Dimitar Karivanov joins us now live on the trading floor of the big board.
He is president and CEO of Community Finance System, not just an amazing guest, but a guest who just rang the closing bell.
Thank you for taking a few extra minutes on a busy day.
Nice to see you.
Thank you, JD.
Great to be here.
First and foremost, what brings you and your team down here, not just to visit us here at the big board, but to actually close the markets and ring the closing bell?
What did the moment mean to you?
It means a lot.
We're actually celebrating 160 years this year for the company, and that's pretty special because less than 1% of companies.
Make it to 100 years, let alone 160 years.
Talk to us about the key priorities for community financial system for anyone watching who understands the industry writ large but may not be too familiar with your particular points of emphasis.
Yes, what's really different about us is that we're truly a diversified financial services company, so we actually have 30 people in 30 states, 4 large businesses, banking, wealth management, employee benefits, insurance, and that's really what helps us cross-service clients more. than others but also allows us to be very stable throughout the different economic cycles.
So talk to me a bit more about what you think a diversified model does for your clients that maybe the offerings they would get somewhere else does not quite provide them.
Exactly.
So imagine yourself that you're a business, right?
You need capital.
So that would be the bank.
Now you also need to protect yourself from the downside, so you need risk management and insurance.
You also need to have employees, so they need employment benefit plans, you know, your 401k, your FSA, everything else.
And then you start to make some money.
You're creating some wealth, and you need some asset protection and asset planning and growth for the future, so you can get all of that in one place with us and we crosser you in the most seamless way possible.
Let's take a step back.
Let's look at the industry over the next decade or so.
What do you think will most separate the winners from the losers in the world of banking over the next 10 years?
I think it's gonna be as always it's focus on your customers, focus on your colleagues, focus on your communities, and change management because we're evolving very quickly, so change management is really, really important.
I, I wouldn't be doing my job as a broadcast journalist in 2026 without asking you something about artificial intelligence.
Where do you see the biggest opportunities for your business in AI?
And where is the human element still more important than maybe any other piece of the equation?
Absolutely.
So the biggest element that we're working on as it relates to AI is removing the friction.
So if you think about what we do.
It's enabling people, but it's also friction.
Like you want a house, you don't want a mortgage, right?
So our mortgage process is a friction.
So we need to make that seamless for you, but the person is on the front end.
The person is where the trust is.
We're in the business of trust and integrity, so the human is gonna have an even larger role on the front end, and AI is gonna help us on the back end.
What comes next for your work at Community Finance Systems?
Some of the top priorities you're working on that most excites you in, in the short term coming up?
I'm really excited about our talent level, our ability to compete with anyone on anything, anywhere, and our ability to service customers in a more holistic way.
Dimitar Karavanov is the president and CEO of Community Finance System.
Just rang the closing bell here at the New York Stock Exchange, and I'm very lucky he joined us here on the show.
Great to see you.
Congratulations.
Thank you, Jaden.
We'll talk again soon.
