Renee Horne

The loan disbursement process is awful, which is why Mastercard and LoanPro announced our strategic partnership today. 📣 While payments went instant and mobile wallets became standard, most lenders are still pushing funds through ACH—slow, inflexible, and invisible to both the borrower and lender. This changes today. Through Mastercard, lenders can allow borrowers to gain instant access to loan funds through a virtual card in their mobile wallet. Borrowers can spend immediately online or in-store, anywhere Mastercard is accepted globally. The financial instrument stays structured and predictable—fixed installments, not revolving balances combining the predictability of an installment loan with the convenience of a card. This Loan on Card product launch will be available H1 2026 to LoanPro customers, Mastercard issuers, and lenders participating in Mastercard Installments. A HUGE thank you to Stefany Bello, Cosku Cobanoglu, Ginger Siegel, Olim Toiriyon, Priscilla Gomez, Nida Ozair and the entire Mastercard team, plus Colin Terry, Rhett Roberts, Nate Wood, Scott Johnson, Charles Sweeney, Mike Simmons and our Product and Technology teams for bringing this much needed innovation to life. 2026 is going to be a major year for lending infrastructure. Buckle up 💯

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51% of bank and credit union customers still prefer branches. Should fintechs panic? While we continue to hear more news about "digital-first," 65% of baby boomers visit their financial institution in person – the most profitable demographic in financial services. Here's what the branch-killers missed: Among SMBs that left one financial institution for another, 68% wanted digital onboarding, but that digital experience alone isn't a differentiator – it's tablestakes. Over 63% of top-performing credit unions already offer digital onboarding, a number that can only grow. The winners aren't choosing digital OR physical – they're weaponizing both. At the same time that they're offering a more robust digital experience, they're equipping their branches with AI assistants, streamlined UIs, and other tools to enhance the physical experience. It's not about closing branches. It's about making them worth the trip while building digital rails that don't suck. Your "branch is dead" strategy might be killing your best customers. 🏦 https://lnkd.in/gtE5x22g

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Are banks and credit unions' marketing teams keeping pace with #genAI? 🤔 This year's State of Marketing AI Report, from our friends over at the Marketing AI Institute, reveals a significant acceleration in AI adoption among marketers across industries ⤵️ 💡 60% now either piloting or scaling AI – an 18-percentage-point jump from 2023. 💡 In comparison to an American Bankers Association survey, only 29% of bank marketers are using "AI-powered marketing tools." 👎 While the broader marketing industry is racing ahead, what is getting in the way of #financialinstitutions having more rapid exploration and implementation of tools? When I hear that FI marketing teams are often underfunded, undervalued, and under-resourced, wouldn't you be banging down the door for a solution(s) that could ultimately assist you in augmenting, accelerating, and scaling your marketing strategy and operating environment? Failing to move beyond experimentation risks falling behind agile fintech competitors (and other marketing talent) who are already embedding AI into their MarketingOS (and resumes) for a competitive advantage. See survey links in comments. A heck of a lot more to come from me on this topic, aka #rant, as I continue to digest this data. #AIMarketing #FinancialServices #BankingInnovation #CreditUnionMarketing #DigitalTransformation #FinMarkIQ #CMO #MarketingOS #Fintech

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The quickest way to drain the strength out of communications is to burden it with layers of approvals. Every additional checkpoint slows the message, dilutes its clarity, and shifts the focus from impact to process. Too often, communicators spend more time navigating sign-offs than shaping the narrative itself. Communication cannot influence if it cannot move. At some point, trust must take precedence. Give your communications experts the space to act with speed, clarity, and sound judgment. Trust your experts. It is the very reason you hired them. #Communications #StrategicCommunications #CorporateCommunications

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I missed AI Appreciation Day yesterday (did you know that's a thing?) but our first-ever AI Insights Report is just as timely today as it was yesterday. With all the talk on this platform about AI coming for jobs and its impact on what is near and dear to my heart -- communications -- I haven't seen much discussion about the role AI is playing on financial planning. (The em dash is mine. I didn't use AI to write this 😊) Well here's a big takeaway: although adoption is rising, it is slow: only one-in-ten Americans report using AI to manage personal finances. So what's TD doing about it? As Jo K Jagadish said, "from streamlining everyday transactions to supporting complex financial decisions, AI is helping us reimagine what is possible in banking. My team and I are proud to be at the forefront of responsible AI innovation, building insightful financial tools and resources that will continue putting people first in all we do." My favorite thing about TD is how committed everyone is at putting the customer at the center of everything we do. With AI, that's more important than ever as we seek to leverage AI to create seamless interactions and deliver that unexpectedly human experience. That's what makes TD so special. I hope you'll check out the full report, whether it's due to your interest in AI or whether you're a content leader, communicator or designer. I'm so proud of the work our entire communications team did in coming together to deliver an incredibly modern, sleek (thanks for that one Caitlin Day) and just cool data-rich report: https://lnkd.in/eFzhn8BB

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Ever wonder what goes into one of the most basic—and most critical—services at Chase? The “card swipe” may seem simple, but it’s a complex journey powered by teamwork and innovation. The latest Next at Chase blog post reveals how we make this everyday moment seamless and secure. Here’s a quick look: - Card Swipe: More Than Meets the Eye A quick swipe triggers a sophisticated process. Smart orchestration and decision-making keep every customer experience smooth. - Automating Card Authorization Testing We’re making testing faster and more reliable by automating the process—using real transaction data and integrating with our CI/CD pipelines. - Better Quality, Efficiency and Scale Automation means less manual effort, fewer errors and ongoing improvements. Plus, we’re building for scale with future enhancements on the way. What I love most? Design is in the mix from the very start—shaping strategy, collaborating with product and tech, and making sure every solution is intuitive and customer-centric. We’re not just adding polish at the end; we’re building the foundation for innovation. When design is part of the process, we create experiences that are seamless, secure and truly memorable. Check out the full blog to see the complexity behind what looks so simple!

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Navigating changes like organizational shifts or service updates requires more than just updating systems and processes. It’s just as important to plan how to communicate those changes. This BAI article outlines several steps to consider when going through various transitions. What resonates most with me is the importance of leading with the “why.” Change is natural, but when we communicate it with purpose and proactivity, it creates an opportunity to enhance both business operations and the client experience. Click here to read more about how to keep your audiences informed and engaged throughout the process: http://ms.spr.ly/6049sidHN

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What does innovation look like to you? 🤖 That was a question posed to the President and CEO of Wells Fargo at the recent The Wall Street Journal “Future of everything” event. “Innovation is most important where something isn't working as well as it could.” In the context of the banking industry, banks were slow to innovate. They thought they had a moat, regulation makes it hard to move quickly - yet FinTechs were able to cause disruption in the space. For Charles W. Scharf, bridging that innovation gap and marrying it with their existing strategic advantage - doing what FinTechs do before they do it, and bringing it to the masses that large banks reach - is what innovation looks like in the banking industry. What's something that isn't working as well as it could in your industry?  How could you make your customers' lives easier?  ➡️ That's where opportunities to innovate live. #AssetManagement #Innovation #Clients

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