((L-R, Top to Bottom) Wendy McGrane, Chris DuPont, Cory Allen, Michelle Loftsgard, Gary O’Connell and Kevin Cole)
Wendy McGrane
Vice President // Business Banking Manager
U.S. Bank
usbank.com
How is your company currently using AI? In what capacity and how do you see it shaping the future of the banking industry?
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are used across U.S. Bank, with many different areas of our company leveraging its benefits to enhance how we do business.
Our strategy with AI focuses on enabling new experiences and unlocking efficiencies to power human potential. We are using AI not just for the sake of AI, but to solve problems, improve experiences and enhance operations.
AI has practical applications across Risk, Fraud, Operations, Technology, Human Resources, Customer Experience, Digital, Marketing and Data/Analytics. We have teams in each of these areas who serve as subject matter experts to stay on top of current developments and to ensure we are using resources wisely to take advantage of the tools.
AI is a powerful tool to augment human work, allowing employees to spend less time on mundane tasks and more time on high-value activity – increasing efficiency, productivity and job satisfaction, while providing clients with better service. For this reason, it’s going to be present in many aspects of our collective lives, including banking.
How are you addressing the rise in cybercrimes, including AI deep fakes and other scams?
Leveraging AI and machine learning has allowed us to be more efficient and prevent fraud. To date, fraud detection and prevention is a top scalable use case for AI and machine learning. That is why U.S. Bank has deployed AI/ML in fraud detection because of its speed and capability to sort billions of datapoints quickly. We will continue to prioritize use cases that help us fight bad actors deploying these same tools against us.
Additionally, we recognize the importance of safeguarding our customers’ financial data and records from individual interactions with our bankers. Our clients expect the highest standards of data security and privacy, and we are fully committed to fulfilling our responsibility in safeguarding it. That is why we ensure that all data is strictly contained within our AI models inside our secure environment. This data is neither accessible to external parties nor shared with any Large Language Models outside our organization. We are committed to staying educated and aware of the inherent bias and risks these technologies contain. This strategy ensures we address these risks before implementation.
Are deposit and loan activity staying in line with traditional banking history? Any trends?
Deposit and loan activity remains generally consistent with traditional banking patterns, with several notable trends emerging as businesses seek both stability and flexibility in today’s environment.
On the deposit side, many of our business clients are focused on maximizing earnings on operating and excess cash while preserving liquidity for upcoming investments. We are seeing strong interest in money market solutions, particularly among businesses that want to earn a competitive return while keeping funds readily accessible for their next major purchase, expansion, or hiring initiative. We are also proactively working with clients who anticipate receiving large tariff‑related reimbursements, helping them plan for how those funds can best support their goals.
From a lending perspective, activity has been healthy across several key areas such as equipment finance, particularly for manufacturing companies, operating lines of credit, and owner‑occupied commercial real estate.
With an ever more crowded selection of options for depositors, tell us about how your institution is addressing bank liquidity.
Competition for deposits has certainly increased, but at U.S. Bank we view this environment as an opportunity to differentiate through strong relationships, prudent balance‑sheet management, and thoughtful advice.
Liquidity management starts with our focus on deep, comprehensive relationships, rather than transactional banking. We reward clients based on their total relationship with the bank, not individual products. This approach encourages long‑term partnerships and allows us to align deposit solutions with lending, treasury management, and personal banking needs. We believe this relationship‑driven, whole‑bank style is what creates lasting value for our clients and sustainable liquidity for the bank.
U.S. Bank’s liquidity strength is also supported by scale and diversification, combining the resources of a national institution with strong local execution. In the Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson County tri‑county area, U.S. Bank operates ten retail branches and holds approximately 19% of total market deposits, ranking among the top financial institutions locally. Importantly, that market share has remained stable over the years, reflecting the durability of our core deposit relationships even in a competitive environment.
Additional comments?
What sets U.S. Bank apart in Central Oregon is our ability to combine national resources with a deeply local team and perspective. Our bankers, advisors and support teams are based here in the community, bringing together expertise across business banking, retail banking, mortgage, and wealth management. This locally integrated approach allows us to support clients holistically – whether they’re running a growing business, managing personal finances, or planning for what’s next.
We believe the strongest banking relationships are built on trust, continuity and a genuine understanding of our clients’ goals. Our teams take the time to listen and collaborate, offering thoughtful guidance through changing economic conditions and across every stage of growth. Just as importantly, we’re committed to Central Oregon for the long term and remain actively invested in the success of the businesses, families and organizations that make this region thrive.
For those who don’t currently bank with U.S. Bank, we welcome the opportunity to connect, learn more about your priorities, and demonstrate the value of working with a local team backed by the strength and stability of a national institution.
Chris DuPont
SVP – Commercial Market Manager, Central Oregon Commercial Banking
Columbia Bank
ColumbiaBank.com
How is your company currently using AI? In what capacity and how do you see it shaping the future of the banking industry?
In 2024, we set up a council to develop a framework and policies for strategically deploying AI technology in light of regulatory, privacy, transparency, fairness and safety considerations. Our focus with all technology, including AI-related technology, is simple: deploy solutions that reduce toil for our associates and friction for our customers. So, we’re implementing solutions that enhance customer experience, make us an easier bank to do business with and complement our unique brand of relationship-focused banking. This includes solutions that directly empower substantive and timely customer engagement and those that streamline back-office processes to improve efficiency and responsiveness.
AI will be transformative for the banking industry and, if deployed well, significantly improve customer experience, fraud safeguards, efficiency and productivity. Rapid advances in technology will make it imperative for regulatory guardrails to be responsive and keep pace and for banks to have robust governance and accountability to ensure they deploy solutions responsibly.
How are you addressing the rise in cybercrimes, including AI deep fakes and other scams?
Because these crimes typically have a financial component, banks are on the frontlines of fraud prevention. It’s one of the first topics business customers want to discuss when we’re introduced. Educating our customers is a major priority and involves a number of formal and informal engagements about their preparedness: From in-branch messaging to formal fraud prevention events we hold with various experts across our markets to educate customers about the latest threats and what they can do to ensure their employees, internal controls and financial processes are dialed.
We also strongly encourage our customers to implement simple controls, such as dual payment approvals within digital banking applications, biometric and multi-factor identity verification, as well as Positive Pay solutions to prevent ACH and check fraud. It’s worth noting that while sophisticated AI deepfakes are a problem, good old-fashioned check fraud remains a significant threat for businesses. Moving to automated payment solutions, which we provide, is encouraged because they reduce transaction touchpoints and human errors, which are vulnerabilities criminals exploit.
Importantly, we emphasize with customers that they can always pick up the phone and call a member of their banking team (at a previously verified number) about a suspicious request. We recently helped one customer save more than $600,000 on a fraudulent wire transfer thanks to working together and digging deeper into the email request.
Are deposit and loan activity staying in line with traditional banking history? Any trends?
This all really depends. There are many variables at play including personal accounts and various business types. Technically speaking, there appears to be a trend of shrinking personal deposits and increasing consumer debt on credit cards, etc. Much of this was influenced by the pandemic and the “COVID” money has essentially run out. Higher cost of living on the consumer side is driving some of this as well.
On the business side we are seeing higher utilization of internally generated cash flows for operations leading to higher utilization of deposit and treasury management services. Lending activity is starting to ramp back up but has been tempered by higher interest rates over the past few years. Different business industries are peaking while others are dropping, but it is the nature of business. The evolution of financial products utilizing electronic methods is speeding up money movement. Overall, in my opinion we are seeing more transactional business with higher deposits and more treasury management services and less demand on loans.
With an ever more crowded selection of options for depositors, tell us about how your institution is addressing bank liquidity.
First and foremost, we are very focused on what we do best and has been the differentiator for our success through the ups and downs of market cycles: building deep, long-term relationships that deliver for customers and create value way beyond the transaction. As a result of this focus, we have very low loan default rates and a stable deposit base that is granular and diverse geographically and across sectors.
It’s important to note that Columbia Bank has tripled in asset size the past five years, which has positioned us for strong organic growth moving forward. Here in Oregon and Washington, our 10% market share rivals larger national banks. We now rank as a top 10 depositor in Southern California and have tremendous opportunity for organic growth in our de novo markets across the West. For us, it’s really about unlocking the potential of our unique brand of relationship banking, resources and technology enhancements to go deeper with current customers and continue attracting new ones. Adding top local banking talent to strengthen teams in our legacy markets and build best-in-class teams in our newer markets also remains a top priority, as well as strengthening our fee income through our outstanding treasury and wealth management teams.
Cory Allen
SVP, Team Leader // Central Oregon
Washington Trust Bank
watrust.com
How is your company currently using AI? In what capacity and how do you see it shaping the future of the banking industry?
AI is an important component of our overall technology and business strategy. Today, we are using it primarily to remove low‑value, manual work so our teams can focus on higher‑value activities that better serve our customers. We are building a strong foundation for advanced capabilities, including secure employee chat tools, embedded AI within vendor platforms, and intelligent automation across processes, controls, and risk management.
Because there is no clear precedent for deploying advanced AI in a highly regulated environment, we’ve taken a disciplined “test‑and‑learn” approach — establishing governance frameworks, employee policies, and oversight that will also support audits and exams. Looking ahead, we believe AI will reshape banking by driving efficiency, strengthening risk management, and enabling more personalized, data‑driven services. Avoiding AI is itself a risk, and we see the next few years as pivotal for the industry’s evolution.
How are you addressing the rise in cybercrimes, including AI deep fakes and other scams?
Fraud prevention is a team effort. Washington Trust provides the technology, expertise, and resources, while our customers bring knowledge and awareness of scams, which is a critical layer of control. This year we launched our Fraud stops with you campaign with social content and monthly newsletter to educate customers on how fraud tactics are evolving and advancing, including the deployment of deepfakes. And later this spring we’ll be releasing a fraud prevention playbook with tactics to help businesses not only defend against fraud, but also go on the offensive.
Yet even with increasingly technology-driven scams, identity theft by fraudsters stealing someone’s personal information remains one of the top ways scams are perpetrated. Federal Trade Commission data on consumer fraud reflects this fact. That’s why we continue to host our free annual Shred Day events across the Northwest, which provide an easy way to properly dispose of sensitive documents. We’ll be hosting one at our Bend branch on September 25.
Are deposit and loan activity staying in line with traditional banking history? Any trends?
Generally, deposits and loans are in line with what we have seen in recent years and reflective of our commitment to a fortress balance sheet. Year-over-year, deposits were up 1% and loans were up 7% at the end of Q4.
With an ever more crowded selection of options for depositors, tell us about how your institution is addressing bank liquidity?
Next year, Washington Trust will celebrate 125 years of serving the Northwest. We’re privately held, which means that we don’t answer to Wall St. or other outside interests. We focus on serving our clients and communities to the best of our abilities, so we put a premium on sound business practices, constant innovation, and deep expertise. This has resulted in our maintaining a conservative fortress balance sheet that prioritizes high liquidity and capital reserves.
Washington Trust also remains focused on local banking. Our approach to growth is “one customer, one employee at a time.” As larger banks continue to consolidate or close their doors, we’ve found that many depositors prefer the experience that only a local, relationship-driven bank can provide. We opened our Bend branch in 2021 and have since opened three more branches in the Northwest, bringing our total to 45. Our customers value and are assured by the fact that they can walk into their local branch and speak face-to-face with a personal banker regarding their needs.
Michelle Loftsgard
AVP, Area Manager
OnPoint Community Credit Union
onpointcu.com
How is your company currently using AI? In what capacity and how do you see it shaping the future of the banking industry?
OnPoint Community Credit Union implements AI tools to analyze data to discover insights into how our members use our products, and identify ways our products could be improved. We know that AI has and will continue to change the business landscape, and we will work to ensure the safety and soundness of our institution for our members.
How are you addressing the rise in cybercrimes, including AI deep fakes and other scams?
Scam tactics like video and audio deepfakes are becoming increasingly advanced (and harder to spot) thanks to AI. Scammers can also use AI to increase the volume of their attacks and the number of channels they use to target potential victims. We continue to prioritize cybersecurity and scam education as a key line of defense for our members and community. We also look for new tools, technology, and controls to help identify and prevent scams.
Are deposit and loan activity staying in line with traditional banking history? Any trends?
Credit union loan growth in 2025 averaged 5% year over year, while deposit growth averaged 4.1%. OnPoint grew its loans by 6.4% and gross deposits by 11.1% in 2025. Over the last few years, we have invested in products and services and grown our small business banking offerings. Our commercial lending program also had a record year in 2025. Deposit growth was driven by OnPoint’s competitive product offerings and rates, resulting in almost $1 billion in deposit growth in 2025. Our branch network and charter footprint continue to grow, and complement our investment in online banking and other channels to reach members.
With an ever more crowded selection of options for depositors, tell us about how your institution is addressing bank liquidity.
OnPoint maintains liquidity by holding a conservative investment portfolio, keeping sufficient cash on hand to meet member needs, and having safeguards in place to absorb market shocks. We also benefit from a high proportion of insured deposits, with very low levels of uninsured balances, which provides added reassurance to members and depositors seeking a safe and stable place to keep their money. With an increasingly crowded and competitive deposit environment, we remain focused on prudent balance sheet management and strong member relationships. We are comfortable with our liquidity and capital levels, and despite recent market volatility and interest rate uncertainty, we are well positioned for continued success and growth.
Gary O’Connell
EVP, Market President
Summit Bank
sbko.bank
How is your company currently using AI? In what capacity and how do you see it shaping the future of the banking industry?
Summit Bank’s use of AI started by forming a strategy. The bank has an active AI Task Force. Our governing AI strategy began with how we will never use AI: in any capacity where we detect that the confidentiality of our client information could be even remotely at risk. We also never intend to implement AI as a lower cost alternative to what we function best at, which is people doing business with people. Guided by these principles, we have found a few fully vetted technology solutions that have aided in the client interface (mobile and online banking), operational efficiency, enhanced credit analysis to make faster human led local credit decisions (we do not credit score our decisions), and fraud prevention. We have experienced positive results based on client and banker feedback. We will continue to garner client and banker feedback to make additional investments as they develop.
How are you addressing the rise in cybercrimes, including AI deep fakes and other scams?
Of the numerous applications available with AI, fighting cyber crimes and other forms of fraud has been the focus of our AI investment. From our enhanced CIP (Customer Identification Program) and “know your client” protocols to enhanced AI private transaction monitoring, we are taking every measure to proactively fight cyber crime and fraud. For instance, we recently brought on Verafin, an AI solution that detects potential fraudulent transactions that the human eye may miss. It catches multiple fraud attempts daily. Our bankers promptly contact the client or business decision maker to address the matter. It has been a very impactful tool. Aside from AI, our “know your client” protocols prevent fraud daily. Rather than using out of area call centers with employees who may not be familiar with the client, our local banking officers familiar with the business client monitor their activity. If an email or phone request from a client appears to vary from their normal behavior, we’ll call the client instantly to verify the request. We encourage every client to utilize our complimentary Positive Pay feature to monitor check presentment activity. It is the cheapest and easiest fraud insurance tool a business banking client can have. We utilize a similar solution, ACH filter, to monitor client ACH activity and alert them as appropriate.
Are deposit and loan activity staying in line with traditional banking history? Any trends?
Summit Bank’s deposit and loan activity is dependent on local economic activity, market conditions (interest rates), and changing consumption patterns. By almost every key performance measure, the business climate in Oregon is sluggish and we are starting to see this impact in Central Oregon. With higher interest rates than in years past, business loan demand has softened moderately. Despite this, Summit Bank was one of the few banks to growth both loans and deposits in Oregon last year. The bank’s Central Oregon Advisory Board, a cross-section of local business leaders, recently met and discussed the stagnation in Central Oregon and what we can do to help. The multi-family sector has softened, with vacancies at levels that could take five years to fully absorb. The industrial sector remains strong but has slowed in some areas, and the office market remains flat albeit healthier than Portland and other areas. The general commercial and industrial environment shows mixed signals, with some locally based traded-sector companies thriving while other businesses more dependent on the local economy have flattened or slowed. These factors impact deposit and loan activity. In the changing marketplace, we monitor online banks, alternative or non-banks, and out-of-area based banks. Oregon is severely underbanked with only 12 banks headquartered here, so our strategy has been to continue to invest and grow market share in our Oregon markets despite economic headwinds. As for consumption patterns in banking, it is our belief that technology exists to augment transactions and our local teams of bankers exist to personally manage business client relationships. The transactional part of banking has been greatly enhanced in ways that our clients can appreciate: our investments in fraud prevention, operational efficiency and integration with client accounting systems, and Real Time Payments (RTP), enabling clients to receive funds instantly. In summary, our strategy to maintain deposit and loan activity is to grow market share by earning our clients’ business every day, and by making meaningful technology investments in areas pertinent to the changing marketplace.
With an ever more crowded selection of options for depositors, tell us about how your institution is addressing bank liquidity.
We address liquidity often. Like the businesses we serve, liquidity and capital are the lifeblood of our bank. Our Asset Liability Committee meets a minimum of quarterly. There, we try to “break our bank” utilizing every stress test and worst-case scenario we can imagine. As of our most recently availably public data for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, we had zero reliance on wholesale funding, We had cash and available for-sale securities of $204 million or 15% of assets. This amount, combined with available unutilized borrowing capacity, surpasses the total of our deposits in excess of client FDIC limits. We often remind ourselves that we earn our independence every day, and ensuring our financial sustainability with rigorous asset-liability management is a key part of that.
Kevin Cole
President // CEO
Mid Oregon Credit Union
midoregon.com
How is your company currently using AI? In what capacity and how do you see it shaping the future of the banking industry?
Mid Oregon Credit Union has been leveraging AI for consumer loan underwriting and fraud prevention for several years, initially focusing on predictive AI applications. We are now starting to explore generative AI use cases, particularly in our phone and chat systems, marketing, and content creation. While AI holds great promise, it currently falls short of delivering the level of service our members expect from us. Service quality is not something we are willing to sacrifice. Because of this, our deployment will be very intentional and limited to areas where generative AI can make our member experience better.
As we look to the future, we recognize that AI will play a significant role in banking. However, we will proceed only once the technology has matured and proven its reliability. While many are excited about the potential for cost savings, we believe it’s crucial to consider the possible negative impact on consumers that can arise from premature AI integration. Our focus remains on maintaining the high standards of trust and service our members deserve.
How are you addressing the rise in cybercrimes, including AI deep fakes and other scams?
Our members continue to experience an increase in attempted fraud. Fraud is one area where AI has improved the quality of the attempted fraud. It has also increased the efficiency of those committing fraud. It is a race between the AI-based fraud prevention solutions we deploy, and the AI-based fraud attempts that plague our members daily.
We have increased our efforts to educate members about current fraud threats and common scams, including partnering with local police departments and sheriff’s offices to host fraud prevention workshops, our Fraud Prevention Fridays with KTVZ, and our website which features a dedicated security webpage, educational blogs, and free access to Stickley on Security articles.
While we deploy sophisticated tech and education, the most important fraud prevention tool remains our employees. They are trained to ask the right questions and identify fraudulent activity. Our local team of professionals respond to potential fraud and proactively engage with members to assist in resolving any issues.
The emergence of deep fakes and other AI generated fraud content is a challenge, because it has the potential to deceive our fraud detection and prevention systems. The scope and scale of the fraud issue is enormous. As an industry, fraud is a $12.5 billion annual business, with complex systems and organizations that look like a multi-national corporation. AI is allowing it to grow and scale at a faster pace, challenging the systems and processes we use to prevent fraud.
Are deposit and loan activity staying in line with traditional banking history? Any trends?
There has been consistent growth in loans and deposits at Mid Oregon, aligning with our recent trends and organizational goals. Central Oregonians are actively seeking loans for vehicle purchases, home acquisitions, and home improvement projects. We are also witnessing promising developments in commercial lending activity.
Our members are increasingly focused on maximizing the value of their money, which is why we introduced the Value Plus checking account. This new product offers significant discounts on services that members might find at much higher rates elsewhere, helping them save more.
Another emerging trend is the rise of non-traditional lenders. These entities initially focused on personal loans and are now expanding into vehicle and home equity lending. While their processes are quick, they often lack the personal touch required for more complex financial needs. At Mid Oregon, we pride ourselves on providing in-person support, guiding our members through intricate financial decisions. This commitment to personalized service is where we truly excel.
With an ever more crowded selection of options for depositors, tell us about how your institution is addressing bank liquidity.
Mid Oregon is an important driver of economic activity in Central Oregon, serving one out of every four households in the region. Our members know that when they deposit their funds with us, those funds are reinvested into the local community, supporting their neighbors and the businesses that employ them.
In the era of technology and AI, Mid Oregon remains focused on the relationships we have with the people and businesses that trust us with their finances. While some banks have closed or are closing their Central Oregon locations, Mid Oregon continues to invest in new and upgraded locations to better serve our members.
Like everyone else, our depositors are focused on maximizing the value of their deposits and getting the best combination of rates, service, and access to their money. We have responded by creating new deposit products, improving our deposit rates, and creating products that serve our members across different levels of wealth and income.
We use a variety of tools to manage liquidity to make sure we have enough money to meet the need for credit in the communities we serve. The most important strategy is to do a really good job delivering value and quality service to those who trust us with their deposits. The best strategy for liquidity is to earn and build trust every day, while maintaining sources of emergency liquidity for adverse market conditions.
