In the News

Cornerstone Advisors’ 2026 Banking Outlook reports that nearly 60% of credit unions have deployed generative AI since its introduction in early 2023, compared with 49% of banks.

Lengthy identity verification procedures can become a major obstacle to customer onboarding. According to Cornerstone Advisors’ recent report, an average of 3.36 online checking account applications are abandoned for every account successfully opened.

Agentic AI raises the stakes on data. Bad data used to only produce a bad report. Cornerstone Advisors’ Ron Shevlin put it plainly in the firm’s 2026 banking report, writing, “There is no AI strategy without an effective data strategy.”

Even with such a spotty track record, the pace at which new fintech relationships are forming is getting attention. According to Cornerstone Advisors, 57% of banks have already partnered with at least one fintech and 45% planned to move deeper into fintech relationships in 2026.

A Casap and Cornerstone Advisors survey found first-party fraud made up 36% of reported fraud in 2024. A year earlier, it was just 15%. Seed investor Primary puts the cost at over $100 billion a year. Cornerstone’s Ron Shevlin added a striking detail. More than a third of Americans say they’ve committed first-party fraud or know someone who has.

New research finds opportunities to improve members' finances while generating additional revenue.

Amazon's goals for Amazon Pay are partly why you won't likely see Apple Pay on Amazon anytime soon, said Tony DeSanctis, vice president at Cornerstone Advisors. "They're trying to generate revenue off of that by bringing smaller merchants into their ecosystem, and so they're actually doing exactly what Apple's doing. They're not going to embolden their own competitor, Apple Pay, by giving them all of that Amazon volume."

The report, “Monetizing the Mission: The Financial Lift Opportunity,” argues that institutions have focused too heavily on financial education and program participation without demonstrating improvements in consumers’ finances.

"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.