An Interview with Greg Schwartz

The CIO of USAA, a full-service, branchless financial services
operation, sees much more to banking than e-transactions.
Interviewed by James Stanier
DOI: 10.1145/1925041.1925047

Technology has improved the banking experience vastly over the last two decades, removing a number of barriers that once existed between bank and customer. Now it is possible to bank at anytime, any where around the world. USAA is a financial services company, primarily serving the military population, running a branchless operation. Customer interaction is conducted via mail, phone, SMS, and the Internet. XRDS editor James Stanier spoke to Greg Schwartz, chief information officer and senior vice president of USAA, about some of the innovations and products USAA is offering its customers, how the company has changed since the days of banking by mail, and his advice to graduates who are thinking of working in the financial software sector. Schwartz earned his bachelor’s degree in management information systems from Texas State University in 1982. He earned his master degree in finance from St. Mary’s University, where he graduated with honors in 1989.

James stanier: in your time at Usaa, what are some of the most interesting innovations that you’ve worked on?

GREG SCH WAR TZ: I really think I should start with the mobile applications, because the last three or four years have been extremely exciting for us in the banking space in particular. I think you’ve heard about our remote check deposit, and it really started from our Deposit@Home. We had a problem in the bank—we’re a branchless bank, so to speak, and the

Greg Schwartz

“We hire between
75–125 college grads
every year. One thing
we tell them is that
we are hiring them
to be leaders, not
programmers.”

problem with being a branchless bank is that you can get money out of ATMs all over the world, but you can’t deposit checks. So that was the problem we tried to solve from a technology standpoint.

What we came up with was a very
innovative way of doing it from your
computer at home with your scanner, and
that’s what we called Deposit@Home.

Js: it’s definitely a very cool application, and you were the first to do it.

Gs: Instant access to your money is cool. I’ve done a demonstration where I’ve taken a picture of a check with the app, ripped it up, and handed it back to the person! I always recommend waiting three days before discarding the check, but it’s extremely fun to see people’s faces!

Js: What else have you been working on?

Gs: In the insurance space we’ve been using geocoding. By using the GPS location, we have the ability to better underwrite or insure the property. For example, let’s say you’re in a territory known for wildfires, or earthquakes, or hurricanes. The way most companies gives quotes is by whole