Bankadelic: The colorful side of finance

While the tech revolution ushered in by the pandemic moved financial services ahead by light years, certain needs were left behind — and first among those was cutting down on the cost and headaches caused by endless legacy documentation. Shelby Austin, CEO and CO-Founder at Arteria AI, talks about why the time has come for banks to up their game, and take back control of their time, money and paper trails in the process.

Financial institutions, whether traditional in approach or moving fast in the tech lane, have a tremendous market opportunity in helping small businesses. But even since the start of the pandemic, the definition of small business has changed: it can just as easily describe someone craving out of a spare bedroom as a corner store or blue-collar outfit. Robin Smith, Vice President North America at Mambu, discusses how everyone can up their game by coming to appreciate what SMEs (small-to-medium size enterprises) need -- and how meeting those needs can grow everyone's bottom line over the short term and the long haul.

While some financial institutions are still trying to decide what color scheme to use on their web page, one bank has leapfrogged into a world that even the tech-savvy are just beginning to grasp. On this episode of Bankadelic, Quontic’s Aaron Wollner talks about how the New York City bank has rolled out a payment ring wearable and staked out territory in the metaverse that customers can experience for themselves. Taken with the bank’s Bitcoin Rewards checking, Quontic is embracing a banking future in a way to put them well ahead of even the most digital-savvy competition.

Imagine getting years worth of paperwork done in hours. Now imagine no more: Robotic process automation (RPA) has made steady inroads in much of the business landscape. But the question remains: How will it reach critical mass without banks having to rip out their core systems or shoulder huge costs to expand their computer systems? On this episode, Joseariel Gomez, founder and CEO of Shastic, explains how “RPAaaS” (RPA as a service) can put this revolutionary tech within the reach of all in financial services. If the explosion of tech during the pandemic offers any indication, RPA could move fast into the position of game changer for banks and credit unions in the next few years.

With Wall Street reporting bad day after bad day, jittery investors are experiencing panic and irrational anxiety they haven’t felt since the Great Recession. Enter a voice of reason and the voice behind some of Australia’s most popular financial podcasts to set us Yanks straight. Philip Muscatello -- creator-host of “Shares for Beginners,” “Stocks for Beginners,” and “The Equity Investor Journey” to name a few --shares how he got into the investment game and what financial advisors can take to their clients to reassure them at a time of crisis. And a bit of summer kickback, Lou and Phil chat about their mutual love of music making and Romantic poetry. As Bankadelic episodes go, a splendid beach podcast if ever there was!

What it’s taken regulation to achieve in Europe, the U.S. is doing through the forces of market to make open banking a key differentiator among financial institutions. But what is open banking exactly? How does it work? And why should financial institutions, especially on the community level, explore the myriad possibilities? Lee Wetherington, Senior Director of Corporate Strategy at Jack Henry & Associates, walks us through everything you need to know about how open banking will promise revolutions like nothing else that’s come before it. A huge Prince fan and unsung comedic talent who sings like Billie Holiday, Lee also gets crazy as the first guest to perform in a Bankadelic skit.

Wax up your surfboards! Pass the barbecue sauce! Check the cloud software to make sure it offers a customized digital solution for ambitious banks and credit unions! Who says financial institutions can’t enjoy a sweet season of possibilities? This special episode presents six leaders in fintech, payments and innovation to talk about banking’s season of light, heat and positivity as Summer 2022 kicks into gear.

Our guests (presented alphabetically and not in order of their surfing ability):

JD Crouch, Director of Business Development, Lokyata

Chris Doner, CEO, Access Softek

Gregg Hammerman, CEO, Larky

Shawn Kruger, SVP, Avivatech

Casey Scheer, Director of Marketing and Sales, BHMI

Cyrus Taheri, Head of Partnerships, Mambu

Whether a customer prefers the personal touch of the branch or the digital convenience of doing it all on their smartphone, banks and credit unions must meet them where they are. To do it, they must rise to the challenge of updating their tech — an aggravating prospect for some who’ve avoided the issue for years. On this episode, Vergent CIO Brad Tompkins talks us through the great leaps made possible by software as a service (SaaS) and how they make a difference in the lives of people eager to enjoy digital convenience and in-person interaction.

First came PayPal, then Venmo and Zelle. The way payments move in the U.S. has come come a long way, but there’s still much to room to improve and grow. Just one look at Europe’s sleek system is enough to inspire some payments humility. But meaningful change can still happen when smaller financial institutions embrace tech with a distinctly customer-centric touch. Eric Dotson , EVP of Sales at Aptys, walks us through how the industry — caught off guard by previous breakthroughs it didn’t embrace — has a chance to make up for lost time and then some.

Digital became a mighty buzzword during COVID, but sustained digital growth often got lost in the process. That was — and is —particularly true when it comes to the learning experience platforms that make experts out of employees, and delighted repeat customers out of consumers. John Findlay, CEO of LemonadeLXP, shares how game-based training and marketing holds the key to driving digital adoption, fluency and transformation.

This special episode comes by way of Bankadelic’s sister podcast, Dave & Dharm Demystify. Many thanks to Dave Wallace and Dharmesh Mistry.

LemonadeLXP is a proud sponsor of Bankadelic.