108 Banking Influencers to Follow

People regularly ask for names of people to follow to understand the future of banking, impact of fintech, potential of digital technology and the importance of data and improving the customer experience in financial services. These are some of the best in the business.

By Jim Marous, Co-Publisher of The Financial Brand and Owner/Publisher of the Digital Banking Report

Every year, I reach out to the people I know to assist in the development of Retail Banking Trends and Predictions for the Digital Banking Report. The goal is to collect insights from roughly 100 or so leaders in the world of banking, digital technology, marketing, customer experience, innovation and fintech to provide a strong foundation for our research into where the financial services industry is heading.

These are the people I personally follow on Twitter and LinkedIn, hope to run into at conferences and/or talk to directly on a regular basis. They are usually ahead of the curve and are willing to share insights not always found through traditional sources – because these people usually march to the beat of a different drummer.

As I looked over the list of global influencers that provided insights for this year’s 2017 Retail Banking Trends and Predictions report, I realized that these would be people I would recommend for others to follow if they are interested in the future of banking. Rather than provide a ranking (others do this far better than myself), I simply am providing the list of the members of our 2017 crowdsource panel in alphabetical order.

In coming up with the panel, I had three criteria:

• I must have communicated with them over the past year in person or through social media about the future of banking. I follow a lot of people, but these are people who allow me to call on them to share ideas and have made me smarter as I write for both The Financial Brand and the Digital Banking Report.
• They don’t have to be bankers, but have unique perspectives from both inside and outside the walls of traditional banking. The list includes traditional bankers, leaders of fintech start-ups, advisors, futurists, consultants and authors from across the globe.
• They accepted my offer to provide their personal perspectives on the future of the financial services industry. There are a lot of people who I have great respect for who were not on the crowdsource panel this year, either because they were busy or we couldn’t connect. This list is not an all inclusive “best of” list, but represents key people in the industry who were willing to share their thoughts with others. That says a lot right there.

In 2015, we developed the Finserv25: The Most Influential Voice in Banking. The industry has changed a great deal since then, but it is not surprising that the majority of those on our list in 2015 are also part of our crowdsource panel.

If you are looking to better understand the intersection of financial services, technology, customer insight, innovation and customer experience, these are really good people to follow on social media and to connect with. And, be sure to follow me as well on Twitter and LinkedIn.

A PDF of the entire crowdsource panel of 108 Financial Services Influencers to Follow (with Twitter, LinkedIn and organizational hyperlinks) is available here.

Thanks to all those who were generous enough to contribute their insights for this year’s 93-page report.

Digital Banking Report Ordering Information

The 93-page 2017 Digital Banking Trends & Predictions, sponsored by Kony, Inc. is available as a single issue or as part of a subscription to the Digital Banking Report.

Annual subscriptions to the Digital Banking Report are available for individuals, teams and entire enterprises. Annual subscribers not only save hundreds of dollars compared to buying reports individually, but also have online access to more than 150 reports in our digital archives.