Ryan Christiansen
University of Utah Executive Director – Fintech Center
Ryan Christiansen is the Senior Director of the University of Utah Fintech Center, overseeing research labs, a venture fund, a startup incubator, and experiential student programs that accelerate fintech innovation and workforce development.
Before academia, Ryan served as Senior Vice President of Data Access Partnerships at Mastercard following the company’s $985 million acquisition of Finicity. As a member of Finicity’s senior leadership team, he helped transform the startup into a market leading data access platform and continued to guide global open banking strategy at Mastercard—negotiating landmark agreements with major financial institutions and advancing tokenized, consumer permissioned data exchange.
Ryan is a founding architect of the Financial Data Exchange (FDX), where he co chairs the Certification Working Group and helps define the international standards that underpin open banking services adopted by more than 100 million consumers. He also co chairs the Utah Governor’s Fintech Council, advising state leaders on policy that fosters responsible innovation.
Prior to joining Finicity, Ryan spent 20+ years as senior executive at national banks, giving him a unique perspective that bridges traditional finance, fintech disruption, and public policy.
2026 Agenda Sessions
The new rules of data sharing: how should fintechs navigate open banking today?
Open banking is in a state of flux. With big banks securing deals with aggregators, the CFPB reexamining the 1033 rules, what impact is all this going to have on the open banking ecosystem? Where does that leave fintech companies that need open banking data to survive? What about smaller banks and credit unions?
This session will cut through the noise to examine what these watershed developments mean. Attendees will leave with a sharper understanding of how to navigate this complex terrain, whether they represent banks, fintechs, or policy-focused organizations.
Takeaways:
• Understand the new economics of data sharing on both the banking and fintech sides.
• What regulatory risks and uncertainties remain, and how to account for those.
• Learn how changing financial incentives could influence the speed, reliability, and security of data access.
Tuesday 31 March 09:35 - 10:15 Banking
Compliance & Regulation
Data & Personalization
Infrastructure & APIs
This session will cut through the noise to examine what these watershed developments mean. Attendees will leave with a sharper understanding of how to navigate this complex terrain, whether they represent banks, fintechs, or policy-focused organizations.
Takeaways:
• Understand the new economics of data sharing on both the banking and fintech sides.
• What regulatory risks and uncertainties remain, and how to account for those.
• Learn how changing financial incentives could influence the speed, reliability, and security of data access.
Banking US/Pacific
