Jason Edelboim, the recently appointed chief executive of digital banking platform Candescent, says AI delivers significant value to the customer experience by making it “more proactive and contextual.” 

Most digital banking tools focus on balances, transactions and tasks, “but they do not always help people understand what is happening in their financial lives or what they should do next,” Edelboim, who was named CEO on June 22, told FinAi News. 

“AI can help turn information into useful guidance,” he said. “It can surface clear summaries, identify relevant patterns, highlight opportunities or potential issues and suggest practical next steps based on someone’s goals and activity.” 

Intelligent banking 

Edelboim also recognizes agentic AI’s potential, with customers delegating tasks to a digital assistant that he said can “recognize relevant moments, offer timely guidance and, with clear authorization, take appropriate action. 

“For an individual, that could mean helping avoid an overdraft, stay[ing] on track with a savings goal or manag[ing] a routine payment,” he said. 

“For a business, it could mean identifying a potential cash-flow issue, recommending the right time to make a payment or helping manage routine financial workflows within clearly defined permissions, controls and oversight.” 

AI can also help bank and credit union employees by providing the “right context and information to deliver better” service, Edelboim said. 

“Throughout all of this, trust is essential,” he said. “AI can help institutions identify risk earlier and strengthen security, but it must always be deployed responsibly and in a way that builds confidence.” 

Prior to joining Candescent, Edelboim was CEO of talent acquisition platform iCIMS and president of AI-powered risk detection company Dataminr, according to his LinkedIn.  

Edelboim said his experience building AI products translates to his new role because he understands that the technology “creates the most value when it is grounded in meaningful use cases, designed responsibly and tied to real business outcomes.” 

Bank, CU partners 

Atlanta-based Candescent, which builds AI in-house, works with more than 1,300 banks and credit unions, including: 

• $73 billion Old National Bank; 

• $72 billion Wintrust Financial; 

• $47.2 billion EverBank; 

• $6.6 billion Citadel Credit Union; 

• $3 billion Hapo Credit Union; and 

• $2.1 billion Meriwest Credit Union. 

The ability to integrate third-party AI tools and build custom solutions are among the platform’s draws, Jeremy O’Niel, vice president of marketing and digital experience at Hapo Credit Union, told FinAi News.  

“We’ve built several of what we call CYOs, or create your owns,” he said. “We have over 20 and those are custom-built things that our team has added to the platform using Candescent’s API.”

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