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Russell Barrett has spent much of his banking career in transformation mode.
During a 22-year career at BNP Paribas, Barrett held several executive roles, including chief information officer and head of change and solutions. Later, at Bank Leumi USA, Barrett led technology and digital transformation efforts as CIO. In 2021, he joined Valley National Bank, where he was chief transformation officer before his promotion to chief operating officer.
Today, he's helping the $63 billion bank— which has launched more than 50 digital transformation initiatives in the past year — cope with and prepare for the onslaught of advancements in artificial intelligence. Barrett said banks that lack a "data culture" and "growth mindset" will be unable to keep pace with the evolution of AI. But he believes Valley is well positioned to capitalize on AI innovations.
One of those innovations: migrating more than 80% of Valley's data center capacity to a cloud-based hub as part of a broader "cloud-first strategy." Barrett said this "painstaking" transfer enabled the bank to view data through what's known in techspeak as a "single pane of glass." With this new setup in place, a data-oriented task that might take another bank five months to complete can be accomplished by Valley in five days, he said.
Barrett said banks often don't prioritize mammoth cloud projects like Valley's.
"Our persistence over the last few years on building a scalable infrastructure sits at the back of every innovative creation or partnership we now benefit from at Valley," he said.
Another tech innovation under Barrett's watch involved setting up a data analytics function that, among other benefits, powers evaluation of branch performance and equips front-line bankers with data to better serve customers.
"We believe that our unambiguous focus on creating a culture that prioritized the value of data, which started more than four years ago, has created a level of differentiation in many ways," Barrett said.
As Valley looks to the future of tech, Barrett and others are leaning on the new Valley Foundry, whose team explores what's next in fintech. Barrett sees the Foundry as a step up from a traditional "innovation lab."
"We view the Foundry as a means of embracing [tech] disruptions as a primary focus of our key talent and not as a side distraction to their business-as-usual role," he said.
Valley's various digital transformation achievements have paid dividends. For instance, they have generated nearly $100 million in cost savings over a four-year span, unlocked about $20 million in recurring revenue from annual fees, and yielded more than 100,000 hours of productivity gains.
More importantly, Barrett said, these efforts align with Valley's dual mission of "giving people and businesses the power to succeed" and helping communities "grow and prosper."
