American Banker Podcast

The nomination of Kathy Kraninger as CFPB director has sparked fights in Congress. Meanwhile, the agency has taken several notable enforcement actions. American Banker reporter Kate Berry explains what these developments mean for the CFPB's future.

In a recent survey of 110,000 adults, the two nonbanks ranked highest in customer experience. Forrester principal analyst Alyson Clarke explains what they did to fare so well.

Brad Leimer, venture capitalist and former head of innovation at Santander and Mechanics Bank, shares his top picks in online lending, wealth management and other categories.

Many people had "this crazy idea that regulation is really boring and as a result, it's been passed over by a lot of the innovation in fintech," says Jo Ann Barefoot in this week's episode. Consultants Barefoot and Henri Arslanian share with hosts Brett King and JP Nichols why they think that's changing.

Former banker John Best, now CEO of Best Innovation Group and author of the new book "Breaking Digital Gridlock," outlines the top obstacles to bank innovation and offers suggestions on how to overcome them.

Brett King queries science fiction writers Kevin J. Anderson and Harry "Doc" Kloor about the practical future for emerging technologies like avatars and voice recognition.

Student loan debt now totals $1.5 trillion, second only to mortgage debt, and it's a crushing burden for many. J.P. Nichols hosts alongside Jean Donnelly, executive director of FinTech Sandbox. Guests FutureFuel.io CEO Laurel Taylor and Edmit.me CEO Nick Ducoff join to discuss their approaches to helping students repay their loans and make good debt decisions.

Dek: Zach Gipson, chief innovation officer at USAA, acknowledges that chatbot technology today lacks the intelligence to have natural conversations about money. But he doesn't understand some companies' hesitancy to try the technology. "Why would you want to wait to start learning from your customers?" he said.

Women with low credit scores tend to work long hours at low pay, care for parents as well as children, and tend to have trouble making ends meet. Jonathan Walker, executive director of the Center for the New Middle Class, and Mark Schwanhausser, director of digital banking at Javelin Strategy & Research, kick around ideas for how banks and fintechs could help women who are caught in a subprime tra...

The last mile of any distribution network is always the least efficient, and it is no different for financial services. This week JP Nicols and Jason Henrichs talk about the ways that fintech can help make apps and branches more productive, with guests Michelle Tinsley, founder of Tinsley Retail Insights, and Mike Laven, CEO of Currencycloud.

Ellen Zimiles, global head of investigations and compliance at Navigant Consulting, shares what she's learned about testing and implementing AI in compliance departments, filing defensive SARs, and hiring the right people to maintain an AI system.

Guest hosts Jason Henrichs and JP Nicols interview Perianne Boring, founder and CEO of the Chamber of Digital Commerce, about blockchain trends and challenges. Brett King talks with Derek Corcoran, chief experience officer at Avoka, about the onboarding vendor's new Digital Onboarding Trends report.

To be future-proof, banks need data scientists, behavioral psychologists, experienced designers, and community advocates, King says.

Julieann Thurlow, president and CEO of Reading Cooperative Bank Reading Cooperative Bank, a community bank in Massachusetts, argues that tech-savvy lenders like Sofi can draw in the lowest-risk borrowers with a fast, simple online process and shares the challenges of innovating at a community bank.

Bakhshi, CEO of the bank since 2016 and and No. 4 on American Banker's list of the most powerful women in banking, shares what she's doing to improve customer journeys, make the bank a better place to work, and create a culture of innovation.

Brett King talks with Hong Kong venture capitalist Sameer Chishty about the possible trade war and with Bob Pisani, CNBC "On-Air Stocks" Editor, about how U.S. exchanges have responded to blockchain trends.

Moody's lead analyst Fadi Massih shares some of the things he looks for when deciding how to rate banks, including the traits that could help them withstand the challenge from fintechs.

Just as Amazon provides a marketplace where other retailers provide products, banks need to curate and bring many financial services to their customers, says Chris Skinner, author of Digital Human.

Brett King and co-host Jason Henrichs talk with Margaret Hartigan, CEO of Marstone, Keith Armstrong of Abe.ai and John Schulte, CIO of Mercantile Bank, about what makes relationships between banks and fintech startups work.

Household debt is higher than ever, and delinquencies in  credit cards  and  unsecured personal loans  are edgingupward. Bruce Van Saun, chairman and CEO of Citizens Financial, shares his views on the market and the business opportunities there.

Camden Fine, the president of the Independent Community Bankers of America, is due to retire this week. We talk with him about his long career — and his fears for the future of his industry.

Banking apps now rank just after weather and social media in usage. Alice Milligan, chief customer and digital experience officer at Citi Global Cards, shares the results of the bank's survey of 2,000 Americans.

Financial institutions struggle to make their websites and apps a destination rather than a utility. Jacob Jegher at Javelin offers some ideas for building digital relationships.

Dominic Venturo, chief innovation officer at U.S. Bank, shares his vision for digital banking ten years from now. It includes ambient computing – interconnected devices, machines and sensors that are sensitive and responsive to the presence of people.

Cathy Bessant, chief operations and technology officer at Bank of America, shares her thoughts on how companies can prevent human foibles and biases from creeping into their software and the need to build an ethical framework for AI software development and use.