ABA Banking Journal Podcast

Banks have been using natural language processing and machine learning applications for years in managing their anti-money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act obligations. But how does the growing adoption of generative AI tools affect how BSA and fraud professionals protect their banks? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by Agri-Access — former FDIC official Lisa Arq...

In the wake of the summer's Genius Act, many banks and nonbanks have announced new stablecoin initiatives. Another digital asset — tokenized deposits — may meet needs similar to stablecoins, but the two asset types have significantly different features based on their underlying designs. On this episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, ABA experts Brooke Ybarra and Yikai Wang discuss: The key di...

Princess Castleberry began her career in risk management in financial services, and the biggest risk she sees today is that "leaders are in a capacity crisis." Work experience, education and professional networks are undermined by this lack of capacity driven by emotional triggers, she says, which are in turn compounded by a massive wave of societal, economic and technological change. Now an instr...

The rapid evolution of the financial services marketplace means the market for banking as a service is also evolving rapidly. From artificial intelligence to other new technologies to regulatory expectations, how is the partner bank sector shifting? On the season premiere of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Pathward Bank CEO Brett Pharr talks about the Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based partner bank'...

The U.S. is experiencing a massive demographic shift driven by the aging Baby Boom generation, declining birth rates and shifts in immigration trends. What effect will aging have on the banking outlook? In the season finale of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, ABA economist JP Rothenberg discusses how America's aging population: Shifts balance sheet management strategies with a surplus of stable de...

Alongside the commercial and consumer markets, institutional banking is one of three strategic pillars of $70 billion-asset UMB Bank. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, UMB's Phil Mason discusses: How institutional banking — which includes capital markets, corporate trust, custody and health savings accounts — fits into the business model of the Kansas City, Missouri-based b...

What does the future hold for bank risk and compliance professionals? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast, Krysti Cunningham of Security National Bank in Omaha, Nebraska — and winner of the 2025 Distinguished Service Award for Risk and Compliance — discusses: The technological transformation in risk and compliance at community and midsize banks. How technological change is dri...

Following the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, hear from ABA experts on how key ABA-supported provisions on tax policy, rural real estate and health savings accounts in the budget reconciliation law will affect banks. Experts also discuss what to expect next in terms of implementation. Resources Click here to download the episode if you can't see the player above. View a members-only s...

ABA's new online platform to provide members with free access to the Treasury Check Verification System is now live. On a special joint episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast and ABA Fraudcast — presented by Intrafi's Banking with Interest podcast — ABA anti-fraud experts Paul Benda and Hannah Ibberson discuss the platform and how banks can put it to use. Among other topics, Benda and Ibberson...

Amid tariff-related volatility, how are small and midsize businesses and the banks that serve them faring? On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  Intrafi's Banking with Interest podcast  — John Buran, the president and CEO of Queens-based Flushing Financial discusses how tariff and trade policy-related volatility has compounded commercial client uncertainty based...

Jim Ryan has led Old National Bank through a massive wave of growth — through major mergers and organic growth, the Evansville, Indiana-based bank has reached $70 billion in assets and a footprint that extends from Minnesota to Tennessee. The bank has grown by 250% since Ryan moved into the CEO role in 2019. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  Intrafi's Banking...

So-called "First Amendment auditors" have long filmed themselves trying to provoke police and other public officials into stopping them from recording in public settings. Now, some auditors are targeting banks, filming for hours outside bank branches and seeking to goad bank employees into calling law enforcement. The latest episode — presented by  Intrafi's Banking with Interest podcast  — featur...

As independently owned and operated small businesses, fast-food restaurant franchisees have unique business needs. They have mobile and often part-time workforces, complex inventory management and the constant challenge of managing both a small business and being the face of a major brand. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  Bix2x  — Wendell Bontrager talks abo...

Government-guaranteed lending requires special expertise and back-office functionality that grows increasingly expensive for smaller banks. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  Bix2x  — Chris Hurn and Jeremy Gilpin of Community Bankshares, a bank holding company in La Grange, Georgia, discuss how they are tackling that challenge. "To start one of these departmen...

Quantum computing is an  entirely new way  of processing information, and it has the power to solve extremely difficult computational problems much more quickly than binary computers. As the technology continues to advance, the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by  Intrafi's Banking with Interest  — explores how payments and banking might be affected by the technology....

The payment by the Federal Reserve of interest on bank reserves may sound like an abstruse matter of economic theory, but these payments are critical to bank operations and the Fed's conduct of monetary policy. In the latest  episode — sponsored by  Intrafi's Banking with Interest  — ABA's Jeff Huther discusses why proposals to end or reduce interest on reserves are misguided. Among other things,...

ABA's Washington Summit just wrapped up, and this episode — sponsored by  Intrafi's Banking with Interest  — features a main stage conversation with Travis Hill, acting chairman of the FDIC. In this episode, Hill discusses: Revisions to the  FDIC's supervisory appeals process . Transparency in  bank merger reviews  by regulators. The future of bank capital policy after the Basel III "endgame." Eth...

April is Financial Literacy Month, a time when bankers think creatively about how to engage young people on topics of financial wellness. Citi's  Michelle A. Thornhill  and Roads to Success's Bashan Fernandez for a discussion of Citi's approach to making financial knowledge fun and engaging. In this episode — sponsored by  Intrafi's Banking with Interest  — they discuss several innovative approach...

In the wake of this week's  significant executive order  directing the Treasury to eliminate the use of paper checks for federal government disbursements (and payments to the U.S. government), ABA's Steve Kenneally joins the podcast for a conversation on what's next for the payments system. In this episode — sponsored by  nCino  — Kenneally discusses: The role of Treasury checks in check fraud sch...

Legislators and regulators are strongly focused on policy related to payment stablecoins, most recently with the  passage of the Genius Act  in the Senate Banking Committee. On this episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  nCino  — ABA's Brooke Ybarra and Kirsten Sutton discuss the current policy and technology landscape on stablecoins. Among other topics, they talk about: How st...

The big story of check fraud is not only its vast cost to the country and to individual victims, but simply the remarkable rate at which it is increasing. On this episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  nCino  — we bring you a conversation from the ABA Fraudcast with ABA's Paul Benda and Caitlin Piasecki of the United States Postal Inspection Service the enormous scale and chall...

A century ago, in March 1925, Charles G. Dawes was sworn in as vice president of the United States. Being elected vice president of the United States — as Dawes was, alongside Calvin Coolidge, in a landslide — is usually a career pinnacle for an American politician, but Dawes' vice presidency turned out to be more of a footnote in his eventful life. In the second part of this two-part podcast seri...

A century ago, in March 1925, Charles G. Dawes was sworn in as vice president of the United States. Being elected vice president of the United States — as Dawes was, alongside Calvin Coolidge, in a landslide — is usually a career pinnacle for an American politician, but Dawes' vice presidency turned out to be more of a footnote in his eventful life. In the first part of this two-part podcast serie...

In rural southeastern New Mexico, bank CEO and varsity bowling coach Ken Clayton often takes his team on 500-mile one-day roundtrips for bowling tournaments. For Clayton, that commitment to going the distance is also what community banking is about. On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — presented by  R&T Deposit Solutions  — Clayton discusses what makes community banks like hi...

A recent article in the New York Times — " Love and Money: Why Sharing Accounts Is Good for Your Relationship " — explores scholarly evidence for the benefits of couples' combining their bank accounts. The article features the insights of Indiana University marketing professor Jenny Olson, who appeared in 2023 on the ABA Banking Journal Podcast. For a special Valentine's Day episode, we bring back...