About Michael Abbott

Michael Abbott is a Senior Managing Director at Accenture leading the Global Banking Practice where he advises clients and boards on navigating complex transformations. Michael is a expert in payments and digital innovation, partnering with banks, capital markets firms, and insurers to help them adopt innovative technologies and transform their businesses. Michael Abbott joined Accenture after five years as the CEO and founder of Softcard, which was acquired by Google in 2015 and is now Google Pay. Before founding Softcard, Michael lead business development and was the chief marketing officer at GE Capital, helping GE’s card business grow to $30 billion in assets and $1B in net income. Paradigm shift’ was coined in 1962 by scientific philosopher Thomas Kuhn, who noted that technology advances in smooth linear patterns until something ushers in a new way of thinking. Banking is experiencing a paradigm shift. This is no accident; it’s the impact of passionate visionaries who are harnessing the power of emerging technologies to reshape the future of banking—and they are just getting started. Some leaders prioritize historical data when crafting their strategies. Michael Abbott looks to the future and asks how they can invent it. With an academic grounding in mathematics and engineering and a fascination for technology, he started his career as a research scientist at IBM’s Watson Labs, building some of the earliest TCP/IP routers, which form the backbone of the internet today. After graduate school, Michael Abbott joined Mitchell Madison, a start-up consultancy founded by former McKinsey partners. Michael Abbott built GE’s bank card business and turned the group’s 80-year-old private label business into a highly profitable growth engine. In 2010, he was presented with the GE Chairman’s Award for leading the business through the financial crisis. Next, he left the corporate world for the thin atmosphere of entrepreneurship. His vision was to change the way people shop, pay, and save. Softcard was the first (and only) mobile wallet to let users load their Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover cards onto their Android or iPhone devices. In 2015, Softcard was acquired by Google and is now Google Pay. In Accenture, Michael Abbott saw an organization with a vision: to unleash the power of technology, people, and business. Together they have identified new businesses, envisioned radical new operating models, and built infrastructures, workforces, and offerings that are groundbreaking in their efficiency, agility, and impact. Michael Abbott’s a frequent keynote speaker at major banking events, an industry commentator, and the author of numerous banking articles and reports. Michael Abbott enjoys skiing with his wife Kathleen and their two sons, and volunteering at several local charities. Last year he earned his wings and became a private pilot. At the core, he’s still a builder and is currently turning 100-year-old American black walnut into an 1800s-style Quaker bed.