In|Vest 2018 Direct

"Smart" contracts enable the Chicago-based trust bank to carry out deals without intermediaries, while archiving details on transactions that can be useful later. Experts say other banks could follow despite the complexities of cutting-edge technology and the risk of being hacked.

The company is rolling out a special-purpose credit program to help address what it describes as "the biggest barriers to achieving homeownership." Such programs are gaining popularity among banks.

Critics slam their proposed reach as unfair competition.

After eight years leading one of the nation's most prominent Black banks, Michael Pugh will become chief executive of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation.

Citizens Bank of Edmond in Oklahoma, in conjunction with the digital-banking platform Narmi, recently launched an account-opening process that occurs completely online. The project, completed in less than three months, could be a model for community banks that want to innovate but fear being a low priority for vendors.

The court ruled that the Federal Reserve did not have to provide information about other banks that had applied for master accounts.

Jonathan Boylan is a 30-year veteran of insurance and financial technology. He is the Chief Technology Officer of FINEOS, a leading provider of Life, Accident and Health insurance solutions to over 60 insurers in North America, EMEA and APAC. In the last 20 years, Jonathan has played a leading role company's growth from a startup to becoming a publicly traded company with over €120m in annual revenue. While leading technology throughout the period, Jonathan took on additional responsibilities to support growth including establishing product management and leading marketing. As such, Jonathan has spent much of his time supporting the acquisition of new customers in new and existing markets, both directly in the sales process and in broader thought leadership. More recently, he worked to select acquisition targets which led to the successful acquisition of Limelight Health and Spraoi by FINEOS. In his spare time Jonathan has volunteered his time to support the Irish Software Association, Tech Ireland, Alexandra College and SciFest.

Tim Urbanowicz, CFA, is the head of research and investment strategy for Innovator Capital Management.

Prior to joining Innovator, he was a senior investment strategist for Northern Trust, serving as a subject matter expert on global markets and portfolio construction. Prior to joining Northern Trust, he served as the director of fixed income ETFs and head capital markets strategist for Invesco.

J.D. Crouch is the CEO and president of the United Service Organizations, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening America's military service members by keeping them connected to family, home and country throughout their service to the nation.

Maria Tsennykh, Ph.D., is a principal at CLA in New York. She has more than 17 years of experience in valuation, forensics, litigation, investigations and audit, including serving as an expert witness and 11 years at a Big Four firm. In addition, having worked on two continents, she combines her economic, accounting, corporate finance, valuation and investigation backgrounds to advise clients on a variety of complex circumstances in the U.S. and internationally. Her experience includes damages analysis, assessment of corporate governance practices and internal controls, business and intangible assets valuation, and international arbitration advisory. She also regularly directs large-scale financial investigative assignments including forensic accounting investigations, financial fraud investigations, financial reporting investigations, white-collar crime investigations, corporate governance investigations and investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).