Banking Transformed with Jim Marous

Banks have spent billions building digital customer experiences. But most are doing it on top of back-office infrastructure built for a different era. That gap has quietly become one of the biggest drags on growth, pricing power, and profitability in banking.

Today's competitive edge isn't just about what customers see upfront. It's about how efficiently a bank operates, how smartly it prices on an individual basis, and how quickly it can turn data into action. That's why modernizing the back office has moved from an IT discussion to a strategic imperative.

I'm joined on the Banking Transformed podcast by Richard Ullenius and Brandon Sailors from CSG International to discuss what modernization truly means, how banks can progress without tearing everything down, and how smarter infrastructure is becoming the key to efficiency, engagement, pricing, and risk management.

This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by CSG

CSG delivers banking and financial services solutions to help banks reimagine pricing, billing and customer engagement across retail, commercial and institutional banking. By unifying smart pricing, customer and transaction data and accurate, flexible billing, CSG enables banks to modernize complex, multi-product relationships without rip-and-replace. As a result, banks can reduce risk and complexity, protect margins and power trusted, real-time experiences that drive growth.

https://www.csgi.com/industry/financial-services/

From Walmart and Amazon to banks and credit unions, stablecoins are accelerating a banking reset that is already reshaping how payments move.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, I’m joined by Dr. Lamont Black, Associate Professor of Finance at DePaul University. We will break down why stablecoins represent a fundamental shift in financial infrastructure, not another crypto cycle. We will also explore how emerging payment rails challenge traditional card networks, what this means for deposits, data, and interchange revenue, and how financial institutions of all sizes should prepare for what comes next.

This conversation is essential listening for banking executives, payments leaders, and fintech professionals who want to understand the real impact of stablecoins, the strategic risks of waiting, and how the banking reset is already unfolding.

Most financial institutions say they are data-driven. Far fewer can prove it in customer acquisition and relationship growth success. At a time when marketing costs are rising, response rates are under pressure, and every institution has access to the same channels, data is often the difference between growth and wasted spend.

Today’s conversation is about how data actually drives results, not dashboards, not buzzwords, but measurable connections with the right consumers at the right time. We are going to talk about how modeling, channel orchestration, and analytics are reshaping direct marketing for banks and credit unions, and why doing this well is becoming a competitive necessity.

I am joined by Preston Carroll, Director of Data and Analytics, and Eddie Tu, Principal Statistical Analyst at Franklin Madison Direct. Together, they work at the intersection of data science, marketing strategy, and financial services growth. Today, we will unpack what actually works, where institutions get it wrong, and how leaders can move from data awareness to data advantage.

This episode of Banking Transformed is sponsored by Franklin Madison

Franklin Madison Direct is a premier direct marketing agency within the Franklin Madison Group. Specializing in performance-driven strategies, FM Direct empowers financial and insurance brands to connect with their ideal audiences and achieve outstanding growth. The agency supports clients in expanding their customer base profitably through diverse acquisition channels, including direct mail, paid search, paid social, and display advertising.

https://franklinmadisondirect.com/

Thirty to fifty percent of your fraud losses don't come from hackers or organized crime rings. They come from your own customers disputing legitimate transactions under their own names. This is first-party fraud, and it's a $100 billion problem that most financial institutions don't even track as a separate category.

While banks use advanced tools to detect external fraudsters, their own account holders are taking advantage of long-standing dispute processes meant to protect consumers, turning chargebacks into weapons against the very institutions that serve them.

The math is staggering: this single category now accounts for up to half of all fraud losses and keeps accelerating while most executives stay focused on threats from outside their customer base.

Joining me on the Banking Transformed podcast is Shanthi Shanmugam, CEO of Casap, who developed products at Robinhood and Chime before founding a company to address this crisis. We're going to examine why first-party fraud has surged, how manual dispute processes enable it, and what essential changes are needed to transform this hidden vulnerability into a competitive edge.

Banking is no longer competing with the branch down the street. It is competing with every digital experience your customers have before they ever open your app. Expectations around speed, simplicity, and trust are being set by big tech, fintechs, and embedded finance, not by traditional financial institutions. And for many banks, that gap is growing.

That is why today’s conversation matters. I am joined by Phil Tomlinson, Senior Vice President of Global Offerings at TaskUs, and Pragya Agarwal, Vice President of Financial Crimes and Risk Operations. They sit at the intersection of customer experience, advanced technology, and financial crime prevention, where speed and trust have to coexist every day.

In this episode of Banking Transformed, we unpack what next-generation banking really looks like, where AI is delivering real value right now, and how banks can move faster, innovate responsibly, and still protect customers in an always-on, app-driven world.

This episode of
Banking Transformed is sponsored by TaskUs

TaskUs is a
leading provider of outsourced digital services and next-generation customer
experience to the world’s most innovative companies, helping its clients
represent, protect and grow their brands. Leveraging a cloud-based
infrastructure, TaskUs serves clients in the fast-growing sectors, including
social media, e-commerce, gaming, streaming media, food delivery and
ride-sharing, technology, financial services and healthcare.

https://www.taskus.com/services/financial-crime-compliance/