Stewart Watterson

Strategic Advisor

Areas of Expertise: Agile Transformation, Bank and Payments Fraud, Card Issuance, Card Products (Credit, Debit, and Prepaid), Consumer Payments, Credit Products (Home, Student, Personal, and Auto Loans), Customer Onboarding, Digital Wallets, Financial Inclusion, Internet of Things, Lending and Related Technologies, Loan Processing, Mobile Banking, Online Banking, Open Banking, Person-to-Person (P2P) Payments, Real-Time Payments, Risk Management, Small-Business Banking, Small-Business Lending, Underwriting

Stewart Watterson is a Strategic Advisor in Aite-Novarica Group’s Retail Banking & Payments practice. He brings a broad range of experience from 30 years of consumer banking with Chase, NationalCity, and PNC, serving as SVP, Mobile Wallet & Emerging Payments.

His focus includes consumer lending within all asset classes, small-and-midsize-business unsecured lending, digital banking, credit card, and the intersection of fintech and legacy banking. After 20 years of supporting and managing product P&Ls, Stewart transitioned into digital banking technology. During this time, he managed the first of the top five banks’ EMV migrations, the first wave of mobile wallet integrations, and leading-edge mobile banking feature development. Stewart has become a trusted voice within the payments and digital banking industry through his involvement in the U.S. Payments Forum and industry conferences.

Most recently, Stewart has been providing independent consulting services to fintech companies, expanding into credit products and financial institutions on their digital transformation journeys. He has successfully brought a practitioner’s perspective to these engagements, providing practical and applicable strategies and advice.

Stewart is based in Cleveland, holds a B.A. in Public Administration from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and has graduated from the VISA BankCard Management School.

Latest Reports

Webinars

Thursday, February 23, 2023 | 11:00 a.m. ET | 5:00 p.m. CET

Embedded Finance Forum: Commercial and Retail Banking

In this session you will meet Aite-Novarica Group advisors who will share their latest research findings on current use case adoptions of embedded finance in commercial banking and retail banking. The conversation will also develop on potential use cases, on current issues and roadblocks, and on...

Enrico Camerinelli, Stewart Watterson

Tuesday, January 31, 2023 | 1:00 p.m. ET

The Path to Primary Financial Institution Status

In the midst of high inflation and financial uncertainty, now is the perfect time to reevaluate how your team can exceed consumer expectations and become their trusted advisor and, ultimately, their primary financial institution. What matters most to consumers in banking experiences? What can...

Stewart Watterson

Blogs

June 28, 2022

Banking May Not Be Apple’s Goal

Apple’s recent entrance into the buy now, pay later (BNPL) arena appears to be another incremental step toward its financial services goal. But what is that goal? We cannot assume it is to become a full-service bank. In many cases, Apple’s modus operandi is to cobble together existing technologies and services in a sleek and sophisticated way, as only Apple can do. Then it launches the new...

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Stewart Watterson