Mind the Tech NY
"Startups have incredible opportunities to disrupt the incumbents in the software space"
Russell Barrett, chief operating officer of Valley Bank, ws speaking at the Calcalist and Bank Leumi New York 2026 Mind the Tech conference. "Many of the ways we operate today will be rewritten in the coming years because of the AI revolution," he said.
Russell Barrett
(Alex Kolomoisky, Tomerico)
“Many of the ways we do business today will be rewritten in the coming years because of the AI revolution,” said Russell Barrett, chief operating officer of Valley Bank, at the Calcalist and Bank Leumi New York 2026 Mind the Tech conference.
"With AI, every industry, from banking and healthcare to venture capital and startups in general, is experiencing disruption, with some undergoing fundamental disruption,” added Russell. “There is broad agreement that changes are coming, although we may argue how much of that will be radical in a short time versus gradual over a long period of time. While there are many opinions about the speed and impact that AI will have, I expect there will be at least a consensus in this room that massive changes are indeed happening as we speak. So, whether you predict radical adoption and maturation of AI or believe that human behavior or government intervention will play a much larger role in slowing AI, we know that many current ways of doing things will be rewritten in the coming years.
"What's happening to software stocks is fascinating because it's an indicator and a prediction market is emerging where stocks of some of the largest companies and SaaS companies are under significant selling pressure. And when you look at the fundamentals, the hardware that drives the AI infrastructure is overbought, and legacy software companies that are trying to transform in real time into AI companies are oversold. This presents incredible opportunities for startups to disrupt the incumbents, but it also represents a democratization of software engineering, which is changing the equation of building versus buying for many companies.
"Throughout all major technological evolutions, venture capital funds and startups have found ways to be agile and place capital where the ball will hit. And while I am not qualified to predict what the future holds, we at Valley Bank remain very close to the Israeli technology ecosystem to ensure that we too will be where the ball is.
“In 2027, Valley Bank will celebrate its 100th anniversary, and as we approach our centennial, we are thinking a lot about how we continue to grow and how we remain relevant for the next 100 years. When we look back on the last 100 years and all that has happened and all the changes that have taken place in our world, there are very few things that have truly remained constant. The identity we have built revolves around relationship banking. Therefore, we do not believe that artificial intelligence is a threat to that identity, but rather is another step forward that allows us to build and nurture relationships now, in the age of AI.
"We will have an agent-based workforce, and some decisions and actions will be made and recommendations for continuous improvements will be made within those workforces. But when it comes to someone who has a lot of money and trusts a bank to keep that money, there has to be accountability. That accountability doesn't go to the agent. It will stay with the humans. What will change is the way agents can complete tasks, simplify work, or even make decisions. But what hasn't changed is that a computer can't be responsible for the trust that underlies a relationship."
Watch his full remarks in the video above.
