In the News

Cornerstone Advisors’ research found that Gen Z and Millennials don’t simply migrate to fintech brokers and only open investment accounts, they consolidate around them.

Fintel Connect, a leading affiliate marketing partner for financial services, announced today that it has commissioned Cornerstone Advisors to produce a new research report evaluating the effectiveness of key marketing channels used by U.S. banks and credit unions.

On its podcast series, Elizabeth Gujral shared insights from Cornerstone Advisors' new report, "Next-Level Growth: Credit Union Opportunities in a Changing Market."

Where credit unions are deploying AI, the use cases are practical and member-facing. Cornerstone Advisors shows deployment more than doubling in three years to 45% in 2025 — far outpacing banks.

Half of the banks surveyed by Cornerstone Advisors said deposit retention or generation is driving their interest in stablecoins, with competitive threats from fintechs and crypto firms also cited as a strong influence.

According to research from Cornerstone Advisors, more than $3 trillion in deposits has already exited traditional banks, migrating to fintech investment platforms. The shift is underway, and accelerating. The time for financial institutions to adapt was yesterday

"Seniors are the group most victimized from a scam perspective, they are the most easily socially engineered," John Meyer, a managing director at Cornerstone Advisors. He noted improvements in voice recognition and AI are making fake emails and texts more plausible. "The new attacks use language that's more recognizable and also have a sense of urgency. If a 'grandson' is asking grandma for money, the message now seems more likely to be legitimate."

Bad actors may also target third-party vendors and data centers, says John Meyer, a managing director at Cornerstone Advisors. A successful attack against a technology provider could affect hundreds of banks all at once.

The main themes in this year’s report were AI, crypto, tech spending, fraud, and payment channels.

"It's a really good foray into driving Zelle acceptance," Tony DeSanctis, senior advisor at Cornerstone Advisors, told American Banker. "Depending on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go here … it's a gentle dip of the pinky toe into the water of merchant acceptance."