Banking Transformed with Jim Marous

The banking sector has always been data intensive. Today, AI technology has the capability to improve efficiency, increase innovation, boost differentiation, manage risk and regulatory needs, and positively impact the customer experience. While more than 80% of financial services AI adopters say that AI will be very or critically important to their business’s success in the next two years, it’s time for banks to move beyond the hype and consider practical applications of AI across the entire organization. On today’s Banking Transformed podcast, we have Imtiaz Adam, global AI influencer and founder of Deep Learn Strategies Ltd. He will share why financial institutions must make adoption of AI technologies across the entire enterprise a strategic imperative.

More than ever, financial marketers can trigger automatic action by applying behavioral science principles in marketing strategy and creative execution. If you have a behavioral understanding of your customer, they will find you, refer business, and share insights that will help your efforts succeed. At a time when both print and digital marketing involve as much art as science, behavioral science is a critical tool for understanding how consumers will react to various tactics and strategies. My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast is Nancy Harhut, cofounder of HBT Marketing. Nancy shares why marketers cannot afford to ignore behavioral science since it can shed light on why people buy or don’t buy your brand.

Customer expectations are changing faster than ever. Unfortunately, most banks and credit unions are playing catch-up, with siloed data, back-office technology that was built decades ago, and processes that move too slow. Continuous Product Design, supported by real-time data, can help organizations deliver digital solutions that are personalized, empathetic, and delivered with speed and scale. My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast is Mario Ciabarra, founder and CEO of Quantum Metric. Mario discusses how banks can use data to drive digital product design and deployment that enhances customer experiences and increases engagement. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Quantum Metric As the pioneer in Continuous Product Design, Quantum Metric helps organizations put customers at the heart of everything they do. The platform empowers a customer-centric culture, helping business and technology teams align faster on customer needs and prioritize the opportunities that will drive the most value

More than ever, creating an organization that responds to customer’s needs, cares for and inspires employees, embraces purpose, emphasizes diversity, equity, and inclusion, and helps a firm become future-ready — all boil down to one thing: leadership. While conversations about the importance of a disruptive mindset started well before the pandemic, the crisis accelerated the need for strong leadership significantly. The question becomes how ready is existing leadership to lead an organization to success during uncertain times? My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast is Charlene Li – Chief Research Officer, PA Consulting. Charlene shares how leadership can better embrace change, accept risks, and help organizations become future-ready.

Most mortgage experiences are overwhelming and full of friction, with outdated processes that includes a stack of paper forms and multiple in-person meetings. And, while many financial institutions would like to provide a better experience, resources are scarce. New mortgage-as-a-service (MaaS) solutions allow smaller financial institutions to utilize best-in-class technology, while still retaining personalized engagement. This enables local banks to compete with larger financial institutions for the most important household relationship. My guests on the Banking Transformed podcast are Jonathan Price, EVP of Q2 and Sam Schey, EVP of Rocket Mortgage. They are going to explain how a bank can combine an industry-best digital mortgage process with a bank’s existing mobile and online banking platform. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Q2 Today, digital banking is more than a channel—it’s how financial institutions deliver their brand, manage customer relationships, and grow their business. Q2 h

Small businesses are the foundation of the American economy, with 30.2 million small businesses making up 99.9% of American businesses and employing 47.5% of American employees. Despite the size of this segment, small businesses have unique challenges such as funding, payment processing, money transfer and more. In addition, most traditional small business bank processes are antiquated and time-consuming. My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast is Corey LeBlanc, co-founder of Locality Bank, a digital-first community bank based in Fort Lauderdale. Corey shares the mission of this start-up and how Locality is using financial technology to make processes more efficient, saving money and better serving their customers.

Embedded finance integrates financial services, such as payments, lending, insurance, etc. within a non-financial business’ infrastructure. This provides a seamless bridge between a brand, the consumer, and a financial solutions provider. The expansion of embedded finance solutions on the B2C side have skyrocketed, while B2B solutions have seen much more tepid growth. Innovation of both forms of solutions is expected to continue to be robust in the foreseeable future. We are very fortunate to have Mike Kresse and Taira Hall from FIS Global on the Banking Transformed podcast. They discuss the current embedded banking and Banking as a Service can provide both opportunities and threat in the future. This Episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by FIS When customers need to pay, borrow, or invest, are you at the point of need? The future of financial services delivery is giving customers what they want, whenever and wherever they are. FIS Embedded Finance gives any company or financial institution the tools

Becoming adept at digital banking is not simply about technology. It’s about the way banking leaders adapt to the pace of change and continually rethink how they can create and deliver value in a digital economy. Most importantly, it is understanding that the digital banking transformation process is a never-ending journey … with no end point. My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast is Liz Wolverton, Head of Consumer Banking and Brand Experience at Synovus. Liz shares how building the muscles for continuous change at Synovus allows the bank to adapt to future change more rapidly, which makes the bank more resilient. This Episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by FIS From super apps and crypto to embedded finance and financial inclusion, we’re a long way away from the world of cash and checks. That’s why FIS has published The Global Payments Report. The Global Payments Report makes it easy to understand what your consumers want now – and in the future. Read about the trends transforming payments and

Consumers expect their financial institution to use data and insights collected over time to deliver personalized recommendations based on transactions and behavior in the past. Fortunately, banks and credit unions have access to solutions that can drive insight discovery, outcome predictions, and task automation. The challenge is to implement these capabilities at the speed and scale that customers expect. My guests on the Banking Transformed podcast are Greg Gruning from Segmint and Brian Lindenmann from Busey Bank. Greg and Brian discuss how banks are using data and AI to drive digital transformation and grow revenue by optimizing the customer journey across channels. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Segmint Segmint empowers financial institutions and financial technology providers to easily understand and leverage data, interact with customers, and measure results. Derived from billions of transactions, Segmint provides the fastest and most accurate customer insights through advanced

As consumers get exposed to new financial brands every day, it has never been more important to think like a brand and not a bank. Investing in creating a strong brand allows a banking organization to get and keep people’s attention – directly impacting the bottom line. With the right branding, you have the chance to impact how consumers perceive your business and how your employees represent your business. This creates loyalty by building trust. My guests on the Banking Transformed podcast are Allison Netzer and Liz High, the authors of the book, ‘Think Like a Brand, Not a Bank’. Allison and Liz share how good branding can appeal to people’s emotions, allowing a bank or credit union to outperform the competition. This Episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by FIS From super apps and crypto to embedded finance and financial inclusion, we’re a long way away from the world of cash and checks. That’s why FIS has published The Global Payments Report.   The Global Payments Report makes it easy to understa

Embedded payments have become the norm in our personal lives. In fact, a report from IDC predicts that 74% of digital consumer payments globally will be conducted via platforms owned by nonfinancial institutions by 2030. Unfortunately, IDC also found that 73% of financial institutions globally have technology infrastructures for payments that are far from future-ready. Today, we have Bhavin Turakhia, CEO and Co-founder of Zeta on the Banking Transformed podcast. Bhavin discusses how embedded payment technologies are becoming available to organizations of all sizes, allowing legacy banks to keep pace with technology leaders. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Zeta Zeta helps issuers launch next-gen card programs with its cloud-native and fully API-enabled stack that includes processing, issuing, lending, core banking, and many other capabilities. Zeta has 1400+ employees with over 70% in technology roles across locations in the US, UK, Middle East, and Asia. Globally, eight issuers and 30 fin

Competition in banking has expanded in the past twenty years, yet banking and technology giants are increasingly using proprietary technology and data-driven insights to tilt the playing field. When smaller financial firms can’t reach the scale needed to compete effectively, there is potential for economic inequality, reduced social responsiveness, and less innovation. My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast is James Bessen, lecturer at Boston University School of Law and author of the book, ‘The New Goliaths’. Jim shares his perspective that the largest firms have a major competitive advantage, and how democratizing technology, insights and innovation can level the playing field. This Episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by FIS From super apps and crypto to embedded finance and financial inclusion, we’re a long way away from the world of cash and checks. That’s why FIS has published The Global Payments Report. The Global Payments Report makes it easy to understand what your consumerswant now –

Identity fraud is an increasing challenge for financial institutions, impacting consumer trust and costing billions of dollars a year in losses. To combat this threat, financial institutions must streamline the authentication process while improving the overall client experience. When fraud or identity theft does occur, customers want fair, equitable and fast resolution, with pain-free, frictionless access to their impacted accounts. We are happy to have Chad Gluff Sr. Director, Global Identity and Fraud for TransUnion on the Banking Transformed podcast. Chad shares the impact that fraud and identity theft has on banking and the ways to turn your identity fraud solution into a customer experience opportunity. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Neustar  Neustar sorts users intelligently and reliably into high- and low-risk buckets, allowing you to quickly identify and let through low-risk consumers. Reduce digital identity fraud by 20 percent and better focus valuable fraud-fighting resources

Transformation is both an overused word and an underdeveloped concept at most financial institutions. Successfully embraced, transformation can help a financial institution achieve its full potential. Transformation is also not a project or a destination, but a continuous process of adapting to a volatile and uncertain environment to become more future-ready. We are excited to have Seth Goldstrom, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company on the Banking Transformed podcast. Seth shares the keys to a successful transformation and why most transformations fail to deliver as expected.

Data, analytics, and new technologies are transforming the art and science of personalized customer experiences. Customer engagement of the future is holistic, predictive, precise, and clearly tied to business outcomes. Winning organizations are building the capabilities, talent, and organizational structure needed for this transition. Those that stick with traditional processes will be forced to play catch-up in the years to come. We are very fortunate to have Jouk Pleiter, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Backbase on the Banking Transformed podcast. He discusses how to win customers – for life – in the new era of embedded banking.

Consumers want their financial providers to provide integrated experiences that leverage insights to create intuitive engagements. To accomplish this, banks and credit unions need to build the data infrastructure and analytics capabilities that can be applied across the entire customer journey. Personalization must become a strategic priority, using data to create a differentiated value exchange with the customer in real-time. I am excited to have Jim Stapleton, Senior Vice President at Epsilon on the Banking Transformed podcast. Jim shares how banks and credit unions can deepen relationships by understanding customer behaviors and offering timely solutions. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Epsilon  With 50+ years’ experience, Epsilon for Financial Services accelerates clients’ ability to harness the power of data to enhance, activate, and measure campaigns with confidence. With market-leading insights into customer's actions (even when they’re not interacting with your brand), Epsilon can

With a long history of leading marketing efforts at various financial organizations, Alice Milligan was named the chief marketing officer of Morgan Stanley in May 2021 in conjunction with the acquisition of E-Trade by Morgan Stanley. With an evolving brand strategy to meet the needs of a more expansive, diverse consumer base, Milligan is tasked with communicating an expanding set of capabilities to these new audiences and modernizing the brand for future growth. We are joined by Alice Milligan, the CMO of Morgan Stanley. Milligan discusses her career journey and the global brand strategy of Morgan Stanley. She also shares how data and analytics is the foundation for better marketing decisions. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by mParticle.  mParticle believes that better decisions start with better data. Cleanse, visualize, and connect your customer data from any source or system to any API. Better data, better decisions, better outcomes. Visit mparticle.com for more.

WeBank is considered by many to be the most progressive digital bank in the world. Launched in 2014, WeBank provides financial services to over 300 million individuals and 2.7 million small businesses. Recently, WeBank has been expanded the use of blockchain as one of the key technologies to improve efficiency of digital banking and to promote equity and sustainable development. WeBank has also extended beyond financial services to assist other industries in the deployment of blockchain capabilities. We are joined again on the Banking Transformed podcast by Henry Ma, executive vice president and CIO of WeBank. Ma discusses WeBank’s mission of delivering financial inclusion at scale by leveraging AI, blockchain, cloud computing, and big data.

Providing trust through personal financial education is an imperative for the entire finance services sector. It is also a cornerstone to building engagement across the entire customer journey. The need for financial education extends across every socio-economic segment and every age category. Advanced technologies have made the delivery of personalized financial education more feasible and more impactful for any sized financial institution. We have Ryan Swift, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at EVERFI on the Banking Transformed podcast. Ryan discusses the value that financial education has in helping financial institutions make an impact in their communities. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by EVERFI: See how EVERFI can help you reach new customers, expand wallet share, and strengthen your brand with personalized, digital financial education programs that help you drive visibility for your products and services. More at https://everfi.com/financial-education/

The banking industry has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform legacy business models to become more competitive and more resilient during economic downturns. By integrating data, analytics, advanced technologies, automation, and an upskilled workforce, banks and credit unions can become more future-ready and agile in a crisis. These firms will also be able to take advantage of unique marketplace opportunities. I am fortunate to be joined on the Banking Transformed podcast once again by Ron Shevlin, Chief Research Officer at Cornerstone Advisors. We discuss strategies and tactics financial institutions must take today to become more prepared for any economic environment. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by mParticle.  mParticle believes that better decisions start with better data. Cleanse, visualize, and connect your customer data from any source or system to any API. Better data, better decisions, better outcomes. Visit mparticle.com for more. This episode of Banking Transformed