As cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, companies that once relied on simple firewalls must now face a new reality. For a major telecom like T-Mobile, the stakes are especially high, as networks, customer data, and identity services are all at risk. To protect both its assets and its customers, T-Mobile is rethinking its cybersecurity strategy at every level, from workforce authentication to real-time detection to a “human-first” culture.

Mark Clancy, SVP, Cybersecurity, Information, Technology at T-Mobile joined me in front of the camera at FinovateFall earlier this year to offer up what T-Mobile is doing to combat fraud. In our conversation, he discussed how SIM-based authentication is eliminating the friction in financial services while keeping clients’ money safe. He talked about why making security invisible doesn’t mean making it weaker, shared how banks can put customers first without compromising protection, and described T-Mobile’s network authentication tool, T-Secure.

Network authentication, what we call T-Secure, simply embeds the authentication process into the SIM card that’s already in your phone. We have 130 million customers, and we already know who they are. We use that to bind the transaction they’re performing to their identity and authenticate invisibly in the background using certificate-based authentication.

Mark Clancy leads cybersecurity at T-Mobile as Senior Vice President of Cybersecurity, Information, and Technology. Under his watch, the company has shifted from traditional reactive security practices to an identity-first, zero-trust model.

T-Mobile is one of the largest wireless carriers in the US, serving millions of customers nationwide. Historically a telecom company, T-Mobile has increasingly expanded into identity services, digital authentication, and mobile-based financial and communication products. The company runs a centralized Cyber Defense Center, employs zero-trust authentication protocols, and subjects all devices to rigorous security vetting before they go to market.

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How can financial institutions determine the correct digital modernization strategy that will help them achieve their goals while respecting the role of legacy technologies? Can organizations effectively modernize their operations, leveraging enabling technologies like AI, without risking the potential disruptions that change—even positive change—can bring?

This year at FinovateFall 2025, I caught up with Casey Ferguson, VP of Marketing at Zoot Enterprises to discuss the company’s phased approach to modernizing financial systems and integrating legacy technologies. Ferguson explains how effective transformations should embrace incremental progress, cross-functional collaboration, and layered fraud defenses.

At Zoot we look at modernization this way: it’s not about tearing everything down. When you look at this kind of ‘rip and replace’ mentality, you have to remember it can be pretty risky. It can be very expensive and it can be slow, as well. When you think about the pace of change, architecting the perfect environment, the world may have changed by the time you have a perfect picture of all this. So working on things incrementally and in phases can really make a difference.

Headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, and founded in 1990, Zoot Enterprises provides acquisition, origination, and decision management solutions for businesses ranging from leading banks and payment providers to automobile manufacturers and retailers. Zoot’s technology leverages advanced analytics to deliver actionable insights for compliance, risk management, fraud prevention, customer experience, workflow efficiency, digital transformation, and more. The company boasts more than 90 partners and providers, and 300+ data connections to access the most accurate and reliable data in real time.

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With hundreds of unique fintech solutions available to help diversify your offerings, identity protection may not be at the top of the list. However, as identity fraud becomes increasingly common, differentiating your firm with an identity protection solution may be beneficial for both your firm and your customer.

In this video interview, recorded at FinovateFall 2025 in New York, we explore how PrivacyGuard is turning validation into a competitive edge. I spoke with Christopher D’Aprile, Director of PrivacyGuard, who joined us in a conversation where he explored the latest trends in identity protection, its relevance for banks and credit unions, and actionable strategies for implementation.

“You want to find new products and services to bring to your customers,” said D’Aprile, “but let me be honest with you. Your customer does not want to buy a magazine subscription from a bank. They want something relevant. Identity theft protection is exactly that. If you can adopt that solution, we already have the recipe to turn it into a non-interest revenue-generating machine.”

Connecticut-based PrivacyGuard was founded in 1991 and offers a comprehensive suite of credit reporting, credit monitoring, and identity theft protection services. The company offers alerts from all three credit bureaus and scans the dark web for users’ personal details. PrivacyGuard offers three plans: Identity Protection, Credit Protection, and Total Protection.

D’Aprile serves as Director of PrivacyGuard. He is well-seasoned in the importance of digital identity, having previously held an executive position at Allstate Identity Protection. With more than 30 years of experience driving growth across financial services, insurance, and technology sectors, he specializes in building partnerships with banks and credit unions to deliver identity theft protection solutions that both safeguard consumers and open new non-interest revenue streams.

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This week’s Streamly Snapshot features our final interview from FinovateSpring 2025 in San Diego, California.

What does it take for a startup to be successful? In today’s innovation ecosystem, one increasingly important skill is not just building innovative solutions, but also managing the finances—the investment capital, the debt financing, the cash flow—that support a growing enterprise. In this interview, Christopher Hollins, Global Head of Product Sales and Design at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a Division of First Citizens Bank, talks about the challenges that startups face when it comes to optimizing financial operations, scaling businesses, and managing cash flow. Hollins also shares his insights on the digital tools and platforms that are available to startups to help them grow and scale their businesses.

“Even in this environment, which is short on IPO exits, the innovation is not showing that it’s short of anything other than tremendous creativity, driving for positive results, and actually managing through all of the change that is happening in the macro economy and within the innovation ecosystem, itself.”

In his role at SVB, Hollins has been instrumental in transforming the platform’s solution delivery model to ensure that SVB’s Commercial Bank innovation economy clients can access the best partners and solutions to solve their challenges as they grow. Hollins joined SVB in May 2021, bringing more than 20 years of international marketing, sales, and strategy experience in financial services, mobile telecom, and technology to the firm.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, SVB was founded in 1983. Acquired by First Citizens Bank in 2023, the firm today is the bank of choice for many of the world’s most innovative technology companies and investors. SVB provides commercial and private banking services to individuals and companies in technology, life sciences, healthcare, private equity, venture capital, and premium wine industries. The institution reports $99 billion in total client funds and counts 40% of the Forbes 2025 AI list among its customers.

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