Banking Transformed with Jim Marous

Citizens Bank says banks stand out by being simple to deal with and human when it matters. Karen Swiatocha leads branch distribution transformation at Citizens Bank. In this Banking Transformed conversation with Jim Marous, she explains how a big bank can stand out when products, digital and even AI look the same: by being simple to do business with and by making the memorable moments human. She says 70 to 80% of what a customer needs to accomplish is common to the mobile app, the contact center and the branch, yet many institutions still design each channel as if it were the only one. Digital works well for routine, predictable banking, Karen says, while customers still want a trusted human for complex and consequential decisions. That points to fewer branches in more convenient locations, spaces designed for private conversation, more specialists, and an operating model where bankers, contact center agents and digital teams act as one team. She also describes how Citizens routes new customers, whatever channel they joined through, to branch bankers and to a contact center team that focuses on the first 30, 60 and 90 days. Karen also talks about the people side of the work: co-creating change with field leadership, rethinking the branch manager role she calls the mayor of the community, and making sure reward systems and policies match the relationship goal. Her advice for a community bank or credit union is to pick one customer journey, experience it yourself, give one person accountability for making it easier, and celebrate the progress loudly. Hosted by Jim Marous. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for new episodes multiple times each week.

A financial institution that assigns a relationship manager to a small business promises that someone will know the business, and satisfaction with those managers fell 35 points among customers with two years or less. J.D. Power's 2026 study of U.S. small business banking found that overall satisfaction with banks rose 10 points, while satisfaction with relationship managers fell 15. Sixty-one percent of small businesses now have an assigned relationship manager, up from 58%, yet customer-initiated contacts and face-to-face meetings both went down. Small businesses say their managers are harder to reach and slower to respond, and more of them question whether those managers understand and care about the business. The drop is sharpest among the newest customers. Businesses that have banked with their institution for two years or less cut their relationship manager score by 35 points, compared with 13 points for customers of three years or longer. Jim Marous owns a small business, and his banker calls every quarter without getting into any detail. His view is that an assigned relationship manager is a promise that someone will know the business. For a relationship manager to win the battle for the customer, the institution has to supply the ammunition. Jim looks at the form Fifth Third and Bank of America use to give bankers a specific reason to talk, and at how predictive and generative AI are starting to reach calling officers. He closes with four actions for banks and credit unions, starting with a substantive conversation during onboarding. About: Banking Transformed is hosted by Jim Marous, a top five banking industry influencer and Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand. Banking Insights episodes deliver the most important strategic ideas in under ten minutes, for the executive who wants the takeaway without the deep dive. Subscribe to the Digital Banking Report at digitalbankingreport.com.

Banks and credit unions must stand out by picking one rival to position against, according to author Laura Ries. This Flashback Friday episode features my 2025 conversation with Laura Ries, author of The Strategic Enemy: How to Build and Position a Brand Worth Fighting For. Ries says consumers are surrounded by nearly indistinguishable offers, and that a bank or credit union claiming to be better will not be believed because self-reported claims lack credibility. She explains why a friend’s recommendation, a Reddit thread or a podcast mention carries more weight than advertising, and why repetition of one narrow idea builds a position in the customer’s mind. We cover how a bank or credit union can choose its foe. For a regional bank, Ries frames the choice as the big national players or the online fintechs, whichever creates the greatest contrast. She also covers visual hammers, including the Wells Fargo stagecoach and the Chase shape, why a bank in a blue category should consider red, purple or green, how names like SunTrust and Truist compare, and how PNC’s “brilliantly boring” theme turns a perceived negative into a positive. Ries also explains why a legacy brand may need a second brand, citing Kodak and Toyota’s Lexus, and how employees can live a brand promise through simple, repeated phrases such as Avis’s “We try harder” and Chick-fil-A’s “It’s my pleasure.” She closes with DUDE Wipes, a narrow brand with a clear foe in dry toilet paper, and advice for a regional bank CEO on choosing the foe that creates the strongest contrast. Recorded in 2025, the brands and campaigns discussed are as they stood then. Hosted by Jim Marous. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for new episodes multiple times each week.

A bank or credit union can make regular saving as easy to start and keep going as Acorns does. Acorns says its customers have invested more than $7.3 billion from spare change alone. Acorns isn't a bank, yet customers have invested more than $7.3 billion through it from spare change alone. Jim Marous has used an Acorns account since 2018 and says his existing banks never asked to help him build a savings plan, despite regular transfers to Acorns several times a month. Bank of America introduced a round-up program in 2005, seven years before Acorns was formed, and as far as Marous can tell, most banks and credit unions still haven't made regular saving as easy as it can be. Marous walks through what Acorns gets right in the order a customer experiences it: a first step of a few cents, a commitment through a paycheck split and Money Manager, and visible progress along the way. Acorns charges $4, $8 or $12 a month, and Marous leaves the fee as a decision for each bank and credit union. He explains what makes customers trust automation enough to leave it on, including knowing how much will move and when, and he points to Ally's Surprise Savings as an example. Marous offers three questions for any savings tool: how many customers turn it on, how many are still contributing six months later, and how much their balances have grown. He notes that a transfer inside one institution creates no new deposit, so retention, additional money, and engagement are the outcomes to measure, and he suggests starting with customers who already send regular amounts to Acorns, Robinhood, or Ally. He cites Chime's automatic 10% transfer from direct deposits and Casco Federal Credit Union's partner-built investing as proof the pieces already exist. About: Banking Transformed is hosted by Jim Marous, a top five banking industry influencer and Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand. Banking Insights episodes deliver the most important strategic ideas in under ten minutes, for the executive who wants the takeaway without the deep dive. Subscribe to the Digital Banking Report at digitalbankingreport.com.

Brett King says the primary financial relationship will belong to an AI agent. Brett King, author of Bank 5.0, returns to Banking Transformed to explain why he believes the banking system of the future will be built for AI agents before it is built for people. He and Jim Marous start with the restrictions JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi have placed on agent access to customer accounts, and why Brett sees them as the earliest stage of a larger change. Jim adds what he heard at Sibos and Money20/20, where the talk moved from know your customer to know your agent. Brett describes how a customer's agent will research credit, ask only for amount, duration, monthly payment, cost and penalties, and eventually take over the decision. Jim asks whether a primary financial institution can exist once the customer delegates the choice. Brett says the primary relationship will belong to the agent, which pushes cost-to-income ratio, with Nubank and WeBank as the benchmarks, ahead of deposit and loan margin as the measure that matters. The conversation then turns to know-your-agent identity, the regulatory infrastructure Brett proposes in the book, and why he ranks the US well behind Singapore and China on readiness. Jim asks who is furthest ahead and furthest behind among the partners that have to work together. Brett closes with his prediction that banks unable to connect to the new infrastructure will be acquired by the mid-2030s, and with how a personal AI money coach could widen access to financial education. About Brett King: Brett is a futurist, the founder of Moven and the author of Bank 5.0 and the Bank X.0 series. He hosts Breaking Banks and The Futurists. Hosted by Jim Marous. Subscribe to Banking Transformed for new episodes multiple times each week.