ProSight Doubles Down on Helping the Banking Industry Thrive

Jim Marous (00:11):

Welcome to Banking Transformed, the top podcast in retail banking, I'm your host, Jim Marous. As financial institutions navigate rapid technological change, evolving customer expectations, increasingly complex regulatory environments, industry associations like ProSight play a critical role in providing guidance, resources, and a community.

Jim Marous (00:36):

My guest today in the Banking Transformed Podcast is a great friend, Debbie Bianucci, who led BAI for nearly 30 years before becoming the President and CEO of ProSight. She'll share insights on the complimentary strength each organization brought to this merger, and how the combined capabilities created a more comprehensive support system for financial institutions of all sizes.

Jim Marous (01:03):

The conversation examines how ProSight is helping banks navigate digital transformation, changing customer expectations, increasing regulatory complexity, and emerging risks. Debbie highlights ProSight's expanded suite of offerings, including decision support tools, research, learning programs, and peer networking opportunities designed to equip financial leaders with practical strategies for success.

Jim Marous (01:34):

The banking industry is changing faster than ever. To keep pace with these changes though, trade associations must reflect the evolving needs of their members and reach out to be a source of insight and inspiration at a time when sometimes, that may be all we need.

Jim Marous (01:54):

So, Debbie, it has been way too long since we caught up, and a ton has happened in the industry, especially with the merger of BAI and RMA. After nearly 30 years of you leading BAI, what convinced you that merging with RMA was the right thing at the right time for both organizations, but more importantly, for the industry at large?

Debbie Bianucci (02:18):

Jim, it's so great to be with you, and thanks for having me. And I just love to talk about the industry and you're the best guy to do it with. We've been doing it together for a long time.

Debbie Bianucci (02:31):

The whole merger of RMA and BAI came together for one reason. It was for the industry, and the industry is changing all the time and at a faster pace than ever. And whether it's consolidation or changing customer preferences and profitability pressures, technology – all those changes add up to the financial services companies needing more than they ever have before.

Debbie Bianucci (03:06):

And with an industry changing, we also really pressure tested the need for industry organizations that support this industry to change as well. And so, it became clear that RMA and BAI could come together and do more for the industry than we were already doing independently.

Debbie Bianucci (03:31):

Both organizations are over a hundred years old before we merged. Both organizations don't lobby. There are plenty of organizations that do that important advocacy work, but both RMA and BAI did not. And so, this was an opportunity to bring like organizations together to strengthen and really, supercharge the way that we can support the industry.

Debbie Bianucci (04:01):

We're quite complimentary in who we served and how we served the industry. And so, it became really an additive mix that we have ... we merged a year ago January of ‘24. And the industry response has been amazing. Far beyond my expectations actually.

Jim Marous (04:25):

Well, that took a great legacy for people to buy into it. It's interesting, because I was thinking about it the other day, that both of your organizations had certainly helped and advocated the mergers of financial institutions, I didn't realize a hundred years, but for decades.

Jim Marous (04:47):

I mean, you and I could go back and say, “Do you remember XYZ organization that now became this organization? It became this organization.” And everybody always talks about the synergy, the ability to have two being better than just one, the same rationale, but how was it to be on the other side of that?

Jim Marous (05:05):

Because I would imagine that through all the hundreds of mergers that you were part of, either directly or indirectly, and RMA was part of, I'm sure you learned a lot about, geez, these are things we have to try to avoid.

Jim Marous (05:20):

But what did you take from what you've learned from financial institutions, your clients, so to speak, your members, and use it as you brought into a brand-new brand that was a combination of two very strong brands on their own?

Debbie Bianucci (05:35):

It's a great question, and I often tell people we work with throughout the industry that this isn't a bank merger. It's not like a bank merger in many ways, but there are some of the same principles that apply no matter what types of organizations you're combining. And the toughest challenge almost to a person, if you ask them, is about cultural alignment and how you bring the teams together.

Debbie Bianucci (06:03):

And that was so true for us. Our missions were very compatible. They weren't word for word, but they were close. And it was all about supporting the industry. So, that's a really great commonplace to be, and not being a lobbying organization also made it more clear what the path could be.

Debbie Bianucci (06:26):

It would be very hard to take a lobbying trade association and a non-lobbying, and find a way for them to fit. But we were not, and we had compatible missions, but boy did we live these missions differently.

Debbie Bianucci (06:40):

Which meant that we had to really rethink what would be our value, how would we support the industry without losing what the legacy organizations both brought. But they were so complimentary, Jim, that it made it more feasible that we were able to add them together without a lot of loss, mostly gains.

Debbie Bianucci (07:05):

And so, from the way we work, we had to really focus on full integration. This was not a situation where we brought RMA together and they would keep doing what RMA was doing – BAI together, they would keep doing what they were doing, and we'd share a backroom. That could have been the model.

Debbie Bianucci (07:25):

But the promise of ProSight is about bringing the two organizations together, because that's what the banks are doing. They're bringing risk and compliance together, and retail banking and commercial banking in ways that have not been seen in the past. And that's really where ProSight is able to provide that value.

Debbie Bianucci (07:46):

From the brand standpoint, we really needed to convey that we wanted ProSight as it was named, to be a different kind of trade association. It was unique value with unique delivery on unique needs. And so, the combination of the two enabled that, which is why we selected a name that isn't like – well, it wasn't BAI, it wasn't RMA, and it wasn't like many of the other trade association names that you know.

Jim Marous (08:26):

So, with that in mind, there's a host of challenges in the financial services industry right now. What is ProSight's North Star? What is your goal, your mission out there? Not just on a 30,000-foot view perspective, but when you start getting in the weeds, what is ProSight's North Star and what are they going to bring to the industry?

Debbie Bianucci (08:54):

Well, you'll see as we talk through some of the different ways that we're seeing industry needs change, that we believe that our foundation in risk and compliance, which is such an important part about the way a well-run bank operates, is a critical differentiator for us because we understand it, we have tools, we have ways to help the banks deal with that fundamental aspect of what they have to do.

Debbie Bianucci (09:27):

But most importantly, we can connect that with how to grow the business, whether it's on the commercial side or the retail banking side. And banks, at the end of the day, that will thrive are the ones who can figure out how to grow and maintain the kinds of practices and safety and soundness, and the aspects of regulatory compliance and risk management that are fundamental to the way they operate.

Debbie Bianucci (09:59):

And that really differentiates us because we have the ability to connect both. And as I'm sure you've seen in the banks, even the regulators are working hard at having a more holistic view of what they do and how to connect the dots. And that's what we think we can do best.

Jim Marous (10:21):

So, how does ProSight differ from one of the big consultancy firms that provide insight, provide advisory services, sometimes provide solutions. How do you differentiate from them?

Debbie Bianucci (10:34):

Well, I'll start by saying we work with them. We work with a lot of them, because they're smart, and because we can provide them opportunities to connect with financial services executives who they are interested in working with.

Debbie Bianucci (10:53):

But at the end of the day, the biggest difference is that as a nonprofit, as an industry organization who is here to support the industry, we do things that require a tremendous amount of trust and confidence in what we are able to provide.

Debbie Bianucci (11:12):

One of the best examples is that we're the largest provider of deposit data comparative analytics in the industry. And we have been for a long time. The banks give us their data so we can help them better understand how they're serving their customers and communities. But they know we aren't going to go and use that information and consult with somebody else.

Debbie Bianucci (11:38):

We do not consult. In fact, we are here to facilitate what the banks can't do on their own and add value through insights without crossing that line of using that information for competitive reasons. And consulting firms, by their nature, they're very smart, they're very good at what they do, but they do different things that don't require that level of trust. It's a doctor patient privilege kind of model that we have.

Jim Marous (12:10):

That's interesting, because there's organizations way back in my past that used to take data and provide services on reporting and insight, and as you said, all based on trust. And again, I'm still baffled by the fact that both the organizations were over a hundred years old. I would've missed it by ... I would've been way under, I would've lost, the price is right.

Debbie Bianucci (12:38):

And we were not there at the beginning, okay? Just make that-

Jim Marous (12:40):

Yeah. Well, that's exactly, that's why I didn't remember. That's right, I wasn't there at the beginning. Close, but not, not there. But it's interesting because again, when you bring both your organizations together, you ramp up the ability to do these things, you obviously have more resource to do that as well. And when you look at the banking industry today, what's the biggest challenge that you help to solve for?

Debbie Bianucci (13:07):

Well, a lot of organizations, at the beginning of the year, are trying to identify what are the top three challenges that the industry will face. And you've done a lot of great coverage of that. If I do identify the top three, I might say it's fraud, fraud, and fraud, because that's such a big deal. And we are investing heavily to increase the level of support that we're providing to all types of financial services companies in the area of fraud.

Debbie Bianucci (13:45):

There's a lot out there already, but it's not doing enough of what the banks need in order to mitigate this ever-changing landscape of fraud. And so, that's a big level of investment for us. We know that the industry is facing changes in … and pressures on quality deposit growth and customer acquisition, operational efficiency, new technologies, AI being such a big part of that. You just spoke to another audience about AI. It's a very big deal in an uncertain world, it's so much uncertainty that we live with.

Debbie Bianucci (14:27):

But I do think that what we are able to provide through data and comparative analytics as well as the ability for bank executives to come together and share. Your podcast the other day with Leda Glyptis who was talking about her book Beyond Resilience.

Debbie Bianucci (14:50):

I loved what she said about, find your tribe, trust your tribe. And that's a great way of describing what happens at ProSight because we can bring people together in a trusted environment who will share, and so much of what they're facing today is not anything that affects competitive advantage. They can be better because they're together sharing, they’ve found their tribe. And that's part of what we do as well.

Jim Marous (15:22):

That's a very good point. And that's something I remember from BAI in the past, is that you could bring together ... it was at a time that heck, banks didn't trust credit unions, and so, they didn't trust each other anymore.

Jim Marous (15:34):

And you could bring these organizations together, these banking executives together, and they were best friends, and they were sharing information freely, because these people really understood that you can give me all the ingredients to a cake, that doesn't mean I'm going to bake it the same way as my neighbor will. Doesn't mean it's going to come out the same.

Jim Marous (15:58):

But that takes a level of maturity among banking executives that sometimes, we tend to not see all the time. I think one of the biggest challenges in this right now, is the success that most of these organizations have had through the years, yeah, they may be challenging years, but nobody's ever not made money.

Jim Marous (16:18):

And so, to move off stuck, to move into new change areas, to move away from what you're really good at and knew you're good at to something you're somewhat unsure of, really takes an organization like yours to give them this impetus to say, "Guys, we really have to go this direction as a group or individually." But that change is a tough thing to deal with.

Jim Marous (16:44):

How do you see the ability to ... I mean, there's so much that's going on in the last three years, four years, five years, even after COVID. So much happening on a geopolitical basis, on economic basis in an industry that ever is changing. How do you see the industry responding with regard to actually embracing the change that's going on there, and keeping up with all the things that are going on? How well are they doing as an industry, do you think?

Debbie Bianucci (17:17):

Well, in the work that we do, while we don't lobby, we provide research and information to some of the regulators and entities in DC. And we work closely with those groups that do a lot of the advocacy work.

Debbie Bianucci (17:36):

And what we do see, Jim, is that it is because of the way that the change is happening as fast as it is, that you're actually seeing a difference in how willing executives are to try and come together and collaborate.

Debbie Bianucci (17:55):

It's a little chicken and egg, because the more they collaborate, the more they see the value. The kinds of work that you've been doing for so long to be provocative and to challenge and pressure test concepts that were long standing beliefs in the industry. As executives had more experience with success in challenging the status quo or the conventional wisdom, they began doing it more.

Debbie Bianucci (18:24):

As you know, we recognized innovation, global innovation across the ... for 15, 16 years. And what we saw over that period of time was not only an increased investment in innovative thinking – it wasn't just about technology, it was about a wide range of things. And that innovation became better because the banks developed skills in how to do it well over that period of time.

Debbie Bianucci (18:58):

So, I'm actually very upbeat about the way that the industry is embracing what we face and has developed some competencies around how to deal with the uncertainty. I mean, for crying out loud, we went through COVID, and as a banking system, performed very remarkably.

Jim Marous (19:19):

Brilliantly. I mean, I go back to the day the government decided, “Okay, we're going to give you information on Thursday on how to provide COVID assistance and all that in the marketplace and to handle COVID checks. And oh, by the way, by Monday you got to be willing to do that.” And they did it.

Jim Marous (19:36):

And I look back and I go, I don't want to hear any excuse from any financial institution again, because you created a brand-new platform in four days that the government gave you and dropped on your desk. So, you knew it was already somewhat flawed, and you did it with the flags flying, and you did it with everybody being remote. You couldn't have had a worse scenario.

Debbie Bianucci (20:00):

The P2P accomplishments, it wasn't perfect, but it was remarkable what the banks were able to put together in such a short amount of time. The way they handled their branches and the employees who needed to be in the branches in order to serve the customers that they had, it's something that I look back at with great pride to be part of an industry that was able to do as much as they did.

Debbie Bianucci (20:29):

And all the bank executives that we work with, I think feel the same way. It was a terrible time for so many people, and yet so much resilience was shown, and we learned a lot and changed a lot as a result of what we tried.

Jim Marous (20:45):

It's interesting because we look back now, and I know a lot of financial institutions and people I talk to say, you know what, the financial crisis or the move off of zero interest rates and all that had a actually a bigger impact on us than COVID did.

Jim Marous (21:03):

COVID was more of a delivery issue. When we got into the financial situations two years later and three years later where we're all concerned about how much can we invest in this, everything was squeezed.

Jim Marous (21:17):

That was actually a bigger challenge because it dealt with the actual foundation of banking as opposed to just the delivery, and it's crazy if you look at that and go, how could we have thought anything would be more challenging than COVID? But we've gotten through a lot.

Jim Marous (21:31):

I mean, you and I went through the industry in 2008 and 2009, my career started an organization that actually was basically an organization that had to merge because of the financial crisis. And so many things happened, then Bank of America assumed the assets and all the liabilities of countrywide. And there's so many things that happened that people take for granted without realizing how everything had to come together, or the house of cards would've fallen.

Jim Marous (22:05):

One thing we see in the industry more than ever is that customer expectations are changing dramatically, not just within the financial services industry, but the financial services industry is being asked to change at the speed of retail, at the speed of Uber, at the speed of Google, and at the speed of AI. How do you help your members deal with the rapidly changing expectations of the consumer?

Debbie Bianucci (22:37):

Well, we try to do it in a variety of ways. And maybe the easiest way to explain it is maybe it's a little left brain, right brain, because we have a lot of data that is unique, there's a lot of information available to executives today.

Debbie Bianucci (22:56):

The comparative analytics that we provide is unique because the banks give us their data, we have hundreds of dimensions. It is a quantitative way to better understand how they are serving their customers by segment, by channel, by product, et cetera. So, that's one side of the equation.

Debbie Bianucci (23:20):

But that alone is not enough we have found, and the need for these executives to come together and facilitate discussions that are meaningful to them in the ways in which they understand what's happening with their customer segments.

Debbie Bianucci (23:41):

And I think it's the combination of the two that is so rich in how it helps bank executives deal with the changing perspectives. There's no question that the pace of change is fast. And there's no question that some banks have done better than others in trying to not only keep up, but to anticipate what customer preferences will be and generational differences.

Debbie Bianucci (24:16):

But what we can do is to provide the data, the hard analytics as well as the insights and perspectives that come with the human interaction. And we believe in the combination of both.

Jim Marous (24:35):

It's interesting as you look at that, all these dynamics, again, your ability to process vast amounts of data on behalf of the industry, but again, in a really trusted way where you can show comparative data from other institutions, you can build insights you would not have been able to deal with if you were just one financial institution doing it. And I think that's a major asset going forward.

Jim Marous (25:05):

One of the other challenges the banking industry has is talent in that there's talent challenges from recruitment to upskilling, to even communication within the talent realm from the standpoint of people being worried about their jobs as organizations change the way they do what they do.

Jim Marous (25:25):

What initiatives does ProSight do or support with regard to workforce development within the financial services industry?

Debbie Bianucci (25:36):

Well, it absolutely is not one size fits all. I mean, there are so many different things that different banks, different functions, different types of organizations need. So, our learning organization at our heart. We are the largest provider of online compliance training and related product and business training for banks.

Debbie Bianucci (26:03):

And that is some large banks, but primarily that mid-tier and smaller segment that they don't have people on staff to build those capabilities or to have the technology to deliver the training.

Debbie Bianucci (26:19):

We have extensive training for the risk executives in the banks. I was with a group of executives just a couple of weeks ago who were talking about the challenges that they were facing as chief risk officers. And one of them is being able to prepare that mid-level segment of their banks to understand the banking business and risk.

Debbie Bianucci (26:45):

And that's something that we do and have done for a long time. We have a chapter network that enables us to deliver that locally, especially for more junior people in the banking organizations who might not travel elsewhere. So, we have a variety of deliverables on that kind of training and education.

Debbie Bianucci (27:10):

We also track talent though. As part of our comparative analytics, we also track talent metrics, which helps (and this is more for larger banks) them compare how they are performing on important talent metrics as they're also dealing with the fast changing requirements and preferences that their employee bases have for how they learn. Those generational differences when it comes to learning are huge.

Debbie Bianucci (27:46):

And so, the benchmarking that we do is one way of helping them compare how they are to peer groups along the way.

Jim Marous (27:56):

It's interesting that comparative capability that you have is truly second to none. I mean, a lot of organizations kind of do different parts of it, but I think overall, the power of the network, the power of the community, the power of the tribe is something that is the key element and the reason why organizations of all sizes can really benefit from ProSight.

Jim Marous (28:22):

So, let's take a short break here and recognize the sponsor of this podcast.

[Music Playing]

Jim Marous (28:30):

Welcome back to Banking Transformed. Today, Debbie Bianucci, the president and CEO of ProSight Financial Association joins me. We've been exploring how the merger of two legacy organizations, BAI and RMA, has created a stronger, much more powerful asset for financial institutions of all sizes.

Jim Marous (28:50):

So, Debbie, can you share a little bit about how ProSight’s research capabilities has expanded post-merger and what unique insights you're now able to provide that maybe you weren't able to provide before you coming together with RMA?

Debbie Bianucci (29:06):

It's one of the things, Jim, that we're the most excited about, because bringing the two organizations together as it supercharges what we can do and expands our resource capabilities. One of the things we will be doing and already has begun, is to offer more research and information tools to the industry. And we're in a better position to do that now that we're combined.

Debbie Bianucci (29:34):

We've always had the comparative analytic capabilities that I've been mentioning. And we've done some research on the industry, both consumer and bank perspectives, where we juxtapose those. That's always interesting to see what the differences are and how it changes year after year.

Debbie Bianucci (29:53):

But we are investing more in additional surveys and the kind of tracking that we think will be complimentary to what else is out there. Some of that is in the risk space, and other aspects of it will move into fraud, and what we are trying to do to help in the various product areas.

Debbie Bianucci (30:23):

For example, we just issued on the subject of AI, which is, at the top of the list for so many – our value, we thought at this point in time, our greatest value was to provide a framework for risk management of AI in banks. And through a collaboration with 15 or 20 of the largest banks in the country, we developed a risk framework specifically for AI that is now being applied to various use cases.

Debbie Bianucci (30:58):

So, our role is not about building the technology tools, it really is helping the banks figure out how to best manage it as part of its evolution in the banking organizations. And it's important, the other value, which we talked about a little bit earlier, is it's not just the risk management perspective, it's also how business interacts.

Debbie Bianucci (31:26):

So, connecting those two makes it possible for the banks to have broader, even smarter perspectives on this fast-changing technology that is of so much interest, and yet so many questions that the banks face.

Jim Marous (31:45):

Boy, that's so true and it's interesting because we're really … I know my organization and everybody I'm speaking to, we're trying to move from a risk adverse mentality to a risk management mentality. And it's maybe a nuance, but the reality is that when you look at AI, you can always make excuses for not doing it because of the fear factor and the risk involved. But we've got to break through that with insight and information.

Jim Marous (32:12):

I think one thing that's interesting about ProSight is your ability to do research on a very broad perspective, that would not necessarily be able to be done by many of your members on their own or wouldn't be as valuable without insight and data from all your members, because you have to get it across the industry. And it's hard to get it without if you don't have trust of what ProSight has.

Jim Marous (32:37):

But that's the way to get beyond that risk situation. I get frustrated at times where I go, I work with two primary financial institutions that are traditional financial institutions. And I say, "I know they know everything about me, my frustration is that neither reach out to me as if they know me. They don't provide me those things."

Jim Marous (32:57):

But that's getting over that hurdle of what can I do without having something fall apart? And that's where associations such as yours make it easier as organizations get together. They share stories. They say, here's how we got beyond that.

Jim Marous (33:11):

I mean, if it wasn't for organizations like yours and innovative financial institutions, we'd still be using signature cards to identify people and that dates both of us when we talk about signature cards.

Jim Marous (33:25):

But we always thought signature cards were required. And then somebody said, "I don't think that's really the case." I think all we have to do is be able to identify the player, the person. And as digital came more vogue, we realized there were different ways to do that.

Jim Marous (33:41):

When you're talking about all this research, how do you decide, how do you determine where you're going to put your resources, where you're going to put your fees towards this research, towards the things you're doing? How do you guide what you do from day to day?

Debbie Bianucci (33:59):

Well, I would tell you across the board for research or any of the new initiatives that we're involved in, some of which are technology tools that we're building, networks that we're creating or research that we're conducting. And the fundamental principle around why I think we've been successful is we're so connected to the industry. I mean, it's as basic as that.

Debbie Bianucci (34:25):

We talk to people all day long. We meet with people, we convene groups. We are sponges when it comes to trying to listen to what their issues are and trying to identify where could provide unique value.

Debbie Bianucci (34:42):

We have no interest in trying to do something that competes squarely with something that's already out there. We're trying to find that gap, and we've been pretty successful at identifying those things. But the only way to get that done is to be really connected with them.

Debbie Bianucci (35:00):

As you watch the kinds of changes that are large or somewhat small, that evolve over time in terms of not only what issues they're facing, but how they're working and what they need in order to be able to set strategic priorities and be successful in meeting those.

Debbie Bianucci (35:24):

I'll tell you one change that I'm really impressed with, and it's been happening for several years, is how the risk function and the business functions are working more closely together. And at the end of the day, you've said this so many times – at the end of the day, if one of those is out of balance, you've got a problem in a bank.

Debbie Bianucci (35:52):

But when they come together and they are setting strategy when they are creating solutions and products for customers they've chosen to target, when it comes together, it is beautiful, and it is powerful. And that's where we see this starting to happen, and we think we can facilitate it more.

Jim Marous (36:14):

It's interesting, I was in the marketing area of financial institutions either being a banker or even when I served the banking industry, I was being the marketing person to help the marketers get to where they wanted to go. And invariably the compliance area, the risk area were the last people brought to the table to review what we already developed. And it's because it's sometimes so painful.

Jim Marous (36:39):

And then there's organizations, and we can name them, but we won't. But organizations that realize if you brought these people to the table at the beginning and had them be part of the development process, that it doesn't mean that the challenge would go away, but there's a stake in it where there's not a reason to simply upend decisions that were made without people.

Jim Marous (37:01):

I mean, people are human, and that's obviously, common sense, but if you don't involve somebody until the end, they're going to find something there's a problem with. That's just human nature.

Jim Marous (37:11):

On the other hand, if you say, “We want you to be here as part of the development,” and they have a stake in the solution, all of a sudden, there's different ways of looking at. Even on the business side, if we redo the lending process in a digital way, but if you bring in the people that had these roles to begin with, they will at least feel like they have a role at the end of the process and are more likely to not upend the process. Not that that was their goal, but again, it's human nature.

Jim Marous (37:39):

And I think a very good point that you bring up, is that more than ever financial institutions are realizing you're not going to beat that. I mean, we did this 20 years ago with legal. Legal now, simply their role is to say, "Here's what risk you're taking. You decide whether or not to take it, but we've shown you what could happen." That's a good partnership there. That's all that's needed. And it's interesting, Debbie, you've been in this industry for a while as I have been. What excites you about the future?

Debbie Bianucci (38:13):

Well, when somebody asks me, why have you been in this industry for so long? Which I get that question more and more as each year goes by.

Jim Marous (38:22):

As they can define the fact that we've been in it for a while. I can't hide it any longer. Yeah, exactly.

Debbie Bianucci (38:30):

But the fact is, this is the best place to be. And I have found from the very beginning, and through all the fast changes that you were talking about earlier, there's always something interesting and new that's happening. The people who are in this industry are smart and committed to doing the right thing to serve their customers in the communities that they're in.

Debbie Bianucci (38:59):

And I'd love the opportunity to just be part of that. And the best part of what we do here is we get up every morning trying to figure out how can we support the industry. That's why we're here. And when you have a clear purpose, it gets you up every morning and I love it.

Debbie Bianucci (39:28):

And some people … when I'm talking about it with my dad, who was a community banker until he retired his whole life, we'll sit there and talk about banking at Thanksgiving, and everybody's eyes are rolling in the back of their head because it's so boring to them. But for us, we're so excited about what this industry does, and I just can't say enough about it.

Jim Marous (39:51):

And what it's going to be able to do. The change that's going on right now, yes, there's challenges. I get frustrated when organizations don't move forward, but I'm excited when I see that. And you see it as well that some of the most dynamic, exciting, innovative, passionate and community mind organizations are sometimes the biggest and very often, the smallest organizations that have the leadership that actually says, we can get this done, and they're excited about it.

Jim Marous (40:26):

It used to be, well, there's no chance for the small community, financial institution, to keep up with the big three, the big five or the big one for now at what I'll define as the big one.

Jim Marous (40:37):

The reality is we have so many amazing solution providers in the industry today that make it possible for ABC bank that serves a very small community of three branches out in the middle of the Midwest to do amazing things for their clients, their customers and their members in such a way that everybody will advocate for them. And it's no longer we have friendly people. It's we have an organization that's responsive to our clients’ needs.

Jim Marous (41:08):

And you're right, it's a little bit corny that we get excited about this stuff, but we're lucky, in that there's a lot of people out there that are not all that excited about their jobs or their organizations. And you've actually moved your organization forward through the merger. You've gone through successful merging, you've gone through. Just to put a capsule on this, how many members and how many customers do you have right now?

Debbie Bianucci (41:37):

Well, there are thousands, and we're very proud to have brought together in the two organizations, over a thousand member organizations, several thousand customer banks who are doing whether it's research or learning with us, all of which are finding value. And we have to continue to work hard at that because their needs are changing, and we have to continue to evolve to stay up with that.

Jim Marous (42:08):

And finally, I can't imagine people wouldn't know who BAI and RMA and now ProSight who you are, but if somebody wants to peel back the layers and understand more about all the massive amount of insight you provide.

Jim Marous (42:26):

I mean, the return on investment, I know already because I've dealt with you before – the return on investment is almost instantaneous, because you're, again, bringing together so many values that are unavailable any place else. But if you have a mission out there, you have to solve for, I would imagine that you and your team can answer to it. So, how does somebody find out more about ProSight?

Debbie Bianucci (42:53):

Well, we're all over social media, but the website that we have now is combined, which includes the legacy organization details is prosightfa.org. And we'd love for any of your listeners to come and visit and find out more about the great work that our team is doing.

[Music Playing]

Jim Marous (43:14):

Debbie, I owe you an apology at the end of this podcast. It says I've been doing these podcasts for five years and hadn't had you on, and shame on me, but I'll say we probably both could take a little shame in the fact that we also haven't talked to each other that much in the last couple of years.

Jim Marous (43:32):

So, got to get to Chicago. I haven't been to Chicago since COVID, which is insane to me because that's one of our my wife's and my favorite place to visit. It's a very comfortable environment, a great place in the summertime, always a little more challenging, more Cleveland like in the wintertime. But I will make sure I reach out to you, and we’ll have a drink together.

Debbie Bianucci (43:54):

Always welcome and thanks for having me.

Jim Marous (43:56):

Thank you for being on the show.

Jim Marous (43:59):

Thanks for listening to Banking Transformed, the winner of three international awards for podcast excellence. If you enjoy our work, please give us a positive review. Also check out my recent articles on The Financial Brand and the fantastic research we're doing for the Digital Bank Report.

Jim Marous (44:15):

This has been a production of Evergreen Podcasts. A special thank you to our senior producer, Leah Haslage, and audio engineer and video producer, Will Pritts.

Jim Marous (44:24):

Finally, if you've not already done so, remember to subscribe to Banking Transformed on your favorite podcast app or on YouTube for more thought-provoking discussions on the intersection of finance, technology, and leadership.