For years, bank-fintech relationships typically adopted a predictable path. Banks recognized promising startups, examined their expertise, and considered acquisition as the last word endgame. At the moment, 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 to be like like.
Some of the fascinating takeaways from our dialog was how dramatically the connection between banks and fintechs has modified. Whereas banks as soon as considered 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 accomplice with fintechs in a a lot deeper manner, and so possession just isn’t 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 section. 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 Specific 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 College of Administration.
U.S. Bancorp, the mum or dad firm of U.S. Financial institution, is among the largest banking establishments in america, serving thousands and thousands of shopper, enterprise, industrial, and institutional purchasers. The financial institution affords a broad vary of economic providers, together with enterprise banking, funds, treasury administration, service provider buying by way of Elavon, lending, and wealth administration options. U.S. Financial institution has more and more expanded its digital capabilities by way of fintech partnerships and embedded monetary providers designed to assist small companies streamline their monetary operations.
Photograph by Vitaly Gariev
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