Member since February 2025
The Instant Payments Maven™ | Translator Between Banks, Fintechs, and the Future
Marcia Klingensmith is one of the few people in financial services who speaks three languages natively: bank, processor, and fintech. She can stand in a room where all three are present and be credible to everyone.
With more than 20 years inside tier 1 banks, global payment networks, and fintech platforms, Marcia has lived the full arc of payments modernization: from building a multi-tenant instant payments product at FIS from blank page to certification to production, to leading the commercial pipeline around it. She has touched the technology, the business case, the customer experience, and the sales motion simultaneously. A rare combination.
Today she sits at the intersection of banks and fintechs professionally, translating what each side can’t see about the other. Her focus: helping financial institutions build the orchestration foundation that treats instant payments data, fraud, and payments as one connected system, that makes them relevant to their customers for the next decade.
Marcia speaks at major global payments stages including Sibos, Money20/20, Faster Payments Council, and FinTech Islands. In her practitioner role as Banking Modernization and Ecosystem Strategist at Candescent, she works daily with the financial institutions she advises on stage. Her sessions are known for turning complexity into clarity and leaving executives with a framework they can act on.
She is available for keynotes, panels, executive roundtables, and podcasts.
Marcia is passionate about the gap between what banks could do with instant payments, and what most of them are actually doing with it.
Fewer than 2,000 of the 9,000+ financial institutions in the U.S. are live on either the FedNow or RTP network. Of those that made it, most only set up to receive. That's like getting a phone that can only receive calls. You're reachable. But you're not in the conversation.
The other 7,000? Still deciding whether to pick up the phone at all, while their customers have already moved on.
This isn't just a technology problem. It's a translation problem. Banks don't lack access to modern rails. They lack a shared language for what modernization actually means, why it matters now, and how to sequence it without introducing new risk.
Marcia bridges that gap. For institutions, for their partners, and ultimately for the people on the other side of these decisions.
The single mother who could avoid an overdraft if her paycheck arrived instantly. The small business owner who might survive a cash flow crisis if they could move money precisely when they needed to.
That's the real stakes of getting this right. And that's why she can't stop talking about it.
From Skepticism to Strategy: Convincing Banks That Instant Payments Matter
A few years ago, while leading instant payments at FIS Global, I uncovered a huge knowledge gap, that 75% of banks didn’t even know what instant payments were, let alone how to implement them. Financial institutions were skeptical, resistant, and overwhelmed by legacy systems.
Rather than just pushing technology, I shifted the conversation. Instead of asking, “Are you ready for instant payments?”, I asked, “How much does it cost you when payments don’t move instantly?” That one question changed everything. It opened up discussions about cash flow, customer expectations, and operational inefficiencies.
Through education, strategic guidance, and playbooks for implementation, I help banks go from confused to committed, navigating them from idea to delivery.
Key takeaway: Change happens when you shift the conversation from technology to business impact.
Two decades ago, Marcia built her career inside the institutions that power the financial system: tier 1 banks, a major global payment processor, a risk and data company. She understood how these institutions worked from the inside: the governance, the risk appetite, the legacy constraints, and the genuine desire to serve customers better.
The defining moment came while leading the full journey of a multi-tenant RTP instant payments send product at FIS, from a blank page to certification to production, while simultaneously building a $13.7M commercial pipeline through Fed and Clearing House education events. What she discovered in those conversations with hundreds of financial institutions was startling: most didn't understand what instant payments were, let alone what was possible with them.
They weren't resistant to innovation. They were lost in translation.
That realization became her mission. Not to push technology, but to change the conversation: from "are you ready for instant payments?" to "what does it cost you when payments don't move instantly?" That question opened doors. It shifted the frame from compliance burden to strategic lever.
After a layoff she chose not to run from, she went deeper instead. Three years of immersion in everything coming next: stablecoins, MACH architecture, ISO 20022, AI, real-time data layers, and a commitment to speaking publicly about it, long before it was her job. Someone once told her she was "solution consulting for the world." She wasn't getting paid. She just couldn't stop.
She still can't.
The payments landscape has never moved faster. Instant payments. Stablecoins. Tokenized deposits. Agentic AI. Every capability is real, every pressure is legitimate, and most financial institutions are trying to respond to all of it simultaneously without a foundation designed to hold the weight.
This keynote cuts through the noise.
Architecture of Calm™ is a framework for senior leaders who need clarity on what to build first, urgency about why the sequencing decision can't wait, and a concrete path forward that doesn't require betting the institution on getting everything right at once.
The central argument is straightforward: sequence is security. Institutions that establish a real-time control layer before layering new instruments and AI-driven automation above it will lead the next decade. Those that skip the foundation will spend it managing the consequences.
Audiences leave with a framework they can act on, a shared language for the modernization conversation inside their institution, and something rarer in this industry -- calm.
Best for: Sibos, Money20/20, Faster Payments Council, bank and credit union executive audiences, corporate L&D programs
Instant payments isn't just a payment type. It's the forcing function that compels banks to build three foundational capabilities they should have built years ago: a real-time data layer, a real-time fraud engine, and a payments hub. Once built, those three things begin abstracting capabilities away from the legacy core, and full modernization becomes possible.
The danger: banks that let point solutions deliver those capabilities end up with modern silos, just as fragmented as the legacy world they were escaping. This session shows how to avoid that trap and build the orchestration layer that makes you relevant to your customers for the next decade.
Best for:Sibos, Money20/20, Faster Payments Council, NACHA Payments, bank executive audiences
More than 9,000 financial institutions in the United States. Fewer than 2,000 on FedNow or RTP. And most of those? Receive-only. That's like getting a phone that can only receive calls. You're reachable, but you're not in the conversation.
This keynote uses Marcia's signature provocation and metaphor framework to reframe where banks stand, what it's costing them, and what the path forward actually looks like. Designed for mixed bank/fintech audiences where both sides need a common language to move forward together.
Best for:Mixed bank/fintech conferences, keynote slots, executive leadership events
Two new forms of digital money are competing for the same space in your institution’s future: stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
They are not the same thing, and the distinction matters.
Stablecoins sit outside the banking system and are now governed by federal law, the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, established the first US regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, and implementation rulemaking is actively underway.
Tokenized deposits stay on the bank’s balance sheet, preserving lending capacity and existing regulatory treatment, with major US banks targeting a shared network by 2027.
Both demand infrastructure your institution may not have yet.
This session cuts through the noise, clarifies what each instrument actually means for financial institutions, and equips senior leaders with a framework to assess readiness, build optionality, and govern the control layer before the pressure to deploy becomes impossible to ignore.
Best for: Forward-looking fintech and banking conferences, policy-adjacent audiences
ISO 20022 is the Financial Rosetta Stone™: the universal language that makes AI analysis and cross-rail interoperability possible. But most institutions are treating it as a migration checkbox rather than a strategic foundation. This session shows how leading institutions are already using ISO 20022 rich data to fuel automation, enhance fraud detection, and personalize the customer experience.
Best for:Operations leaders, payments executives, treasury and compliance audiences
Speed is the minimum. Intelligence is the differentiator. This session explores AI not as a tool, but as a strategic enabler across the payments value chain: from automating back-office tasks and enhancing reconciliation accuracy to delivering hyper-personalized experiences in real time. Includes a phased framework for leaders ready to integrate AI into their modernization roadmap without introducing unnecessary risk.
Best for:Technology-forward banking conferences, fintech audiences, innovation-focused events
From Skepticism to Strategy: Convincing Banks That Instant Payments Matter
A few years ago, while leading instant payments at FIS Global, I uncovered a huge knowledge gap, that 75% of banks didn’t even know what instant payments were, let alone how to implement them. Financial institutions were skeptical, resistant, and overwhelmed by legacy systems.
Rather than just pushing technology, I shifted the conversation. Instead of asking, “Are you ready for instant payments?”, I asked, “How much does it cost you when payments don’t move instantly?” That one question changed everything. It opened up discussions about cash flow, customer expectations, and operational inefficiencies.
Through education, strategic guidance, and playbooks for implementation, I help banks go from confused to committed, navigating them from idea to delivery.
Key takeaway: Change happens when you shift the conversation from technology to business impact.
Two decades ago, Marcia built her career inside the institutions that power the financial system: tier 1 banks, a major global payment processor, a risk and data company. She understood how these institutions worked from the inside: the governance, the risk appetite, the legacy constraints, and the genuine desire to serve customers better.
The defining moment came while leading the full journey of a multi-tenant RTP instant payments send product at FIS, from a blank page to certification to production, while simultaneously building a $13.7M commercial pipeline through Fed and Clearing House education events. What she discovered in those conversations with hundreds of financial institutions was startling: most didn't understand what instant payments were, let alone what was possible with them.
They weren't resistant to innovation. They were lost in translation.
That realization became her mission. Not to push technology, but to change the conversation: from "are you ready for instant payments?" to "what does it cost you when payments don't move instantly?" That question opened doors. It shifted the frame from compliance burden to strategic lever.
After a layoff she chose not to run from, she went deeper instead. Three years of immersion in everything coming next: stablecoins, MACH architecture, ISO 20022, AI, real-time data layers, and a commitment to speaking publicly about it, long before it was her job. Someone once told her she was "solution consulting for the world." She wasn't getting paid. She just couldn't stop.
She still can't.
The payments landscape has never moved faster. Instant payments. Stablecoins. Tokenized deposits. Agentic AI. Every capability is real, every pressure is legitimate, and most financial institutions are trying to respond to all of it simultaneously without a foundation designed to hold the weight.
This keynote cuts through the noise.
Architecture of Calm™ is a framework for senior leaders who need clarity on what to build first, urgency about why the sequencing decision can't wait, and a concrete path forward that doesn't require betting the institution on getting everything right at once.
The central argument is straightforward: sequence is security. Institutions that establish a real-time control layer before layering new instruments and AI-driven automation above it will lead the next decade. Those that skip the foundation will spend it managing the consequences.
Audiences leave with a framework they can act on, a shared language for the modernization conversation inside their institution, and something rarer in this industry -- calm.
Best for: Sibos, Money20/20, Faster Payments Council, bank and credit union executive audiences, corporate L&D programs
Instant payments isn't just a payment type. It's the forcing function that compels banks to build three foundational capabilities they should have built years ago: a real-time data layer, a real-time fraud engine, and a payments hub. Once built, those three things begin abstracting capabilities away from the legacy core, and full modernization becomes possible.
The danger: banks that let point solutions deliver those capabilities end up with modern silos, just as fragmented as the legacy world they were escaping. This session shows how to avoid that trap and build the orchestration layer that makes you relevant to your customers for the next decade.
Best for:Sibos, Money20/20, Faster Payments Council, NACHA Payments, bank executive audiences
More than 9,000 financial institutions in the United States. Fewer than 2,000 on FedNow or RTP. And most of those? Receive-only. That's like getting a phone that can only receive calls. You're reachable, but you're not in the conversation.
This keynote uses Marcia's signature provocation and metaphor framework to reframe where banks stand, what it's costing them, and what the path forward actually looks like. Designed for mixed bank/fintech audiences where both sides need a common language to move forward together.
Best for:Mixed bank/fintech conferences, keynote slots, executive leadership events
Two new forms of digital money are competing for the same space in your institution’s future: stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
They are not the same thing, and the distinction matters.
Stablecoins sit outside the banking system and are now governed by federal law, the GENIUS Act, signed in July 2025, established the first US regulatory framework for payment stablecoins, and implementation rulemaking is actively underway.
Tokenized deposits stay on the bank’s balance sheet, preserving lending capacity and existing regulatory treatment, with major US banks targeting a shared network by 2027.
Both demand infrastructure your institution may not have yet.
This session cuts through the noise, clarifies what each instrument actually means for financial institutions, and equips senior leaders with a framework to assess readiness, build optionality, and govern the control layer before the pressure to deploy becomes impossible to ignore.
Best for: Forward-looking fintech and banking conferences, policy-adjacent audiences
ISO 20022 is the Financial Rosetta Stone™: the universal language that makes AI analysis and cross-rail interoperability possible. But most institutions are treating it as a migration checkbox rather than a strategic foundation. This session shows how leading institutions are already using ISO 20022 rich data to fuel automation, enhance fraud detection, and personalize the customer experience.
Best for:Operations leaders, payments executives, treasury and compliance audiences
Speed is the minimum. Intelligence is the differentiator. This session explores AI not as a tool, but as a strategic enabler across the payments value chain: from automating back-office tasks and enhancing reconciliation accuracy to delivering hyper-personalized experiences in real time. Includes a phased framework for leaders ready to integrate AI into their modernization roadmap without introducing unnecessary risk.
Best for:Technology-forward banking conferences, fintech audiences, innovation-focused events
