Multi-Department Fractional Staffing of Fintech

Judson Stanion, SVP, Corporate Finance, and Jessica Gardner, Chief Marketing Officer at Academy Bank

Judson Stanion, SVP, Corporate Finance, and Jessica Gardner, Chief Marketing Officer at Academy Bank

Judson Stanion is Managing Director in Capital Markets at Academy Bank, with more than two decades of experience in banking, specializing in innovation, fintech, and commercial lending. Judson’s focus is on developing the next generation of bankers, optimizing processes, and driving positive change. Judson holds a Master’s from the University of Southern California and a Master’s and Bachelor’s in Economics from the University of Kansas.

Jessica Gardner is a seasoned brand builder and marketer with more than 20 years of experience in transforming data into actionable insights, creating impactful customer experiences, and driving revenue growth. As Chief Marketing Officer at Academy Bank, Jessica sets the marketing strategy and leads promotional efforts to achieve business goals and build strong customer relationships. Jessica is committed to clear communication, fostering a positive team environment, and creatively challenging assumptions to achieve business objectives.

Through this article, Judson and Jessica are highlighting the challenges faced by highly regulated industries like banking when attempting to innovate. They emphasize that the strict compliance and regulatory requirements often hinder innovation, leading to organizations being left behind in the market.

What happens when an industry steeped in compliance and regulation tries to innovate? Often the red tape and bureaucracy slow innovation to a crawl, so that highly regulated organizations are left chasing rather than leading the innovation charge.

"Innovating in banking is akin to redesigning an airplane mid-flight—every change must be meticulously planned and executed, all while ensuring proper risk management protocols are in place and maintaining trust," said Paul Holewinski, Chief Executive Officer at Academy Bank.

With a highly regulated industry like banking, the question remains: how do banks align resources and move into the future while maintaining stable risk management to protect stakeholders and clients?

Academy Bank, a subsidiary of the family-owned $4 billion Dickinson Financial Corporation, is in its second year of implementing Banking as a Service (BaaS) with Fintech partners. After successfully onboarding our first partner, we've gained valuable insights and established a solid framework. The bank believes fintech partnerships will contribute to our deposits and transaction revenue and also provide a bird's-eye view of changing consumer preferences and ways it can innovate in its own product and service delivery. Safely monitoring Fintechs in an era of heightened regulatory compliance expectations and fraud requires more than just goal setting. Academy Bank has adopted a creative and efficient approach to address these challenges.

"Innovating in banking is akin to redesigning an airplane mid-flight—every change must be meticulously planned and executed, all while ensuring proper risk management protocols are in place and maintaining trust."

The Challenge (Risk) 

Integrating Fintech partners and their business needs into our bank’s risk management programs is a multifaceted challenge.

 ♦  Multifunctional Execution: Successfully onboarding a Fintech requires synchronized execution across treasury management, IT, compliance and risk, BSA, vendor management, fraud prevention, deposit operations, legal, cards, and payments—all under strict deadlines.

 ♦  Project-Based Pressures: Unlike the traditional model where these functions respond to gradually evolving customer volumes and needs, Fintech onboarding demands that these risk functions provide a comprehensive “all clear” before hundreds of customers are onboarded at once.

 ♦  Increasing Regulatory Scrutiny: The regulatory landscape is shifting towards greater oversight of BaaS providers, raising the stakes of effective compliance.

 ♦  Heightened Fraud Risks: The rise in fraud threats necessitates careful consideration of the additional layer of vulnerability introduced by a Fintech intermediary, particularly in areas like anti-money laundering (AML) and fraud detection for wire and ACH transactions.

 ♦  Overcoming Constraints:

Academy Bank is actively pursuing the future benefits of innovation while balancing current operating expenses. 

“One of the primary concerns is managing the real expense of increasing staff before realizing revenue, especially when the specific skills needed for smooth onboarding remain uncertain,” said Holewinski.

Neartech: A Solution in Motion

Academy Bank is deploying a “neartech” team-of-teams approach, integrating subject matter experts in various risk and operations departments into the Fintech project to ensure timely progression. This strategy operates on several key assumptions:

 ♦  Resource Flexibility: Commercial banking departments, including treasury management and credit analysts, can provide part-time resources to fill gaps in Fintech staffing. Processes and approval tools used in commercial lending are being adapted to streamline Fintech evaluation, underwriting, and onboarding.

 ♦  Talent Development: By engaging existing talent, we solve immediate challenges and develop employees into innovators and leaders.

 ♦  Building Expertise: Collaborative work on high-value projects fosters a virtuous cycle of deep learning, skill enhancement, and cross-departmental networking.

The Neartech concept, which came out of the Bank’s Innovation Hub, is a shared resource collaborative model that supports the Fintech onboarding process, while subject matter experts in risk, IT, and operations play the lead role in providing the technical expertise unique to their functions and ensuring that people, processes, and technology are aligned to deliver an excellent customer experience. And they now enjoy the support of skilled bankers who help guide deliverables and approval timelines.

Cultivating Innovation and Collaboration:

Beyond project facilitation, Neartech is instrumental in fostering a culture of innovation within our bank. By involving key departments, we’re breaking down silos and creating an institutional knowledge and people network effect that integrates Fintech deeply into our operations.

 ♦  Fractional Resource Redeployment: Expands capacity without increasing headcount while keeping critical projects on track.

 ♦  Tech-Savvy Engagement: Neartech enhances the technical proficiency of our bankers, positioning them—and the bank—for success in a more technologically-driven future.

 ♦  Enhanced Communication: A significant, indirect benefit of this initiative is the shared language and understanding between our IT leaders and broader bank leadership.

In essence, Academy Bank's Neartech approach exemplifies how leveraging internal resources strategically can bridge gaps, drive innovation, and prepare the bank for a competitive, tech-savvy future in the industry.

"Navigating innovation within the strict confines of banking regulation demands more than just ambition; it requires a delicate balance of foresight, agility, and unwavering commitment to compliance and doing things right,” said Holewinski. “At Academy Bank, we've learned that the key to leading in this space is not just about breaking new ground but about building a solid foundation that supports both innovation and security. As we continue to evolve, our success will be measured not just by the partnerships we form but by the trust we maintain and the value we deliver to our clients and stakeholders."

Fraud

Risk Management

Marketing

Financial

Scrutiny

Customer Experience

Legal