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A lot of people think of innovation as the province of flashy young startups, unencumbered by legacy systems and old ways of doing business. Don't tell that to Ather Williams III.
The head of global payments and liquidity and wholesale digital for giant
"We're at the forefront of all the change going on in the industry, whether it's crypto, real-time payments or cross-border payments," Williams says. "We can build things at scale in a way that even your largest unicorn fintechs can't do. …It's an exciting time to be in the space."
Williams has been spearheading efforts to embed innovation into strategy by leveraging digital tools, AI and even crypto to capitalize on information flows and make customers' journeys as fast and seamless as possible.
He has responsibility for all payments outside of cards and has been upgrading Wells' outdated payments platform to enable real-time transactions via whatever rail a client chooses. More important is squeezing useful information from mountains of payments data and using it to enhance customer experiences and help clients.
"Payments are commoditized," Williams says. "Our clients are looking for insights from all the rich data flowing through those pipes."
Promoted last September from head of strategy, digital, innovation and enterprise payments, Williams has made enhancing Wells' Vantage business banking platform a priority. Vantage leverages APIs, a mobile app and other means to connect directly with client ERP systems. It's scalable and provides personalized workflows and solutions to client problems.
For example, big billers, such as utilities or streaming services, regularly struggle with collections. Vantage boasts a "client insights portal" that compares a client's transactional data to similar companies and suggests ideas on how to intelligently route payments.
Williams also led the development of Fargo, Wells' virtual assistant. The app, built on Google's conversational AI platform, launched in 2022 for English-speaking customers. Six months later, a Spanish-language version went online and grew rapidly. Today, Fargo is the most-used channel among Spanish-speaking customers.
Along the way, Williams has been refining how innovation is understood and prioritized at Wells. It isn't all about technology — "digital-first but not digital-only," he says — and is best when based on listening, rapid testing and constant iteration to support customers and strategy.
There's also no reason to reinvent the wheel on capabilities if there are partners, such as Google, who already have perfected them. "He's helped the company think about the value of building an ecosystem to foster innovation," says Peter High, president of Metis Strategy, a consulting firm.
Above all, it needs to be anticipatory. One example: a recent trademark application for "WFUSD," a potential bank-backed stablecoin. While Williams, a big fan of digital assets, says that there is little consumer or business interest in crypto payments now, that could change. Clearly, he wants to be ready.
"Under Ather's leadership, we have been challenged to think rigorously about where our customers' payments needs are headed, not where they have been," says Dean Henry, head of global payments and liquidity platforms and one of Williams' direct reports.
Wells emerged in 2025 from a regulatory order that capped its assets at $2 trillion and is primed for growth. Williams' unit, and his efforts, are critical to success. "The way we can best grow is by solving difficult problems for our clients," he says. "If we can help those clients drive growth, improve working capital efficiency and minimize operational risks, the volume will come."
