Retail banking with physical bank branches are in decline as more and more people do their banking on mobile apps or through computers, particularly younger customers.
One of the nation’s leading banks, Capital One Services LLC, has been navigating this digital transformation by recreating their customer experience through cloud technologies. And this has transformed the way they see themselves as a company.
“We are a technology company, and we happen to also have a bank,” said Lo Li (pictured), managing vice president for retail bank at Capital One. “The cloud has enabled us to create these infrastructures that are highly secure, that are scalable and that allow us to really focus on innovation. We create really great products, we create very custom experiences for you that are relevant to you and your family, and we create these digital products that are supposed to meet you where you are.”
Li spoke with theCUBE industry analysts Lisa Martin and Paul Gillin at AWS re:Invent, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the changing landscape of banking and how Capital One is engaging with a new generation of technologically savvy consumers. (* Disclosure below.)
A decades-long commitment to embracing cloud technologies
Capital One has been on a decades-long commitment to bringing the entire organization along on the cloud transformation journey, according to Li. This journey includes shifting its entire culture, processes and people to think in terms of a cloud-centered, technological company.
“AI and machine learning … is the heart of Capital One,” Li said. “When we started in the early 90s, we were the only bank that was really trying to challenge how we use data to provide better products for our consumers, and that is ingrained in our DNA and everything that we do.”
Because banking is one of the most regulated industries on the planet, security is immensely important. Cloud technology enables Capital One to always be evaluating regulations and security through scanning vulnerabilities and bringing in important data protection. They also do this by building security into the design of their products and platforms from the beginning.
“We are able to detect and monitor and go after the bad actors faster,” Li stated. “We’re doing it in a way that allows us configurability, it gives us time, it gives us speed — but at the same time we also work as a network. So a lot of our banks … in some ways, share a lot of this information to make sure that we’re all going after a common enemy.”
Capital One also recently launched a software company, Capital One Software, which is a relatively unusual move by a financial services organization. It has launched a new product called Slingshot that helps businesses accelerate their adoption of Snowflake’s platform, manage cloud costs and automate critical governance processes.
“Capital One Software is a very exciting new line of business,” Li said. “I think the team that is there is doing some really incredible, innovative work. As a bank, we’re all in the cloud. It will give us the ability to start sharing some of these best practices, and I think the best is yet to come. I think we got some really good stuff in the pipeline.”
Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent:
(* Disclosure: Capital One Services LLC sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Capital One nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)