For years, bank-fintech relationships usually adopted a predictable path. Banks recognized promising startups, examined their expertise, and seen acquisition as the final word endgame. As we speak, that dynamic is altering.
At FinovateSpring 2026, I sat down with Deepa Chatterjee, SVP of Enterprise Improvement and Go-to-Marketplace for Small Enterprise Banking at U.S. Financial institution, to debate how bank-fintech partnerships are evolving, the place banks are competing with digital-first challengers, and what the way forward for small enterprise banking appears like.
One of the crucial fascinating takeaways from our dialog was how dramatically the connection between banks and fintechs has modified. Whereas banks as soon as seen fintech partnerships as potential acquisition alternatives, many are actually embracing deeper, longer-term collaborations. “The way in which that we labored with fintechs was primarily pondering of probably buying them,” stated Deepa. “Now that tha markets have modified we’re way more prone to work and companion with fintechs in a a lot deeper means, and so possession shouldn’t be essentially on the desk.”
Deepa Chatterjee is SVP of Enterprise Improvement and Go-to-Marketplace for Small Enterprise Banking at U.S. Financial institution. She leads enterprise growth, partnerships, gross sales enablement, product advertising and marketing, information insights, and automation initiatives for the financial institution’s small enterprise phase. Earlier than becoming a member of U.S. Financial institution, Chatterjee held management roles at Dayforce and Oportun and spent greater than a decade at American Categorical in technique, advertising and marketing, and enterprise growth positions. She holds a bachelor’s diploma in economics from Barnard School at Columbia College and an MBA from the Yale Faculty of Administration.
U.S. Bancorp, the mother or father firm of U.S. Financial institution, is likely one of the largest banking establishments in america, serving thousands and thousands of shopper, enterprise, business, and institutional purchasers. The financial institution presents a broad vary of monetary providers, together with enterprise banking, funds, treasury administration, service provider buying via Elavon, lending, and wealth administration options. U.S. Financial institution has more and more expanded its digital capabilities via fintech partnerships and embedded monetary providers designed to assist small companies streamline their monetary operations.
Picture by Vitaly Gariev
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