This year's Connect broke several records, welcoming approximately 4,000 attendees and 280 fintech vendors to the exhibit hall. For banks and credit unions, the conference offers an opportunity to learn more about Jack Henry's technology while exploring innovative solutions from across the fintech ecosystem, all under one roof. For fintechs, it's a great opportunity to connect directly with potential customers, with banker attendance among the highest of any industry conference.
The conference had a mix of main stage presentations and breakout sessions, giving attendees direct access to Jack Henry's leadership team and their outlook, as well as insights from partners like Moov, Visa and Mastercard, and executives from banks and credit unions. There were also special guests, including one of my personal favorites, Kyla Scanlon, CNN economic analyst and author of “In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work”. She delivered an overview of the six forces shaping today's economy, from energy markets and Federal Reserve policy to AI investment and consumer sentiment.
There was plenty of news on Jack Henry's product roadmap. We heard updates on the Jack Henry Platform, a cloud-native, open-architecture ecosystem that brings together core banking, digital applications, payments and data services. We also got a preview of Moov Money, a new P2P payments solution that lets consumers send money through Visa and Mastercard debit card networks, without needing to use the same payment app.
Another highlight was Jack Henry's expanded collaboration with Google Cloud, which enables banks and credit unions to offer tokenized deposits through Google Cloud Universal Ledger, opening the door to new payment capabilities and 24/7 settlement. AI was also a major focus, with Jack Henry sharing how it's incorporated AI into its products, from automating lending processes to helping financial institutions detect and investigate fraud more efficiently.
Beyond product updates, the sessions offered broader industry perspectives, covering how AI agents will transform both customer-facing and back-office banking operations, the growing role of stablecoins and how they differ from tokenized deposits, and how financial institutions can navigate the evolving regulatory landscape.
This year's Connect was also a celebration of a major milestone: Jack Henry's 50th anniversary. From ringing the Nasdaq opening bell to parties in Kansas City's Power & Light District and soccer stadium, the festivities celebrated five decades of innovation (as long as Apple!) and, most importantly, the people and customers who made it all possible.
It's always a pleasure to attend Connect, spend time with the Jack Henry team and reconnect with so many familiar faces across the industry. We're already looking forward to next year's conference in Denver!