AI in Financial Services Podcast

Enterprises rushing agentic AI into production are running it through approval gates, batch windows, and audit systems built for human speed — and the gap is where most operational risk lives. In this episode, Chris Cadwell, President and CEO at Concentrix Corporation, examines how machine-scale transactions break processes designed for human pace and why bounded digital delegates outperform unres...

A fundamental shift is emerging as AI moves core financial operations away from traditional web interfaces and into AI‑native cloud‑desktop environments, redefining how CFO teams execute and manage workflows. In this episode, Henry Ward, founder and CEO at Carta, examines how this transition changes the CFO operating model alongside host Daniel Faggella, highlighting why AI‑literate finance leader...

AI programs in financial services don't fail at the model; they fail at the seam between pilot and production, where data, integration discipline, and ownership decide whether anything reaches scale. In this episode, Jeremy Caine, Technology Strategy and Solution Leader at IBM, unpacks why banks and insurers get stuck in pilot purgatory and what an AI-native future state actually looks like in a r...

Stabilizing the operational environment around underwriting judgment is the shift that enables decisions to move into the market with greater speed, consistency, and control. In this episode, Barbara Stacer, Vice President, Head of Small Commercial Underwriting and Underwriting Operations at Utica National Insurance Group, examines how governed versioning, traceable approvals, and embedded documen...

AI infrastructure projects are failing not because the technology underdelivers, but because organizations commit capital before establishing the business case. In this episode, Juan Orlandini, CTO at Insight, examines why enterprise AI programs stall and outlines how leaders can apply decades of established IT investment discipline to evaluate, validate, and scale AI initiatives with measurable o...

Architectural decision‑making in large enterprises can break down when system knowledge is fragmented, slowing delivery and creating inconsistent outcomes across teams. In this episode, Amar Akshat, Senior Vice President of Architecture at PaySafe, examines how codified organizational memory and deterministic guardrails enable intelligent systems to accelerate development without sacrificing contr...

Regulated industries are facing mounting pressure to adopt AI while maintaining absolute accuracy, data protection, and clear human accountability. In this episode, Steve Hasker, CEO at Thomson Reuters, joins Emerj's Matthew DeMello to examine how these demands are reshaping expectations for model reliability, data isolation, and the future of high‑stakes regulatory work. The discussion highlights...

Modern enterprise leaders face a critical strategic challenge in balancing seamless digital onboarding with the increasing threat of sophisticated, AI-driven fraud. In this episode, Mary Ann Miller, VP of Client Experience and Fraud Advisor at Prove, unpacks why a robust "welcome mat" strategy centered on high-assurance identity verification enables the safe scaling of high-value services and driv...

Today's guest is Tal Elyashiv, Co-founder and Managing Partner at SPiCE VC. Tal joins Emerj's Nick Gertsch to explore how tokenization is moving from pilot programs into institutional-scale deployment — and what that means for settlement infrastructure, governance, and enterprise AI strategy in regulated financial systems. They discuss the real signals of production readiness, where AI is generati...

Today's guest is Kiruba Eswaran, CEO at Eleos Life. Eleos Life provides a fully digital platform for life and disability insurance. The platform offers 24/7 AI-guided assistance to help users navigate the application process, compare options, and manage coverage. It also includes optional wellness-related perks available to eligible customers. Kiruba joins Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy...

Today's guest is Debjit Saha, VP of Engineering & Product for Risk & Compliance at MoneyGram. Debjit focuses on building data- and AI-driven controls for fraud, compliance, and payments decisioning. Debjit joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how financial institutions can unify fraud, AML, and sanctions data amid rising costs, regulatory scrutiny, and sophisticated threats. D...

Today's guest is Debjit Saha, VP of Engineering & Product for Risk & Compliance at MoneyGram. Debjit focuses on building data- and AI-driven controls for fraud, compliance, and payments decisioning. Debjit joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how payments teams can modernize risk and compliance as fraud grows more sophisticated, customer tolerance for friction shrinks, and reg...

Today's guest is Mary Ann Miller, VP and Fraud Executive Advisor at Prove. Mary Ann brings extensive experience in fraud prevention, identity risk, and digital onboarding across financial services. Mary Ann joins Emerj Senior Editor, Marilie Fouchè, to discuss how financial institutions are applying data and AI to modernize customer onboarding while managing fraud, risk, and regulatory requirement...

Today's guest is Nicole Haverly, Vice President of Credit Unions at nCino. nCino is a provider of intelligent banking solutions. Headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, the company helps banks and credit unions modernize and streamline core banking tasks, empowering financial institutions of all sizes globally to deliver faster, more intelligent, and customer-friendly banking experiences. Nic...

Today's guest is Kyle Hathorn, Director of Customer Experience and Strategy at the First National Bank of Omaha. FNBO is a regional bank founded in 1857 that provides retail and commercial banking services across eight states. Kyle brings extensive experience in designing customer journeys and integrating technology to meet evolving expectations. Kyle joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello...

Today's guest is Karan Gandhi, Senior Director for Verification and Fraud at Best Egg. Best Egg is a consumer lending platform focused on responsible, data-driven credit access. Karan joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to explore how deepfakes, synthetic identities, bot attacks, and agentic systems are reshaping the fraud landscape and what these shifts mean for data and AI strategy in...

The introduction of DeepSeek's R1 large language model has sparked global discussion about what happens when open-source innovation meets geopolitical constraints. What does this mean for financial markets, AI development, and the future of global competition? In this episode of the 'AI in Financial Services' podcast, host Matthew DeMello speaks with Sudeep Kesh, Chief Innovation Officer at S&P Gl...

As financial services accelerate their digital transformations, AI is reshaping how institutions identify, assess, and manage risk. But with that transformation comes an equally complex web of systemic risks, regulatory challenges, and questions about accountability. In this episode of the AI in Business podcast, host Matthew DeMello, Head of Content at Emerj, speaks with Miriam Fernandez, Directo...

Today's guest is Andy Byrne, Founder and CEO of Clari, returns to share early findings from Clari's upcoming report on AI in revenue operations. The headline: 2024 was tough — only 33% of revenue leaders hit plan — yet 91% expect to hit 2025 targets, largely due to AI. Andy breaks down how leaders are using predictive AI to surface risk and momentum and generative AI to create, convert, and close...

Today's guest is Andy Byrne, Founder and CEO of Clari. Clari is an AI-driven platform that transforms how financial institutions manage revenue operations and forecasting, turning complex data into clear, actionable insights for confident decision-making. Their platform delivers forecasts and enterprise-wide insights, giving financial institutions the predictability and confidence they need to dri...

Today's guest on the 'AI in Financial Services' podcast is Charleyne Biondi, Associate Vice President of Moody's Ratings in the Digital Economy Team. Charleyne Biondi, Associate Vice President of Moody's Ratings in the Digital Economy Team. Charleyne returns to the program to share her perspective on the rapidly evolving landscape of AI regulation, comparing the EU AI Act, the US sector-specific a...

Today's guest on the 'AI in Financial Services' podcast is Charleyne Biondi, Associate Vice President of Moody's Ratings in the Digital Economy Team. Charleyne brings a broad perspective on how AI adoption is unfolding in financial services and the wider global economy. She explains how generative AI has lowered adoption barriers, accelerating experimentation while raising new challenges around in...

Today's guest is Gautam Samanta, President and Executive Director, Head of Global Banking and Financial Services at Coforge. Coforge is a global IT services firm specializing in digital solutions for industries such as banking, insurance, travel, and manufacturing, with a focus on domain-driven consulting and emerging technologies like AI and cloud. Gautam joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew De...

Today's guest is Kyle Hathorn, Director of Customer Experience and Strategy at First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO). FNBO is a privately held, family-led financial institution with over $32 billion in assets and approximately 4,500 employees, offering personal, business, commercial, and wealth banking across eight Midwestern states, alongside a national reach through its credit‑card programs. Kyle...

Today's guest is Itumeleng Masunyane, Senior Vice President of Internal Audit at Amicorp Group. Together, they examine the shifting landscape of compliance and internal audit as organizations adopt more advanced forms of AI, including agentic systems. The conversation begins by outlining why traditional, manual audit processes often struggle to keep pace with evolving regulations across multiple j...