Episodes

  • Back-Office Modernization: The New Growth Strategy for Banks

    Back-Office Modernization: The New Growth Strategy for Banks
    Jan 29 2026
    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/
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    50 mins
  • How Stablecoins Will Reshape Financial Services

    How Stablecoins Will Reshape Financial Services
    Jan 27 2026
    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.
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    44 mins
  • Why Data-Driven Marketing Fails in Banking

    Why Data-Driven Marketing Fails in Banking
    Jan 22 2026
    Most financial institutions say they are data-driven. Far fewer can prove it in customer acquisition and relationship growth success. At a time when marketing costs are rising, response rates are under pressure, and every institution has access to the same channels, data is often the difference between growth and wasted spend. Today’s conversation is about how data actually drives results, not dashboards, not buzzwords, but measurable connections with the right consumers at the right time. We are going to talk about how modeling, channel orchestration, and analytics are reshaping direct marketing for banks and credit unions, and why doing this well is becoming a competitive necessity. I am joined by Preston Carroll, Director of Data and Analytics, and Eddie Tu, Principal Statistical Analyst at Franklin Madison Direct. Together, they work at the intersection of data science, marketing strategy, and financial services growth. Today, we will unpack what actually works, where institutions get it wrong, and how leaders can move from data awareness to data advantage. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Franklin Madison Franklin Madison Direct is a premier direct marketing agency within the Franklin Madison Group. Specializing in performance-driven strategies, FM Direct empowers financial and insurance brands to connect with their ideal audiences and achieve outstanding growth. The agency supports clients in expanding their customer base profitably through diverse acquisition channels, including direct mail, paid search, paid social, and display advertising. https://franklinmadisondirect.com/
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    39 mins
  • The $100 Billion Hidden Fraud Crisis

    The $100 Billion Hidden Fraud Crisis
    Jan 20 2026
    Thirty to fifty percent of your fraud losses don't come from hackers or organized crime rings. They come from your own customers disputing legitimate transactions under their own names. This is first-party fraud, and it's a $100 billion problem that most financial institutions don't even track as a separate category. While banks use advanced tools to detect external fraudsters, their own account holders are taking advantage of long-standing dispute processes meant to protect consumers, turning chargebacks into weapons against the very institutions that serve them. The math is staggering: this single category now accounts for up to half of all fraud losses and keeps accelerating while most executives stay focused on threats from outside their customer base. Joining me on the Banking Transformed podcast is Shanthi Shanmugam, CEO of Casap, who developed products at Robinhood and Chime before founding a company to address this crisis. We're going to examine why first-party fraud has surged, how manual dispute processes enable it, and what essential changes are needed to transform this hidden vulnerability into a competitive edge.
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    48 mins
  • How AI, CX, and Trust Must Coexist

    How AI, CX, and Trust Must Coexist
    Jan 15 2026
    Banking is no longer competing with the branch down the street. It is competing with every digital experience your customers have before they ever open your app. Expectations around speed, simplicity, and trust are being set by big tech, fintechs, and embedded finance, not by traditional financial institutions. And for many banks, that gap is growing. That is why today’s conversation matters. I am joined by Phil Tomlinson, Senior Vice President of Global Offerings at TaskUs, and Pragya Agarwal, Vice President of Financial Crimes and Risk Operations. They sit at the intersection of customer experience, advanced technology, and financial crime prevention, where speed and trust have to coexist every day. In this episode of Banking Transformed, we unpack what next-generation banking really looks like, where AI is delivering real value right now, and how banks can move faster, innovate responsibly, and still protect customers in an always-on, app-driven world. This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by TaskUs TaskUs is a leading provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer experience to the world’s most innovative companies, helping its clients represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fast-growing sectors, including social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery and ride-sharing, technology, financial services and healthcare. https://www.taskus.com/services/financial-crime-compliance/
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    36 mins
  • How Banking Leaders Can Avoid Becoming Obsolete

    How Banking Leaders Can Avoid Becoming Obsolete
    Jan 13 2026
    Nearly half of the skills banking leaders rely on today will be obsolete within five years. In this episode of Banking Transformed, Jim Marous explores why continuous learning has become the most critical leadership skill in financial services, and why failing to adapt is the fastest path to irrelevance. Jim shares the personal transformation that reshaped his career, explains how AI is accelerating the divide between learners and laggards, and outlines the daily habits leaders must embrace to stay relevant in a world where change will never be this slow again.
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    8 mins
  • High-Tech, Low-Touch Failure: How Banks Can Fix the Experience Gap

    High-Tech, Low-Touch Failure: How Banks Can Fix the Experience Gap
    Jan 6 2026
    Banks love to claim they are high-tech and high-touch. The truth is, most are neither, and the gap between what institutions promise and what customers experience is widening fast. It is costing banks billions in lost trust, slower growth, and missed opportunities, especially as expectations accelerate across the rest of people’s financial lives. At Fintech NerdCon in Miami, I sat down with two leaders who are actually closing that gap. Siya Vansia, Chief Brand and Innovation Officer at ConnectOne Bank, and Suzan Chaffin, EVP of Solutions at LoanPro, are showing what modern banking looks like when technology, culture, and leadership come together with clarity and purpose. Our Banking Transformed conversation dives into the real work behind transformation. Not the marketing language, but the decisions, processes, and organizational alignment needed to deliver both speed and empathy. These leaders expose why retrofitting new technology onto old processes always fails, and how banks can rebuild for a future where high-tech and high-touch finally work together. If your institution is trying to modernize, improve experience, or break free from legacy constraints, this discussion offers a practical look at what it takes to move faster and deliver better value today.
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    29 mins
  • Why BofA Is Betting on Branches

    Why BofA Is Betting on Branches
    Jan 1 2026
    What if the biggest myth in banking is that customers don’t need branches anymore? Because every time Bank of America opens a new financial center, digital sales in that market jump by 50 percent. Physical presence isn’t competing with digital — it’s accelerating it. Now, Bank of America is putting $750 million behind a bet the rest of the industry walked away from too soon, opening 150 new financial centers across 60 markets by 2027 at more than $5 million per location. Bold? Yes. Contradictory? Maybe. But the timing suggests something deeper: after shrinking from 6,000 branches to about 3,700, they now believe the future isn’t fewer branches… it’s smarter ones. These next-generation centers aren’t transaction factories. They’re advisory hubs staffed by 12,000 relationship bankers, designed to anchor communities and handle the conversations digital can’t — at least not yet. My guest on the Banking Transformed podcast, Will Smayda, leads this transformation. He’ll explain why Bank of America is expanding while others retreat and what these new financial centers reveal about how clients actually want to bank. So, here’s the question we all need to wrestle with: Is this the future of the branch — or the most expensive contradiction in banking?
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    45 mins