Thread Bank’s new chief digital officer is focused on practical problem-solving by identifying business challenges and time-consuming processes that could be streamlined by artificial intelligence.
Marty Miracle, hired earlier this month, is Thread Bank’s first chief digital officer and he prefers a more centralized AI approach with a unified platform, rather than individual solutions.
“We don't want 30 different vendors doing 30 different AI things,” Miracle said. “If we can have a plan where we can have AI tailored to solve the business problems, we may be better off.” Thread Bank CEO Chris Black joined Miracle during the interview.
The Nashville, Tennessee-based community bank has roughly $797 million in assets and serves the Eastern part of the state.
The lender’s move to hire a digital chief aligns with its long-term goal to focus on strategic partnerships instead of maintaining “teams and teams of engineers” and building technology in-house, Black chimed in.
The lender partners with software providers, emphasizing implementing external capabilities in compliant and regulatory-appropriate ways and using partnerships to deliver banking products and services through various channels, Black noted.
Though this strategy reduces development complexities, it creates integration challenges that require coordination between internal teams and external partners, and demands strong data strategies and governance to maintain compliance, according to Black.
Miracle’s expertise in integrating different technology systems and components while implementing an effective data strategy and governance is crucial for the bank, Black pointed out.
“He's got a lot of embedded banking experience,” Black said. “These are all things that have been on our roadmap and in vision on the journey that we've been doing. But Marty's got an ability to help us pull them together and integrate more tightly.”
Thread Bank delivers embedded financial services, including deposits, lending, acquiring and payments.
The bank's first dedicated CDO position consolidates functions that were previously handled by separate roles, including the chief technology officer and chief information security officer, Black said. Miracle’s role will focus specifically on digital banking initiatives, embedded banking solutions, innovation leadership and bringing together previously fragmented digital strategies as the lender aims to scale.
Prior to joining Thread Bank, Miracle served as the chief technology officer and chief information security officer at Sutton Bank. He plans to build out necessary teams and bring on board the required skills and expertise to support Thread Bank’s digital transformation.
In May 2024, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. issued a consent order that called out Thread Bank’s banking-as-a-service business and ordered the lender to ensure its third-party risk management program addresses the risk and complexity level of fintech partners in its BaaS program.
Despite regulatory challenges, the lender has continued to operate and execute its business plan without significant disruption, Black said.
Thread Bank has worked closely with the FDIC, positioning itself as “part of the solution, not the problem” with the consent order process. The bank has also created a platform for showcasing innovative ideas to regulators and sought to develop stronger relationships with regulatory bodies, Black noted.
Black called the consent order a “positive experience,” adding that Miracle’s joining the company at this point is fortuitous.
“We were looking for a person who had Marty's experience and skill sets all along and found them at a good time as we're building for scale and for the next long period of time,” Black said.
Miracle stressed that companies can be innovative while still maintaining disciplined implementation processes that satisfy regulatory requirements and minimize risk.
Regulators “are very clear on things they want you to have in place in order to deliver,” Miracle said. “If you're an innovative company, the delivery of those things has to be organized, demonstrate maturity on having the right checks and balances around you, so that you don't go on and try to do something that might put yourself at risk for other things.”
