Wellby Financial Wins 2026 Banking Tech Award for Best Use of AI – Customer Focus

WHY THIS MATTERS

The recognition of Wellby Financial at the 2026 Banking Tech Awards USA underscores a crucial shift in how regional financial institutions must use consumer data to compete against tier-one mega-banks. Historically, credit unions and community banks relied on localized branch relationships to retain members. However, as digital banking becomes the primary interaction point, these institutions face severe data-utilization hurdles, often blasting generic marketing messages that alienate users. By deploying specialized predictive analytics to score member product participation in real time, regional lenders can anticipate exact consumer needs—such as identifying when a user needs a tailored loan or deposit account. This transition to data-driven personalization allows community-focused institutions to significantly deepen their wallet share, protecting their portfolios from larger digital-native competitors without needing to maintain costly, internal data-science departments.

Wellby Financial today announced it has been named the winner of the Best Use of AI – Customer Focus category at the 2026 Banking Tech Awards USA, held by FinTech Futures. The credit union was recognized for its successful AI-powered member personalization strategy developed in partnership with Vertice AI, a leading provider of AI growth solutions for financial institutions. 

The Banking Tech Awards USA celebrate the most innovative financial institutions and technology providers. The program recognizes organizations of all sizes, from credit unions and community banks to regional and national financial institutions, for delivering impactful digital banking experiences and advancing the future of financial services. Wellby Financial earned recognition for its implementation of artificial intelligence to analyze member data and build personalized engagement strategies that bolster growth, deepen relationships, and improve member outcomes.

“AI is most powerful when it helps us serve members in more meaningful ways,” said Marty Pell, President and CEO of Wellby Financial. “This recognition reflects our commitment to helping our members prosper through personalized experiences. By leveraging AI-driven insights, we can better understand member needs, share tailored messaging that resonates, and connect them with the right products and services at the right time.”

Using Vertice AI’s platform, Wellby Financial delivers more relevant interactions that increase member participation, improve retention, deepen wallet share, and deliver greater value throughout the member lifecycle. The strategy generated substantial growth, influencing the opening of 4,150 loan products and contributing roughly $114 million in new loan balances. AI-informed outreach also led to 2,073 new deposit accounts and nearly $25 million in deposit balances while driving thousands of additional service enrollments, demonstrating the power of personalized, AI-driven engagement to create value for both members and the credit union.

“Wellby Financial’s success demonstrates how leading financial institutions are using AI to move beyond broad-based marketing to deliver timely, personalized experiences that drive real results,” said Mitch Rutledge, CEO of Vertice AI. “We are proud to support its efforts leveraging AI to modernize engagement strategies in ways that deepen relationships, improve retention, and accelerate long-term growth.”

FF NEWS TAKE

Wellby Financial is showcasing the massive revenue potential of data-driven member engagement, winning the top customer-focused artificial intelligence category after a highly successful infrastructure partnership with Vertice AI. Originally founded to serve NASA Johnson Space Center employees, the Houston-based credit union utilized Vertice AI’s predictive modeling and autonomous campaign agents to move entirely away from broad-based marketing. The strategy yielded immediate commercial velocity, directly influencing the opening of over 4,100 new loan products to inject roughly 114 million dollars in new loan balances. Under the leadership of CEO Marty Pell, the implementation simultaneously captured nearly 25 million dollars in fresh deposit balances across 2,073 new accounts. By proving that predictive behavioral modeling can achieve a massive three-fold increase in product adoption, Wellby provides a highly profitable blueprint for how community financial institutions can securely scale their operations using targeted machine learning.