A CTO’s Take on Modern Banking

Introduction

In an industry defined by legacy systems and cautious change, Ninish Ukkan is helping rewrite the playbook. As the CTO of Arvest, he’s leading the bank’s digital transformation with a clear-eyed view of what works, what doesn’t, and what truly matters. In our conversation, he opens up about his journey, how to balance innovation with trust, and why culture—not code—may be the biggest differentiator in modern banking.

“We don’t try to reinvent the wheel—if a great product already exists, we buy it. But even then, the integration work is real.”

Interview

Omri Yacubovich: How has the role of the CTO at a bank evolved—and what does it really take to lead digital transformation?

Ninish: I think a modern CTO needs to operate at multiple altitudes. Sometimes you're in the weeds at 1,000 feet, getting into the technical details. Other times you're at 30,000 feet, shaping long-term strategy. You have to be comfortable switching between both.

You also need to speak the language of the business. Technical jargon won’t get you far with stakeholders. The role requires real partnership—cross-functional alignment, shared goals, and mutual trust.

Internally, a CTO has to build strong teams. That means hiring great talent, setting up the right structure, and creating a culture people want to be part of. At Arvest, we talk a lot about culture. Just like our approach to relationship banking, culture is at the heart of how we work.

When new engineers join us, I tell them: technical skills will get you in the door. But it’s the ability to embrace the culture—and make it part of your DNA—that determines success.

Omri: That’s a great takeaway for candidates—culture fit matters. How do you assess that in an interview? It’s not always easy to spot.

Ninish: It’s true—it’s not easy. But there are signs. One of the biggest indicators for me is whether a candidate listens before they speak. I value people who take the time to understand a situation before jumping to conclusions.

We also look for candidates who have the right mindset for partnership. Technical skills are important, but just as critical is the ability to appreciate where the organization has been. At Arvest, we’ve got 65 years of history. You don’t have to love every legacy system, but you do need to respect why they exist—and what they’ve enabled.

The best candidates are the ones who show humility. They ask questions, seek to understand context, and then propose thoughtful solutions. That mindset—curious, collaborative, and grounded—is what sets people up to thrive here and build for the future.

Omri: Looking back, what shifts in the financial industry have had the greatest impact on banks, from your perspective?

Ninish: The biggest change has been the shift from legacy, on-prem systems to cloud-based, API-first infrastructure. But what’s made the biggest impression recently is AI. A lot of banks are still figuring out how to use it meaningfully. We’ve been intentional. One example: we built a tool which gives our associates instant access to answers by pulling from internal systems and documents—like a bank-specific version of Google Search.

We’re also developing a credit growth model. It’s been a journey, but we’ve built out the four core pillars: infrastructure, talent, tools, and governance. And we’ve already deployed real use cases.

Omri: Many banks are still paralyzed by core modernization. How are you tackling that challenge?

Ninish: Carefully—and deliberately. Most banks are still running on decades-old mainframe cores. You can’t just rip and replace. Instead, we’re pursuing a multi-core strategy—modernizing payments, building a centralized customer master, and hollowing out parts of the legacy core to plug in modern platforms.

That work also supports our broader data transformation. We’re building a cloud-based enterprise data platform with real-time ingestion, data quality layers, and a 360-degree customer view. It’s a massive effort, but it sets the foundation not only for better service—but for AI at scale.

Omri: Given how much emphasis your team is placing on building technology in-house—something banks have traditionally outsourced—do you see Arvest evolving into more of a tech company than a financial institution?

Ninish: I see us as enablers—our job is to build the technology that makes the bank stronger. But we’re not here to reinvent the wheel. Our approach is pragmatic: we buy where it makes sense, and we build where we can add value. Even with vendor solutions, there’s significant work required to integrate them into our architecture, and that’s where our engineering focus lies.

At the end of the day, we are a bank. We’re not chasing the identity of a tech company. That said, if the tools we build for Arvest can eventually serve other small or mid-sized institutions—credit unions, community banks—then great. There’s potential for that to become a revenue stream in the future. But that’s not the goal right now. The goal is to do what’s right for Arvest. Everything else follows from that.

Omri: Many smaller banks face a tough call when it comes to tech strategy. With limited internal resources, how should they think about the “build vs. buy” dilemma, especially when navigating AI adoption, regulatory frameworks, and integration challenges?

Ninish: When you don’t have deep technical resources, the natural instinct is to buy. But buying an out-of-the-box solution—especially a generic one—doesn’t always work as expected. Every bank has its own nuances, and many of these solutions need customization to really deliver value. That’s where things get tricky.

Our approach has been to strike a balance. We don’t try to reinvent the wheel—if a great product already exists, we’d rather buy it. But even then, the integration work is real. You still need a solid internal team to stitch it into your ecosystem and make sure it fits your needs.

We’ve been fortunate at Arvest to have the ability to go with best-of-breed solutions. Not every bank has that luxury. Smaller institutions often look for consolidated platforms to minimize complexity, and I get that.

Whether you’re buying or building, the goal is the same: to create value efficiently and sustainably.

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“It’s about meeting customers where they are—whether that’s through a personal conversation or a digital experience.”

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Omri: Traditionally we've seen banks pride their relationship with their clients. In the AI age, do relationships still matter in digital banking?

Ninish: Absolutely. At Arvest, relationship banking is core to who we are—it’s been that way for over 60 years. Our mission literally starts and ends with “people,” and that’s intentional. Relationships aren’t just a tradition—they’re a differentiator.

But the way we manage those relationships is evolving. Today, it’s about meeting customers where they are—whether that’s through a personal conversation or a digital experience. We use data to understand preferences, anticipate needs, and guide product development—just like any modern tech company would.

So yes, the tools have changed. But the relationship? That stays front and center.

Omri: What’s the untold truth in banking—something most overlook, but that quietly guides how you think about what to build next?

Ninish: Stay grounded. That’s the real secret. In a world chasing every hype cycle, we try to make decisions based on logic, data, and what actually helps our customers—not just what’s trending.

We’ve been fortunate to work with strong partners, but we don’t let big names or shiny tools steer the strategy. At our core, we’re here to serve people. That means focusing on relationships, understanding real financial needs, and using technology as an enabler—not a distraction.

If something truly helps our customers, we’ll prioritize it. But it all starts with staying rooted in what matters most.

Omri: And what matters most right now, besides AI? What’s the most exciting tech you’re exploring right now?

Ninish: Data. I know it’s not the flashiest answer, but for us, it’s foundational. We’re building an enterprise data platform that gives our associates a true 360-degree view of the customer—so when someone walks into a branch or interacts with us online, we’re ready with real context and real solutions.

And yes, I know you said no AI—but you’re right, data is the backbone for everything, including AI. Without clean, trusted, well-structured data, you can’t do much with machine learning, CRM, marketing, case management—any of it.

So while it might not sound as “cool” as AI, we see data as the real enabler. It’s the plumbing beneath everything we want to deliver—not just for insights, but for better service across the board. That’s where a lot of our time and energy is going right now.

Omri: What’s the biggest frustration your retail or commercial clients still face—something technology hasn’t solved yet?

Ninish: Manual processes—without a doubt. Even today, customers are asked to re-enter the same information multiple times. They fill out forms, send emails, wait days for responses, and sometimes their requests get lost in inboxes. That’s not the experience anyone expects in 2025.

Commercial Lending is one area where this pain is especially visible and we are hard at work to fix it. There are too many handoffs, too many PDFs, and too much back-and-forth. But the same applies across many areas of banking—servicing requests, onboarding, even product maintenance. All banks are trying to digitally enable more self-service capabilities to streamline the workflow and reduce handoffs both in the commercial and retail bank experiences. Focus is not only on the customer, but enabling the Associate to provide superior service with access to the right information at the right time.

At Arvest, we’re still in our journey of fully digitizing these workflows. We're focused on getting from paper to digital first—removing friction, eliminating duplicate data entry, and building the foundation for faster, more seamless experiences.

Once we’ve digitized the basics, the next step is automation: faster decisions, streamlined underwriting, real-time insights. That’s when AI enters the picture to bring more personalization to the overall customer experience. But to get there, you have to crawl before you walk—and we’re making that journey, one step at a time.

Omri: How do you ensure compliance as you build and implement these models?

Ninish: It starts with partnership. Our security and compliance teams are fully embedded in the software development lifecycle. They’re involved from day one—not brought in after the fact.

We also use automated tools to flag security issues during builds, so we catch problems early. On the data side, we enforce strong governance—masking sensitive data, cataloging everything with data stewards, and maintaining high data quality standards.

Same goes for APIs—we ensure strong API security protocols are in place. But more than just tools, it’s about culture. Compliance isn’t an afterthought. It’s part of the way we build. That gives our teams—and our regulators—confidence that we’re doing it right, from the ground up.

Omri: I love it. Thank you Ninish for your insights.

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Ninish Ukkan- Bio

Ninish Ukkan is a Banking/FinTech Executive leading the Digital Transformation at Arvest Bank, building a state of the art API & Data powered Banking infrastructure on the Cloud, modernizing the Banking core and building Arvest's Data & AI Platform.

Prior to Arvest, he built the BaaS (Banking as a Service) platform at Green Dot Bank that powers Apple Cash, Walmart Money Card, Uber Money, Intuit Turbo and Amazon Flex. He also built Green Dot's flagship neo-bank product called GoToBank that services millions of customers. He has a long history in Financial Services having built & scaled teams and led Digital Transformation at various financial institutions.