Gary Zukowski

To help small businesses in North Carolina access community funding, LoanWell CEO Bernard Worthy built a loan platform that streamlines the application process using Gemini models. Automating this process, Bernard says, “enables small teams to increase their capacity, reviewing tens of hundreds of applications in a week.” See how Bernard is using Google AI to help entrepreneurs → https://goo.gle/portraits

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Lending is getting smarter with real-time cash flow data, network-powered insights, and frictionless onboarding. In this session with Plaid Product Lead for Credit, Michelle (Boros) Young, see how lenders can use cash flow data alongside traditional credit data to make faster decisions, approve more borrowers, and manage risk. Plus, new partner integrations with Experian, FICO and more that make it easier than ever to get started ⬇️

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It’s no secret that the world of banking has changed. Fifteen years ago, portfolio management was measured, steady, and largely retrospective. Monthly reports were enough. The pressure to rethink was low because rates didn’t move, and margins held. That’s no longer the world we live — or lead — in. Today’s top-performing CLOs and CCOs understand this. They’ve shifted from managing credit to coaching people who manage credit — and that shift requires daily visibility, not end-of-month surprises. This new piece reflects what we’re seeing across the KlariVis client base: Leaders coaching at the speed of changeTeams moving from cleanup to proactive engagementCultures strengthened through clarity, not control. Do you have what you need in order to lead confidently in an uncertain environment? 👉🏻 Read the full piece here:

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Five years ago, SMAs were not a thing. They were barely used and pretty obscure. Now, $1 in every $2 of new advice goes into an SMA. Over that five years, I've heard the same string of problems, over and over again: "Why do the SMA fees not match between platforms for the same SMA?" "Is [ABC Balanced SMA] the same as [ABC Balanced Strategic SMA] and [ABC Balanced Portfolio]"? "What exactly is a model fee? What's an investment manager fee? What's a portfolio fee? Are they even different?" "Not to worry", says I, "someone will come up with a standard, there's plenty of big players around who can do it". And I waited And waited. And waited. Finally, I'd had enough. No one was doing anything, and it was becoming a more pressing issue for ProductRex, with >$1BN of SMA advice being modelled each month across the ~6,000 advisers we represent. So, we just did it ourselves. - Started a neutral, independent organisation (SMA Standard) - Developed an elite advisory board - Drafted, argued and (today!) published a set of SMA Reporting Standards. SMA Reporting Standards (SMARS) will be an ongoing, iterative approach to reporting Separately Managed Accounts, but today, we're tackling the low hanging fruit: 🍉 What to call things (nomenclature) 🍌 What investment fees should be disclosed (RG97 fees) 🍎 What other fees should be disclosed (non-RG97 fees) 🥕 Standardised asset allocation approaches Basic stuff. Stuff that should have already been done. Stuff that noone can logically oppose. If you're an SMA manager, investment consultant, platform, software house, or practice/AFSL that runs private-labels, SMARS is for you. It's free to become a participant (LINK IN COMMENTS). There's so much more to write, but I got too much into the story and LinkedIn will nerf this post's coverage if I go on. Maybe I'll continue in the comments. #SMAStandard #SMARS

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"A lot of commercial banks also applied for a digital banking license… State Bank did the right thing… commercial banks are already allowed to do everything under the sun… so why do they need a digital license? It’s basically a wake-up call… they need to see out of that tunnel vision that they had for the last 70 years," says Atif Malik, COO of JS Bank. He challenges the notion that digital banking requires separate licenses for commercial banks already empowered to innovate. He urges these banks to broaden their vision and embrace the full potential of digital transformation without regulatory excuses holding them back. - Published in association with Retail Banking Conference 2025, organized by Green Peak International Pvt. Ltd - #digitalbanking #innovation #banking #fintech #leadership #regulation #financialinclusion #technology #future #wakeuplcall #growth #collaboration #VCastOnline

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Most financial institutions measure automation success by implementation milestones rather than outcomes. But, FIs using nCino experience 50-80% efficiency improvements after implementation. What sets these institutions apart? Outcomes > Milestones. They establish baseline metrics before deployment and track performance against those metrics. They don't just ask "Did we launch it?" They ask "Is it actually working?" How do you shift your focus from project timelines to performance data? Find out in our latest report with American Banker: https://bit.ly/4njOX2a

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100% SBA Backlog Cleared. In Under 2 Months. One SBA lender faced incomplete files, audit pressure, and looming penalties. We stepped in—with 24/7 task force support, real-time dashboards, and daily reporting. No disruptions. Just fast, structured execution. Results: 🔹Backlog cleared 🔹Audit-ready early 🔹Future-ready processes in place This is how structured execution, paired with sharp compliance insight, delivers real outcomes when the stakes are highest. Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gz4H7BpW #SBACompliance #AuditReadiness #LoanProcessing #OperationalExcellence #RiskManagement #DecimalPointAnalytics

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Stuck between sidecar, middleware, and above-core? Lisa McFarland, Ingo’s CPO, just decoded every core-ledger path in one practical guide. From instant payouts to audit-proof crypto ledgers, she unpacks the trade-offs and hands you a decision tree you can steal for tomorrow’s stand-up. If faster launches with fewer compliance headaches are on your sprint board, hit the link and get moving. 🔗 “Building on Bedrock: A Practical Guide to Core & Ledger Choices in Embedded Banking” https://lnkd.in/gcJXWPpd

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AgFirst Farm Credit Bank partnered with Bizagi to replace legacy processes with agile, reusable workflows. The goal? Build a flexible platform that adapts quickly to customer and market needs. AgFirst now: ✅ Closes loan cases 60% faster ✅ Delivers new processes in just 16 weeks ✅ Analyzes 97% of loans on time ✅ Completes 100% of loan approver requests on schedule Discover how other leading organizations are building faster, smarter business processes with Bizagi: https://okt.to/iUkLfM

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Lenders: A $44B opportunity is hiding in plain sight. When I talk to banks about their biggest challenges, one phrase always comes up: "SME Lending." It's the unsolved puzzle of financial services—how to efficiently identify, qualify, and service credit access for small businesses at scale. What's keeping banks from capturing this massive opportunity? 🔹 Manual loan processes that can't scale 🔹 Inability to pre-qualify existing SME customers 🔹 Outdated digital infrastructure with poor user experience 🔹 Risk assessment models built for large and medium corporations, not SME creditworthiness At AdalFi, our partnership with financial institutions transforms their SME lending business in weeks, not years: → We analyze bank data and identify qualified borrowers within their existing customer base → We deploy white-label customer journeys in 4-8 weeks (not years) → We provide immediate scalability without massive infrastructure investment The most remarkable discovery as deployed our platform across multiple banks in Pakistan? Rs. 1.5 Trillion worth of credit-ready SMEs already existed within banks' own customer bases. Our Bank partners don't need new customers. They just needed better visibility into who's qualified among those they already serve. This is how we're helping tackle Pakistan's $44B SME financing gap—by showing banks their best lending prospects were right within their customer base all along. Join us to find the hidden potential in your existing customer base. #FinancialInclusion #CreditScoring #DigitalLending #AI #AdalFi #Banking

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Many community banks launch credit card issuing programs with agent bank providers because they seem like the simple option. But that simplicity comes with trade-offs: 1. Low revenue 2. Limited control over your program or product design 3. Weak customer relationships There’s a better option. Owning a credit card program enables community banks to profit more, leverage local knowledge, win customer loyalty, launch quickly, and compete with big issuers in the market. 💡 You don’t need to build an issuing platform from scratch or settle for handing your customers over to an agent bank. Learn more about owning your issuing program in our new blog: https://lnkd.in/gtmZUDXF #communitybanking #creditcards #communitybank #issuing

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Members are continuously choosing to utilize FinTechs. The strategic response isn't fighting that trend - it's meeting them on their own terms and reducing the barriers to service. Jason Johnson of KEMBA Financial Credit Union explains that success means making the digital journey as easy as walking into the physical branch. He challenges the status quo. "Who wrote the admin rules? We did. So let's change them" Listen to the full episode to learn how KEMBA is adapting its strategy to provide service "when, where, and how they want": https://lnkd.in/grvkXtQy #DigitalTransformation #FinTechPartnerships #CreditUnionStrategy #MemberExperience

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Nonbank financial apps are raising the bar for customer experience, and many legacy institutions are working to catch up. Extensible systems are key to delivering the kinds of products and features customers expect, executives say. "We’re not trying to pick the big winning technology. We’re trying to build an architecture that allows us to move quickly…or we can test something without it being a huge investment," Christian Ruppe, SVP and chief innovation officer at Colony Bank, said in my recent piece for The Financial Brand.

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