FinAi Podcast
The FinAi Podcast covers current trends and intriguing topics in automation and beyond. It focuses on insights and news surrounding automation in financial services. Episodes explore developments in financial technology and emerging automation practices.
Episodes
Customer-facing AI reshapes mortgage lending, Newrez CIO says
Mortgage lender Newrez has received a positive response to its customer-facing AI tool, signaling a shift in how people buy homes. Newrez launched Rezi Mortgage Assistant, its customized ChatGPT tool, in May, and has seen “plenty of usage,” Chief Information Officer Brian Woodring tells FinAi News on the latest episode of the “FinAi Podcast.” “That trend of the more sophisticated and i
FIs must use AI to anticipate the frauds of tomorrow, Javelin analyst says
AI is changing the fraud landscape on both ends of the spectrum: Fraudsters can use AI to increase the intricacy and polish of their exploits and FIs can use AI to identify scammers in near real-time.But AI progress marches on and FIs must continually reevaluate and refine their methods for combating fraud, Jennifer Pitt, senior analyst of fraud and security at Javelin Strategy & Rese
Mastercard focuses on ‘Verifiable Intent’ for agentic payments, CDO says
Nearly a year after launching Agent Pay, Mastercard is focused on developing trust to drive adoption. “The first thing is the consumer needs to know that they can trust the interaction,” Mastercard Chief Digital Officer Pablo Fourez tells FinAi News on this episode of the “FinAi Podcast.” “They need to know that if ‘I shop with this agent and something goes wrong, I am protected.’” Agent
Robotics, AI reduce manual processes at J.P. Morgan Payments
J.P. Morgan Payments is looking to AI to remove friction from workflows — freeing up employees from repetitive and manual tasks. "The workflow surrounding the payment has traditionally been very manual," Michelle Conklin, head of receivables and public sector product and operations for J.P. Morgan Payments, tells FinAi News on this episode of the "FinAi Podcast." It's "a manually intensi
AI adoption among SMBs doubles YoY, according to TD survey
Small businesses are increasingly looking to AI to improve operations – and banks must be able to meet the needs of those clients. According to the 2026 TD Financial Preparedness Survey, released in April, 69% of business owners already use AI to reduce expenses, up from 39% in the 2025 survey. The survey polled 1,000 U.S. business owners with 100 or fewer employees. “That was a dramatic
Why tax season serves as an AI stress test for banks
Tax season adds stress to banking systems with a surge in transactions, fraud threats, data complexity and necessary risk controls. This added stress, including to AI systems, can expose gaps in data quality, Mark Blake, financial services industry practice lead at data management solution provider Stibo Systems, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. Those gaps to watch
FIs deploy cloud-based AI agents
Financial institutions have established cloud partners and now those cloud providers are being tapped for agentic AI, Ravi Khokhar, executive vice president and head of cloud at Capgemini, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. "The role of cloud has now become an enabler for AI across financial services,” Khokar says. For example, banks are tapping their cloud providers
Bank of America’s head of digital speaks on bank’s AI strategy
Bank of America invests about $4 billion annually in AI and other technologies to keep up with the needs of its clients. “AI at the bank … touches everything we do,” Nikki Katz, head of digital at Bank of America, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. Katz leads a team of designers, data scientists, product managers and others who meet the needs of the 59 million client
How AI is catching check fraud early
Check fraud remains a threat for financial institutions, but AI can help by detecting anomalies. Check fraud is “a growing concern for many,” Ati Azemoun, vice president of business development at Longmont, Colo.-based software provider ParaScript, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. In fact, 63% of organizations experienced check fraud or attempted check fraud in 2025
Reimagining payment experiences with agentic AI
AI, in some capacity, has been used within payments for 30 years. The latest evolution in AI is through the agentic lens — transforming transactions and experiences alike. “We're actually thinking about really reimagining not one payment, but an entire experience,” Zachary Aron, principal, Deloitte Consulting, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. For example, how can
Rabobank, Santander Brazil see returns from Pega GenAI
Rabobank and Santander Brazil are seeing efficiency gains from generative AI. The European banks use AI Pega GenAI from workflow automation system provider Pegasystems, Steve Morgan, global banking industry lead at Pega, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast.
White Clay CEO Mac Thompson talks 8 steps for AI implementation
Financial institutions are implementing AI at scale, but logistics should be the focus before diving headfirst into emerging technology. Mac Thompson, chief executive of software provider White Clay, tells FinAi News the eight steps he shares with financial institution clients when approaching AI on this episode of “The Buzz.”
Austin Capital Bank CEO Erik Beguin on AI-driven fraud
Fraud is on the rise, and AI is contributing to both the solution and the problem. “Fraud is a really large problem and growing exponentially,” Austin Capital Bank Chief Executive Erik Beguintells FinAi News in this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. Consumers reported losing $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024, according to the FTC. And that’s probably understated, Beguin says, noting that not a
Casca CEO Lukas Haffer on opportunities for AI in small business lending
Small business owners need fast access to capital, with fair rates. That’s the reality that Lukas Haffer, chief executive of AI-native loan origination provider Casca, tells FinAi News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. For small business owners, the “No. 1 problem is access to capital,” he says. The time it takes to close a Small Business Administration loan, one guaranteed by the S
FV Bank CEO Miles Paschini on future of stablecoin
FV Bank aims to stay ahead of emerging technology trends, including stablecoins. The Puerto Rico-based digital bank integrated stablecoins three years ago, ahead of the recent excitement around the cryptocurrency, Chief Executive Miles Paschini tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. “We had the idea that stablecoins could play an important role in banking, so
Piermont Bank CEO Cai-Lee on tapping the $7T embedded finance market
Piermont Bank built its own proprietary API platform to allow companies to tap its embedded finance services, a market that is expected to reach $7 trillion in transaction value in 2026.
Spring by Citi Managing Director, Global Head Subramanyam on embedded finance
Citi’s embedded finance service, Spring by Citi, is looking to expand its use cases in payments acceptance and foreign exchange by tapping the consumer bank, Managing Director and Global Head Vineeth Subramanyam tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. Spring by Citi launched in 2020 and has a global presence in 23 markets. The payment and acceptance and merchant
New Fintilect CEO Soergel on the richness of transactional data
Access to transactional data provides the richest insights for personalized banking experiences. “What are [consumers] paying, how are they paying, what kinds of life stages are they in the midst of?” Lindsay Soergel, chief executive at AI-powered digital banking solutions provider Fintilect, asks. She says this information delivers “the greatest value to our financial services customers.
How JPMorgan uses AI to support SMBs
JPMorgan Chase is scaling its digital resources and fintech integrations to support small business owners through economic uncertainty and continued digital transformation. The effort starts with understanding business owners, John Frerichs, head of global SMB payments at the $4.3 trillion bank, tells Bank Automation News in this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. “Our duty is to be here for
Banks push for cost-effective, multimodal AI tools
Financial institutions are moving beyond pilot projects to implement production-grade, explainable and cost-effective AI solutions that can meet operational and regulatory demands. AI has evolved rapidly since fintech Arteria AI was founded in 2020, Amir Hajian, chief science officer, tells Bank Automation News in this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. The company provides banks with AI-powe
Citizens moves from scraping to APIs for payments
Citizens Bank is advancing its digital payments strategy in 2025, with a focus on embedded finance and omnichannel capabilities. For example, Citizens is moving from screen scraping to an API-enabled environment, allowing it to use insights from its private banking segment in other segments, such as SMB, mid-market and commercial, Taira Hall, executive vice president and head of enterpris
FairPlay launching AI fairness index tool
FairPlay, a “fairness as a service” startup is launching an index tool in Q3 of this year that shows financial institutions how their underwriting affects consumers.Los Angeles-based Fairplay uses AI-powered data analytics software to help FIs assess the accuracy of their automated loan decision models and provides them with metrics to help identify potential biases, Kareem Saleh, founder
How an anti-fraud startup fights deepfake fraud
Financial institutions are looking to deepfake detection solutions in their fight against the growing threat of generative AI-driven fraud. The growing deepfake detection market is expected to be a $15.7 billion industry by 2026, according to consultancy firm Deloitte. AI voice fraud detection startup Herd Security is one tech provider that banks are channeling to reduce targeted attacks
Banks as tech providers for SMB clients
Small business owners are looking to banks to provide data, tools and analytics to help them make more informed financial decisions. “Business owners need better tools to make better financial decisions, understand their finances and where their finances are going,” fintech Monit Chief Executive and founder Steve Dow tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. Banks
AI for credit portfolio management
AI-driven risk management decisioning and monitoring platform EnFi is automating the credit approval process for financial institutions while maintaining compliance, freeing up employees to focus on other areas of operations. EnFi uses natural language processing and modern AI models to extract information from loan and security agreements and offer instant compliance, Chief Technology Of
From disaster recovery to IT resilience
Financial institutions are focused on IT resilience as outages repeatedly disrupt operations such as the ones that affected Crowdstrike, Bank of America, Monzo and others this year. With outage repercussions in mind, organizations are investing in infrastructure, teams and resiliency strategies to reduce downtime and losses, software company Cockroach Labs co-founder and Chief Executive S
Fintech founder Pranger touts virtues of ‘practical’ AI
Fintech Appli recently launched an AI-driven financial calculator that can be embedded into a financial institution’s lending platform in minutes using just one line of code. "AI is best used when it's most practical,” founder and chief executive of the Salt Lake City startup Tim Pranger tells Bank Automation News on this episode of the “The Buzz” podcast. Appli’s solution, which can be
Esquire Bank to launch lending platform in 2025
Esquire Bank considers client needs when determining where to invest in products and innovation. The New York-based bank, which provides small businesses lending and litigation finance, is working on customized lending for its litigation platform that is expected to roll out early next year, Chief Executive Andrew Sagliocca tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast.
JPM connects to French payments network Cartes Bancaires
J.P. Morgan is joining French payments network Cartes Bancaires, Mike Lozanoff, managing director and global head of merchant services at J.P. Morgan, tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast. The bank is tapping cloud-based Renovite to build the connection to the network, Lozanoff says. The bank acquired Renovite in 2022 and is using the cloud-based solution and i
Boosting insight-driven digital engagement at FIs
Listen as Matt Denham discusses how fintechs can boost digital engagement on FI platforms.
ConnectOne Bank invests in data training
Listen to ConnectOne’s Sharif Alexandre and Siya Vansia, chief innovation and brand officer at the bank, discuss technology and data strategies.
Mastercard taps into AI to structure open banking data
Listen as Jess Turner discusses open banking innovation, regulation and the future of open banking for consumers and small businesses.
Retail POS lending is an opportunity for lenders, Pagaya president says
Listen as Sanjiv Das discusses POS financing and the opportunity it presents for lenders.
Banks explore AI with consumer concerns in mind
Listen as Rob Krugman discusses what banks are doing right with AI.
How FIs can tackle cloud migration cost increases
Listen as Rackspace’s Doony Cross discusses cloud migration, cost management and FinOps.
AI prescription for banks
Listen as nCino’s Anthony Morris discusses how he helps FIs approach emerging tech.
Fintech funding with FTV Capital principal
Listen as Adam Hallquist, principal at investment firm FTV Capital, discusses fintech funding on “The Buzz” podcast.
35% of banks using AI, Hapax COO says
Listen to this episode of “The Buzz’ to hear Hapax’s Kevin Green discuss how FIs are streamlining internal operations with AI and replacing time-consuming tasks with the technology.
Structured vs. unstructured data
Listen as Arteria AI’s Abrar Huq discusses how FIs are using AI to structure their data.
95% of data is unstructured
Listen as Arteria AI’s Abrar Huq discusses how FIs are using AI to structure their data and unlock the potential of data they already have.
How Mastercard deploys APIs
Listen to “The Buzz” to hear Chad Wallace discuss Mastercard's API strategy, B2B solutions and virtual card innovations.
Cloud migration ‘a must’ for FIs
Listen as Temenos’ Rodrigo Silva discusses the future of the cloud in banking, what clients are requesting and how to approach cloud migration.
6 criteria for choosing a backup loan servicer
Mastercard developing gen AI tool for businesses
Listen to Jane Prokop discuss how Mastercard is creating solutions to help SMBs and how the company aims to use new technologies like AI to drive business growth.
Grasshopper CEO Butler talks growth
Listen as Grasshopper CEO Mike Butler discusses how the digital bank competes for deposits through customer retention efforts and investment in customer experience.
Digital bank grows account volumes by 420%
Listen as Fintel Connect CEO Nicky Senyard discusses how financial institutions can grow account volume, bring acquisition costs down and gain overall deposits.
Citizens approach to new tech
Listen as Citizen's Jo Wyper discusses how to approach generative AI and new innovations the commercial bank is working on for 2024.
Jack Henry's incoming CEO talks 4 tenets of leadership
Listen as Jack Henry's Greg Adelson discusses his transition into the role of CEO.
How to operationalize a bank
Listen as Savana COO Emily Steele discusses how banks can use technology to create efficient and consistent processes throughout their operations.
FIs invest in digital experiences, AI and data
Listen as Fiserv's Dudley White discusses the digital experiences financial institutions are developing to meet client expectations.
AI, RPA, fraud detection, data sharing enhancements in 2024
Listen as Chargebacks911 CEO Monica Eaton shares what tech she is watching in 2024.
Emerging tech key to long-term success for FIs
Listen as Episode Six CEO John Mitchell addresses how FIs can best approach modernization, the 2024 tech trends to monitor, and the recent evolution of technology in the financial services industry.
Gen AI can provide FIs up to 90% automation
Listen as WorkFusion's Adam Famularo shares how financial institutions can leverage digital workers and AI to drive efficiency within the organization.
Deploying AI in underwriting
Listen as Zest AI CEO Mike de Vere tells how credit unions are improving the underwriting process with AI.
Smart wallet opportunities for FIs
Softserve's Rishi Chohan discusses the opportunities that digital wallets present to FIs.
Lazard saves 100K hours annually with UiPath
Listen as UiPath’s Graham Sheldon discusses how financial institutions can improve operations by automating mundane tasks with AI and generative AI.
3 technologies banks need now
Listen as Bottomline Technologies’ Kevin Pettet discusses the “must-have” technologies banks need to support business clients.
Fighting AI-driven fraud with AI
Listen as Trustfull’s Alex Tonello discusses the ways in which fraudsters are using AI — and how FIs can protect their clients.
FedNow or RTP? Maybe both
Listen to “the Buzz” as Alkami's Jeff Bucher explains how FIs can best approach integrating FedNow and RTP.
Why an FI’s digital maturity matters
Listen as Robin Smith explains Praxent’s digital maturity model.
IBM studies embedded finance
Listen as Shanker Ramamurthy discusses embedded finance, open banking and how FIs can approach new regulation.
Approaching AI with a plan
Listen as Mission Lane's Mike Lempner discusses AI uses at the fintech, monitoring risk and maintaining compliance when implementing new technology throughout a financial institution.
Managing payments pressure
Listen as Sunbit CEO Arad Levertov discusses with “The Buzz” how to navigate a high-rate environment with consumers and technology at the forefront.
Neobanks fight fraud with rich data points
Listen as Seon’s Chief Revenue Officer Matt DeLauro discusses how neobanks can prepare their operations to proactively fight fraud.
Tech can help access client feedback, monitor engagement
Listen as Broadridge’s Debbie Miglaw discusses how banks can improve the customer experience by leaning on data and insights.
Grasshopper Bank adds to its startup offerings
Listen as Grasshopper’s Chris Tremont discusses the digital bank’s latest solution and its continued effort to support startup banking.
Data analytics, automation help FIs better understand customer sentiment
Listen as Qualtric’s Dmitry Binkevich discusses how FIs can use technology to drive change within their organizations based on applicable customer data.
Consumers gravitate toward AI-driven banks
Listen as Archway Software's Dustin Hubbard discusses AI use cases, maintaining competitiveness in the space and the future of AI in finance.
FIs should view AI as a team member
Listen as Kasisto’s Lindsay Soergel discusses intelligent digital assistants, treating AI as a team member and how FIs can bring personality into the technology.
The importance of embedded financial payments
Listen as Wisetack’s Bobby Tzekin discusses embedded finance with BAN Editor Whitney McDonald.
Using AI to identify fraud
‘The Buzz’ speaks with AML RightSource CTO Phil McLaughlin
The future of mobile payments
Listen as Solutions by Text CEO Dave Baxter discusses how to integrate text messaging with payments.
Global Startup Cities: Lending, AI and alternative data
Listen as Uplinq co-founder Ron Benegbi discusses how his experience as an immigrant in Toronto inspired his business, what alternative data can do for SMBs and the collaborative ethos shared by Canadian founders.
Global Startup Cities: Paris fintech offers embedded lending
Listen as Defacto co-founder Jordane Giuly discusses the benefits of open banking in Europe, the rise of startup culture in Paris and how French President Emmanuel Macron has made entrepreneurship “cool.”
Global Startup Cities: FinMapp’s financial ecosystem
Listen as FinMapp Chief Executive Kumar Binit discusses the flourishing startup scene in Bengaluru, India, and explains how the city went from IT hub to the “Silicon Valley of Asia.”
Global Startup Cities: AI assists merchants on chargebacks
Listen as Justt’s Chief Risk Officer Roenen Ben-Ami discusses automating chargebacks and his experience as a founder in Tel Aviv, the startup capital of the Middle East and a global leader in cybersecurity innovation.
Global Startup Cities: How stablecoins drive financial services innovation
Listen to the first installment of the Global Startup Cities podcast from “The Buzz,” as Num Finance’s co-founder Agustin Liserra and Mariano di Pietrantonio discuss their experience founding a fintech in Buenos Aires, a city brimming with innovation, where ever-changing economic conditions make resilience crucial.
Bank of America exec talks AI-driven automation
Listen as Bank of America’s Lindsay Huston discusses AP automation enhancements through AI and ML.
FIs invest in tech, AI for customer retention
Listen as Talkdesk's Rahul Kumar discusses how FIs can enhance customer retention through tech investment.
Envestnet D&A Group President Farouk Ferchichi on hyper-personalization
Listen as Envestnet D&A Group President Farouk Ferchichi discusses how financial institutions can harness data to create efficiencies in front- and back-end operations.
