Silicon Valley Innovation Center
We help global corporations grow by empowering them with new technologies, top experts and best startups
Get In Touch
Our Location

The Future of Commercial and
Retail Banking

An immersive 5-day program for banking executives

Available Online and In Person

startup innovation map in retail and commercial banking

What Is The Program About?

Our basic financial needs have changed little in recent times yet the way we fulfill those needs is undergoing rapid transformation. This trend is exploding today thanks to the fintech startups seeking to disrupt traditional banking. These early-stage companies play to their strengths: they target underserved markets, move quickly and use business models and technologies that favour their narrow focus on a small range of products. For established banks the rise of these fintech startups presents a trilemma: ignore, acquire or collaborate?


Our program The Future of Retail and Commercial Banking will help you answer that question. It takes you inside the world of Silicon Valley fintech and shows you the ecosystem from all angles. The program will educate you in the major trends of the day, connect you with the companies pioneering groundbreaking solutions and inspire you to make your financial institution a leading innovator. 


As with all of our programs, The Future of Retail and Commercial Banking is available both online and in person.

What Will I Learn?

Our immersion program will educate you in all of these trends and show you how to capitalize on them to make an established financial institution an innovator and worthy partner to the fintech ecosystem.

Retail Banking

A huge range of fintech startups are challenging incumbent consumer banks, with each new firm focused on a small range of products. These early-stage companies are highly customer-centric, put technology and software at the heart of everything they do and target underserved consumers. They have raised billions of dollars in venture capital and have tens of millions of users, yet they face the need to monetize customers and generate profits. Where startups like Affirm, Lending Club and LendUp experiment with new ways to give consumers credit, Bill.com, PayNearMe and Square are redefining payments. Chime, Denizen and Step, meanwhile, are pioneering mobile-first daily banking.

Commercial Banking

Startups in this B2B sector are offering niche products designed to capitalize on gaps left by incumbent banks. Where Azlo focuses exclusively on financial services for entrepreneurs, Oxygen offers banking and credit to freelancers and gig economy workers. Platform Bill.com help businesses automate back-office operations while Square and Stripe are billion-dollar unicorns in the payments vertical. Other fintech challengers in this space build mobile applications to perform various business functions including checking accounts, travel and expense management, corporate debit cards, and corporate prepaid cards.

Program Agenda

This schedule is tentative and features past speakers and participating companies.
Subject to change without prior notice

Day 1

Disrupting Banks One Product at a Time

Who are the fintech challengers and what are their goals? Why are they growing so fast and what are the forces driving their expansion? These are the questions we answer on day 1 of our immersion program on The Future of Retail and Commercial Banking. We explain how startups have capitalized on demographic trends, new technologies and favorable regulatory environments to mount significant challenges to established banks. Visits to startups such as BrexAura and Synapse illustrate how these dynamics work in practice. We analyze the disruptive business models these companies deploy and see how they are able to cut overheads by as much as 50% compared to traditional banks and in the process attract new cohorts of previously underserved customers. Other potential participating companies: ChimeOxygenPointVaro MoneyDouughSweep

Day 2

Disrupting Banks One Product at a Time

The journey continues on day two with an exploration of the contours of the disruption to banking as they exist today. How many areas are seeing radical change? What is the nature of this change and how fast is it moving? We answer these questions through visits to a variety of startups, with each one seeking to disrupt the big banks with laser-like focus on a small range of products. Meetings include companies such as LendUp, to learn about the business model that allows the company to extend loans to non-banked and under-banked consumers; PayNearMeto see how remote cash transactions cut banks out of the payment process; and Zeroa mobile-only bank providing an alternative to traditional financial institutions. Other potential participating companies: EarnestAuraBeamLittlefindTellerHellobit

Day 3

The “Tech” in Fintech ​

Day three of the immersion program is dedicated to the technologies fueling the disruption of banking. We hear from experts in artificial intelligence and machine learningrobotics and blockchain to learn what these technologies can currently do and what they will offer in the future. We visit companies such as AffirmLending Club and Brex where they show us how they use emerging technologies to create competitive advantages and provide innovative, market-disrupting products and services.   Other potential participating companies: CreditstacksDeep LabsElafrisTerafinaLoanScanStudentbank

Day 4

“Fintegration” ​

Having seen and heard how digital is disrupting banking on days 1 to 3 of the program, on day 4 we ask: what can banks do to counter the rise of the fintech challengers? The options range from ignore to acquire, but for the institutions committed to innovation the only viable actions are partnership and collaboration. This, in other words, is “fintegration”, and it seeks to marry the assets of incumbent banks with the agility of fintechs. This is the philosophy that underpins the agenda on day 4. Through participatory workshops with leading Silicon Valley experts on design thinking, design sprints, venture capital and open innovation, we provide executives with the blueprints and frameworks they need in order to deliver innovation within their own organization. We evaluate the performance of incumbents such as JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs in their experimentation in the fintech space and visit companies such as Bill.com  – recipients of backing from American Express – to see how they approach collaboration with established banks. Another possible visit is to Western Unionwhere an interactive session offers the opposite viewpoint: an up-to-the-minute case study on how an established financial institution can turn into an important player inside the fintech ecosystem. Other potential participating companies: NeemaSweepCharles SchwaabOmdiyarHighland Capital PartnersSpark Capital

Day 5

What’s Next for Banking? ​

The final day of our program focuses on the future of challenger fintech firms and their incumbent counterparts. With the startups set to continue taking market share away from established institutions one product at a time, how will the industry as a whole evolve and how should the big banks react? These are the questions we tackle on day 5. We show how, as fintech firms grow, they will need partners to help them navigate regulation, risk management and data security. We also explore market trends still only in their infancy and meet the companies seeking to capitalize on those trends. Possible company visits include Expensify, to see the cutting edge of fintech’s push into enterprise expense management; Seedthe world’s first mobile banking service designed exclusively for entrepreneurs and small businesses; and Good Moneyto see what fintech looks like when it is coupled with environmental sustainability built in to the business model. We discuss which banking products are next in line for the application of emerging technology to reimagine the user experience and undercut traditional business models.Other potential participating companies: Alpharank, JikoArrowPass37coinsZenbanxFINOS

Download Full Sample Agenda

Why Should I Join?

Inspiration

Meet the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs passionate about using technology and software to streamline banking, eliminate customer pain points and digitalize the flow of money. Learn the frameworks and methodologies of the experts so you can embrace innovation with confidence.

Company Meetings

Get Privileged Access To Silicon Valley

Connections

Turn motivation and knowledge into concrete action through business development opportunities that will make an established bank a world-class innovator.   

Partnerships

Open Pathways To New Business Opportunities

Education

Gain insight into the digital disruption of banking when you see how startups are challenging incumbents on a product-by-product basis through superior customer experiences and unique business models.

Technology Insights

Master Emerging Technology Trends

What Companies Will I Meet?

Financial technology services company that offers installment loans to consumers at the point of sale.

Online financial community that brings together creditworthy borrowers and savvy investors.

Socially responsible lender for the 56% of Americans shut out of mainstream banking due to low credit or volatile income.

Leading digital business payments company creating magically simple AP and AR solutions.

Helps members avoid bank fees, save money automatically, and lead healthier financial lives. San Francisco, California, United States.

Global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet.

Personal finance company that's focused on helping everyone make financial progress.

Motif allows individuals and investment advisors to invest in stock and bond portfolios built around everyday ideas and economic trends.

WePay is the payments partner to the platform economy.

Provider of financial applications that offers solutions for banks, entrepreneurs and individuals.

Personal Capital is the leading digital wealth management firm.

NerdWallet’s helpful tools, expert info and tailored insights make it easy to know you're getting more from your money.

Stock brokerage that allows customers to buy and sell U.S. listed stocks and ETFs with zero commission.

Investment platform that harnesses the power of data to provide capital and resources to emerging consumer brands.

More than just a banking platform, it’s a community of Founders.

Provider of a web and mobile based cash payments platform designed to facilitate online purchases and bill payments.

Mobile banking app with no account fees, high-yield savings, early direct deposit. Available iOS and Android.

World's first borderless global banking solution for Expats. No exchange rate fees or transfer fees.

The next generation financial services company building the best banking experience to help teens and young adults achieve financial independence and knowledge at an earlier age.

Online lending platform that connects people who want to borrow money with individuals and institutions.

CreditStacks is a revolutionary credit card company offering U.S. based premium credit cards to prime, new-to-credit customers.

Hellobit is a platform that makes it easier and cheaper to send cash through a network of trusted exchangers worldwide.

Modern finance company taking an unprecedented approach to lending and wealth management.

Providing Omni Channel Sales Solutions through a Cloud Platform with built in Analytics & Mobile Capabilities

Hyperwallet provides growing organizations with a frictionless, transparent, and reliable way to send payments almost anywhere in the world.

The only automated financial advisor offering financial planning, investment management and banking-related services all on a mobile app.

A 'smart'​ bank account, helping people live financially healthier.

Digital currency wallet service that allows traders to buy and sell bitcoin.

Provides consumers with personalized, unbiased advice so they can make smart money moves.

Aura provides affordable, credit-building loans to America’s working families.

Leverages deep data analytics to accelerate cash flow and clear invoices for small businesses.

Point provides shared home equity financing, shared equity, HELOC alternative to existing homeowners and new homebuyers.

Sweep is building the first end-to-end travel & expenses management system for European SME's.

Earnest is a technology-lender that brings low-interest loans to high-potential people.

Teller helps financial institutions around the world provide better customer service and education.

Transforming payments and marketing for the 21st Century.

Smart gifting and savings app for parents to build their child's financial journey with ease.

Elafris has developed an AI-driven virtual insurance agent platform that enables insurers to engage consumers via messenger applications

Analytics platform for loans and financial instruments issued via Decentralized Finance protocols (Open Protocols) on public blockchains.

Merchant services aggregator and mobile payment company that aims to simplify commerce through technology.

What Did Attendees Have To Say About The Program?

Thank you so much for an excellent program and successful immersion experience with SVIC. We were pleasantly surprised with what we were able to achieve and what we are going to achieve. The program was very well structured, and the choice of organizations from Silicon Valley was very well thought through. Thank you.
Nelson Gasparian
Commercial Director at Bexs Banco de Câmbio, Brazil
For 2 days visit to Silicon Valley, I’ve been exposed to different and new experiences through visiting big companies. I can emphasize the different scope of how different technologies will change the future of banking system and economy. The second point is the role that technology will play to integrate the unpaired segment into the banking system and the whole ecosystem. The last point is the importance of startups and its vital for the future of any bank. Thank you.
Bassem Mahmoud Nour El Din Mohamed
Commercial Marketing Director, QNB, Egypt
We saw Fintech today and payments. We saw payment world is transforming very very rapidly, all of the visits were very interesting experiences, some of them are immediate applications for Santander globally and particularly in Mexico. Thank you very much, we are looking forward to the next steps and follow on these conversations. Thank you
Javier Castrillo
Executive Director of Digital Transformation, Banco Santander, Mexico

Our Recent Programs

Join The Next Program​

Price starts at: USD $8900

Enquire us for the Upcoming Program Dates

What Is Included?

Contact Us Today

Start Planning Your Commercial Banking Program

Let us help you