Demystify Podcast: Demystifying agentification and personalisation in banking with Bud CEO Ed Maslaveckas
This week, we have another Demystify Podcast double episode special, with hosts Dave and Dharm interviewing Ed Maslaveckas, CEO and co-founder of fintech Bud.
Bud has a long track record of personalisation in banking, and in the first podcast episode, Ed cuts through the hype to discuss Bud’s approach and the lessons the company has learnt.
In the second podcast episode, Ed demystifies the world of agentic banking and AI agents. Once again, Bud is leading efforts to deliver a customer AI agent, and they are seeing tangible results.
Listen to both episodes below to learn more about this new frontier of fintech!
Demystifying personalisation in banking
In this episode, Ed discusses his background, Bud’s inception in 2015, and the lessons learned while trying to build a financial product distribution platform akin to a ‘money supermarket for millennials.’
He explains their challenges before the arrival of open banking regulations, particularly with technology and data aggregation.
Fast forward to today, Bud enhances fintechs and banks by enriching customer transactional data through advanced data science and machine learning models, ensuring higher accuracy in understanding customer behaviours.
Ed also touches on Bud’s expansion into the US and the complexities of entering the market, emphasising their focus on providing services to mid-market banks and fintechs over big banks.
Additionally, Ed elaborates on the company’s venture into AI-driven financial management tools and agentic models designed to oversee and automate customers’ personal finances. By summarising their journey, key innovations, and future plans, Ed offers insights into how Bud remains a leader in fintech data solutions.
Demystifying agentification and AI agents in banking
In this episode, Ed demystifies the intriguing topic of ‘agentification.’
Dave and Dharm delve into Bud’s development and use of agentic models in the financial services sector, emphasising how these models differ from traditional AI agents.
Ed explains that while standard agents can perform specific tasks within their own ecosystem, agentic models can interact with multiple external systems to fulfil broader objectives, such as autonomously optimising a user’s finances.
He provides insights into how Bud is leveraging AI to perform complex financial tasks and the potential impact on banking operations and customer experiences. The conversation touches on regulatory challenges, the evolution of personalised financial services, and the future role of traditional banks versus neobanks in an agentic world.
The discussion also explores the implications of agentification for the financial industry, including competitive dynamics, data access, and the long-term vision of optimisation and abundance.
Thanks to Orama for editing this podcast. You can find out more about Orama and the services they offer here.
Take a look at the full catalogue of episodes on the Dave & Dharm Demystify Podcast homepage.
