Episodes

Banking has seen some drastic shifts since the global pandemic- from the competition to attract and retain new talent, to meeting the needs of customers facing increasing inflation and uncertainty in this precarious economic climate. From his view over multiple institutions and as a public policy expert, our guest today, Ramon Looby, CEO of the Maryland Bankers Association gives us a nuanced look at the issues facing the banking industry. Join us as we discuss: Looby’s perspective as an industry...

In recent years there has been more reporting and recognition of the racial wealth gap- the large, and growing, gap in the percentage of family wealth in black households, as compared to white households. Banks like Carver State have been operating within the mission to serve the African American community since 1927 and are now leveraging partners to maximize their reach and accessibility. Our guest today, Robert James, Chief Executive Officer at Carver State Bank, gives our listeners a look at...

Credit unions are dedicated to not only serving their members’ financial needs, but to helping their members foster long-term, financial wellness. Our guest today, Brian Vannoy, Chief Credit and Risk Officer at Allegacy Federal, describes Allegacy Credit Union’s unique approach to both direct and indirect auto lending as well as personal lending, and how they create opportunities to influence their members’ lives for the better. Join us as we discuss: Allegacy’s unique approach to both direct an...

Digital strategies are not just for deepening relationships with your customers. The digital experience is also a way to refine and improve processes while also building community and trust. Today’s guests Mary Kate Loftus, Executive Vice President, Director of Digital Banking, and Tim Frederick, /EVP, Head of Mortgage Originations at M&T, know that digital touch doesn’t replace a human connection with a customer, but it can help define it. Join us as we discuss: The difference between digitizat...

Digital advertising is a given for any business in the world today, but how can credit unions connect the right products to their existing members and grow their member base? By increasing and honing their digital engagement tactics. Today’s guest Michael Hostetler, VP of Marketing at Crane Credit Union, shares how his credit union leverages data to thoughtfully market relevant products to members. Join us as we discuss: Using an entrepreneurial mindset to increase credit union member growth and...

In a market where the consumer is juggling multiple relationships with financial institutions, how can credit unions compete? Consumers want to better understand their financial well-being, which means they need a holistic picture across multiple platforms. Drawing on data from a mix of daily digital habits can provide just that, while also driving loyalty. Samantha Paxton, Chief Experience Officer at Co-op Financial Services, shares her experience in building these systems for credit unions and...

Providing consumers with their credit score is table stakes in consumer banking. Now, banks and credit unions can take this a step further to assess where and when consumers are coming back, and how to ultimately use this information to grow their relationships more deeply and into new products. Enter Array. Today, Jacob Bouer, Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at Array, joins us to break down the concepts banks and credit unions need to know to get the most new credit technologies an...

Data is critical to lending institutions, but financial institutions must remember that there are people behind the numbers. With a focus on fair lending practices, financial literacy and compliance - Britt Faircloth, SVP, Fair Banking Officer at Valley Bank, offers her insights on how financial institutions can partner with their compliance teams to offer the right products for their communities. Join us as we discuss: Using data to ensure products fit the needs of communities How compliance an...

It’s a changing world. You can’t do business as usual and expect it to continue to work for your customers. That’s why innovation around new market approaches are more important than ever, and that doesn’t happen by accident. It requires investment in new technology and the right team to understand and navigate it. David Houchen, Senior VP and CFO at First Federal Bank of Kansas City, explains that lenders can’t be offering the same things they did 15 years ago, and how partners open the door fo...

The potential crisis has everyone concerned, but there is also opportunity at junctures like this in the market. Perry Rahbar, Founder an d Chief Executive Officer of dv01, shares his insights on services that are most valuable during uncertain times. Additionally, Rahbar discusses how the mortgage crisis led him to found a unique FinTech data operation. Join us as we discuss: How dv01 was born out of the mortgage crisis dv01’s position as a data hub integrating with originators, banks and inves...

In the midst of rising rates, how are personalized loans and securitized loans poised to change or influence the lending landscape? Anand Cavale, EVP of Unsecured lending at Guaranteed Rate, with his varied background in engineering, banking and credit cards, shares his thoughts on the emerging trends in consumer lending and gives us background info on when the changes started. Join us as we discuss: Rising rates on credit cards may create opportunities for personals loans The move toward buy no...

How can lenders create a differentiated transaction experience for their borrowers with such a technically simple integration? Randy Kern, Chief Technology Officer at Marqeta, discusses how they are disrupting the payments industry with transaction-based decisioning and buy-now-pay-later, and how lenders can work to optimize both internal processes as well as the borrower experience. Join us as we discuss: Building more visibility between borrowers and their finances Moving the credit decision t...

"We should remember to always look back at ourselves and realize the power of what we can do if we push the ball forward," said Dave Girouard, Upstart's Co-Founder and CEO at Upstart's inaugural event - boosted. boosted was first in Upstart's annual conference to spur discussion around the future of AI and finance. Jeff Keltner, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Upstart, gives an insider view on what took place at boosted, including the line-up of A-list speakers in the FinTech sp...

Member loyalty isn’t what it used to be. Once upon a time, loyalty was the product of proximity, or due to a family or friend recommendation. But loyalty has changed. It’s gone from loyalty to a provider, to loyalty to an experience. On this episode of Leaders in Lending, we sit down with Rick Jarrar. Rick is the Chief Lending Officer at Kemba Financial Credit Union, and our conversation was all about: How to gain and retain member loyalty The evolution of the branch from transactional to adviso...

When you’re applying AI from scratch, there are a few lessons to keep in mind. One that stands out is to ensure the machine learning solution is well suited to the problem. Here’s the story of how we evolved our ML strategy at Upstart. Hear about how to apply AI in the lending environment from Leaders in Lending host Jeff Keltner, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Upstart: Challenges to overcome at the beginning stage of the ML journey Why feature engineering and first-party data ...

Credit unions take pride in satisfying the needs of their members. However, many credit unions are overlooking a key way to bring more value to their members—partnering with fintechs. Charles Krawitz, Senior Vice President, Chief Capital Markets Officer & Head of Commercial Lending at Alliant Credit Union, joins the show to talk about how fintechs enable credit unions to innovate product offerings and better align with the needs of members. We discuss: What it means to be an innovator in the cre...

There are two lending spaces that tend to be underappreciated by many financial institutions: unsecured consumer lending and auto refinancing. Jay Fee, Vice President of Consumer Banking at PenFed Credit Union, has considerable experience with both. He joins the show to discuss the mechanics of unsecured consumer lending and auto refinancing, and why financial institutions should make the most of these opportunities. We discuss: The history of the unsecured consumer lending and auto refi space...

As the CEO & Co-Founder of Sandbox Banking, a company that connects financial institutions with fintechs, Ravi Balasubramanian has an excellent vantage point for all the innovation happening in the banking industry. In this episode, he shares the big trends he sees, his advice for banks making strides into digitization and his bold prediction for the future of cryptocurrency. We discuss: How to gain the capacity for faster organizational decision making The benefits of having different systems i...

More and more consumers are choosing to conduct their banking transactions online, and as such, financial institutions are adjusting their services to meet the digital moment. The question becomes, how can smaller institutions create differentiated service offerings for their borrowers on a limited budget? David Brand, Senior Vice President of Lending Operations at Sharonview Federal Credit Union believes fintech partnerships are crucial to helping smaller institutions, like community banks and ...

As a long-standing financial institution on the east coast, Apple Bank has weathered the many waves of innovation in the financial sector. Now that they have rapid digital transformation on their hands, they’re focusing their energy on standing up a best-in-class consumer lending experience. On this week’s episode, Gordon Levy, Senior Vice President of Risk and Analytics at Apple Bank, joins the show to talk about Apple Bank’s decision to partner with Upstart to launch and scale a successful uns...

The key to navigating the changing tides of customer preference and the digital transformation of the industry lies in understanding your value chain. Understanding that makes finding the right partner easier, a third party who may be able to add value where it is needed along the chain. Alex Balagour, EVP & Chief Information Officer at Citizens & Northern Bank, recommends that bankers not lose sight of that value chain because that knowledge can help you make bold choices that will propel your ...

Anna Counselman views operations through the lens of the customer – that is, understanding the customers’ pain points and ensuring solutions make it onto the product and engineering roadmap. It’s all about uncovering how to make your product or service better by rallying the relevant teams—product, engineering, and ML—around the single goal of empathizing with the user and solving their problems. As the Co-founder and Head of People & Operations at Upstart, Anna Counselman knows this process int...

From credit cards to buy now pay later, Jerry O'Flanagan, EVP at First National Bank of Omaha, and his team are pushing the boundaries of what big banks traditionally offer their customers—and they’re overcoming the obstacles formed by legacy systems and processes to do it. It’s all due to a willingness to go out on a limb and do something truly unique within the institution. In this episode, we talk about Jerry’s philosophy on innovation and how he operationalizes it within the company. Plus, h...

Dave Girouard, Co-Founder & CEO at Upstart, believed that young people were "potential rich yet cash poor"—and that dynamic caused them to make poor financial decisions for themselves and the economy as a whole. There had to be a better way to provide people with affordable access to credit, on reasonable terms, when they needed it. Using AI and machine learning provided that new way forward. In this episode, Dave shares how the company came to be and how Upstart provides transformative access t...