The Buzz on Bank Automation News

CRO breaks down risks of automating compliance

The most common mistake banks make is using technology without auditing or understanding it, according to Andrew Stines, chief risk officer at the $1.77 billion Coastal Community Bank in Everett, Wash.  In this podcast, Stines, the former chief risk officer at Sunwest Bank, where he rebuilt the bank’s regulatory program, as well as an attorney, explains how banks can find themselves in trouble with regulators and the caveats for ensuring risk-free automated systems. 

Listen: Nice Actimize launches AI-backed tool to thwart false positives

Anti-money laundering and fraud solution provider Nice Actimize announced a new artificial intelligence-driven tool Thursday that it claims will reduce false positives when conducting anti-money laundering (AML) screening on potential customers.

Nice Actimize launches AI-backed tool to thwart false positives

Anti-money laundering and fraud solution provider Nice Actimize announced a new artificial intelligence-driven tool Thursday that it claims will reduce false positives when conducting anti-money laundering (AML) screening on potential customers.  

Weekly Wrap: BAN’s new fintech cohort, US Bank Housing Capital Co. Automates construction loans

This week, Bank Automation News unveils its newest cohort of startups that bring global talent and ideas to Fintech Discovery, the publication’s marketing accelerator, along with an overview of the cohort’s five companies and the value proposition they bring to the financial services sector. This week BAN also spoke with Jason Park, president of U.S. Bank Housing Capital Company, about the new automated solution that allows the bank to manage construction loans.

How Sunrise Banks shifted its culture through automation

When COVID-19 hit, Sunrise Banks shifted to a remote environment within 48 hours and it quickly became clear that manual processes weren’t going to work anymore, said Sunrise CIO Brett Cooksey.  Cooksey came to the $1.2 billion Minneapolis, Minn.-based bank from C.H. Robinson, the supply chain management and logistics solution provider, which has a culture that is 80% to 90% digital, he said. At Sunrise, he faced a pre-pandemic culture that favored manual, paper-based process over ...

Weekly Wrap: RBC and CIBC double down on proactive insights

This week Bank Automation News delved into the growing trend of leveraging AI-based tools to strengthen personal financial management. RBC outlined development plans for its virtual assistant NOMI, and CIBC partnered with MX to proactively and automatically offer customers tailored recommendations based on analyses of financial and transactional data. Meanwhile, BAN spoke with Sunrise Banks CIO Brett Cooksey to learn how the community bank carved out a tech budget to form its automat...

RPA trends and opportunities for 2021

Attended automation and digital assistants for employees are among the hottest robotic process automation (RPA) trends for the next few years. Bank Automation News recently interviewed Automation Anywhere experts Ken Mertzel, global industry leader of financial services, and Catherine Calarco, senior director and head of global go-to-market, about the use cases they’re seeing and their predictions for RPA. 

Wells Fargo builds out RPA team, Plaid debuts new automation tech

This week, Bank Automation News explored Wells Fargo’s goal to stand up at least 300 automations in the next few years as it looks to expand its robotic processing automation (RPA) team. After making headlines for losing a $5.3 billion deal for acquisition by Visa, data aggregator Plaid unveiled a new beta product this week called “Deposit Switch,” which automates bank direct deposit funding and account switching. Meanwhile, Mastercard has developed a free tool aimed at curbing fraud...

The inside story on why we pivoted to Bank Automation News

This week Bank Automation News launched as a new brand, replacing Bank Innovation. What’s the behind-the-scenes reasoning for the move? During this video podcast, editors JJ Hornblass, Bianca Chan and Loraine Lawson discuss the impetus behind the pivot to BAN, and share insider info as to what readers can expect as we move forward to bring you the latest automation news in the financial sector. Meanwhile, the second round of the Paycheck Protection Program drove industry partnershi...

Weekly Wrap: Fintechs score big investments, chatbot developments ramp up

This week investors funneled nearly $1 billion to fintechs MX, Blend, Rho Technologies and Rapyd, some of which are teeing up automation initiatives with an eye toward data management. Meanwhile, Temenos reported it is exploring the addition of automated responses for its Engage platform, and Kasisto is working with NCR to bring chatbot technology to smaller financial institutions. Find this and more in today’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hornblass, Bianca Chan and Gar...

Weekly Wrap: Green Dot debuts neobank, Chase Autosave use surges

This week, Green Dot unveiled GO2bank, its second digital-only bank, the same week BBVA USA announced it was shuttering its neobank, Simple, according to published reports. Green Dot, which has bolstered its app with existing and new automated features, faces an uphill battle as it enters the crowded challenger bank field. Meanwhile, Chase’s automated savings tool is gaining traction, and total amounts saved through the tool have now tripled 2019 figures. Find this and more in toda...

Weekly Wrap: Canadian banks make AI investment and INV Fintech launches revamped platform

This week, Canadian banks CIBC and TD made strides with AI and automation technology. CIBC teamed up with IBM to launch its first virtual assistant, and TD leaned into automation for its cybersecurity efforts and introduced a slate of new AI products. Meanwhile, Bank Innovation’s sister venture INV Fintech launched a new platform designed to support the discovery process of banks’ innovation pipelines. Find this and more in today’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hornblass ...

Weekly Wrap: Banks boost RPA budgets, and Finastra jumps on KYC automation

This week, Bank Innovation dove into data that shows inefficient business processes are pushing bank employees to want to quit. Meanwhile, another data set showed banks are planning to boost the budget for robotic process automation (RPA) endeavors. And finally, new technology from a Tel Aviv-based fintech is automating the know your customer (KYC) and onboarding process through a partnership with Finastra. Find this and more in today’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hornb...

Weekly Wrap: Truist CIO Scott Case talks with BI, banks use new feedback for CX

This week, Bank Innovation sat down with Truist CIO Scott Case to discuss his efforts during the merger of BB&T and SunTrust. “As we’re working through the merger, we’re taking the opportunity to modernize as we go, wherever we can,” Case said. Meanwhile, banks all over North America are coming up with new ways to take in customer feedback and improve their mobile apps. Find this and more in today’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hornblass, Bianca Chan and Rick Morgan for ...

Weekly Wrap: N26 faces stiff competition, SC strengthens fault tolerance

Amazon Web Services scored big when Standard Chartered selected the Amazon.com subsidiary as a main cloud provider for its core and digital banking systems. The $754 billion bank is anticipating a 20% reduction in technology infrastructure costs by 2025, and is strengthening its fault tolerance by leveraging multiple cloud providers — SC inked a deal with Microsoft Azure in August — and geographically decentralizing regions and availability zones. Meanwhile, N26 is eyeing a credit c...

Weekly Wrap: Takeaways from Banking Automation Summit

This week marked the first-ever Banking Automation Summit, which featured speakers from PNC, Wells Fargo, Truist, Citi and other financial institutions. The conference touched on topics like lending automation, KYC and AML processes, and optical character recognition. The Bank Innovation team touches on the key takeaways from the event in today's edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hornblass, Bianca Chan and Rick Morgan for the week ending Nov. 13, 2020.

Weekly Wrap: Revisiting the election implications for fintech

While election officials continue to count votes in key battleground states, Bank Innovation editors revisited the 2020 election implications on fintech issues like bank charters, open banking and public credit reporting. This week also saw new numbers from Zelle and Venmo, with the two payments networks reporting third-quarter volume of $84 billion and $44 billion, respectively. Find this and more in today’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hornblass, Bianca Chan and Rick M...

Weekly Wrap: Banks, startups push automation

Bank Innovation sat down this week with Christian Kitchell, Bank of America’s head of AI solutions who also leads Erica. “Ultimately, what we want to do is be able to get to a universe of one, which is to say, every client will have a unique experience based on their situation, their needs, their relationship with us,” he said. Startups, meanwhile, are targeting customer relations management and consulting functions with artificial intelligence. Ahead of Banking Automation Summit on...

Weekly Wrap: API-based data sharing and bank spending take center stage

This week, Bank Innovation sat down with Don Cardinal, managing director of the Financial Data Exchange, to talk about the adoption of API-based data sharing. One way to get more small and mid-size banks to adopt API-based data sharing, according to Cardinal, is to get more core providers using the technology standard. Banks like Regions and Umpqua, meanwhile, are moving ahead with new technology initiatives. Find this and more in today’s edition of the Weekly Wrap, featuring JJ Hor...

Weekly Wrap: BofA’s CashPro gains traction, Chase launches kid-friendly product

Third-quarter earnings kicked off this week and, despite the acceleration in digital banking in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, year-over-year adoption of mobile and digital was relatively flat. Bank of America’s CashPro platform — used by businesses to manage payments, invest and receive funds — gained digital traction, with CashPro mobile app logins jumping 54% YoY and online users across commercial, corporate and business banking reaching 500,000. The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank a...

Weekly Wrap: Sibos takeaways, and the OCC payments charter

Sibos 2020 took place this week in a digital format. During a conference on robotic process automation, industry leaders discussed both the challenges and the opportunities of this technology. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, meanwhile, is trying to get charters into the hands of fintechs through a proposed payments charter. “There’s at least an acknowledgment among some of the members of Congress that there’s a real problem this is trying to solve,” said Brian Knight, ...

Weekly Wrap: Affirm’s loan strategy, and new tech to reach the underbanked

Affirm is pushing further into new loans after an initial pullback during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We feel there is in fact a broader product fit for e-commerce-based, point-of-sale lending across the entire consumer segment than what we used to see pre-COVID,” said Sandeep Bhandari, chief strategy and risk officer at Affirm. Fintechs like Nova Credit and CredoLab, meanwhile, are using new technology to reach underbanked consumers. Find this and more in today’s edit...

Weekly Wrap: The rise of contactless payments and Bank of America breaks patent records

Contactless payments are here to stay in the post-COVID world, according to recent data from Amex, but cash’s staying power may hinder banks from fully realizing the efficiencies of digitized payments. Meanwhile, Bank of America filed a record 415 patent applications during the first half of 2020, with a clear focus on AI and machine learning, security and programming technology. Also this week, Bank Innovation launched FI Innovation Rankings, with data from FI Navigator, which rank...

Weekly Wrap: Consumers don’t need branches, and bank incubators stay busy

It seems consumers need bank branches less than before. A Plaid study showed 80% of consumers now say they can bank without a branch. Banks like Citibank and Silicon Valley Bank, meanwhile, are launching new platforms out of internal incubators. “We have seen from the research we have done with our clients and investor partners that there is tremendous value in us developing new solutions and new businesses to meet their top needs,” said Melody Dippold, managing director and head of ...

Weekly Wrap: Takeaways from Bank Innovation Build

Banking and fintech leaders came together for the fully virtual Bank Innovation Build this week. The conference featured speakers from Wells Fargo, Ally, TD and more, as well as a fireside chat with Vanessa Colella, chief innovation officer at Citi and head of Citi Ventures. Discussions revealed that banks and fintechs alike are not slowing down their innovation operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this edition of the Weekly Wrap, Bank Innovation editors Bianca Chan and Rick ...

Weekly Wrap: Lessons from Chase’s CIO, banks integrate accounting

Some of the biggest banks in North America are integrating accounting into their online banking platforms for small businesses. It’s a strategy that eliminates manual data entry for small business clients and helps the bank own more of the client relationship. Bank Innovation also spoke with JPMorgan Chase CIO Rohan Amin this week. “Artificial intelligence, quantum computing and machine learning will radically improve the way we can analyze data to make better business decisions and ...

Weekly Wrap: Credit card customer satisfaction falls, and tech jobs move inland

Weekly Wrap: Credit card customer satisfaction falls, and tech jobs move inland Bank Innovation EditorsAugust 28, 2020 Customer Experience, Payments, Premium, Video Image via Pixabay Customer satisfaction with credit card issuers has dropped since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic due to card terms and a lack of communication, according to a report from J.D. Power. Tech jobs, meanwhile, are popping up outside of traditional hotspots like Silicon Valley and New York. A report from M...

Weekly Wrap: Examining the state of U.S. open banking and FIs eye partnerships

More than 70% of executives predicted that spending on banking innovation will increase in the next two years and that the industry is poised for growth, according to a recent INV Fintech survey. Many financial institutions will be looking for fintech partnerships to accelerate that development, with 76% reporting that they will seek out more partnerships with fintechs in the same timeframe. Meanwhile, the Bank Innovation team dug into the depths of the regulatory labyrinth that i...

Weekly Wrap: AmEx eyes Kabbage and mobile adoption spikes

American Express and Kabbage made headlines this week with reports the card company is looking to acquire the fintech for $850 million. Industry thinkers point out Kabbage could provide AmEx with a strong technology platform and the ability to reach new clients. Big banks, meanwhile, spoke with Bank Innovation about the spikes in mobile adoption they are seeing since the pandemic began. Find this and more in today’s edition of The Weekly Wrap, featuring Rick Morgan and Jeffrey Tower...

Weekly Wrap: Fintech funding rebounds and lenders move into bank accounts

Fintech funding rebounded during the second quarter. According to a report from CB Insights, funding increased 17% quarter over quarter to $9.3 billion from $7.9 billion in the first quarter. Fintech lenders, meanwhile, are trying to gain deeper customer relationships with bank accounts, while big banks are working to make their voice chatbots conversational. Find this and more in today’s edition of The Weekly Wrap, featuring Bianca Chan, Rick Morgan and Arcady Lapiro, founder and C...

Weekly Wrap: Varo is a bank and a big week for payments startups

Varo Money officially announced today it is shedding the “banking startup” title, as the company has finally received its banking charter after a three-year journey. Whether more fintechs will follow suit remains to be seen. “A banking charter comes with capital requirements and regulatory oversight that will not be appealing to all fintechs,” said Julie Hill, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law who focuses on banking and commercial law. Startups Remitly and Trans...

Weekly Wrap: Radius Bank’s digital roadmap and digital growth at US Bank

Banks may be losing their edge when it comes to CX, at least according to a new report from Sitel Group. “While the retail industry quickly implemented practical online solutions such as click and collect to meet changing customer needs, banking and financial services fell behind,” Sitel Group said in a financial services industry snapshot of the report. U.S. Bank, meanwhile, reported during its second-quarter earnings that 77% of its customers are using digital channels. Bank Innova...

Weekly Wrap - Credit unions choose core startup and POS lending stays hot

Credit unions are rejecting some of the big core providers and instead choosing startups to overhaul their technology. Royal Oak, Mich.-based banking software company Bankjoy has grown its customer base by 50% since the start of the pandemic. Point-of-sale lending, meanwhile, is continuing its rapid growth trajectory. Afterpay announced it is launching in-store capabilities this week, while Visa also made a move into the space, and MoneyLion announced plans to do the same. Find this...

Weekly Wrap - Zelle pushes into business payments and banks adopt fusion centers

Zelle is moving beyond peer-to-peer and pushing into business-to-consumer territory. “Not only we, at Wells Fargo, but Early Warning and its network banks have seen a significant increase in businesses using disbursements with Zelle,” said Michelle Ziolkowski, head of global payables in treasury management at Wells Fargo. Big banks, meanwhile, are adopting fusion centers to enlist different departments to work together to fight cybersecurity threats. Finally, INV Fintech startup grav...

Weekly Wrap: Brand intimacy problems, and Citizens transforms its core

Weekly Wrap - Week ending June 19, 2020

This week, Bank Innovation took a look a Verint report that ranked some of the country's biggest banks based on their crisis customer experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Smaller banks, meanwhile, are pursuing standalone brands despite the fact that bigger banks have stumbled with their own digital offshoots. In startup news, Upgrade plans to move beyond its credit products by launching bank accounts sometime this quarter. The company received a $40 million from Santander InnoVen...

"The future of relationship banking" with TD

In this episode, Bank Innovation sits down with Imran Khan, the head of global digital experience at TD, to talk about the bank's personalization efforts. Khan discusses how TD uses emerging technology to foster relationship banking in the digital age.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending June 12, 2020

The Bank Innovation team sits down and discusses major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending June 5, 2020

The Bank Innovation team sits down and discusses major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending May 29, 2020

The Bank Innovation team sits down and discusses major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending May 22, 2020

The Bank Innovation team sits down and discusses major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending May 15, 2020

The Bank Innovation and INV Fintech teams sit down and discuss major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending May 8, 2020

The Bank Innovation and INV Fintech teams sit down and discuss major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending May 1, 2020

The Bank Innovation and INV Fintech teams sit down and discusses major news from the past week and what to look for in the week ahead.

How Fifth Third creates a data-driven CX

At the helm of Fifth Third’s digital strategy, Melissa Stevens is focused on delivering suggestions based on customer needs and preferences. Now, the 160-year-old bank is zeroed in on data-driven customer experiences. In this episode of “Fintech Unfiltered,” Stevens speaks with Bank Innovation about how Fifth Third focuses on customers' needs instead of competing with the biggest banks.

SBA loans, SoFi and Galileo take center stage

One week after the Small Business Administration launched its Paycheck Protection Program, banks and fintechs alike are still navigating best practices to get funding into the hands of small business clients. As COVID-19 continues to rattle the economy, startups are launching new products and features to engage customers. The week’s news wasn’t confined to coronavirus-related coverage. On Tuesday, SoFi announced it was acquiring Galileo for $1.2 billion, a move that could turn some ...

Weekly Wrap - Week ending March 13, 2020

Bank Innovation's end-of-week update with breaking news and key trends.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending March 6, 2020

Bank Innovation's end-of-week update with breaking news and key trends.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending February 28, 2020

Bank Innovation's end-of-week update with breaking news and key trends.

Weekly Wrap - Week ending February 22, 2020

Bank Innovation's end-of-week update with breaking news and key trends.