SVP, Product Lead
U.S. Bank
Kristen Link is currently SVP of Business Banking Integrated Experience Product for U.S. Bank. In this role, she focuses on bringing together the bank's banking, software, and payments products into one seamless experience for its small businesses. Over the last 20 plus years her scope and charter have grown, from selling banking products to leading consumer credit to building the digital solutions clients need.
In a perfect world, small and mid-size businesses want a single platform to manage online and offline sales and payments seamlessly. Given their intense focus on the benefits of embedded finance, they also want payment systems tied directly to invoicing, accounting, and inventory. And, given tight cash flow, SMBs are keen for real-time settlement solutions that offer instant payouts. The panelists debate how small businesses are re-prioritizing digital payment options—credit and debt, mobile wallets, ACH and bank transfers, buy now, pay later, peer-to-peer payment apps, QR code-based payments, and stablecoins—to arrive at choices to meet their growing desire for low cost, easy to integrate, flexible payments across channels (online, mobile, in-store) that also deliver a frictionless customer experience.