Bankadelic: The colorful side of finance

Tom Shen may be the most knowldgeable fintech veteran out there; he's a successful entrepreneur who sits on the boards of three companies and has guided strategy with uncommon wosdom and humility. So what does this self-described "chief dabler monkey" name as the top priority for financial services in 2026? Tom wastes no time giving us the answer and defending it in depth. This is the first of a two part Bankadelic special.

While LLMs and AI have changed the financial services landscape for good, there’s not so much talk about how to improve the manageability of these resources so they can work better for banks. Titan AI founder and CEO Arjun Sirrah explains how his New York-based company has built its technology based on an effective three-prong model — security, explainability and domain specificity — that’s accessible to all financial institutions, right down to the regional and community bank level.

Between the twin pillars of accelerating technology and talent challenges, banks that want to serve the small business community, especially on a local level, may think the challenges a bit overwhelming. Ricky Guillot, President and CEO of BAFS, explains how his company helps community financial institutions grow their commercial loan portfolios without adding staff or taking on extra risk.

The fact is that today, much of the small business lending world moves at horse and buggy speed. Old school applications? Check. Bank PDFs? Check. Four week decision times? Check. Time to cross off all those check marks and add a definitive game changer to the mix. On this episode, Casca CEO Lukas Haffer explains how he brought the financial pain points learned at Stanford into the real world, making lending -- for instituions of all sizes -- move at the speed of real life.

If you think the joke’s on you, you’d almost be correct: It’s on Lou, as he does his absolute best not to look like a dumbass in the presence of three guests who know their fintech, AI and then some. What were banks fooled by? Where do they get the last laugh? All that and more, with special appearances from three of Bankadelic’s Not Ready for Prime Rate Players: billionaire Worthington Bigbucks, Elmo the Gentleman Farmer (who knows more about silos than ay CTO) and Sarge, the trainer/taskmaster at Barbell Bank. Our Guests: Lisa Pent, CEO and Founder, PentEdge Chris Poor, Vice President Strategic Solutions, Quinte Financial Technologies Preetha Pulusani, CEO, Deep Target

The uncertain economic environment that has sent gas prices soaring and tossed the stock market topsy-turvy has created ripples felt throughout financial services, especially at the level where small businesses need to secure money to grow and function. Will Tumulty, the CEO at Rapid Finance, explains how small businesses can beat the odds, obtain funding the smart way and leverage advances in artificial intelligence.

As financial institutions grapple with some serious issues, from fraud to disconnected workflows, many are rushing — in some cases too fast — to enlist AI as the Bot in Shining Armor. Sriram Natarajan, President at Quinte Financial Technologies Inc., walks us through smart ways to think about AI and employ it as a tool to address challenges when given the right data, focus, and end-to-end visioning.

With 2026 set to be a record-breaking year on the IPO front, our guest Greg Martin, Founding Partner of Liquid Stock, weighs in on what he sees over a range of high-flying companies from SpaceX to OpenAI. He also discusses the pain point his company aims to solve: helping employees tap into their liquidity during the often long ramp-up to a business going public.

Jill Castilla of Citizens Bank of Edmond has been recognized time and again as one of the financial sevices industry’s leading lights. Kian Sarreshteh of InvestiFi has brainstormed how to bring digital investing inside traditional accounts. On this special episode of Bankadelic, Kian and Jill share how they’ve brought the InvestiFi platform to Citizens Bank account holders, giving them an easier way to invest (even in crypto) while maintaining the stellar customer attention and service community FIs are known for.

Who says you cabn't declare your bankiinglove twice in one week? In this second special Valentine's Day episodes, four Cupids of Coin gather to discuss their loves, loathes and hopes in banking. The goss in 2026 is whether AI is the white knight on a silicon stallion, or a two-timin' hallucinating player. Join us as we solve that mystery and many others in the relam of love and finance. Our guests: Tyler Brantley, VP of sales and partnership, VerticeAI Josh DeTar, EVP of Evangelism, Tyfone Jessica Evett, SVP of Product Strategy & Technology Operations, CloudVirga (hard G) Rebecca Secor, Chief Experience Officer, Member Loyalty Group

In love with banking? Feeling jilted by AI? Is your fintech life a box of chocolates? Whatever the state of your financial attachments, Bankadelic invites you back to another two-part holiday special, featuring three fabulous guests sharing their views on the state of banking play in 2026. Resident Bankadelic tycoon Worthington Bigbucks also drops by to deliver a Shakesperean sonnet that shares the sad tale of his luvvy-duvvy running off with his chauffer. Our guests: Sarah Koulogeorge, Director of Business Development, Casca Keith Riddle, General Manager, Payfinia Martha Underwood, Founder of Prismm

While many prospective homebuyers are living the American Dream Deferred, others are finding their way thanks to committed professionals who understand how to turn knowledge gaps into opportunities to educate and win customer loyalty. Jeremy Davis, President of Mortgage at Southern Bancorp, describes his successful business approach centered on consumer education and community involvement. His hands-on style serves an overarching philosophy that margin and mission are not mutually exclusive.

Certificates of deposit have been around since the days of bank vacation clubs and paper passbooks. But they’ve caught up to the digital age, and then some, thanks to the vision and passion of a Seattle-based banker. John Blizzard, Founder of CD Valet, takes us through the ins and outs of an online destination that offers customers some 40,000 choices, likely making it the largest such marketplace in the world. He also shares his views on how forces ranging from AI-driven search to interest rate pressure could shape (and shake) the CD environment in the months ahead.

So AI is on the rise for FIs: Tell us something we don't already know. But will agentic AI gain traction? Will banks hyperpersonalize with all that data or just muck about in the ones and zeroes? How will community banks and credit unions assert their relevance? The questions abound in 2026, and Bankadelic's got answers, based on interviews, McKinsey intelligence, statistics and more. Stick around, and you'll also get foolish forecasts from Elmo the Gentleman Farmer, Dr. Compliars, the Bankadelic Executioner and resident wiseguy Johnny Da Big, who gives us a live trial of his new LLM, BIG-GPT.

As part of our ongoing series on the biggest tech breakthrough in history, Bankadelic's "AI 4" experts tackle the subject of hyper-personalization. The idea that every bank customer is different--and thus should be treated as an individual--is common sense. Yet too often, financial institutions rely on "spray and pray" emails and generic loan offers that have nothing to do with the person who gets them. Our distinguished panel assesses the current state of hyper-personalization and whether 2026 could be a breakthrough year. Our guests: Emiliano Giacchetti, CEO, Parascript Mitch Rutledge, CEO, Vertice AI Mac Thompson, CEO, White Clay Matthew Wood, Sr. Director of Banking, Tavant

As credit card APRs continue to soar, consumers remain addicted to the habit of putting everything on plastic, especially around the holidays. With the arrival of 2026, LendingClub Chief Customer Officer Mark Elliot walks us through how consumers can leverage debit cards to recover financial sanity, how banks can better promote financial wellness—and how his organization provides free tools such as DebtIQ to help people get smarter about monitoring and managing personal debt. Disclaimer: Please note that any annual percentage yield (APY) rates discussed in the interview are variable and subject to change at any time, without notice, at the sole discretion of the bank.

It's that time of year again, when Banka Claus and his Bankadelic Elves come round to share holiday presents and cheer ... and four special guests offer their best banking insights: the highs, lows and hopes for the year ahead. They also dish about the holiday gifts that didn't quite work as we present the second annual Preetha Pulusani Leather Purse for Vegans Award, named in honor of DeepTarget's CEO and her story of what not to give a dedicated animal uber-lover. Our guests: Alex Demyanets, Chief Economist, Delfi Wendy Wilson, Director of Product Management,  ARGO Matthew Wood, Sr. Director, Product Management, Tavant Samantha Ziesemer, COO, Digital Storefront

Just when you thought the holidays were safe from Bankadelic insanity, along comes resident wise guy Johnny Da Big with his version of "The Night Before Christmans," featuring that syndicate boss in the red suit, Nicky Da Saint. Craps games, law enforcement raids, bare-knuckled insults ... it'll have you dreaming of a White Chrstmas, or any other kind for that matter, rather than this one.

Those compelled to assist an ailing parent with their finances — and that’s likely you or someone you know — could look for a playbook. Or seek out an expert. Or learn from someone’s personal story. But how about all three? Beth Pinsker, CFP, and retirement columnist for MarketWatch shares her hard-won insights, rock-solid advice and the ways banks can do better in her just-released book “My Mother’s Money.” Beth also dishes on the mysterious "medallion stamp," a tool financial institutions supposedly use to protect a senior's finances, but defies all attempts to find it, let alone use it.

Leave it to us to mount our milestone 200th podcast 9 episodes late. But we also do things a bit differently at the Bankadelic Bunker. Here to help us mark the occasion, William Mills Agency EVP Catherine Laws turns the tables on host Lou Carlozo and interviews HIM. What does he have to say for himself? Find out, and take in all the well wishes from fintech industry stars, an executioner and a farmer--as well as that reident wiseguy, Johnny Da Big. A spirited, fun celebration and a seamless customer experience.

Before banks of any size can make the most of risk-informed business intelligence, they have to get their data act together and their business priorities straight. Edward Vincent, the CEO at Lumio Solutions, discusses smart data strategy at a time when AI is taking center stage ... even though many banking execs aren't exactly sure how to use it. The goal, as Vincent describes it, is to help decision makers spend more time focused on what matters most: serving customers and engaging with their local communities.

Even with the year-long purge of long-standing federal government agencies, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau still stands as a bulwark for people who seek information and resources in their dealings with financial institutions. On this episode, James 'Jim” McCarthy of McCarthy Hatch shares about his days getting the bureau off the ground—and how his company utilizes real-time risk prediction for the consumer financial industry to smooth the path for consumers and FIs to achieve positive complaint resolutions.

It’s a long Thanksgiving road trip… Back Friday sales have been going on since August … and someone’s gonna pick a fight over the drumstick. So why not treat yourself before the Turkey Day going gets tough so we’ve got a gift for you no turkey could come close to topping. Join us as our three panelists gather ‘round the table to discuss what they’re thankful for, even as they nominate winners for the First Annual Bankadelic Tofurkey Award, in honor(?) of the one thing we could do without in financial services. A splendid holiday episode with, dare we say, all the trimmings and none of the titanium-tough fruitcake. Tim Keith, CEO, Infusion Marketing Lisa Pent, founder and CEO, PentEdge Jason Schwabline, EVP, CheckAlt

On this episode, Trafalgar Founder and CEO Jose Porfirio Sánchez-Talavera calls in from Mexico City to share how his challenger bank works to maintain harmonious relationships with regulators, customers and shareholders. It’s an almost radical proposition in an era where banks aren’t shy about putting profits far above all else, and fintechs act with impunity in a throwback to the bad old days of “move fast and break things.” Then there's Jose, who's actually a fan of regulation.

More than 11,000 people attended Money 20/20 at the Venetian in Las Vegas, making 2025 another banner year for one of the leading financial services conferences in the world. Bankadelic was there from start to finish and on this episode, host Lou Carlozo recounts the hot discussion topics (from agentic AI to stablecoins), the cool swag (pickleball, anyone?)--along with the action on the convention floor. Lou also dishes on the surprises he came across, from a fintech that fights hunger to an unscheduled appearance by Bankadelic wiseguy Johnny Da Big, lecturing all those freaking stoonads about lowbrow high-tech, if ya know what I’m sayin’…

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode taped at the Venetian's Truth and Tonic, Lou casts with Dana Kalfas Bodine, Vice President of Marketing at Trustpilot. Dana shares findings from the just-completed Write a Review Week, where all U.S. businesses received unlimited review invitations, and discusses the role AI plays in how businesses and consumers can make better choices.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou chats with a true leader in the biometrics field, Ajay Amlani, CEO of Aware. As the creator of aviation’s CLEAR technology, Amlani launches into a discussion of why biomentrics are more robust than ever, and bound to eventually replace passwords and standard multi-factor identification based on passwords and those often-baffling CAPCHA puzzles.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, we learn all about what it takes to create successful loyalty programs that drive customer engagement and help businesses to get a leg up on their competitors. Joining us are Beth McCoy, President of CORA Loyalty and Becky Hill, President of Points at Points At Work under CORA Loyalty.

Once again, Lou Carlozo rises from the pumpkin patch to bring you yet another Bankadelic Halloween Spooktacular. This year, we visit many different kinds of ghosts: Why is AI haunting so many financial institutions? Will the loan climate finally break through all the thunder and lightning? And if there are friendly ghosts on the horizon, what might they be? It’s a fabulous cast of FI wizards … and a quartet of goblins (not so welcome, perhaps) from the Bankadelic Voice Character Crypt. Our special guests: Sarah Koulogeorge, Director of Business Development, Casca Richard Guillot, President, BAFS Samy Kogan, Vice President of Product Management, Swivel Caleb Stevens, Vice President - Marketing Manager of Capital Markets & Correspondent Banking, SouthState Bank

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou talks with Sai Rangachari, Chief Product Officer at Temenos, to learn more about how the Swiss banking software company is embracing the American market. Sai also shares his views on how AI is having the most influence on banking, along with trends he thinks will shape the industry in the years ahead.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou chats with John Blizzard, Founder of CD Valet, to learn more about an online destination that offers customers close to 40,000 choices, likely making it the largest such marketplace in the world. Blizzard, who’s also President and CEO of Seattle Bank, makes a compelling case for why CDs will only grow in popularity as factors from a potential AI bubble to unreleased economic data loom over Wall Street.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou chats with one of his favorite return guests, Steven J. Ramirez, CEO of Beyond the Arc. The FI veteran shares his views on big opportunities in AI and finance, including the creation of compliance documents that meet the opposing demands for speed and rigor, and the return of blockchain as a hot topic.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, ASA Founder/CEO Landon Glenn explains how collaborative banking and embedded finance create exciting opportunities across the board. When financial institutions can offer new digital tools, customers have access to broader services, while fintechs have increased options to connect with FIs.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou meets an enlightened founder who’s making waves as a payments -merchants innovator, Houman Motaharian (left), CEO of ClarityPay. He’s joined by Tom Carter, Chief Commercial Officer, and together they reflect on topics from removing the friction for merchants eager to serve customers better to what it’s like to build an organization dedicated to three bedrock commitments: team play, making a difference and practicing the art and science of saying “yes.”

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou’s introduced to the revolutionary concept of “cognitive banking” by Udi Ziv, CEO of Personetics. In a cognitive banking world, agentic processes stand in to represent the best interests of the customer: It may be digital, but it’s a definite throwback to the days when local bankers guided and even mentored customers.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. Conference speaker Sophia Bantanidis, Head of Future of Finance at the Citi institute, walks us through two laser-sharp reports, "Real Time 24/7 Finance in an Always-On World" and "Agentic AI: Finance and the Do it for Me Economy." Sophia's observations add context and depth to two of the most discussed topics at Money 20/20.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode Lou chats with Frank Frantz, Founding Growth Executive at Chargeflow, to learn how the company is tackling an online theft merchants hate: chargebacks. Typically these fraudsters request refunds on a purchase but still keep the item they "bought." Here's how Chargeflow uses data analysis to stop the deception dead in its tracks.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Anthony Vassallo, Senior Vice President of Crypto at Silicon Valley Bank, walks us through the state of crypto in 2025, the ascendancy of stable coins--and why the bank chose not to rebrand following its well publicized collapse in 2023.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou talks with Alkami Technology founder Stephen Bohanon, who shares the story of how his company has grown since 2009 from a feisty startup to a digital banking industry leader. He also discusses the unique approach Alkami takes to create its collaborative, energized work environment that borrows from backstory of medieval alchemy.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. On this episode, Lou chats with David Ness, Candescent's Head of Fintech Partnerships, who shares his boots-on-the-ground perspective of the convention, including the intense conversations surrounding AI's tentative but necessary leap into an era of customer-first hypersonalization.

In a series of podcasts taped live at 2025’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas, host Lou Carlozo brings you the latest from one of the premier financial services conferences in the world. One conference speaker making waves is John Patton, Founder and Executive Director of Street Charity in Atlanta. Patton shares the story of how his desire to help the homeless turned into an initiative, backed by Discover, to create prepaid $5 food cards. It’s a generous alternative that sidesteps cash, which is often used to purchase drugs and alcohol--and a brilliant use of fintech to support the greater good.

It only takes one unexpected big bill or the prologued drip-drip-drip of leaky finances to create debt of a different kind—manifested in physical stress, lack of sleep and mental health challenges. In this episode, Matt Tomko, Chief Revenue Officer at Happy Money, shares the results of a survey that sheds light on the consumer debt epidemic and the spiral of helplessness it creates. Tomko also explains how Happy Money has worked to better serve consumers in the personal loan space.

On this special episode of Bankadelic, Apiture Chief Product Officer Daniel Haisley (left) and DefenseStorm CEO Steve Soukup (right) talk about how thier businesses joined forces to elevate Apiture's mobile banking service to a new level of cyber-threat preparedness. That's all the more relevant given how AI is being accessed by fraudsters through "Deep Fakes as a Service" (DFaaS) on the Dark Web--a subject Soukup and Haisley address here.

Perhaps the most talked-about aspect of artificial intelligence in 2025 has been agentic AI—the technology that computers will use to make decisions without the need for human intervention. But are financial institutions jumping the gun to embrace fintech that’s not yet ready for prime time? On this episode, two of the founders of Tyfone — Siva Narendra (left) and Prabhakar Tadepalli — explain what it really takes to recognize opportunities to employ agentic AI, and how to understand the technology once the hype is stripped away.

New statistics show that only a minuscule percentage of people know a deep fake when they see one. That creates a huge peril for financial institutions, businesses and consumers who aren’t ready to face the full frontal assault of cybercriminals armed with AI. Andrew Bud, Founder and CEO of iProov, draws on decades of tech experience to explain how deep fakes can be spotted, and shares how his company has developed a defense that builds on biometrics to create bulletproof fake-spotting.

As smaller institutions often learn the hard way, you can't just throw a switch on new tech and expect all will go well--especially when marketing teams, for example, are overlooked. What should the value propositions be for community banks and credit unions at a time when everyone's trying to win on rates? And how best to apply key pieces of the high-tech puzzle? Samantha Paxson, Founder and Lead Investor of the Power and Light Collaborative, shares from her decades of experience on how to get everyone across the finish line successfully.

Long regarded as frumpy financial vehicles, certificates of deposit are playing a huge role in a volatile marketplace. But how do local and regional banks compete with the big dogs and win? John Blizzard, President and CEO of Seattle Bank and Founder of CD Valet, explains why consumer demand for certificates continues to be strong—and how the right platform can put banks of all sizes in the hunt for that business, even if they’re mostly unknown outside of their geographical market.

Is it time to put the white clothes away? Find out what our panel of four distinguished fintech experts has to say about this and much more pressing subjects -- such as, which end of financial services deserves an extra day off -- on this special holiday show. One more barbecue, one more beach day but at Bankadelic it's always summer fun... or at least fun and food for thought no matter the season and definitely on this episode. Our guests: Lee Farabaugh, CEO of Monarch Professional Services Group Ricky Guillot, President at BAFS Todd Michaud, CEO of HuLoop Automation Preetha Pulisani, CEO of Deep Target

In light of all the unknowns surrounding AI and its ascendancy, questions of human talent have taken on more currency and urgency than ever before. In this episode, Susan LaMonica, Chief Human Resources Officer at Citizens Bank, talks about how financial institutions can recognize the deeper needs of their team members and create a winning formula based on workplace culture, commitments to learning and addressing the human needs of all those who make success possible.

While it made sense that savings accounts weren't that popular in the era of near-zero percent interest, the environment is ripe for America’s consumers to wield this important financial tool their to their advantage. Cetin Duransoy, CEO of Raisin US, examines the current environment and explains how his platform helps consumers connect with banks in search of the best interest rates. To read Raisin’s latest post “How Gen Z is re-shaping savings culture, for the better,” visit: raisin.com/en-us/education-center/gen-z-finances-and-savings-culture/