Hardcover, 288 pages. Autumn 2026.
THE BOOK
AI Waits For No Bank.
Jouk Pleiter has spent two decades pioneering banking technology as founder and CEO of Backbase. In his new book, AI Waits for No Bank, he lays out the blueprint for financial institutions to win in the AI era.
Pre-order details are on the way. Follow along on LinkedIn for the launch.
WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
AI Waits For No Bank is for leaders refusing to compromise in the age of AI, including:
- Chief Digital Officers carrying the AI mandate
- CTOs who already suspect the model isn't the bottleneck
- COOs watching cost-to-serve climb
- Heads of Retail, Commercial, SMB, Wealth, and Private Banking competing against banks that ship in weeks versus quarters
- Any leader stuck between a legacy core and an AI mandate
WHAT EARLY READERS ARE SAYING
AI is transforming every aspect of our lives, with or without you. Banking is no exception, and the window to act is narrower than it looks. AI Waits for No Bank is the strategy read to make sure you are not left behind.
It was a great read and reflected on both the AI shifts in the broader marketplace and how it relates to banking. By anchoring reliability into unified platforms, banks can become truly digital-native. AI's fast pace demands it, presenting both a productivity dividend and a stress test for core architecture. For forward-looking organizations, this is a transformative opportunity to deliver hyper-personalized products and services.
What resonated most with me in AI Waits for No Bank was the concept of building a single customer brain as the foundation for AI: capturing customer information once and allowing it to propagate seamlessly across every channel, product, and interaction. Jouk's emphasis on progressive modernization reinforced that meaningful transformation is not about replacing everything at once, but about creating the right foundation and continuously improving customer experiences over time.
AI Waits For No Bank is one of the most practical books I have read on the future of banking. And although it talks about AI, it stands out from most other books discussing AI because it isn't about models. Instead, it focuses on what actually needs to change inside banks for AI to deliver meaningful business value. Jouk Pleiter argues convincingly that fragmented architectures, and not AI, are the real bottleneck. Practical, thought-provoking, and highly relevant for anyone working in banking or fintech.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jouk Pleiter founded Backbase in 2003 to help banks adapt to major technology shifts. More than twenty years later, that mission remains the same: help banks move forward without losing the trust, control, and security their customers depend on.
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