Banking Reinvented

92% of bank leaders feel prepared for agentic AI, but only 36% have funded strategies to act on it. Meanwhile, 87% of AI-related projects never make it to production. In this episode of Banking Reinvented, recorded live at ENGAGE Americas in Nashville, host Tim Rutten sits down with Eugene Deeny, Principal Industry Advisor at Endava, to explore what stands between banks and AI at scale. Eugene arg...

After more than two decades inside established banks, Fatbardha Rino founded JetBank - Albania's first fully licensed digital bank - to build what she had always believed banking could be. In this episode of Banking Reinvented, host Tim Rutten sits down with her to unpack what it takes for a bank to go from initial setup to live operations in six months, without branches, legacy debt, or inherited...

Theodora Lau spent 20 years in telecom and tech before turning her focus to the well-being of consumers at the intersection of technology and money. She is the founder of Unconventional Ventures and author of Banking on Artificial Intelligence, and she has spent the last decade exploring what it means to serve a consumer well. In this episode of Banking Reinvented, Theodora joins host Tim Rutten t...

Pedro Bizarro has spent 15 years building the AI systems banks use to make real-time decisions on billions of transactions. As Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer at Feedzai, he has seen what responsible AI requires. In this episode of Banking Reinvented, Pedro joins host Tim Rutten to make the case that safety, fairness, and accuracy in AI are engineering decisions made at the start of the build...

The credit union sector is consolidating quickly. In the United States alone, a sector that once counted over 20,000 institutions has shrunk to around 4,000. In Canada, the number has fallen below 300. In this episode of Banking Reinvented, recorded at ENGAGE Americas in Nashville, host Tim Rutten sits down with Adrian Moise, Founder and CEO of digital transformation firm Aequilibrium, to explore...

Season 2 Episode 2 of Banking Reinvented steps into a world where client bases are smaller, relationships run deeper, and every interaction carries more weight - investment banking. Host Amjad Ramahi sits down with Fatima Mansoor, Head of Client Relations at SICO, a leading regional asset manager and investment bank based in Bahrain. With nearly two decades at the firm - from broker to leading cli...

Suresh Balaji, Group CMO of Lloyds Banking Group, joins Banking Reinvented to unpack what it really takes to run a fintech transformation at the UK’s largest digital bank. The conversation covers restructuring a 250-year-old bank into agile cross-functional platforms, rolling out enterprise AI to 45,000 employees, and launching new brand platform "Bank on Lloyds." He also walks us through "Project...

This episode of Banking Reinvented captures a panel from a recent Backbase event. The conversation brought together three practitioners with very different points of view on what modernization looks like inside a bank today. Eugene Denny, Principal Industry Advisor at Endava, Lila Canaj, Chief Retail Officer at Tirana Bank, and Illia Dragan, CPO at Salt Edge covered the following questions: how do...

Private banks and wealth managers have been paying a fragmentation tax for over a decade. Relationship managers toggle across five systems just to prepare for a single client meeting. Annual reviews feel like initial intakes. Investment proposals go out as 60-page PDFs and die in inboxes. While humans found ways to cope with this and bridge the gaps among fragmented systems, AI can't deliver relia...

In Episode 99 of Banking Reinvented, Tim Rutten sits with Dharmesh Mistry, CEO of Vision 20 20 Consulting, to explore a question that reframes the entire core banking debate: What if the answer isn't replacing the core or wrapping it, but hollowing it out - and letting agentic AI fill the space? Dharmesh has been credited with delivering the UK's first mobile banking app, one of the UK's first onl...

Heidi Custers, Strategy and Transformation Director at Backbase, sits down with Wessel Oosthuizen, co-lead of the AWS AI and Data team for Deloitte Africa, to work through why bank AI programs stall - and what it actually takes to fix them. Their starting point is a Deloitte statistic from a recent report that frames the whole conversation: 84% of companies haven't redesigned a single job around A...

Episode 97 of Banking Reinvented shares one of the most impactful panel discussions from the Engage London event organized by Backbase. Four of the sharpest minds in banking and technology took the stage to cut through the AI noise - and get real about what's actually happening in the industry. Dave Murphy from Publicis Sapient, Marcus Martinez, Industry Advisor at Microsoft, Kanishka Bhattacharya...

Episode 96 of Banking Reinvented tackles one of the most important strategic questions facing mutuals and building societies: how do you grow ambitiously without losing the purpose that defines you? Host Tim Rutten sits down with Andy Deeks, CEO of Leek Building Society in the UK, to explore how purpose-driven institutions can scale sustainably while staying true to their members. Together, they d...

Episode 95 of Banking Reinvented explores a challenge every bank faces: how do you modernize legacy architecture while keeping pace with global innovation? And what does AI transformation really require beyond new technology? Host Tim Rutten sits down with Valbona Dhjaku, Advisor to CEO on IT and Digitalization at Credins Bank. Valbona holds a PhD in computer science, teaches at the University of...

Episode 94 of Banking Reinvented M&A is back in U.S. banking. The deals are getting done. The headlines are flowing. But here's what most banks get wrong: announcing the merger is the easy part. The real value gets created or destroyed in what happens next. In this episode, Tim Rutten sits down with Brett Mastalli, Senior Partner and Banking Practice Lead at West Monroe, and Nate Porter, Direc...

Episode 93 of Banking Reinvented asks an uncomfortable question: In the race toward AI and automation, have banks forgotten what made them valuable in the first place? Host Amjad Ramahi, Director of Solutions Engineering for Middle East & Africa at Backbase, sits down with Reham Sabri, AGM and Senior Director of Premium Banking at Commercial Bank of Qatar. Reham leads the Sadara and Private Ba...

Episode 92 of Banking Reinvented explores how banks can navigate global uncertainty while building new value creation models for the future. Host Tim Rutten sits down with Roland van der Vorst, Head of Innovation at Rabobank and CEO of Rabo Carbon Bank, to discuss what it means for a bank to provide stability in turbulent times - and why that requires looking outward, not just inward. Together, th...

Episode 91 of Banking Reinvented explores how smaller financial institutions can punch above their weight through smart, continuous modernization. Host Tim Rutten sits down with Ben Nadel, Co-Founder of Woodhurst, a consultancy specializing in helping mid-tier banks and building societies transform their operations. Together, they discuss why size can be an advantage when driving change, the impor...

In Episode 90 of Banking Reinvented, host Heidi Custers speaks with Rom Atapattu, Co-founder and Group CEO of the Patronus Group, about how private banking is changing and what that means in practice. Drawing on more than 25 years across Swiss and UAE private banking, Rom shares his perspective on the Great Wealth Transfer, AI-supported relationship banking, shifting client expectations, and why t...

Episode 89 of Banking Reinvented explores how building societies are modernizing while preserving the personal touch that defines mutual banking. Host Tim Rutten sits down with Susanne Parry, Chief Operating Officer at Cumberland Building Society (The Cumberland), to discuss how mutuals can deliver digital-first experiences without losing the human connection that makes them different. Together, t...

Private banking is being redefined. Not by abandoning personal relationships, but by augmenting them with smarter technology, unified platforms, and proactive engagement that meets clients where they are. In this episode, host Alex Jimenez sits down with Dean Indot, Director of the Private Client Group at Western Alliance Bank. With over 20 years in banking and wealth management, Dean brings a sha...

Episode 86 of Banking Reinvented explores how the Philippines’ largest bank is bridging physical and digital channels to deliver seamless, customer-first experiences at scale. Host Tim Rutten is joined by BDO Unibank’s Romeo Josef “RJ” de la Cruz, Head of Digital Applications & Delivery, and Levy Mariñas, Head of Digital Apps Delivery, who lead the teams powering BDO’s mobile and web platforms...

Episode 86 of Banking Reinvented explores how wealth management is evolving from an exclusive service for the ultra-wealthy into an accessible, personalized experience for broader client segments. Host Tim Rutten sits down with Mindaugas Vaičiulis, Head of Technology and Senior Vice President at Danske Bank, where he leads the Wealth Planning & Investments Tribe. Together, they discuss how dig...

Episode 85 of Banking Reinvented marks a milestone, our first Africa Spotlight conversation hosted by Amjad Ramahi. In this episode, we explore how AI is reshaping financial services across the continent and why Africa is uniquely positioned to lead this next wave of innovation. Amjad sits down with George Njuguna, Founder of GNK Consulting and former CIO of Safaricom, to discuss the continent’s r...

Episode 84 of Banking Reinvented dives into how Asia’s banks are answering a wake-up call from e-wallets, digital challengers, and shifting customer expectations, turning disruption into opportunity through AI, agility, and collaboration. Host Tim Rutten is joined by Delfin “Doc Jay” Sabido, Chief Innovation & Transformation Officer at Chinabank (Philippines), to discuss how the 105-year-old b...