The committee deepens alignment across the ecosystem and strengthens compliance collaboration

The Coalition for Financial Ecosystem Standards (CFES), an industry-led organization for banks, fintechs, and other companies that sets audit-ready standards that promote safety and soundness, today announced the formation of its Bank Advisory Committee. The committee brings together leading financial institutions to formalize bank participation in CFES’s standards development and certification work, reinforcing ecosystem-wide alignment around best practices in compliance and risk management.

The committee includes FinWise, First Bank of the Lake, and Thread Bank, recognized leaders in leveraging standards for stronger alignment on compliance and risk management within fintech programs. These institutions bring practical partnership experience managing fintech relationships from initial due diligence through ongoing monitoring, as well as a deep understanding of how examiners evaluate third-party risk management programs. By incorporating insights from banks of varying asset sizes and complexity levels, CFES ensures its standards are scalable and adaptable across the industry.

“We joined the Bank Advisory Committee because they play a critical role in establishing clear, actionable standards that balance innovation with safety in the bank/fintech ecosystem,” said Ana Liza Grandner, Executive Vice President and Chief Payments Officer at First Bank of the Lake. “By bringing banks, fintechs, and industry leaders together around a common compliance framework, it streamlines partnerships, strengthens risk management, and builds trust across the financial services landscape. For our institution, joining the committee reinforces our commitment to responsible growth, operational excellence, and industry leadership.”

Members of the committee will provide ongoing feedback to ensure that CFES’s five-level maturity scale accurately reflects a range of nonbank business models, risk profiles, and growth stages from a bank’s perspective. The group will also help refine CFES’s certification workflow in order to ensure that the process is both operationally efficient and regulatorily valuable. In addition to these technical contributions, committee members will serve as a leadership platform for other banks seeking guidance on compliance best practices, regulatory updates, and policy developments that promote innovation while maintaining consumer protection and financial stability.

“Thread Bank is dedicated to executing on our strategic plan to deploy scaled embedded banking solutions and evolve the traditional community banking model for long-term stability, while never compromising our commitment to risk management and compliance," said Chris Black, CEO, President, and member of the Board of Directors of Thread. “We can't do this without strong coordination with our partners. That's why we joined the committee, to demonstrate the importance of collaboration while keeping regulatory soundness at the center of how we build embedded banking partnerships for the long-term.”

The committee’s launch comes amid more complex bank-fintech partnerships that strain traditional regulatory frameworks, and rising regulatory scrutiny calling for clearer standards and industry accountability. Community banks in particular face mounting pressure to modernize and compete with larger institutions, making fintech partnerships more essential than ever.

“When banks and fintechs are aligned on standards and transparency, it not only strengthens individual partnerships, but the entire ecosystem,” said Sima Gandhi, Co-Founder of CFES. “This committee builds on the foundation of collaboration we’ve established and brings long-term structure to the role banks play in ensuring responsible growth.”

The committee will help drive enhanced due diligence efficiency by enabling banks to evaluate fintechs through holistic assessments that consider both documented policies and operational execution. The certification process also offers increased regulatory transparency by providing independent validation aligned with supervisory expectations. Ultimately, the committee aims to support competitive innovation by giving community banks the tools they need to pursue fintech partnerships with confidence.

CFES continues to welcome additional financial institutions interested in participating in the Bank Advisory Committee and supporting the mission to create a safer and more dynamic financial services ecosystem.

About the Coalition for Financial Ecosystem Standards

The Coalition for Financial Ecosystem Standards (CFES) is a member-led coalition whose mission is to empower policymakers and industry innovators to drive sound growth in financial services. In partnership with FS Vector, CFES develops audit-ready standards for risk management and compliance in bank-nonbank partnerships. CFES also focuses on frameworks and guidance that address the critical gaps in financial services resulting from where technological progress outpaces historical guidance.

For more information about CFES and its initiatives, please visit https://thecfes.com

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