The Buzz

Bank of America continues to add functions to its digital banking and treasury management platform with its recent launch of Payments Insights.  “The direction of the platform is to continue to focus on intelligent self-service and what we like to call a connected treasury experience,” Tom Durkin , global head of CashPro, tells FinAi News on this episode of the “FinAi Podcast.”  Payments Insights,...

  Biz2Credit , an online lending marketplace and direct funding source for SMBs, views AI as a force multiplier for underwriting, pricing and portfolio management.     AI is especially effective for analyzing cash-flow data, which is crucial for SMB lending amid growing demand for alternative financing such as revenue-based models, Biz2Credit Chief Executive Rohit Arora says in the latest episode...

Loan servicing and software provider Sagent named Sridhar Sharma chief executive in September.   Sharma joined Sagent as president in February from loan servicing provider Mr. Cooper , he tells FinAi News on this episode of “FinAi Podcast.” Mr. Cooper was acquired by Rocket Companies in 2025.  Sharma brings experience in product, technology and AI leadership to Sagent, he says.   At Mr. Cooper, Sh...

AI-powered commercial and agriculture lending platform Vine Financial innovates around customer feedback, including the June launch of its Reporting Dashboard.  The Reporting Dashboard is an AI-driven tool that allows financial institutions to tap key portfolio metrics hidden inside their core banking data, Justin O'Brien , chief product officer at Vine , tells FinAi News on this episode of the "F...

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 infor...

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 & Research ,...

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 Pay,...

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 intensive pro...

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 increas...

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 for i...

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 to h...

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 clients acc...

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, acc...

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 age...

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. 

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.” 

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 Beguin tells 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 all c...

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 SBA, i...

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 we inte...

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. 

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 acquiri...

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.”  Soe...

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 our cu...

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-powered dig...

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 enterprise paym...