--- title: How Vault.Bank Launched Digital Banking Without Launching Fraud source_page: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/digital-transformation-in-banking canonical: https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/digital-transformation-in-banking format: text/markdown date: 2026-08-12T04:01:00.000Z description: Digital transformation in banking doesn't have to mean more fraud. Vault.Bank grew deposits 5x with lean fraud ops, fast KYC, and the right partners… --- **Quick links:** [Human page](https://www.sardine.ai/media/fraud-forward/episodes/digital-transformation-in-banking) · [Home](https://www.sardine.ai) · [Customers](https://www.sardine.ai/customers) · [Blog](https://www.sardine.ai/blog) · [Demo](https://www.sardine.ai/demo) --- # How Vault.Bank Launched Digital Banking Without Launching Fraud **Published:** 2026-08-12T04:01:00.000Z Digital transformation in banking doesn't have to mean more fraud. Vault.Bank grew deposits 5x with lean fraud ops, fast KYC, and the right partners… What’s up fraud fighters, and welcome back to Fraud Forward! Community banks know they need digital transformation in banking to stay competitive. They also know one bad launch can overwhelm a fraud team, frustrate customers, and torch years of trust. So today we're going beyond the headline case study to unpack how one community bank actually pulled it off. I'm joined by Omar Hamden, Chief Experience Officer at Vault.Bank, and Jorge Garcia, CEO of Linker Finance, to talk about how a 120-year-old community bank in Broadhead, Wisconsin turned itself into a digital brand, without opening the door to the fraud everyone assumes comes with it. Omar didn’t want a system that approved everyone or treated every customer like a suspect. He wanted risk-based account opening that could actually tell the difference, and it worked. Fraud losses in digital banking at Vault have stayed close to zero since launch, with onboarding now taking about three minutes, funding included. Most banks assume digital growth means a bigger fraud team. Vault runs its entire fraud and onboarding operation with two people. That's it. No army of analysts, just the right core banking integration and automation in place from day one. Jorge breaks down why vendor selection for community bank leaders, not the technology, is usually the real blocker for community banks trying to launch digitally, and how Linker built a turnkey approach so Vault didn't have to stitch together a dozen point solutions on its own. The numbers back all of it up. Vault grew deposits 16% year over year, five times its prior growth rate, and customer retention rate sits close to 90%. If your institution is weighing a digital brand launch in community banking, this digital banking case study is the one to send to your board. What you'll hear in this episode: How Vault.Bank and Linker Finance came together to launch a digital-only brand for a community bank under $300 million in assets. Why risk-based account opening matters more than trying to hit zero fraud alerts. How identity verification and KYC digital onboarding got built to satisfy auditors without slowing down real customers. Why Vault runs its entire fraud and onboarding operation with a team of two people, and how core banking integration and automated decisioning make that possible. How vendor selection for community bank leaders became the real blocker in digital brand launches, more than the technology itself. The deposit growth strategies for banks that helped Vault grow deposits 16% year over year, five times its prior growth rate. Why customer retention rate matters just as much as acquisition, and how nearly 90% retention changed the growth conversation. What's next as Vault plans national digital banking expansion beyond Wisconsin. Who should listen: Community bank leaders considering a digital brand launch in community banking. Fraud and risk professionals evaluating fraud losses in digital banking and looking for real, verifiable numbers. Bank executives weighing vendor selection for community bank technology partnerships. Anyone curious how lean fraud team operations actually work without a large analyst team. Community banks exploring small business lending and neobank technology in community banks as growth levers. Boards and leadership teams trying to build the business case for bank compliance automation and best of breed banking technology. ### Episode notes The three fears behind every digital launch Omar and Jorge walk through the three fears that nearly stopped this project before it started: getting flooded with fraud, needing an army of analysts, and simply not knowing where to begin. Every one of those fears is common across community banking, and naming them directly is what made it possible to solve for them one at a time. Building risk-based account opening that actually works Omar explains why the goal was never zero alerts. It was building a system that could tell the difference between higher-risk activity and legitimate customers moving efficiently through digital account opening. That distinction is what kept fraud losses in digital banking close to zero at Vault since launch. KYC digital onboarding, from in-person to three minutes Traditional KYC meant a face-to-face relationship and a physical ID. Vault had to rebuild that trust digitally, and had to do it in a way that satisfied auditors asking, quite reasonably, how a two-person team was verifying identity at scale. Onboarding now takes about three minutes, funding included. Running fraud operations with two people Automation handles the predictable activity. Core banking integration and self-service decisioning tools mean Omar's small team can focus their attention on judgment calls and customer relationships instead of manual review queues. Solving the vendor selection problem Jorge breaks down why so many community banks stall out on vendor selection for community bank technology, not because the technology doesn't exist, but because nobody has simplified the decision. Linker's turnkey, best of breed banking technology approach was built specifically to solve that. The numbers: Deposit growth and retention Vault grew deposits 16% year over year, compared to 3% the year before, a five times acceleration tied directly to this partnership. Customer retention rate sitting close to 90% is the number Jorge says he's proudest of, since it proves the growth is durable, not just a spike. What's next: Expanding beyond Wisconsin With the model proven at a regional scale, Vault is now planning national digital banking expansion, a move that felt unthinkable to the team just a couple of years ago. ### Key takeaways Digital transformation in banking does not require choosing between growth and fraud prevention. The goal of a strong fraud program isn't zero alerts, it's telling good customers apart from bad actors efficiently. KYC digital onboarding can satisfy both auditors and customer experience expectations at the same time. A lean fraud team can operate successfully at scale when core banking integration and automation are handled correctly from day one. Vendor selection for community bank partnerships is often the biggest blocker to launching digital, not the technology itself. Deposit growth strategies for banks work best when paired with strong customer retention rate tracking, not acquisition numbers alone. Fraud false positives and identity verification challenges get solved through partnership and iteration, not a single perfect launch. Trust between fintech and bank partners has to be established early, since that relationship carries the weight of the entire program. A successful digital brand launch in community banking can become a repeatable model for national digital banking expansion. Best of breed banking technology, brought together through the right partners, can outperform building everything in-house. ### Final takeaway Digital transformation in banking isn't about choosing between growth and security. It's about bringing together the right strategy, the right partners, and the right technology to make both possible, without losing the relationships that make community banking different in the first place. Stay vigilant, stay informed, and keep moving fraud forward. Episode resources & links Connect with Omar H. | LinkedIn CXO, Digital Innovation @ Vault.Bank Connect with Jorge Garcia | LinkedIn Founder and CEO of Linker Finance Connect with Hailey Windham, CFCS | LinkedIn Host of the Fraud Forward Podcast Banking Community Lead at Sardine Certified Financial Crimes Specialist (CFCS) 2023 Credit Union Rockstar, CU Magazine Continuous Improvement Award, SAFE Federal Credit Union, 2023 Top 20 Professionals Under 40, The Sumter Item, 2022