Jeff Sinnot, CEO of Vantage Bank and American Banker's 2026 Most Innovative Person In Finance, sits down with tech reporter Melinda Lucy to talk about the bank's diversified approach to digital assets and the opportunities the DeFi sector holds for community banks.
Transcription:
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Melinda Lucy (00:12):
Hello, we are live at American Bankers Digital Banking Conference in Orlando, Florida. And I am here with Vantage Bank CEO Jeff Sinnott, who was honored as our most innovative person in finance for 2026. Thank you so much for being here, Jeff. Oh,
Jeff Sinnott (00:27):
Thank you for having me. It's an honor.
Melinda Lucy (00:29):
Of course, and congratulations.
Jeff Sinnott (00:30):
Thank you very much.
Melinda Lucy (00:32):
And there were a lot of different digital asset projects that Vantage Bank was working on over the past year. Can you tell me a little bit more about why Vantage Bank is diversifying its digital asset strategy instead of only focusing on one project, for example?
Jeff Sinnott (00:46):
Yeah, great question. So when we originally brought a few banks together to create Vantage Bank, we started our innovation pipeline from that day. We reorganized the company as more of a product services company. We moved people into different roles like our chief compliance officer, we moved in as our chief experience officer. Our CEO became our chief business architect. And part of that was to move a lot of different avenues at the same time. And so we've diversified because we feel like the industry itself is going to move that direction. And so when you look at what will be the pillars of a community bank three, five, seven years, we think those line of businesses will be very different than they are today. So we're pursuing these on multiple fronts. We think a lot of those actually come together in the end. So for example, AI and agentic payments and the blockchain are a natural fit.
(01:41):
Blockchain is the trust layer. AI is the logic and the content. And you put those two things together and you have an unstoppable solution. And so we have a lot of AI initiatives that are working in conjunction with blockchain and we feel ultimately those will combine. And then you also take the AI initiatives around risk management, enterprise risk management, and you have a holistic solution.
Melinda Lucy (02:02):
Absolutely. One of the classic reputations of community banks is that they're very slow to innovate. So what have you run into as far as helping community banks be open to embracing some of the innovations and some of the projects that Vantage Bank has been working on? And how did Vantage Bank end up breaking out of that slow to innovate community bank mold?
Jeff Sinnott (02:26):
Yeah. So I love that about our industry because I think people don't keep a close eye on what community banks are doing. I came originally from a very large bank and one of the things that I recognize there is yes, there's a tremendous amount of resources, but the ability to work across different departments and to cross-pollinate ideas and to bring those to fruition takes a long time. And so I went from a large bank to having my own software company to ultimately going to community bank. And there I saw the holy grail of what is possible. You can align teams very quickly to a strategic initiative. You can move much faster than your competition. You have the strategy and the alignment from all these different people across the organization. So I love the idea and the thought that our industry is sleepy, that community banks are sleepy.
(03:17):
There is a mind shift change for sure. And that's where we first started was helping our organization change the mindset of a sleepy industry to one that really needs to innovate and innovate very quickly. So for us, it's part of our DNA, it's part of our fabric. And I love that the industry has that reputation. We at Vantage Bank talk to other community banks almost every day of the week. And part of that is to really help community banks understand that we have an opportunity unlike we ever had before. The barriers of technology have changed. So our ability to implement, leverage and differentiate easy technology is much more achievable than it ever has been before. And so when you take a community bank's understanding of their customers and understanding how their customers are trying to be successful, and then you put the agility and the speed of a community bank on top of that, you have an incredible formula.
Melinda Lucy (04:11):
Absolutely. I know one of the use cases that's been talked about for digital assets and banking is cross-border payments. And I know that was also one of the initiatives that Vantage Bank has been working on. Tell me a little bit more about the opportunity that you see for bringing digital assets into the cross-border payment space.
Jeff Sinnott (04:28):
Yeah, so there's a huge opportunity there. And at Vantage, our solution does both tokenized deposits and stablecoin.
(04:35):
When it comes to cros-border payments, that's where we feel like stablecoin has come into play. Our solution will automatically flip between the two. But the cross payment space, it's a huge opportunity. It'll be the rail that everybody uses to move money globally. It's the most efficient, it's the most effective, it's the most secure, and it also gives the ability for those customers to differentiate themselves. So in our proof of concept, we were able to ask a trucking company, "What's the biggest challenge that you face?" And the answer was having good drivers and making sure those good drivers show up every day.
(05:12):
And I said, "Well, let us help you with that. " And he said, "How does a bank help me with that? " And I said, "Well, what would they like? " And I said, "All my best drivers want to get paid as soon as the route's complete. When they drive into the warehouse and they pull up the back of the truck, they want to see that inventory's there and then they want to get paid good route." And so we were able to do that using a cross payment and a stable coin. So now our customer was paid the most effective way, the most efficient way, the most secure way, no FX exchange risk, and the driver was paid at the end of their route. So you bring all those things together and you have a formula that's very much unbeatable.
Melinda Lucy (05:48):
Absolutely. So once the Hazel network goes live later this year, what is next for Vantage Bank, either in digital assets or in whatever is next on the horizon?
Jeff Sinnott (05:58):
Yeah. So there's a lot of what's next for us. But for the Hazel network, we're really building this for banks. And so we're excited about the opportunity to bring banks together, credit unions together and have an even playing field for the entire industry. So for us, continuing to grow that network, develop a marketplace. So our vision is all the banks that are part of this network have the ability to submit their own ad-ons and their own ability to enhance the network itself. And so we think next year, a big part of that's going to be smart contracts. So originally when Hazel rolls out, when you see tokenized deposit solutions roll out, it will be an effective, very efficient realm. But the next phase of that will be smart contracts and Agentic payments. And so we feel like that'll be a huge growth area for the network itself and not only Vantage, but for every bank that participates in it.
(06:49):
So you'll see banks that may have a specialty in a certain industry, maybe commercial real estate, and they'll build a smart contract around that process and around paying subcontractors after inspections. And so they'll be able to submit that to the marketplace, have it be a part of Hazel, and then other banks can subscribe to that smart contract and employ it themselves.
Melinda Lucy (07:10):
Got it. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. And once again, congratulations. Thank
Jeff Sinnott (07:15):
You so much. I appreciate it.
Melinda Lucy (07:17):
You're very welcome. Thank you.