketing, and the changing dynamics of financial brand discovery.The discussion explores why fintechs dominate some categories while legacy institutions still lead others, how consumer behavior is shifting in the AI era, and what today's financial marketers may still be underestimating about visibility and relevance.#Banking #AI #DigitalMarketing #Fintech #ChatGPT #BankingTransformed

Chime now opens more new checking accounts than Chase, Wells Fargo, or Bank of America. And the company’s fastest-growing customer segment is no longer financially stressed households. It is higher-income consumers looking for a banking experience that feels simpler, faster, and less frustrating.In this Insight Video, Jim Marous breaks down the Chime flywheel and explains why the company’s growth is not really about fintech technology. Most of the tools driving Chime’s success already exist inside traditional banking today.The difference is operational focus, product innovation, and a willingness to remove customer friction that many institutions still defend economically.This episode explores direct deposit primacy, engagement-driven economics, referral growth, product innovation, and why Chime may be exposing a much larger leadership challenge across retail banking.#Banking #DigitalBanking #Fintech #Chime #BankingStrategy #CustomerExperience #BankInnovation #BankingTransformed

Your bank may already be invisible.Not on Google. Invisible inside ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, where your customers now ask which bank to choose, which credit card to trust, and which financial app is worth their time. The AI gives them three names. Yours may not be one of them.Jim Marous breaks down the eMarketer AI Visibility Index data, the five specific moves a bank marketer can start this week, and the Monday Morning Test every banking leader should run before their next executive meeting. Featuring data from Tiffani Montez at eMarketer and David Evans of The Financial Brand.#BankingInsights #AIinBanking #GenerativeEngineOptimization #DigitalBanking #JimMarous

Banking transformation is rarely limited by technology. More often, it breaks down when teams lose trust, momentum, or clarity during change. In this live conversation from The Financial Brand Forum, Pinnacle Financial Partners Chief Digital and Product Solutions Officer Liz Wolverton discusses what leaders get wrong about mergers, AI adoption, and digital transformation. We explore how to reduce uncertainty during disruption, how AI should be introduced as a teammate instead of a threat, and why urgency without empathy can derail even the best strategy. Hosted by Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report. #Banking #AI #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #ChangeManagement

Most banks and credit unions say growth is the top priority heading into 2026. At the same time, fintechs are winning the relationships that drive future deposits, payments, and engagement. In this episode, Lee Wetherington from Jack Henry joins me to break down the findings from their 2026 Strategy Benchmark Study and explain why many financial institutions still struggle to act on signals already sitting in their own data. We discuss silent attrition, payment flow analytics, Gen Z deposit growth, AI investment priorities, and why payments have become the control point in the accountholder relationship. This conversation is not just about technology. It’s about how the game of banking is changing. This episode is sponsored by Jack Henry®. At Jack Henry, we believe the world is a better place with community and regional banks and credit unions. For 50 years, we’ve put financial institutions at the center of our modernization. We’re here to help you innovate faster, differentiate strategically, and compete successfully – with one goal in mind: to improve the financial health of the people you serve. To learn more about the findings discussed in today's episode, download the full Strategy Benchmark study here: https://discover.jackhenry.com/strategy-benchmark-study-2026 Subscribe to Banking Transformed for new episodes published multiple times weekly. #BankingTransformed #Banking #DigitalBanking #Fintech #AIinBanking #Payments #BankStrategy #CustomerExperience #FutureOfBanking #GenZBanking

If you earned your marketing degree more than five years ago, you are already playing catch-up. Most banks are mailing in their response to AI. I break down the four AI moves the best banking marketers are running now: targeting that finds micro-cohorts of one, personalization built around the customer instead of the account, predictive analytics that tie marketing to revenue, and whether AI search tools even mention your bank. Each move draws on Banking Transformed interviews with Raja Rajamannar of Mastercard, Andrea Brimmer of Ally, and Olly Downs of Curinos. Using AI is no longer the goal, because every bank will get that far. The marketers who win refuse to mail it in and build something a competitor cannot copy. AI marketing has no finish line. Hosted by Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand, Owner and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report, and host of the Banking Transformed podcast. #BankMarketing #AI #marketing #Banking #BankingTransformed #FinancialServices

Most banks still treat AI as a faster way to do the same work. Citibank believes the entire operating model of banking is about to change. Recorded live at the Financial Brand Forum, Driss Temsamani, Head of Digital at Citi and author of The Agentic Bank, explains why the next phase of AI is not about chatbots or isolated use cases. It is about rebuilding how banks deploy software, organize teams, serve customers, manage operations, and create decisions at scale. We discuss why software development costs are collapsing, why subject matter expertise becomes more valuable in an AI-driven organization, how agentic systems could reshape customer engagement, and why technologies like blockchain may become foundational to the future of financial services infrastructure. This conversation goes well beyond automation. It looks at what banking may become once intelligence is embedded into every part of the organization. Hosted by Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report. #Banking #AI #AgenticAI #DigitalBanking #BankingTransformed #Citi #Fintech #CustomerExperience

Banks are collecting more customer data than ever before. Yet most institutions still do not understand the customer any better. In this Banking Insights episode, I explain why that gap is widening, what Bank of America has built with Erica over 3.2 billion conversations, and why the real advantage in banking is shifting from collecting information to learning from it in real time. Drawing from my conversation with Jorge Camargo, Head of Digital Platforms at Bank of America, I explore why most personalization strategies still fail, why transaction histories are not customer insight, and why the institutions that win will be the ones that ask better questions and act on what they learn. #Banking #DigitalBanking #AI #CustomerExperience #BankingTransformed #Fintech #Erica #BoA

Most banks still treat AI as a chatbot or efficiency tool. Bank of America built something much bigger. In this live conversation from the Financial Brand Forum, Jorge Camargo, Head of Digital Platforms at Bank of America, explains how Erica evolved from a simple virtual assistant into infrastructure supporting 65 million clients across consumer banking, wealth management, and treasury services. Today, Erica is becoming the foundation for how Bank of America approaches agentic banking. We discuss what 3.2 billion customer conversations revealed about consumer behavior, why proactive engagement matters more than reactive service, and how Bank of America is moving from AI as a destination to AI embedded throughout the customer experience. Hosted by Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner and Publisher of the Digital Banking Report. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for new episodes multiple times each week. #Banking #AI #AgenticAI #DigitalBanking #BankingTransformed #BankofAmerica #CustomerExperience #Fintech

Is your bank being unbundled without realizing it? Most banking leaders are still watching the obvious disruptors. But the bigger threat may be happening behind the scenes, as software platforms, embedded finance, and agentic AI begin to reshape how financial services are delivered and who owns the customer relationship. In this episode, Rex Salisbury, founder of Cambrian, joins me to discuss what these shifts mean for traditional banking, why legacy moats are weakening, how seriously bankers should take Nubank's long-term U.S. potential, and what leaders need to do now to stay relevant. In this episode: • Why financial risk often shows up in strategy long before it shows up in earnings • What Nubank's model signals for the future of competition in banking • Why banks need to think beyond products and toward platforms, ecosystems, and execution #BankingTransformed #Fintech #RetailBanking #DigitalTransformation #AgenticAI #EmbeddedFinance #Nubank #BankStrategy #FutureOfBanking #Cambrian #RexSalisbury

Most banks think they have an attrition problem under control because the closure numbers still look healthy. But customers are not leaving the way they used to. They are opening accounts at Chime, SoFi, Robinhood, Cash App, and Acorns while keeping their old bank relationship open. The direct deposit stays, and the account stays active, and even the dashboard says everything is fine. Meanwhile, more spending, more engagement, and more deposits quietly move somewhere else. In this episode, I break down what I call “silent attrition” and why the first outbound transfer matters more than the eventual account closure. Using data from J.D. Power, Cornerstone Advisors, Accenture, and a real-world engagement with a $10 billion institution, I explain why traditional retention metrics no longer reflect customer reality, how challenger brands are winning share of wallet without triggering alarms, and what banks can do right now to identify customers who are already halfway out the door. Because by the time the account closes, the relationship has usually been gone for years. #Banking #DigitalBanking #Fintech #CX #AI #CustomerRetention #attrition #BankTransformation

Most banks are losing customers after they have already decided to open an account, and it has nothing to do with pricing or competition. The breakdown occurs during the account-opening process itself. If you want to see it clearly, try it on your own mobile app. Start an application and time how long it takes to complete. In many cases, the experience is slow, repetitive, and built around steps that were never designed for a phone. In this episode, I walk through what changes when that process is simplified. One institution reduced account-opening time from more than 20 minutes to under 5 and saw new account growth triple in less than 90 days. The shift did not come from a new marketing strategy or a major brand campaign. It came from removing friction, aligning the front and back ends, and ensuring the experience works the same way across mobile, online, and the branch. For most institutions, this is one of the fastest ways to improve growth. The real question is whether you are willing to change the process behind it. #BankingTransformed #DigitalBanking #AccountOpening #RetailBanking #CustomerExperience

Ryan Bailey spent 20 years at Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, TD Bank, Fifth Third, and USAA. Then he took over Cambridge Savings Bank, a 190-year-old, $7 billion mutual community bank in Massachusetts. In this Executive Leadership Series episode of Banking Transformed, recorded live at the Financial Brand Forum, Jim Marous and Ryan get into how community banks actually win against the giants. They cover the strategy behind Ivy Bank, Cambridge Savings’ national digital deposit brand, and why Ryan believes half of the smaller banks in the country won’t be here in 10 years. They also dig into closing the analytics gap with a JPMorgan Chase, using AI to improve customer experience instead of just cutting cost, bringing legacy employees along on a fast digital agenda, and what USAA taught Ryan about loyalty. Ryan closes with one Monday morning move every community bank CEO can act on right away. In this episode: • Why scale no longer guarantees dominance • Gathering deposits nationally, lending locally with Ivy Bank • Ryan’s prediction on community bank consolidation • Closing the data gap without an enterprise budget • The Monday morning move every CEO should make #BankingTransformed #CommunityBanking #DigitalTransformation #Fintech #BankingPodcast #FinancialBrandForum #IvyBank #CambridgeSavingsBank

James Clear's Atomic Habits is the blueprint for professional change, but most banks are applying it incorrectly. In this episode of the Banking Insights series, I unpack the 1% daily compounding math that dictates why some banks quietly lose competitive ground while others compound forward. I share my personal journey of losing 80 pounds and rebuilding this video series using the same system. Then I introduce the compounding gap framework, the invisible force that explains why so many strategic plans never become customer behavior. If your institution feels stuck, this episode provides the four-law framework to identify where your system is breaking down and what to do about it tomorrow morning. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for weekly insights on the future of financial services, and tell me in the comments: which of the four laws is breaking down inside your bank right now? In This Episode • The 1% daily compounding math applied to institutional banking strategy • The difference between goals and the systems that actually produce them • The compounding gap: the invisible force behind declining growth • Identifying which of the four laws of behavior change is failing in your organization Referenced Episodes Insight Video #9: Agentic AI in Banking Insight Video #6: The Oura Ring Business Model #AtomicHabits #BankingTransformed #DigitalBanking #RetailBanking #CompoundingGap

The biggest threat to your bank isn’t a fintech, a stablecoin, or the next Elon Musk venture. It’s the executive who already knows what needs to change and still isn’t changing it. At the Financial Brand Forum, Ron Shevlin and I took the stage for a live Pardon the Finterruption session focused on what actually matters right now. No long runway. No polished conference script. Just a fast-moving exchange where we pushed back and forth on 10 of the most pressing issues facing banking. We disagreed on plenty: the role of branches, whether the deposit war is really about wealth transfer or product design, and how super apps fit into the U.S. market. But on the underlying diagnosis, we landed in the same place. This industry has an execution problem. AI is constantly discussed, while most deployments remain buried in the back office. Customer experience tops every priority list, but funding and data investment don’t follow suit. Growth is the goal, yet opening an account still takes fifteen minutes when it should take three. And while the industry debates what to do, deposits keep moving across fintech platforms, ecosystems, and new rails. The gap between what we say matters and what we actually fund continues to widen. The organizations that close that gap will win. The ones that don’t will keep explaining why they didn’t, until the decision gets made for them by a customer who already left. This conversation covers AI, deposits, branches, personalization, embedded finance, and innovation, but it all comes back to one thing: look in the mirror. The threat is closer than you think. Hashtags #BankingTransformed #RetailBanking #DigitalTransformation #AgenticAI #BankStrategy #FutureOfBanking #EmbeddedFinance #Fintech #CustomerExperience #BankingInnovation

Banks have spent three years experimenting with generative AI. Most of those pilots are quietly dying. Not because the technology failed, but because no one could prove the return, govern the risk, or scale what worked. In this episode of Banking Transformed, I sit down with Derek White, founder and CEO of Primitive, and Ryan Caldwell, founder and CEO of MX. Primitive launched as the complete AI agent operating system purpose-built for regulated financial institutions. The MX partnership powers a new AI-native Growth Agent for banks and credit unions. In this conversation: • Why Derek believes banks will soon have more AI agents than employees • Agent Capital and Return on Agent Capital as the new language for the bank P&L • The Growth Agent will identify opportunities in real time and automate campaigns • Where banks should actually start If you lead strategy, digital, data, or AI at a bank or credit union, this is the conversation that will reshape how you think about the next 24 months. #BankingTransformed #AgenticAI #DigitalBanking #FinancialServices #AIAgents #Primitive #MXTechnologies #DerekWhite #RyanCaldwell #JimMarous #FutureOfBanking #BankingInnovation #AIStrategy #BankingAI

The loudest thing in banking right now is not on the agenda. Leaders are waking up to headlines and uncertainty that shape decisions before the day even begins. Many institutions are stuck on a treadmill, showing plenty of effort and motion without enough real forward progress. The leaders widening the gap are doing it with stronger internal clarity. In this Insight Video, I explore why digital maturity is really about the speed and quality of decisions while the ground is moving under you. I also explain why geopolitics is very much a community bank issue and why external pressure can no longer be treated as a disclosure item instead of a decision input. Key insights: • The Decision Gap — In a volatile environment, a slow decision can cost more than a wrong one. • The “Why” as a Filter — Strong institutions use a shared sense of purpose to decide what belongs on the roadmap and what does not. • Budget Realities — Efficiency has moved ahead of growth as the top strategic priority for community and regional banks. • The Three-Year Test — The winners will be leaders who can keep making sound decisions when visibility is low, pressure is high, and the environment refuses to settle down. The real test starts Monday. #BankingInsights #JimMarous #RetailBanking #BankingStrategy #Leadership #DigitalMaturity #BankingTransformed #FinancialServices #CommunityBanking #CreditUnions #TheFinancialBrand #Alkami #LeadingThroughTheFog

The era of the reactive bank is over. Whether you’re ready or not, leading institutions have moved beyond responding to customers and are now using AI to drive real-time decisions and outcomes. In this Insight Video, Jim Marous explores the massive structural gap in the industry: 96% of institutions say they are engaged with agentic AI, yet only 19% have anything in production. Why is the "self-driving bank" still just a pilot for most? We dive into the data from Deloitte, MIT, and McKinsey to reveal that the real barrier isn't regulation, it’s internal readiness and the failure to move from "passive" chat interfaces to "autonomous" agents that execute work. What You Will Learn: The Definition Shift: Why agentic AI is about taking action, not just answering queries. The 20-Year Relationship Fail: Why a tool used for 2 years knows more about serving customers than a bank that has held their data for 20. The Erica Blueprint: How Bank of America handles 2 million daily conversations, with 60% initiated by the AI. 3 Leadership Mandates: How to move AI from the "innovation roadmap" to a board-approved strategic mandate. Download the full research report linked below and take these insights into your next leadership meeting. #BankingInsights #AgenticAI #JimMarous #DigitalBanking #SelfDrivingBank #Fintech #RetailBanking #AIStrategy #AutonomousFinance #BankOfAmericaErica #DigitalTransformation https://www.digitalbankingreport...

Your bank might be winning the battle for the transaction. It is losing the attention war for the customer. Live from Fintech Meetup in Las Vegas, host Jim Marous is joined by Alex Johnson (Fintech Takes) and Mary Wisniewski (Cornerstone) to unpack the most critical shift in retail banking today: the move from a utility-based model to an attention-based economy. Traditional institutions are relying on customer inertia. Fintech leaders like NuBank are hiring out of TikTok to capture daily engagement. This episode explores how banks can fight back by using their data and modern infrastructure to become an indispensable part of a customer’s daily routine. In this episode, we dive into: • The Attention Economy: Why dollars now follow attention, and how banks are failing to compete for daily active users. • The NuBank Playbook: What a TikTok executive hire signals about the next generation of bank growth strategy. • Overcoming Complacency: Shifting from a legacy mindset to the hunt-and-kill urgency found in the top fintechs. • Infrastructure Upgrades: How FedNow, open banking, and AI are finally making real-time, personalized experiences possible. • Agentic AI: The rise of personal finance agents and why the industry must experiment with these tools today. • The Monday Morning Test: Why the executives who put in the reps on these tools now will be the ones still relevant in five years. As Alex Johnson put it on the show: "If you don’t have a strategy to acquire and retain your customers’ attention, you cannot count on inertia to keep them with you". #Fintech #DigitalBanking #AttentionEconomy #BankingTransformed #AIinBanking

The data exists. The technology exists. What's missing is the will to act. In this Insight Video, Jim Marous explores why a $300 health ring is out-innovating the banking industry. With an $11B valuation and $1B in annual revenue, Oura has mastered the Platform over Product strategy that most financial institutions are still struggling to commit to. Jim breaks down his personal experience with the Oura Ring and translates its success into 6 executable strategies your team can scope, pilot, and launch right now — moving from reactive transactions to daily proactive intelligence. Key Strategies Covered: Strategy 1: The Financial Readiness Score — Moving beyond credit scores to daily financial health signals. Strategy 2: Proactive Cash Flow Alerts — Intervening before a crisis hits, not after the fee posts. Strategy 3: The Wellness Subscription — Shifting the business model to incentive-aligned intelligence. Strategy 4: Platform over Product — Connecting data sources into a single, useful guidance engine. Strategy 5: Workplace Wellness — Taking financial wellness into the workplace through existing commercial relationships. Strategy 6: Designing for Daily Life — Being present in the 95% of daily moments, not just occasional transactions. The Monday Morning Test: Jim closes with three critical questions every FI leader must answer to determine if their organization will still be relevant in ten years. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for weekly insight on the future of financial services. #DigitalBanking #BankingTransformed #Fintech #BankingInnovation #CustomerExperience #AIinBanking #Personalization #RetailBanking #FinancialWellness #JimMarous #OuraRing #BankingStrategy #FutureOfBanking #CreditUnion

In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous is joined by Amy Hysell, President and CEO of Arizona Financial Credit Union, live from the organization’s new Biltmore Branch in Phoenix. Built from the conversion of a former top-five bank location, this branch was designed to do more than serve members. It was built to create visibility, generate word of mouth, and become a true showcase for the brand in the community. Jim and Amy discuss why Arizona Financial made this investment, how the branch was designed to differentiate itself in a competitive market, and what metrics matter most when proving the value of a physical location. From design choices and member experience to business case and breakeven expectations, this is a conversation about what modern branch strategy really looks like when done with purpose. If you lead a bank or credit union and are reconsidering what a branch should be, this episode provides a timely look at how one institution is turning physical presence into conversation, community impact, and growth. #BranchStrategy #CreditUnions #RetailBanking #BranchROI #MemberExperience #BankingTransformed #DigitalBanking

For more than a decade, banks have been told that digital channels would replace the branch. In many parts of the world, that has proven true. But the U.S. market is different—and the data tells a very different story. When Bank of America opens a new branch, digital sales in that market increase by 50%, reinforcing a critical shift in thinking: physical presence doesn’t compete with digital adoption—it accelerates it. In this episode, recorded on location at Arizona Financial Credit Union, Jim Marous explores the future of bank branches using new research from the Digital Banking Report and insights from leading institutions. Drawing on his chapter in Brett King’s Branch Tomorrow, Marous makes the case that branches are not disappearing—but must evolve into advisory-driven, relationship-focused environments that justify their cost while strengthening digital engagement. The challenge is no longer whether to invest in branches. It’s whether your branches generate more value than they cost.

The convergence of artificial intelligence, real-time payment rails, open banking, and embedded finance is creating both unprecedented opportunities for innovation and significant competitive pressures. Banks must navigate the delicate balance between embracing cutting-edge technologies, such as generative AI, and maintaining the trust and security that customers demand. In this episode of the Banking Transformed podcast, we delve into the rapidly evolving payments ecosystem with Rich Clow, Head of Innovation and Strategy at Global Payment Solutions, Bank of America. With over 25 years of experience spanning from the early days of branchless banking to today's AI-powered financial services, Rich provides unique insights into the transformative trends reshaping how we think about money, payments, and banking relationships. Join us as we explore these critical trends with one of the industry's most experienced innovators, who has been at the forefront of digital payments evolution for over two decades.

Most banks say they're customer-centric, but very few are customer-obsessed. And that gap shows up directly in the numbers: obsessed customers are 88% likely to repurchase, and 42% have already recommended the company 5 or more times in the past year. Marbue Brown led customer experience at JPMorgan Chase's Consumer Bank, built Amazon's AI-driven CX operation, and has done the same at Microsoft and Cisco. His book, Blueprint for Customer Obsession, lays out nine practices across three pillars that define what the best companies actually do differently. Today, we discuss the practices where banks keep falling short, and what financial institutions of all sizes can do TODAY to elevate their customer obsession scores.

Most banks still treat lending as a point-in-time decision. Pull a score. Make a call. Wait. In today’s environment, that model limits growth and weakens earnings durability. In this episode of Banking Transformed, I speak with S. P. “Wije” Wijegoonaratna, Co-Founder and CEO of Aliya, about how AI-powered operational intelligence is transforming lending from episodic approvals into continuous, governed opportunity exploration. Aliya’s platform connects bank-account data, marketing intelligence, risk decisioning, and post-origination monitoring into a closed loop designed to improve efficiency without increasing balance-sheet risk. Are you operating episodically — or intelligently? #Banking #Lending #DigitalTransformation #AI #CustomerExperience

For the past decade, financial institutions have poured billions into improving customer experience. Digital journeys. Frictionless onboarding. Personalization. Higher satisfaction scores. But according to Joe Pine, that era is over. In this episode of Banking Transformed, I sit down with Joe, the author of The Transformation Economy and co-author of the landmark Experience Economy, to explore what comes after customer experience in banking. If experiences are now expected rather than differentiating, where should banks compete next? Joe argues that the next stage of value creation is transformation. Not better moments, but better outcomes. Not engagement metrics, but measurable progress in customers' financial lives We discuss what transformation really means for banking, why most institutions are still optimizing for the wrong thing, and why banks that fail to evolve risk becoming irrelevant in the most important conversations their customers are actually having. If your strategy still centers on CX as the competitive moat, this conversation will challenge your assumptions. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for weekly conversations with the leaders reshaping the future of financial services.

Credit unions entered 2026 with more digital ambition than any segment of the banking industry. Yet 60% are still in early stages of transformation or lack clear goals. That’s not a strategy issue. It’s an execution issue. In this episode of The Experience Factor, sponsored by Q2, Jim Marous sits down with Jesus Garcia, Chief Experience Officer at OceanAir Federal Credit Union, to examine what the 2026 Retail Banking Trends and Priorities report reveals about the credit union sector and how one institution is moving beyond ambition to measurable results. This conversation covers: * The execution gap * The branch expansion paradox * The talent contradiction * Fintech partnerships that actually drive impact * The open banking blind spot * AI: substance vs optics This discussion isn’t about strategy decks. It’s about what’s actually working and what must change. The Experience Factor is sponsored by Q2. Download the 2026 Retail Banking Trends and Priorities Report here.

If your bank is still competing on features, you don’t have a strategy. There was a time when products and features made a difference. That time is gone. Digital is now expected. Rates are aligned. Features are replicated. And AI can compare them instantly. If you're leading with just what you offer, you're competing in a race where everyone looks the same. Allison Netzer's "Think Like a Brand, Not Like a Bank" Version 2 shares three years of implementation data from banks and credit unions that stopped competing on features. Her framework explains why leading with product specs is mistaken. Customers first decide emotionally, then justify rationally. This edition includes a reflection on which principles have remained valid and which ones need rethinking. The institutions winning today treat brand as their strategic operating system, not a marketing exercise. They solve customer pain through counterintuitive thinking that violates industry patterns. In this episode, we discuss what’s changed since 2022, what surprised Allison in the real-world execution of these ideas, and why moving beyond product thinking may be the only way to avoid becoming invisible in a marketplace defined by sameness.

For decades, banks have forced customers into frustrating phone trees and rigid IVR systems—all in the name of efficiency. But what if automation could actually strengthen customer relationships instead of eroding them? In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous speaks with Isaiah Granet, Co-Founder and CEO of Bland, to explore how voice AI is transforming banking relationships, modernizing call centers, and delivering measurable operational results. They explore which workflows truly reduce call center costs, how to automate without sacrificing trust, what compliance guardrails must be in place before scaling voice AI, and what community and regional banks can realistically implement in the next 12 months. If your institution wants to modernize call center operations, improve service quality, and increase conversion opportunities, this discussion outlines a practical, defensible path forward. #Banking #ConversationalAI #Chatbots #VoiceAI #DigitalTransformation #CustomerExperience #AI This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Bland Bland is a voice AI platform that helps companies transform customer experience and business operations with AI phone, SMS, and chat agents. We serve enterprises across healthcare, insurance, financial services, and other highly regulated industries, and have dispatched more than 60 million AI-powered phone calls to date. Visit https://www.bland.ai/?utm_source=financialbrandpodcast&utm_campaign=financialbrand for more information.

About 25% of Americans can’t get a credit card from a major bank, and more than half are one or two missed paychecks from a credit crisis. Yet most financial institutions still design their products for prime borrowers and pretend the rest of the market doesn’t exist.In this episode of Banking Transformed, I sit down with Steve Min, Chief Credit Officer at Credit One Bank, who has built a business around the customers most banks would rather turn away. We talk about why two-thirds of consumers don’t understand the basics of how their credit score is calculated, why the stigma around imperfect credit keeps people from getting help, and what it actually takes to rebuild a credit profileSteve explains how Credit One approaches risk differently, why its Credit Wreckers program teaches people what not to do with their credit, and how building financial momentum can help borrowers qualify for better products over time. If your institution claims to serve the underserved, this conversation will challenge whether you’re actually doing it.Resources:CreditWreckers.comForWhatsAhead.comThis episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Credit One Bank Credit One Bank is a financial services company and one of the fastest-growing credit card issuers in the U.S. Founded in 1984 and headquartered in Las Vegas, Credit One Bank offers a full spectrum of credit card products including cash back and points-based cards as well as high-yield certificate of deposit and savings accounts. Credit One Bank is also an official partner of the Las Vegas Raiders and the Official Credit Card of NASCAR, the Vegas Golden Knights and Best Friends Animal Society. Learn more at CreditOneBank.com, in our Newsroom or on social media (@CreditOneBank) on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

Liquid Death reached a $1.4 billion valuation selling water in cans. Meanwhile, banks spent $500 billion on transformation last year and still struggle to stand out. The gap isn't money - it's courage. Most banks are still designed to protect the status quo. Risk avoidance dominates, small changes are called progress, and true creativity rarely makes it through the internal process to reach customers. Challenger brands like Liquid Death don’t win because they spend more or market louder. They win because they decide who they’re for, what to stand for, and how to build a culture that supports being a challenger, even when it creates discomfort. I’m joined by Eric Fulwiler, co-founder and CEO of Rival. We discuss their recent study of the top 50 challenger brands and what makes them distinctive. We also uncover what has to change if financial institutions want to stand out instead of blending in.

Download the free 2026 Retail Banking Trends and Priorities sponsored by Q2: https://tinyurl.com/2yrce223 Retail banking leaders have never had more clarity about what needs to change, yet execution continues to lag. In this video, discussing the most critical insight from the 2026 Retail Banking Trends and Priorities research, Jim Marous examines where transformation efforts stall across digital experience, payments, AI, and partnerships, and why incremental progress is no longer enough to keep pace with customer expectations or non-bank competitors. This discussion challenges leaders to move beyond pilots and roadmaps, confront the trade-offs they’ve been avoiding, and focus on the few decisions that actually drive meaningful change. If you’re responsible for strategy, digital transformation, or growth in 2026, this discussion offers a clear-eyed look at what’s holding the industry back and what it will take to move forward.

With over $2 trillion in deposits already lost to digital banks and fintechs, incremental banking improvements are no longer a strategy; they’re a liability. Today, I'm joined by Benjamin Conant, Chief Product Officer at Alkami and Co-founder of MANTL, to discuss insights from their new 2026 Banking Predictions Report and what it reveals about why banks and credit unions are quietly falling behind. The discussion focuses on unifying systems that have operated in silos for decades, turning branches into profit engines, finally making AI deliver results, and consolidating vendors who can create solutions at speed and scale. Institutions that endure the next three years won't be the ones making minor updates to failing systems. They'll be the ones willing to take bold actions and operate with the urgency and resilience that the future demands. This isn’t a debate about following trends. It’s about how you execute.

Your Gen Z strategy is putting your organization’s growth at risk. New research from Primax, shows that only 12 percent of Gen Z consider a community or regional bank their primary financial institution. Will these Gen Z consumers move their parents' relationship out of your institution? By 2035, Gen Z will be the largest and wealthiest generation in history. And 72 percent say they face financial challenges unlike those of any other generation. They're seeking a financial partner who understands their reality far beyond a simple transaction. The bottom line is that customer loyalty is thin, opening accounts at new institutions is easy, and growth is no longer guaranteed. Today on Banking Transformed, I'm joined by Carrie Stapp, Vice President of Marketing at Primax. We're unpacking what the Banking in Focus research report reveals about what's broken in how banks approach Gen Z – and what you need to fix now before future growth moves elsewhere. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Primax Primax provides banks with payment processing services and an expansive array of value-added technology and solutions. Primax’s customizable solutions, including risk management, mobile and online card management, data and analytics, loyalty programs, marketing, strategic consulting, delinquency management and contact center services, help banks profitably grow their portfolios and deliver an unparalleled experience to their accountholders. With a longstanding commitment to service excellence, Primax has been designing and providing support services for banks throughout the U.S. and the Caribbean for over 40 years. For more information, visit www.primax.us.

Banking executives know their industry is being disrupted. What they don't know is how much of their balance sheet they've already lost control of. According to Accenture, more than $200 trillion in global bank deposits and loans are now at risk, and that threat isn’t coming from another bank. It’s coming from stablecoins, AI agents that can automatically optimize finances, and platforms that can quickly move cash, often outside the traditional banking system. Today's guest is Mike Abbott from Accenture. His team's new report on the top banking trends for 2026 reveals some uncomfortable truths. Seventy percent of IT spending still goes to maintaining outdated systems. Margin compression could reduce US bank pre-tax income by 22%. And many of those loyal customers who've stayed with their bank for seven years? The research calls them "lazy loyalists." The real question for banking leaders isn’t whether this shift is happening, but how much of the balance sheet they’ll still control when it does. Mike joins us to discuss how banks can respond to threats moving faster than their modernization efforts.

Banks have spent billions building digital customer experiences. But most are doing it on top of back-office infrastructure built for a different era. That gap has quietly become one of the biggest drags on growth, pricing power, and profitability in banking. Today's competitive edge isn't just about what customers see upfront. It's about how efficiently a bank operates, how smartly it prices on an individual basis, and how quickly it can turn data into action. That's why modernizing the back office has moved from an IT discussion to a strategic imperative. I'm joined on the Banking Transformed podcast by Richard Ullenius and Brandon Sailors from CSG International to discuss what modernization truly means, how banks can progress without tearing everything down, and how smarter infrastructure is becoming the key to efficiency, engagement, pricing, and risk management. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by CSG CSG delivers banking and financial services solutions to help banks reimagine pricing, billing and customer engagement across retail, commercial and institutional banking. By unifying smart pricing, customer and transaction data and accurate, flexible billing, CSG enables banks to modernize complex, multi-product relationships without rip-and-replace. As a result, banks can reduce risk and complexity, protect margins and power trusted, real-time experiences that drive growth. https://www.csgi.com/industry/financial-services/

From Walmart and Amazon to banks and credit unions, stablecoins are accelerating a banking reset that is already reshaping how payments move. In this episode of Banking Transformed, I’m joined by Dr. Lamont Black, Associate Professor of Finance at DePaul University. We will break down why stablecoins represent a fundamental shift in financial infrastructure, not another crypto cycle. We will also explore how emerging payment rails challenge traditional card networks, what this means for deposits, data, and interchange revenue, and how financial institutions of all sizes should prepare for what comes next. This conversation is essential listening for banking executives, payments leaders, and fintech professionals who want to understand the real impact of stablecoins, the strategic risks of waiting, and how the banking reset is already unfolding.