White Clay

Day 2 at #CBALive2025 has delivered our next bourbon raffle winner: congratulations, Tammy CRENSHAW! Today’s sessions also delivered, and “Balancing Act: Delivering Exceptional Banking Services Amid Modern Challenges” resonated with us the most. In this session, Carlos Acosta and Alicia Hollinger from PNC, and Tim Curren and Cathleen Johns from Regions Bank focused on what financial institutions can do differently to navigate today’s evolving distractions and hurdles. They emphasized the need for deep customer relationships built upon exceptional service, with the keys to this being communication, trust, and the ability to empower teams with knowledge. We’ve seen these fundamentals working first-hand with our clients, and we know that bankers equipped with the right information, tools, and training are the ones who succeed. Thank you to everyone who signed up for our bourbon raffle, and contact us to see how we can help your bank grow deeper and more profitable relationships in 2025 and into the future!

Day 1 at #CBALive2025 did not disappoint. Here were some of our favorite moments: Joseph Mayans, Chief Economist at Experian looked at 2025’s economic and credit outlook with cautious optimism. Credit growth shows signs of stabilizing, but inflation remains stubborn and slower to fall with the new array of tariffs. In the session “Unleashing Growth Potential in 2025” Peter Serene and Olivia Lui from Curinos explained the current generational shift in how customers utilize banks. They emphasized that primacy is as important as ever and how younger customers interact with banks through payments via Apple Pay, Venmo, etc., therefore, deepening relationships will help establish primacy with the younger generation. White Clay’s Founder and CEO, Mac Thompson, joined Evan Dickinson of S&T Bank, Patrick Cristino of Citizens, and Adam Stockton of Curinos in the sessions “Making Relationship Data Actionable to Grow Revenue for Small Business Sales Managers.” They looked at multiple methods for banks to chart a course through the flood of extraneous data to identify the most valuable & actionable insights for bankers. And finally “The Future of the Consumer: How to Win” was the can’t-miss all-star panel of Brendan Coughlin, Vice Chair and Head of Consumer Banking at Citizen, Holly O'Neill, President of Retail Banking at Bank of America, Zach Perret, Co-Founder & CEO at Plaid, and moderator Lindsey Johnson, President and CEO of CBA. This session provided a high-level view of future consumer evolution and how the best financial services providers should be transforming to meet consumer needs. We were all-in on this session since customer relationship-centered transformation is what White Clay is all about.

#AI is transforming financial services, but what’s real, and what’s just buzz? The latest #Bankadelic episode hosted by Lou Carlozo, featuring White Clay's CEO Mac Thompson and four other industry experts from Parascript, Vertice AI, WaveCX and Tavant, dives deep into the AI revolution in banking, breaking down its true potential, challenges, and where it’s heading next. Tune in to Part One of the Bankadelic AI Special here: https://lnkd.in/geU3DsJn #ArtificialIntelligence #DigitalTransformation #Fintech

It will be hard to miss Mac Thompson at #CBALive2025 as he presents on the big stage discussing the what, how, and why of leveraging data to gain actionable insights on small business consumers. Bank leaders will learn how their bank can parse the flood of extraneous data to identify the most valuable actionable insights for bankers. It will be an all-star panel presentation with fellow experts Evan Dickinson, MBA, Senior Vice President of Business Banking Market Executive at S&T Bank, Patrick L Cristino,?Head of Small Business at Citizens, and Adam Stockton, Managing Director of Retail Deposits & Lending at Curinos. Please drop by White Clay's booth to continue the conversation about actionable insights for growing deeper and more profitable relationships (and to enter our bourbon raffle!).

Another successful AOBA conference for the team! Read Mac Thompson's latest insights and takeaways.

Congrats to Rebecca Dinovo, our #AOBA25 bourbon raffle winner! It was great to meet you and all the other bankers and fintech leaders moving the industry forward. We'll see you all again at AOBA '26!

Thank you, Bank Director, for the fantastic opportunity on the main stage of #AOBA2025, where our Founder and CEO, Mac Thompson, shared his expertise, vision, and passion with attendees. Mac will be doing a recap post after the event for those who couldn't make it, so stay tuned!

Finish strong at #AOBA2025 Day 3 by learning how to prepare for the next credit cycle! Our Founder and CEO, Mac Thompson, will join Teslar Software CEO and founder Joe Ehrhardt and RSM US LLP Partner John Behringer to discuss how to get ahead of the oncoming rise of credit losses, how to build a playbook to prepare your bank, and an how to leverage your data and relationships to make informed decisions.

#AOBA2025 Day 1 Wrap-up: As the AI hype calms down, bank leaders look inward at their bankers and clients to strengthen teams, reward high performers, and deepen existing client relationships. According to the speakers at AOBA, these goals will be accomplished through creative leadership, a renewed focus on relationships, and strategic digitization. Here were a few of our favorite sessions: In the “Growth From Your Balance Sheet” Panel, David Boyle, CEO of Burke and Herbert Bank, Gerard (Jerry) Champi, CEO of Peoples Security Bank & Trust Company, and Jon Harrell, Chairman & CEO of Generations Bank discussed growth from your balance sheet AND growing your earnings per share, highlighting a strategic focus on and discipline around relationships, which aligns directly with what we preach at White Clay. In “Navigating Fraud, Profitability, and Demand,” Laura Hay and Darren Moskovitz, Partners at Meridian Compensation Partners, LLC, and Susan ODonnell Director of ConnectOne Bank went in-depth on how data and digital technology need to enable bankers to drive growth in small business relationships. According to their surveys, a very small percentage of small businesses think their bank is meeting their needs currently, and 41% of small businesses surveyed were willing to switch primary banks within the next 12 months. We agree with the urgency of addressing these needs, and we are currently helping our bank clients tackle similar challenges to deepen their primary relationships. In “Using Wealth Management to Harness Data and Drive ROI to the Bank” David Benskin, Founder & CEO of Wealth Access Inc., discussed how wealth management is more than just a business line it’s a driver of growth. He described unified data as the backbone for client success and operational efficiency and emphasized that staying competitive requires strategic alignment and the adoption of modern technology. We maintain the same deference for clean and unified data with a similar goal of growing deeper and more profitable relationships. Thank you to those who attended our own Scott Earwood's session, "5 Questions to Determine a Profitable Client Relationship," and we will continue the momentum into Days 2 and 3, with our CEO and Founder Mac Thompson on a Day 3 panel “Preparing for the Next Credit Cycle.” And remember to stop at our booth to enter our bourbon raffle!

AOBA 2025 Attendees: Don't miss Scott Earwood and Jerry Vascocu's Lunch and Learn presentation to learn how to ensure profitability within your customer relationships, including real examples of obstacles that our bank clients have faced, as well as strategies and outcomes for overcoming these obstacles. And stop by our booth to continue the conversation and enter our bourbon raffle!