12 Module Online Course

Fintech Integration
Leadership Series

March 2026 - May 2026

In collaboration with

DURATION

12 Weeks

4 hours every other week

PRICE

$1,500

One purchase. Full institution access. 

PURCHASE

Register

One purchase. Full institution access. 

Program Flyer

Review the program details, outcomes, curriculum, and pricing—all in one place.

The Framework for Safe, Profitable Fintech integration— Built for Financial Institution Leaders

Fintech partnerships and embedded payments are no longer optional—they're reshaping the competitive landscape and regulatory expectations for every financial institution. Growth opportunities are enormous, but so are the risks. Institutions face mounting pressure to innovate while maintaining examiner-ready governance and protecting reputation.

For Boards:

  • Are we positioned to compete in a fintech-driven market?
  • How do we balance growth with risk and reputation?

For CEOs and senior executives:

  • What's our fintech roadmap?
  • How do we innovate without exposing the institution to regulatory failure?

For managers and operational leaders:

  • How do we translate strategy into examiner-ready programs?
  • What frameworks ensure compliance and profitability at scale?

The Fintech Integration Leadership Series answers these questions with a practical, examiner-ready operating model.  It equips leaders at every level with the clarity, confidence, and control to design, launch, and govern fintech programs under full institutional oversight—turning disruption into a competitive advantage while safeguarding reputation and profitability.

Program curriculum

Over twelve modules delivered across three months, participants gain the strategic frameworks and practical governance tools banks and credit unions need to design, launch, and oversee fintech and embedded payments programs under full institutional control.

Delivered biweekly in an instructor-led webinar format with on-demand access, the program combines regulator-grade guidance with hands-on templates to support real-world implementation.

MODULE 1 - March 18, 2026

The Bank as a Fintech Platform

Your first session establishes the foundation for hosting fintech prorams under a bank-own model.  You'll learn what it means for a bank to "host" a fintech through Braid, why regulatory accountability never leaves the chartered institution, and how to embed oversight into board and management structures.

Key Concepts Covered

  • The bank-Braid-fintech relationship and hosting structure
  • Non-delegable regulatory obligations (BSA/AML, OFAC, UDAAP, prvacy)
  • Roles and responsibilities across Bank, Braid, and fintech partners
  • Governance integration: board ownership, BSA independence, and control testing
  • Programe taxonomy: payments, FBO accounts, lending, international payments, off-balance "parking"

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you'll understand how to position your institution as a fintech platform while maintaining examinier-ready governance and full regulatory control.

MODULE 2 - March 18, 2026

Roles, Responsibilities & RACI in the FI–Sidecar–Fintech Ecosystem

Your second session moves from foundational concepts into operational clarity: who does what, who owns what, and how accountability is documented across the FI–Sidecar–Fintech–Vendor environment. You’ll learn how to build a RACI model that reinforces the FI’s accountability while mapping execution across partners, and how to embed that structure into governance, contracts, and examiner documentation.

Key Concepts Covered

  • The RACI framework and its application to fintech programs (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)
  • Distinguishing operational responsibility from regulatory accountability
  • FI vs. Sidecar vs. Fintech vs. 4th‑party vendor roles across core compliance functions
  • Embedding RACI into governance: board reporting, committee structures, contracts, and TPRM
  • Managing “gray zones” and documenting exceptions
  • How to use RACI to strengthen examiner readiness and reduce vendor‑overreliance findings

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll be able to create and defend a complete RACI model for every major control in a fintech program, articulate where operational execution occurs, and demonstrate that regulatory accountability always rests with the FI—supported by contract language, board‑level reporting, and clear governance pathways.

MODULE 3 - April 1, 2026

Strategic Planning & Board Alignment for Fintech Hosting

Your third session elevates the program from operational readiness to enterprise‑level strategy. This module teaches how fintech programs fit into the FI’s board‑approved strategic plan, capital and liquidity framework, and risk appetite. You’ll learn how to secure clear board authorization, document risk acceptance, and build dashboards and financial projections that withstand examiner scrutiny.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Embedding fintech hosting into the FI’s strategic plan and risk appetite
  • Securing documented board approval and risk acceptance for each program
  • Profitability, liquidity, and capital modeling—including sidecar software costs
  • Board dashboards: ACH returns, fraud trends, complaints, partner profitability, liquidity buffers, covenant adherence
  • Governance cadence: quarterly reporting, annual renewals, and risk appetite updates
  • Documentation and retention practices for examiner validation

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to integrate fintech programs into enterprise strategy, build a board‑ready approval package, and operationalize governance through dashboards, capital planning, and risk appetite statements—ensuring fintech hosting is aligned, documented, and defensible at the highest levels of the institution.

MODULE 4 - April 1, 2026

Payment Rails & Operational Infrastructure via the Sidecar

Your fourth session shifts from strategic planning to the operational machinery that moves money. This module breaks down each payment rail connected through the Sidecar, the FI’s responsibilities for risk and control, and how daily operational routines integrate into governance and board reporting. You’ll learn how the Sidecar serves as the unifying system-of-record for payments, liquidity, and exception handling across ACH, wires, international payments, and emerging rails.

Key Concepts Covered

  • The FI’s connection points to each payment rail and the Sidecar’s role in execution
  • Rail‑specific obligations: settlement controls, fraud exposure, sanctions, exposure limits, and liquidity management
  • ACH origination setup, returns, SEC codes, unauthorized benchmarks
  • Wires: cutoff windows, sanctions checks, correspondent dependencies
  • International rails: correspondent networks, FX exposure, message validation
  • Fed access models: direct vs. correspondent and FedLine control expectations
  • Off‑balance placement (IntraFi) and daily liquidity implications
  • Future rails readiness: RTP and FedNow
  • Daily operational routines: reconciliation, alerts, exception workflows, and liquidity escalations

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how every payment rail connects through the Sidecar, what controls the FI must maintain for each, and how daily operations feed into examiner‑ready reporting and board‑level oversight. Participants will gain clarity on how operational controls, liquidity safeguards, and risk monitoring come together to support safe, scalable fintech programs.

MODULE 5 - April 15, 2026

Fintech Application & Underwriting in a Sidecar Environment

Your fifth session introduces the risk‑selection discipline that underpins all FI‑hosted fintech programs. This module teaches how to design, operate, and document a defensible fintech application and underwriting process before any partner is onboarded into the sidecar environment. You’ll learn how strategy and policy flow into an application packet, how to evaluate fintechs using a 360° underwriting framework, and how approved programs translate directly into FBO account structures, screening, reserves, and system‑level controls inside the sidecar.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Designing a standardized, policy‑anchored fintech application and intake process
  • Conducting 360° underwriting across financial, operational, compliance, legal, and technical risk domains
  • Iterative documentation gathering and issue remediation
  • Using covenants, limits, reserves, and mitigants to manage residual risk
  • Formal approval pathways: committees, BSA sign‑off, and board visibility
  • Mapping underwriting outcomes directly into sidecar onboarding, FBO account setup, PEP/sanctions screening, and system configuration
  • Ensuring underwriting documentation and sidecar controls match—paper to production

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll be able to design and operate a repeatable, defensible application and underwriting process for fintech partners. Participants will learn to evaluate risk holistically, document mitigants, secure internal approval, and translate decisions into concrete operational controls and screening within the FI’s sidecar instance—ensuring that only well‑vetted fintechs touch the rails, and only under conditions the FI can supervise.

MODULE 6 - April 15, 2026

Legal Architecture & Control Enforcement

Your sixth session connects underwriting to enforceability by showing how system controls, FI procedures, and contract terms work together to protect the institution. This module reframes legal agreements not as the primary control, but as the codification of safeguards already built into the sidecar and the FI’s oversight framework. Participants will learn how to evaluate and draft agreements that reinforce real operational controls, preserve FI authority, and withstand examiner scrutiny.

Key Concepts Covered

  • The control hierarchy: systemic (sidecar) → procedural (FI) → contractual (legal)
  • Why software‑based controls—KYC/OFAC gates, throttles, audit logs, access controls—form the FI’s first line of defense
  • How contracts memorialize operational reality and create remedies when controls fail
  • Key clause families (BSA/AML, oversight, information security, change management, settlement, data rights, termination) and their matching system controls
  • How program agreements drafted by counsel reinforce—not replace—the FI’s regulatory obligations
  • Ensuring every legal provision traces to a specific, live mechanism inside the sidecar

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to build a legally sound, operationally grounded control architecture for fintech programs. Participants will be able to map platform controls to contract clauses, identify when legal remedies activate, and ensure that program agreements, operational workflows, and the sidecar configuration all reflect the same enforceable oversight framework—so the FI can act decisively before issues escalate to examiner attention.

MODULE 7 - April 29, 2026

Policy, Procedure & Training Readiness for FI‑Hosted Fintech Programs

Your seventh session focuses on operational maturity—strengthening the FI’s Compliance Management System (CMS) so it can withstand examiner scrutiny when hosting fintech programs through the sidecar. This module reinforces that the FI already performs these functions; fintech hosting simply raises the required scope, cadence, rigor, and evidence. Participants learn how to elevate policies, procedures, and training across the FI, sidecar provider, and fintech partner to meet FDIC CMS expectations and Interagency third‑party risk guidance.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Enhancing (not reinventing) FI policies, procedures, and training to meet fintech‑hosting standards
  • Mapping FI, sidecar, and fintech partner policies to CMS elements: board oversight, written program, training, monitoring/audit, complaint response
  • Stage‑gating for readiness: application‑stage vs. launch‑stage requirements and ongoing refresh cadences
  • Role‑based, documented training for all personnel “whose duties require knowledge of the BSA,” aligned to FFIEC guidance
  • Policy‑to‑control mapping: every policy must trace to a live sidecar or FI operational control
  • Evidence readiness: training logs, board minutes, audit schedules, policy approvals, monitoring results
  • Using CMS dashboards to report program health, monitoring results, and compliance trends

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to build a mature, examiner‑ready CMS framework tailored to fintech hosting. Participants will be able to map policies to controls, document role‑based training, structure application‑stage and launch‑stage readiness gates, and ensure that all governance artifacts—policies, procedures, training logs, runbooks, and board reporting—support safe onboarding and ongoing monitoring of fintech partners in the sidecar environment.

MODULE 8 - April 29, 2026

Operational Launch Through a Sidecar Core

Your eighth session brings together the strategy, governance, controls, and readiness work from Modules 1–7 and applies them to the go‑live moment. This module teaches the procedures, communication paths, escalation steps, and early‑life monitoring required to launch a fintech program safely using the sidecar core. Participants will learn how to validate readiness, document evidence, and operate a disciplined first‑90‑days monitoring cadence that satisfies both internal stakeholders and examiners.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Pre‑launch validation: UAT, reconciliation dry runs, sanctions testing, access controls
  • Launch‑day readiness: documented sign‑offs, control checks, and communication protocols
  • Real‑time escalation pathways across FI ↔ Sidecar ↔ Fintech
  • Early‑life monitoring (first 90 days): returns, fraud alerts, reconciliation exceptions, complaints
  • Daily/weekly reporting cadence: Sidecar → FI Ops → BSA → Board
  • Lessons‑learned documentation for continuous improvement and examiner evidence
  • Importance of structured launch procedures and expectation-setting with board and regulators

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to execute a compliant, well‑controlled fintech go‑live using the sidecar core. Participants will be able to validate system readiness, operate escalation and communication protocols, document early‑life control performance, and produce exam‑ready artifacts from Day 0 through the first 90 days—ensuring the FI demonstrates control, transparency, and operational discipline from the very first live transaction.

MODULE 9 - May 13, 2026

Ongoing Monitoring & Compliance Oversight

Your ninth session establishes the long‑term operating discipline required to keep fintech programs safe, profitable, and examiner‑ready. This module teaches how to integrate the sidecar’s real‑time monitoring capabilities with the FI’s governance framework, how to execute quarterly and annual oversight routines, and how to maintain continuous BSA/AML, OFAC, operational, and—where applicable—consumer‑compliance supervision. Participants learn how to transform daily alerts, audit findings, and partner performance data into structured board‑level reporting and documented remediation.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Integrating sidecar monitoring outputs into FI risk, compliance, and governance routines
  • Daily/weekly operational monitoring: ACH returns, KYC/KYB exceptions, SAR metrics, fraud trends, liquidity alerts
  • Quarterly and annual reviews: SOC 2, penetration testing, QBRs, due‑diligence refresh, covenant validation
  • Independent testing and third‑party audits for AML, payments, InfoSec, and consumer‑protection controls
  • Ongoing validation of BSA/AML, OFAC, fraud‑monitoring, and alert disposition quality
  • Consumer‑program oversight (if applicable): Reg E timeliness, UDAAP/Fair Lending, marketing/disclosure controls, complaint trends
  • Governance and reporting discipline: dashboards, remediation tracking, evidence indexes, risk‑assessment updates

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to operate a sustained, exam‑ready oversight program for all fintech partners hosted through the sidecar. Participants will be equipped to integrate real‑time monitoring with quarterly/annual review cycles, conduct independent testing, validate compliance execution, and prepare clear, challenge‑ready board reporting—ensuring that fintech oversight becomes a continuous, repeatable governance loop rather than a one‑time launch effort.

MODULE 10  - May 13, 2026

Data Security, Privacy & Incident Response

Your tenth session focuses on protecting customer and partner data across the FI–Sidecar–Fintech ecosystem and ensuring that all parties can respond quickly and coherently to cybersecurity or privacy incidents. This module reinforces that fintech hosting does not require a new security program—rather, it intensifies and extends the FI’s existing information‑security, privacy, and incident‑response frameworks to cover shared systems, shared data flows, and shared regulatory responsibilities. Participants will learn the cross‑party controls, evidence, and notification processes required by GLBA, FDIC guidance, and interagency information‑security expectations.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Applying FI information‑security and privacy programs to fintech‑hosting operations
  • Mapping data flows and assigning control ownership (encryption, access, retention, monitoring)
  • Defining cross‑party responsibilities for prevention, detection, escalation, and regulator notification
  • Understanding the FDIC 36‑hour incident‑notification rule and GLBA Safeguards/Privacy requirements
  • Coordinated incident‑response playbooks: severity levels, roles, timelines, and communication channels
  • Audit‑logging discipline: tamper‑evident logs, forensic evidence, remediation documentation
  • Testing and training requirements: annual tabletops, role‑specific IR training, evidence retention

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to build a cohesive, compliant data‑security and incident‑response framework across the FI, the sidecar platform, and fintech partners. Participants will learn how to assign control ownership, satisfy GLBA and FDIC expectations, coordinate incident notifications, and maintain the logs, reports, and testing evidence examiners expect—ensuring that the FI remains firmly in control of data protection and breach response, even when multiple parties touch sensitive information.

MODULE 11  - May 27, 2026

Audits, Examinations & Ongoing Due Diligence

Your eleventh session focuses on building a permanent, exam‑ready oversight discipline for fintech programs operating through the sidecar. This module reinforces that fintech hosting does not create a new audit or exam framework—instead, it intensifies and extends the FI’s existing internal audit, vendor‑oversight, and examination routines to cover fintech partners and the sidecar platform. Participants learn how to maintain a risk‑based audit schedule, organize examiner‑ready documentation, re‑underwrite partners annually, and ensure every program remains aligned with Interagency third‑party life‑cycle expectations.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Risk‑based internal and vendor audit schedule (BSA/AML, ACH/NACHA, IT/InfoSec, SOC2/PCI, consumer compliance, pen tests)
  • Evergreen exam‑readiness package mapped to the Interagency third‑party life cycle (planning → due diligence → contracting → ongoing monitoring → termination)
  • Annual partner re‑underwriting: financials, controls, SOC2/pen test updates, complaints, returns/fraud, covenant status, 4th‑party inventories
  • Evidence retention: QBR decks, SOC2 summaries, issue logs, remediation tracking, board minutes
  • "Reliance ≠ abdication": using SOC reports and audit results as inputs—not replacements—for FI oversight
  • Regulatory notification integration (e.g., FDIC 36‑hour rule) in audit and exam materials
  • Board reporting discipline: program health by partner/rail, open issues, remediation timelines, and risk acceptance

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to operate a continuous audit, examination, and due‑diligence program that keeps every fintech partner within the FI’s risk appetite and examiner expectations. Participants will learn to maintain evidence‑ready documentation, manage a risk‑aligned audit calendar, refresh partner underwriting, and present comprehensive oversight packages to regulators and the board—ensuring ongoing compliance and operational resilience throughout the life cycle of each partnership.

MODULE 12  - May 27, 2026

Program Review, Profitability & Exit

Your twelfth session closes the lifecycle by treating fintech programs hosted through the sidecar as fully fledged business lines—subject to structured performance review, capital and reserve analysis, covenant checks, and, when needed, a safe and documented exit. This module reinforces that periodic program review is not a new discipline: FIs already evaluate their internal business lines. The goal is to ensure fintech programs receive the same rigorous, board‑level scrutiny and that exits occur without regulatory, liquidity, or customer harm.

Key Concepts Covered

  • Performance and risk review across financial, operational, compliance, and partner‑health dimensions
  • Reserve adequacy, capital attribution, and stress testing for fintech‑related losses
  • Covenant monitoring and corrective‑action enforcement (financial, operational, compliance)
  • Exit and transition planning: triggers, system wind‑down, customer migration, data handling
  • Governance integration: board review cycles, decision documentation, remediation tracking
  • Maintaining a full audit trail of review memos, action plans, transition records, and lifecycle documentation for examiner tracing

Learning Outcome:
By the end of this module, you’ll understand how to operate a disciplined program‑review and exit framework that keeps fintech partnerships aligned with the FI’s risk appetite, capital expectations, and strategic goals. Participants will learn to evaluate financial and risk performance, adjust or remediate underperforming programs, and execute a safe, documented wind‑down when needed—ensuring continuity for customers, integrity of the FI’s balance sheet, and full regulatory traceability.

What makes this program different

Bank-owned, not
BaaS-outsourced.

Built for institutions that want full control over governance, risk, and economics.

Exam-ready governance.

Regulator-grade documentation, control frameworks, RACIs, and audit-ready artifacts.

Hands-on and practical.

Real-world playbooks, templates, and workflows your teams can implement immediately.

Faculty and Speakers

Kevin Johnston

Kevin Johnston

Chief Banking Officer
Braid

View Bio

Elyssa Morgan, AAP, APRP

Elyssa Morgan, AAP, APRP

Senior Vice President, Chief Growth & Partnerships Officer
NEACH

View Bio

Caitlyn Mullins-Smith, AAP, APRP, NCP

Caitlyn Mullins-Smith, AAP, APRP, NCP

Vice President & Director
NEACH Payments Group

View Bio

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FAQs

Are there any special deals when registering for this course?

Yes! You can purchase this program as a stand‑alone offering, or save by bundling it with seats to the 2026 Future of Payments Symposium.
Choose the option that works best for your team:

Bundling gives you access to NEACH’s premier strategic conference, where leaders explore emerging opportunities, evolving risks, and forward‑looking strategies shaping the payments ecosystem.

Can multiple departments participate under one registration?

Yes. One registration provides access for your entire institution.
Once your organization is registered, all relevant departments and team members may participate without needing separate enrollments.

 

 

Who leads instruction?

Kevin Johnston — Chief Banking Officer, Braid
Kevin Johnston is a nationally recognized expert in fintech–bank partnerships, regulatory governance, and risk management. He leads curriculum development for the program and brings deep experience helping financial institutions design, operate, and scale compliant fintech programs.

Elyssa Morgan, AAP, APRP — Senior Vice President, Chief Growth & Partnerships Officer, NEACH
Elyssa is a payments strategist and growth leader with two decades of experience connecting financial institutions, fintechs, and solution providers. She advises organizations on payment program development, compliance and risk management, faster payments strategy, and long‑term growth through the NEACH Payments Group.

Caitlyn Mullins‑Smith, AAP, APRP, NCP — Vice President & Director, NEACH Payments Group (NPG)
Caitlyn is a payments audit and risk expert who leads NPG’s audit, risk management, and consulting services. She brings deep experience in ACH, check, and faster‑payments compliance, and previously held audit and electronic‑services roles at EPCOR and Hocking Valley Bank.

 

 

Will materials be available after live sessions?

Yes. All materials will be available after the live sessions.
Recordings and resources will be accessible through the NEACH Payments eLearning platform at https://paymentselearning.neach.org/. We strongly encourage attending live whenever possible to get the full benefit of interaction, discussion, and Q&A.

 

 

Is this program relevant if we already work with fintech partners?

Yes. This program is highly relevant—even if you already work with fintech partners.
The curriculum is designed to strengthen and mature existing fintech partnerships by helping your institution tighten governance, refine oversight, validate controls, enhance due diligence, and ensure examiner‑ready documentation across the entire fintech lifecycle.

Many participants already have active fintech relationships—the program helps them level‑up strategy, compliance, operational controls, monitoring, and long‑term program management.

 

 

Can our organization become a reseller of this program?

Yes—there are opportunities to resell this program.
Organizations interested in offering the curriculum to their own members, clients, or networks can become authorized resellers. To explore partnership options, pricing, and reseller support packages, please contact Elyssa Morgan at membership@neach.org.

 

 

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1.

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2.

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3.

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