What CFOs at banks and credit unions are doing to prepare for 2026

CFOs across financial institutions are steering their organizations through rapid change, balancing IPO readiness, regulatory compliance, mergers and acquisitions, and technology adoption. In a recent Elliott Davis webinar, three finance leaders shared candid insights on what it takes to lead today and position their organizations for the future:

• JP Lapointe, CFO of Needham Bank, which went public in 2023 and now boasts $7 billion in assets
• Marcus Bowen, CFO of Self-Help Credit Union (SHCU) and Self-Help Federal Credit Union (SHFCU), state- and federally chartered credit unions
• Paul Thompson, CFO of Integro Bank, a small-business-focused lender serving Arizona, Southern California, and Nevada

How do you build the right team and culture to prepare for an IPO?

For organizations considering an IPO within the next few years, JP Lapointe emphasized that success starts with people, processes, and strong controls:

“Make sure you have the right team, the right people in the right seats on the bus.

Second is data. Reporting requirements for a public company are a lot different […] Make sure you have the data scrubbed […] and an easy way to report on it.

Regulators just increased the FDICIA requirement from $1 billion to $5 billion, but it’s best practice to have internal controls in place whether you’re [subject to] FDICIA or SOX. It’s a cultural shift. Make sure you have the people who understand internal controls and can bring it to SOX compliance because it could get here quicker than you thought.”

Lapointe noted that preparing for public-company scrutiny means investing in data integrity and reconciliation systems while educating teams outside of accounting and finance because controls belong to everyone.

“We just implemented a reconciliation software [with] variance analysis and signoffs. Other departments sometimes think processes are controls, but someone reviewing it is a control; doing it is a process. Documenting what people did as part of that control is the hurdle in getting people aligned on an internal control structure to pass SOX audits.”

How do you maintain resilience in the wake of regulatory challenges?

Marcus Bowen highlighted the operational challenges posed by the 2025 government shutdown and the importance of resilience for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs):

“[The shutdown] slowed down processing. Thankfully, they’re back to work. The latest Senate Appropriations bill has funding for the CDFI Fund. We’re hopeful it will be restored and fully operational. The CDFI Fund is a very bipartisan effort in Congress.

Becoming a CDFI requires ongoing reporting and good underlying data, good transactional data. We [need] strong data and internal controls infrastructure to report to the federal government.”

Paul Thompson echoed similar lessons from the Small Business Administration (SBA) shutdown:

“Small businesses are all we do. When the SBA shut down, it was a problem—we could not sell SBA loans. We’re a preferred SBA lender. That SBA guarantee matters to our legal lending limit and how we view credit risk. We respect and value our relationship with the SBA, but make no mistake, having them shut down was a challenge.”

What should banks do to prepare for integration after a deal?

With a wave of mergers expected in 2026, integration is top of mind. Lapointe shared Needham Bank’s approach to its recent acquisition of BankProv:

“We’re not going to do an acquisition if it doesn’t meet our needs. [BankProv] checked all the boxes. We were both on the same core, merged and converted the same weekend […] and Monday morning we were up and running as one bank. Their people are talented, [including] an in-house development team [with] about 900 APIs that interface with customers’ ERP systems. They’re moving our technology office forward two to two and a half years. We kept around 75–80% of their employees.”

Bowen added that technology integration is often the hardest part:

“Doing a merger and a core conversion in the same weekend—that’s awesome. We’ve done four mergers this past year—two in the state charter union and two in the federal credit union. We haven’t converted any of that yet, and it’s a lot to do.

What are we focused on [in 2026]? It’s challenging. People want better technology. Every time you integrate a new system, our IT team bears the brunt of it, but everything ultimately has a financial statement impact and a finance impact.

The tech focus takes a lot of our internal time and capacity. The needs of consumers are becoming more tech focused. The speed at which things are happening is a constant drive for us.

[Disjointed systems] are frustrating from a consumer perspective. M&A and software is where the real work comes in—to integrate those. It’s not just about aligning people but also processes and systems to make it smoother for the consumer.”

How is your bank adopting AI and keeping up with new technologies?

AI adoption is accelerating, but CFOs are balancing innovation with risk management.

• Paul Thompson: “We’re embarking on an artificial intelligence initiative to potentially attend to some of our routine and repetitive tasks. We’ve used [AI] for marketing pretty effectively. We are planning to automate some functions using agentic AI.”
• Marcus Bowen: “We have a policy [prohibiting] staff from uploading sensitive PII (personally identifiable information) into [AI]. People can use CoPilot and ChatGPT for research, but we have to be clear with staff about uploading any PII data.”
• JP Lapointe: “We have CoPilot for senior management. Our reconciliation software has an AI-matching tool we implemented over the last couple months. Hopefully, it saves us several hours a day. [We’re] looking at opportunities to create efficiencies […] and make people’s lives easier.”

Looking ahead, what are your plans for growth and mitigating risk?

Managing expenses while funding loan demand is a constant challenge. From interest rate shifts to stablecoin, CFOs are preparing for uncertainty:

“Quantitative tightening has shown its face, and we’re all fighting for dollars to fund deposit growth. tablecoin and tokenized deposits are a challenge as we move forward. The loan demand is there, but how do we fund it? Everything is getting more expensive—people, health insurance, growth,” Lapointe noted. “Finding technology to alleviate some of those expenses lets people become more efficient across the institution.”

Thompson added, “We bank with heart. We really care about our borrowers. Our lending decisions are not made through a machine, they’re made by people […] We want to continue to grow our small business lending base and deposit base. We’re growing our portfolio [by] about 100% a year, so you can imagine liquidity and funding and lending limits and capital ratios—we’ve got to be where the hockey puck is going to be. That’s a challenge, and so far, so good.”

Meanwhile, Bowen is focused on tech-driven consumer expectations, emphasizing that integration and innovation will define success.

Key Takeaways for Finance Leaders

• Invest in culture and controls for IPO readiness and regulatory compliance.
• Build resilience against external shocks with diversified funding and strong data infrastructure.
• Plan for integration early in M&A—technology and people matter as much as financials.
• Adopt AI strategically, balancing efficiency gains with governance.
• Stay agile in managing costs and responding to emerging risks.

We Can Help

At Elliott Davis, we help financial institutions navigate regulatory compliance, strategic growth, technology adoption, and operational resilience. Whether you’re preparing for an IPO, strengthening internal controls, integrating after a merger, or exploring AI-driven efficiencies, our Financial Services Group brings deep experience and guidance.

Let’s work together. Contact us today to start the conversation.

The information provided in this communication is of a general nature and should not be considered professional advice. You should not act upon the information provided without obtaining specific professional advice. The information above is subject to change.