Purposeful AI, Tokenized Mortgages, and What Community Banks Must Do Next

Host Sam Kilmer gathers Reva Rao (Head of Digital Transformation, Blend), David Ladic (SVP, Zafin), Adam Aspes (Partner, FINTOP), and co-host Kelli Schultz for a candid hallway conversation. They trade “day-in-the-life” views (and nonstop event planning), argue for purposeful AI over buzzwords, and unpack regulator-ready AI governance (from “know your agent” to vendor disclosures). The group debates blockchain/tokenization in mortgages, smart-contract enforcement, fraud realities, and whether consumers even care about the rails—so long as pricing and trust improve. It closes with a challenge to community FIs: get entrepreneurial, use your data, personalize beyond product silos, and solve for outcomes—not tech for tech’s sake.

Key Moments

00:11 Guest lineup and setup from the halls of fintech to real operator stories
08:45 Events as strategy why orchestration and education matter as much as product
13:22 Purposeful AI prioritize problems, outcomes, and ROI rather than buzzwords
20:36 Governance and exams “know your agent,” vendor AI disclosures, anonymization, and risk
28:32 Tokenization debate on chain home equity, cost dynamics, smart contract enforcement, and whether consumers care
42:10 What’s broken and what wins data driven personalization and a call for FI entrepreneurship
47:03 Wrap and takeaways solve outcomes first and let tech follow