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In an evolving financial landscape, US Bank has emerged as a leader in digital transformation. It has reshaped the way customers interact with their finances. Today's episode of the Tearsheet podcast features Gareth Gaston, Chief Product Officer of Digital Platforms at US Bank. He discusses the bank's decade-long journey of innovation and customer-centric development.
"We've been on a multi-year journey on digital transformation across all facets that you can think of digital," Gaston explains. This transformation has been more than just a technological upgrade. It's been a cultural shift that has positioned US Bank at the forefront of banking innovation.
The journey began with the recognition that customers were using more than just physical branches. "When we started this journey, we were renting all our digital tools," Gaston recalls. "We didn't have a mobile app. We were kind of renting our online banking and bill pay."
From these humble beginnings, U.S. Bank has built its own digital platform and in doing so, laid the groundwork for successful future product development. In doing so, it has created award-winning apps and platforms that serve millions of customers.
Here’s my conversation with U.S. Bank’s Gareth Gaston. -
Most banks right now are at a crossroads: Either they choose to overhaul their legacy systems or come to a point where they will continue to battle the complex legacy spaghetti of multiple software systems, struggle to access talent that can manage their tech, and alienate customers that expect the best of everything. Although the choice is obvious, going through with core modernization is extremely hard. Guests on the show have been excited about moving to the cloud for many years, but very few have really taken it on, which is why when I have the chance to talk to not one, but two individuals that have hands-on experience with helping banks modernize, I really dive into their recipe of success.
Joining us on the show today is Russell Barrett, COO at Valley Bank, who shares the path to modernization his $60 billion institution took, how he and his leadership team devised the bank’s change management policies, the role of consultants in this process, and the challenges the bank faced. Pouring his deep experience into this conversation on Valley Bank’s work is David Feuer, CPO of Galileo Financial Technologies, who brings his expertise of handling and guiding multiple banks of all sizes on their transformation journey. -
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SMBs face critical challenges such as lack of access to credit, barriers for women entrepreneurs, and lower levels of digital enablement, which have limited their growth and success globally.
Salah Goss takes us through the Mastercard's SMB strategy, which through initiatives like Strive, focuses on easing credit access, providing digital tools, and building networks, with a particular emphasis on empowering women-led enterprises and fostering community-driven growth. -
As the financial world evolves, open banking and digital transformation are opening up new opportunities. This comes with several challenges for banks and fintechs. In today's episode, I sit down with Alessandro Hatami. He is a managing partner of Pacemakers, a consulting firm that offers a systematic approach that allows its clients to find the partner that is right for them.
Today we discuss some of these seismic shifts in the fintech industry.
Hatami has a unique background in financial services, spanning both upstart tech companies like PayPal and traditional institutions like Lloyds Bank. His background offers a compelling perspective on the future of financial services. "Financial services is the ideal digital product," Hatami asserts. "because there isn't a real tangible exchange," he says. Yet, despite this potential, many institutions are struggling to embrace digital transformation.
I’ve been saying for years on this podcast that the ability for both larger and smaller institutions to partner – to partner well, at scale, quickly, and deeply – can be a differentiated, defensible model moving forward.
Hatami explains, "They have gone through an evolution. But they haven't gone through a transformation." The challenge facing the industry today lies in balancing adaptation with true transformation. from legacy systems to cultural barriers.
Through Pacemakers, Hatami aims to bridge this gap. He wants to improve partnerships between established financial institutions and agile fintech innovators.
Here’s my conversation with Pacemakers’ Alessandro Hatami. -
SMBs need more from their FIs, and data echoes this demand. 62% of SMB owners have reported feeling like their business banking options don't go any further than the services already available in their personal accounts.
So banks have to find a way to not only differentiate their business banking products from fintech and platform competitors but their own personal banking products as well.
One bank that is leading the way is Citizens, which has a three-pronged strategy for SMBs, according to its President & Head of Business Banking, Mark Valentino.
Valentino talks about how Citizens is getting closer to the needs and wants of SMB owners by focusing on gathering feedback through surveys and its bankers. -
Today, we're diving into the ever-green landscape of startups and startup banking. While the startup scene is always buzzing, recent years have been particularly challenging due to a tough market, limited investment opportunities, and waning investor confidence. However, with a rebound in VC funding this year and recent rate cuts by the Fed, there’s a glimmer of hope for improvement and new opportunities.
Joining me to discuss startup banking and share related insights from recent J.P. Morgan research is Ashraf Hebela, Head of Startup Banking at J.P. Morgan. In our conversation, Ashraf dives into how J.P. Morgan is sharpening its focus on startup banking, what approaches can better serve underrepresented founders, and the critical support that banking startups require from their financial institutions to thrive. -
The days when SMBs were tethered to their home markets are long behind us. Today, SMBs are eagerly embracing global opportunities, expanding into new regions, and viewing cross-border sales as a key growth driver. Yet, with this expansion comes a major challenge: navigating the complexities of international payments.
49% of SMBs cite the ease of managing cross-border payments as a top concern. Many have faced friction with traditional banks, which has created a fertile ground for non-bank alternatives to step in. This shift is reflected in the growing trend of SMBs switching providers. While pricing and fees were once the main reasons for switching, today, the search for “better and more convenient” digital solutions is becoming a powerful motivator alongside these operational needs.
So, how can FIs respond to this shift?
Chris Ward, Head of Enterprise Payments at Truist Financial Corporation, addresses this question and its potential solutions at Tearsheet's The Big Bank Theory Conference, recently held in New York. -
How can FIs step in with solutions that alleviate these pain points, allowing SMBs to concentrate on growing their businesses while relegating banking to the background?
“I think there are a few elements of that, but since SMB customers are willing to adopt technology, that's a start,” said Scott Beyer, U.S. Bank’s Head of Business Banking Digital Experiences during Tearsheet’s The Big Bank Theory Conference, held recently in New York.
Beyers noted that a generational change is underway in the SMB landscape, with 77% of small business owners now adopting or planning to adopt technology to enhance their operational efficiency. This trend presents a valuable opportunity for FIs to enter the scene and create engaging digital experiences that resonate with the evolving needs of these businesses.
He identified three key steps banks can employ to seize the opportunity and address existing gaps:
1. Ensure the availability of products and services
2. Build integrations
3. Focus on data reconciliation and harmonization -
Generative AI and open banking are beginning to change how banks engage with customers. Today we will look at this process with Olly Downs. He is a Chief Technology and AI Officer at Curinos. With a career spanning three waves of AI, Downs brings a wealth of experience to the table. He published his first academic paper on what we now call generative AI, back in 1999. "I've almost been waiting for the current wave of AI to join us," Downs reflects. He highlights the long-anticipated arrival of today's AI capabilities.
AI-driven personalization will change digital banking. Banks are beginning to use it to recreate the personalized touch of traditional banking. Downs explains, "Traditional banking founded itself on personalized, high-engagement relationships. That followed families and businesses throughout their entire life cycle." Personalizing the online experience is challenging due to the growth of digital channels. Curinos' technology tackles this by analyzing customer journeys. It identifies the best times and ways to engage customers. This ensures that personalization continues in the digital space. The result is a more effective and tailored customer experience.
Generative AI is not just boosting personalization. It addresses the entire marketing cycle for banks. This shift is redefining how banks approach customer engagement. It's enabling and testing tailored interactions with numerous ready-to-use marketing creatives. The impact is both profound and widespread. The blend of personalization with open banking is shaping the future of banking. -
In the latest episode of Tearsheet's newest podcast, "Compound Influence," hosts Zack Miller and Josh Liggett dive deep into the fascinating world of Wall Street Bets (WSB) and its impact on the financial landscape. This eye-opening discussion explores the intersection of social media, retail investing, and the power of online communities.
The Rise of Wall Street Bets
The hosts trace the origins of WSB, from its humble beginnings in 2012 with just 1,700 followers to its explosive growth to over 17 million members by 2024. This growth trajectory wasn't linear – it saw a massive spike during the GameStop saga in early 2021, catapulting the community into the mainstream spotlight.
The Robinhood Connection
A significant portion of the podcast focuses on the symbiotic relationship between WSB and the trading app Robinhood. The hosts discuss how Robinhood's commission-free trading model and gamified user experience aligned perfectly with WSB's high-risk, high-reward trading philosophy. This partnership inadvertently led to debugging Robinhood's platform and exposing potential exploits.
Impact on the Financial Industry
The discussion highlights how WSB and the GameStop event forced traditional financial institutions to take notice of retail investors' collective power. It led to the emergence of new platforms like Public.com and prompted established players to adapt their strategies.
The WSB Ethos
One of the most intriguing aspects of WSB, as pointed out in the podcast, is its unique culture. Unlike traditional finance forums, WSB embraces transparency about losses, often with self-deprecating humor. This openness creates a sense of community and shared experience among members.
Challenges and Concerns
The hosts don't shy away from addressing the potential dangers of WSB's influence. They discuss how the influx of inexperienced investors armed with partial knowledge can lead to risky behavior and significant financial losses.
Lessons for Financial Institutions
The episode concludes with insights on how established financial institutions might engage with communities like WSB. The hosts emphasize the importance of authentic interaction and warn against attempts to control or manipulate these organic communities. -
Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast, where we explore financial services together with an eye on technology, innovation, emerging models, and changing expectations. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller.
Today, we’re joined by Bill Borden, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Financial Services, at Microsoft, and Suzanne Dann, CEO for the Americas at Wipro. Together, they discuss their collaboration on leveraging Azure OpenAI to enhance generative AI in finance. This partnership focuses on improving customer experiences, streamlining processes, and ensuring responsible AI practices in the financial industry.
As Suzanne puts it, “My role is to help clients digitally transform by bringing together the right industry expertise, technology, and integration experience.” Bill adds, “Our goal at Microsoft is to build products and services that truly meet the unique needs of financial institutions.”
We’ll explore how cognitive assistants, powered by generative AI, are reshaping customer interactions, loan origination, and even the broker experience, all while maintaining a focus on security, reliability, and expanding AI access across the sector. -
Gaurav Mittal, Executive Vice President of Ethoca, a Mastercard company, shows that the post-purchase space represents an opportunity for our industry. It's where customers want convenience, autonomy, and trust but many of the players today have not been able to meet their demands.
Mittal brings a unique insight into how tools like digital receipts and subscription management delivered within the banking app can improve customer experience. What’s more, this mission to ease post-purchase tasks like cancellations brings with it cost reductions and operational efficiencies for merchants and banks as well — and our guest today tells us how to build for the hard to achieve but ideal solution: a partnership landscape where everybody wins.
To learn more about how merchants and banks can leverage subscription management tools and digital receipts to better serve customers as well as positively impact their bottoms lines download this whitepaper: https://www.library.tearsheet.co/ethocawp -
Welcome to the second episode of our de novo community banking series. I’m Sara Khairi, your host and reporter at Teasheet. If you tuned in a couple of weeks ago, you know we kicked things off with a deep dive into Craft Bank's journey in Atlanta, from CEO Ross Mynatt's debut leadership role to its choice of core tech partner and the strategies it used to grow $250 million in assets.
This episode builds on that theme, exploring the origin, growth, and technology paths of two other community banks: RockPoint Bank in Tennessee and Moultrie Bank in Georgia.
Both banks are relatively young, having been founded during the pandemic, and while they share some commonalities like limited budgets and staffing, they each have unique markets and growth strategies. The variety of perspectives on the same challenges is what makes their story interesting.
Joining us are Hamp Johnston, President and CEO of RockPoint Bank, and Donna Lott, President and CEO of Moultrie Bank & Trust. We discuss the origins and development of their banks, the hurdles they’ve overcome, and why they decided on Jack Henry as the right tech partner for them. -
Strategic partnerships – those relationships between traditional financial institutions and fintechs – have become really integral as banks seek to modernize their offerings and fintechs aim to scale their operations and get distribution.
KeyBank and Qolo have teamed up on an embedded finance offering. On today’s episode, we sit with Jon Briggs, Head of Product and Innovation at KeyBank, and Patricia Montesi, Co-founder and CEO of Qolo.
Their collaboration story begins two years ago when a single slide in Qolo's pitch deck caught KeyBank's attention. "We still talk about it today," Montesi recalls. "It was the ‘Series A: Winter Slide’, which was all about how fintech had created this spiderweb ecosystem of suppliers. And sort of put the burden back on banks and corporates to bring it all together." Their shared goal of simplifying fintech sparked a partnership that’s addressing how treasurer think about and use banking.
As Briggs explains, "We enter partnerships because they need a lot of mind share, a lot of sweat equity." What set Qolo apart was their deep understanding of banking-grade compliance and operational risk. This makes the integration process less painful. The result of their collaboration? KeyVAM, a virtual account management system that simplifies money movement by consolidating balances and transactions in a virtual platform, reducing the need for organizations to manage multiple accounts or complex account structures.
KeyBank’s Jon Briggs and Qolo’s Patricia Montesi are my guests today on the Tearsheet Podcast. -
Today's episode of the Tearsheet podcast features Dan Kang, VP of Finance at Mercury. He shares his insights on how the fintech company is reshaping corporate finance for tech founders. Kang has experience in private equity, Square, and Mercury. This background gives him a unique view of financial services for startups and positions the neobank nicely as the IPO window opens wider for more of its clients.
His insights are especially valuable in today’s changing financial landscape. "We're excited about the service area that this opens up for Mercury," Kang explains. He discusses the company's recent expansion into personal banking. This move, based on customer demand, shows Mercury's commitment to complete financial solutions for founders.
Kang emphasizes the importance of understanding customer pain points. He states, "It starts with really understanding what are the customer pain points and what are they looking for." This customer-centric approach has led Mercury to develop innovative products. These include free wire transfers and streamlined SAFE agreements.I think this approach sets them apart in the competitive fintech landscape. -
Welcome to Compound Influence, the podcast that dissects the power players shaping the financial services industry. I'm your host, Tearsheet's Zack Miller, joined by my insightful co-host, Josh Liggett.
In today's episode, we're diving deep into the world of financial analysis and influence, focusing on a figure who's been making waves in a unique way: Ron Shevlin. Known for his data-driven approach and sharp insights, Ron has carved out a niche as the "analyst's analyst" in our industry.
We'll explore how Ron's methodical, sometimes contrarian views are reshaping conversations in banking and fintech. We'll also draw some interesting comparisons to Jim Cramer, whom we discussed in our previous episode, highlighting the diverse ways influence manifests in our field.
Whether you're a seasoned veteran or a rising star in financial services, this episode promises to offer valuable insights into the mechanics of influence and the power of nuanced, data-backed perspectives in our rapidly evolving industry.
The big ideas
Data-Driven Contrarianism: Ron Shevlin's approach combines deep industry knowledge with a willingness to challenge accepted practices, using data to poke holes in common assumptions about banking and fintech.
The Power of "Boring" Finance: In contrast to flashy influencers, Shevlin's "boring" but substantive content resonates strongly with industry professionals, highlighting the value of in-depth, nuanced analysis in financial services.
Independence as Influence: Shevlin's perceived independence and resistance to being "influenced" himself lends significant credibility to his opinions and analyses.
Niche Expertise in a Massive Market: The financial services industry is so large that influencers like Shevlin can focus on specific niches (like credit unions) and still have substantial impact and reach.
B2B Storytelling Through Social Media: The podcast discusses how leaders in fintech and banking are increasingly using platforms like LinkedIn to share behind-the-scenes insights, building trust and connections with potential clients and partners.
So, grab your coffee, settle in, and let's unpack the -
Hey, I'm Tearsheet's Sara Khairi. For my very first episode, I decided to step outside the frenetic pace of the Big Apple and dive into the lesser-known banking scene in other states. Community banks have weathered a storm of challenges in recent years, including macroeconomic pressures and the uncertainty following three regional bank failures in 2023. In particular, young community banks launched during the peak of Covid-19 have had to contend with additional complexities due to their timing.
These community banks may operate on a smaller scale, but their ambitions rival those of Wall Street giants. As the digital wave sweeps across the globe, these banks are not just staying in the game — they’re hustling to keep pace and stay relevant by adopting emerging technologies.
One example is Atlanta's Craft Bank, which opened its doors in 2020, right when the world was facing a pandemic. Primarily a commercial bank with a business-centric focus, Craft Bank currently operates with a team of 19 employees and manages total assets of $250 million.
Ross Mynatt, CEO of Craft Bank, joins us to discuss his journey as a first-time CEO, the choice of Jack Henry as their core tech partner, and the strategies behind Craft Bank’s $250 million asset growth at a time when most smaller institutions were struggling just to stay afloat. -
Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast, where we explore financial services together with an eye on technology, innovation, emerging models, and changing expectations. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller.
In today's episode, we explore what it takes to build world-class data governance in financial services. Our guests are Jay Como, the global head of data governance at T. Rowe Price, and Glenn Kurban, partner at Capco. We talk about how generative AI and new data strategies are transforming finance, sharing insights on the transformation of the Chief Data Officer role.
The discussion also focuses on the challenges of large-scale data migrations. Jay Como reflects on the convergence of data and digital roles. He states, "What we've seen is there used to be kind of two shapes of CDOs. There was a chief data officer and there was a chief digital officer. And what I think in the last five years is what we've seen is those roles have really come together."
Glenn Kurban adds depth to this perspective, emphasizing the shift towards more proactive data strategies. Glenn says, "You're seeing much more being asked of CDOs in terms of, how are we moving now to an offensive posture around data? That is, how am I going to monetize this data? How can I use it to drive better decisions, reduce costs, and actually outpace our competitors?"
As our discussion unfolds, it becomes clear that the financial services industry is at a pivotal moment. AI tools and cloud technologies are reshaping traditional approaches to data governance and migration. The insights shared by Como and Kurban offer a glimpse into the future of data management in finance. AI-driven solutions and strategic data governance converge to create new opportunities and challenges.
Here’s my conversation with Jay and Glenn. -
This conversation with Suzy’s Matt Britton really rose above the noise and allowed me to look at the financial services industry as an interconnected whole, as a mechanism that is alive and complex. It's the kind of perspective you can lose when you report on niche developments day in and out.
In this podcast, Britton takes us on a step by step inspection of a lot of the things we have come to take for granted: the rise of BNPL, Gen Z’s complicated relationship with money, and also how AI is going to impact sectors like wealth management and restructure how we recruit, train and strategize around talent.
Britton is an example of a man that not only has his finger on the pulse but is also able to condense the many and sometimes conflicting signals the market and the industry gives, into a cogent outlook.
It's a conversation that will urge you to stop and take stock, and one that also spotlights how FIs can make the most of an industry and consumers that are in flux right now. -
Today’s a first for the podcast. We have an entire management team joining us on the podcast.
For today’s show, we have the new leadership team of Malka Media. Malka is a subsidiary of MoneyLion and the firm’s content studio. It’s in integral part of the entire firm’s strategy and we definitely dive into their groundbreaking approach to financial content marketing.
Bill Davaris, co-CEO of Malka Media, emphasizes the importance of quality content and storytelling for the firm. He states, "We're trying to bring in what modern brands want, right? By bringing in top talent, where can we serve them with the latest technologies and strategies."
Paige McCrenskey, Chief Brand Officer, highlights the challenges of the "attention deficit economy". She focuses on the need for brands to connect through compelling stories. Chris Apostle, co-CEO, discusses the critical role of technology and data in powering marketing efforts and customer engagement.
Together, they explore how Malka Media is creating a dynamic content ecosystem within MoneyLion and beyond with the firm’s clients.
Malka Media’s new management suite is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. - Visa fler
