Remy Blaire: Whether it’s through tokenized deposit coins or stablecoins, Money20/20 is highlighting that institutions want payments to go cross-border seamlessly, but encounter traditional correspondent banking networks. Cross-border payments transition through multiple autonomous entities, creating friction as well as points of failure. Meanwhile, the originating institution does take accountability for customer outcomes, as modern payment frameworks are shifting this burden onto the front-end provider.
Well, joining us from the ground in Vegas at Money20/20 is Jim Douglas, SVP of global payments for PNC. Jim, great to have you here. Thank you so much for joining me.
Jim Douglas: Yeah, thanks. I’m glad to be here.
Remy Blaire: Well, it has been quite the Money20/20 this year, and we all know that trust is a word that we’ve been hearing a lot. So when it comes to cross-border payments, where is the trust?
Jim Douglas: Wow. You know, I think trust ultimately falls on the banks, right? There are so many possible points of failure when it comes to moving money domestically, let alone internationally, that ultimately our customers really look to PNC to manage that friction appropriately and provide them with services that they can trust. I mean, that’s key to anything we do.
Remy Blaire: And another theme that we’ve been focusing on here at Money20/20 is artificial intelligence, and we’re talking about agentic commerce. Accountability is a question that gets asked a lot. But where does accountability actually fall when we’re talking about payments in this day and age?
Jim Douglas: Wow. So I think one thing that sometimes people maybe overlook or forget is that “agent,” when it comes to financial transactions, is a legal term. It’s much more than just the agent that’s running on your phone or your app, right? And so it’s really important, as we look at how we delegate authority, whether that’s to an agent or to an individual, a financial services advisor, that that’s done in a pragmatic way. So I think, you know, we’re definitely excited to see where agentic payments go, and I’m excited to see it. There’s a lot happening here, as you said. We’ll continue to watch.
Remy Blaire: So when it comes to customer outcomes, when multiple providers are involved, where does that accountability equation end up?
Jim Douglas: Well, I mean, ultimately, again, consumers are always looking to the institutions, right? And I kind of think about it like a stablecoin, just to shift just a little bit, right? At the end of the day, a stablecoin, or a tokenized whatever, is only as good as your ability to get dollars back for it, right? And so when we think about payments or transactions and liability, all those things, at the end of the day, the bank is still accountable. And we want to make sure that we’re doing the best we can for our clients and for our shareholders as well, right?
Remy Blaire: And of course, I’m sure you’re having plenty of conversations with people on the ground as well as stakeholders. So what are some of the key takeaways from this year’s event for you?
Jim Douglas: Wow. I mean, without a doubt, KYC and fraud. I mean, everybody is talking about that, right? And how AI can be implemented into those services. I think the big challenge, speaking from my perspective, is really identifying where these organizations are adding value, and not just another AI wrapper, right? It’s really easy to plug AI into something and say, oh, this is AI-enabled. But in many instances, AI is not actually driving additional value. And so we really look at, where can we find partners that are going to provide economic value, and not just make things slightly faster?
Remy Blaire: And of course, we’re also focused on stablecoins here, not just stablecoins themselves in terms of adoption, but what the utility will be moving forward. So what is your perspective at PNC?
Jim Douglas: I mean, we’re definitely looking to our clients to help us with that, right? Like, where are they finding opportunities for using stablecoins or tokenized deposits? We’re definitely excited about the partnerships that we’ve announced. But I think that there’s definitely utility when it comes to cross-border payments. But again, it’s got to be more than just fast. We can move money fast today. Moving money fast is not the problem. It’s doing it in a way that makes sense for the client and makes sense for the bank.
Remy Blaire: And speaking of partnerships, for our viewers out there who were not here on the ground to learn about these partnerships, can you share some of them with us?
Jim Douglas: Well, I don’t want to get ahead of anything, right? And, you know, you can go and ask Google, or ask your AI agent, for what’s been publicly available. But, you know, we continue to find partners that are going to help us grow our business and provide the right services for our clients.
Remy Blaire: And finally, before I let you go, we are rounding out quite the year here in 2026 across markets. So what is your vision for 2027, and what is the outlook over at PNC?
Jim Douglas: Oh, I mean, I think we’re really optimistic about what’s coming ahead. I think there are a lot of really great things that we’re doing, from the commercial bank to the consumer bank, really to provide services for our clients. And then as we look at our continued expansion, I think we’ve done a great job in North America this year, really as a national bank, right? And we’ve got offices in Canada as well. And so we’re continuing that expansion and growth.
Remy Blaire: Well, it’s so great having you on the show. Thank you so much for joining us early in the day here in Las Vegas at Money20/20.
Jim Douglas: Thanks. Thank you so much.
