The Buzz

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...

FairPlay , a “fairness as a service” startup is launching an index tool in Q3 of this year that shows financial institutions how their underwriting affects consumers. Los Angeles-based Fairplay uses AI-powered data analytics software to help FIs assess the accuracy of their automated loan decision models and provides them with metrics to help identify potential biases , Kareem Saleh , founder and...

Financial institutions are looking to deepfake detection solutions in their fight against the growing threat of generative AI-driven fraud.  The growing deepfake detection market is expected to be a $15.7 billion industry by 2026, according to consultancy firm Deloitte.   AI voice fraud detection startup Herd Security is one tech provider that banks are channeling to reduce targeted attacks agains...

Small business owners are looking to banks to provide data, tools and analytics to help them make more informed financial decisions.  “Business owners need better tools to make better financial decisions, understand their finances and where their finances are going,” fintech Monit Chief Executive and founder Steve Dow tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast.   Banks of eve...

AI-driven risk management decisioning and monitoring platform EnFi is automating the credit approval process for financial institutions while maintaining compliance, freeing up employees to focus on other areas of operations.  EnFi uses natural language processing and modern AI models to extract information from loan and security agreements and offer instant compliance, Chief Technology Officer Sc...

Financial institutions are focused on IT resilience as outages repeatedly disrupt operations such as the ones that affected Crowdstrike , Bank of America , Monzo and others this year.  With outage repercussions in mind, organizations are investing in infrastructure, teams and resiliency strategies to reduce downtime and losses, software company Cockroach Labs co-founder and Chief Executive Spencer...

Fintech Appli recently launched an AI-driven financial calculator that can be embedded into a financial institution’s lending platform in minutes using just one line of code.    "AI is best used when it's most practical,” founder and chief executive of the Salt Lake City startup Tim Pranger tells Bank Automation News on this episode of the “The Buzz” podcast.  Appli’s solution, which can be custom...

Esquire Bank considers client needs when determining where to invest in products and innovation.  The New York-based bank, which provides small businesses lending and litigation finance, is working on customized lending for its litigation platform that is expected to roll out early next year, Chief Executive Andrew Sagliocca tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast.   “The...

J.P. Morgan is joining French payments network Cartes Bancaires , Mike Lozanoff , managing director and global head of merchant services at J.P. Morgan, tells Bank Automation News on this episode of “The Buzz” podcast.  The bank is tapping cloud-based Renovite to build the connection to the network, Lozanoff says. The bank acquired Renovite in 2022 and is using the cloud-based solution and its tea...

Listen as Matt Denham discusses how fintechs can boost digital engagement on FI platforms.