When Tessa Naroditsky was named to The Most Powerful Women in Banking: NEXT list, it marked more than a personal milestone. It reflected the bold, forward-looking work underway at Comerica. As a leader helping shape the bank’s payments strategy and embedded finance roadmap, Naroditsky is driving scalable, customer-focused solutions that meet the needs of high-growth businesses and extend value to broader markets. In this interview, she shares what the recognition means to her, how Comerica is approaching the future of payments, and why leadership and innovation must go hand in hand.
Q: Congratulations on being named to The Most Powerful Women in Banking: NEXT. What does this recognition mean to you personally and professionally?
A: I’m incredibly honored and humbled to be recognized alongside so many inspiring women in banking. Personally, I appreciate being recognized, but I really wouldn’t be in the position I am without the incredible mentors and colleagues who I’ve had the great privilege to learn from and collaborate with along the way. I’m very much a product of their tutelage and the journey we’ve been on together over the years. On the professional side, it’s a great validation of the work we’re doing at Comerica to set a strategy and build capabilities that serve our direct customers and our customers’ customers at scale. That means getting competitive in the embedded finance space, which is a really fun environment to be in.
Q: You’ve been instrumental in Comerica’s push into embedded finance. What excites you most about this space?
A: Embedded finance/embedded payments are incredibly important for banks. At this point, payments are a commodity, and customers choose who to interact with based on ease of the experience. To continue to grow and participate in the global payments conversation, banks need to invest in understanding and developing simple user experiences that meet customers where they are and solve real customer problems, including bringing payment capabilities directly to non-bank experiences and working in new ways with customers to create value for their end user. It’s an exciting time for payments and I enjoy seeing the unique collaborations between banks and non-banks in this space.
Q: How does this strategy align with Comerica’s broader vision for the future of payments?
A: Our payments strategy is rooted in providing small bank touch on the back of big bank capabilities — meaning that we are committed to being trusted advisors for our clients as they grow, and we’ll help them do so by leveraging our expertise and our payments solutions. That means everything that we offer needs to be flexible to grow with our customers and to be focused on their pain points and opportunities. We’re doing this by investing in instant payments, building real-time connectivity through APIs, and partnering with FinTechs and financial institutions on forming deeper partnerships to serve our customers.
One step we took was to be an early adopter of the On-Behalf-Of (OBO) payment framework on the RTP network (using one of Comerica’s first commercial APIs, by the way). The RTP OBO framework lets businesses send real-time payments on behalf of their customers. It’s a powerful mechanism to incite more real-time, embedded finance use cases in secure environment where the flow of funds is incredibly transparent.
As we continue to look at high growth verticals such as embedded finance companies, we believe there’s an opportunity to drive strong core deposits by powering payments. One example of this is by building customized deposit sweep solutions for banks and non-bank financial institutions. It’s all part of our growth strategy, and I’m excited to be on the journey.
Q: What role does leadership play in driving innovation in a legacy industry like banking?
A: You need a strong leader with a strong vision. The payments landscape is constantly evolving, and there’s a lot that we could do to adapt, but an even better question to ask ourselves is ‘what are we uniquely positioned to do,’ and then to focus our time and energy there. I have the privilege of working with very strong leaders at Comerica, and I’d like to say that we share a vision for where we want to get to, which takes ruthless prioritization and focus on delivering value quickly, then iterating from there. I’m especially proud that this recognition also reflects the work of colleagues who have been dreaming and building together to drive transformation — it takes all of us pushing together.
Q: Comerica recently published insights on payment trends. What stood out to you?
A: Customers are looking to form relationships with banks who understand and put their needs first — we are winning deals from larger competitors because of our emphasis on small bank touch. We’ve aligned our strategy to deliver the personalized advice that clients need. Since we also understand that customers need more control, speed, and integration in their financial operations, we have instant payment solutions, commercial APIs, and are thinking about our infrastructure as scalable and data-rich to provide payment visibility end to end, like with the industry transformation to ISO 20022. All of this comes together to deliver a seamless experience to our customers.
Q: What advice would you give to emerging leaders in banking and fintech?
A: Focus on cultivating a growth mindset. There’s so much to learn — about the industry, about your institution, about the latest technology and the customers you serve — and it’s constantly changing. I tell my team all the time that the only constant in life is change, and it’s a philosophy I live by. The more you can stay curious and open to new ideas, the better you’ll be at adapting and figuring out unique ways to innovate. I would also encourage anyone to spend time cultivating deep relationships with people you respect and want to learn from and lean into opportunities that will take you out of your comfort zone. Get uncomfortable — it’s the best way to grow.
In Summary
Naroditsky’s recognition is a testament to the power of vision, collaboration and execution. As Comerica continues to evolve its payments ecosystem, leaders like her are paving the way for smarter, more integrated financial experiences. From real-time disbursements to embedded finance and API innovation, Comerica is delivering on its promise to meet customers where they are and where they’re going. The future of payments is being built today by people committed to making finance more accessible, intuitive and impactful.
This information is provided for general awareness purposes only and is not intended to be relied upon as legal or compliance advice.
This article is provided for informational purposes only. While the information contained within has been compiled from source[s] which are believed to be reliable and accurate, Comerica Bank does not guarantee its accuracy. Consequently, it should not be considered a comprehensive statement on any matter nor be relied upon as such.