In the News

"The primary use case for stablecoins over the short and intermediate term will be for cross border and remittance payments," said Tony DeSanctis, vice president at Cornerstone Advisors. "Most other payment types have viable low-cost solutions that fill the need and address the use case, such as real-time payments, same day ACH and cards."

Cornerstone Advisors and Bloom Credit introduce 'financial lift,' a strategy to link consumer financial improvement to a $1.6 billion revenue opportunity for banks and credit unions.

The real contest isn’t just one agent against another over a single customer’s savings rate. It’s a battle for which side can scale to millions of negotiations the fastest.

Ron Shevlin, chief research officer at Cornerstone Advisors, pulled no punches in his Substack posting on what he believes Truist's board hopes to accomplish with the executive succession. "Lyons is coming into a $549 billion bank that has spent six years failing to deliver on the promises that justified the SunTrust/BB&T merger," Shevlin said.

Research from Cornerstone Advisors shows a dramatic increase in chatbot deployment at credit unions, from just 3% in 2019 to 46% in 2026.

In a 2026 survey of small and midsized financial institutions by Cornerstone Advisors, 59% of credit unions and 49% of banks said they’d already deployed generative AI into production, up from single digits in 2024. Agentic applications are farther behind, but also picking up momentum.

"[BNPL/installments] is a better mousetrap than traditional credit cards," said Tony DeSanctis, a vice president at Cornerstone Advisors. "The young generation especially seems to be using BNPL as their primary borrowing tool and leveraging credit cards for rewards."

Given how saturated the podcasting market is, as well as the many demands on potential listeners’ time, podcasts that offer only “run of the mill” insight likely will struggle. Those that offer thought-provoking insight are most likely to gain momentum, says Amanda Swanson from Cornerstone Advisors.

Cornerstone Advisors has described today’s checking account as a “paycheck motel” — money checks in and quickly checks out, often heading toward fintechs, investment platforms and high-yield savings accounts.

In a recent Cornerstone Advisors poll of 1,249 SMB owners, only 46% said that their bank has proactively offered new products and services as their needs evolved. Elizabeth Gujral, director at Cornerstone, said fostering these relationships builds a moat around customers. "Don't give them a reason to leave. Give them reasons to consolidate with you."