Banking’s big ideas get their moment: The Big Bank Theory Awards 2026

Banking is evolving beyond traditional models, with new approaches changing how financial services are built and delivered. Banks are rethinking digital products and customer experiences, fintechs are opening up new use cases, and embedded finance and payments are bringing financial services into more parts of everyday business.

The Big Bank Theory Awards by Tearsheet recognize the companies driving that evolution, from established and challenger banks to fintechs, technology providers, and the partners building the infrastructure behind modern financial services.

This year’s winners reflect the breadth of the banking ecosystem and the different ways companies are pushing financial services forward.

Meet the 2026 Big Bank Theory Awards winners.

2026 Winners of The Big Bank Theory Awards

1. Best Banking Technology Provider: Temenos

Temenos earns the Best Banking Technology Provider Award for giving banks a flexible path to modernize without forcing an all-or-nothing core replacement. Its composable approach lets banks progressively replace parts of the core or add capabilities around existing systems. Its Value Benchmark reports 94% higher customers per FTE for banks using Temenos Core and, for those running Temenos solutions front-to-back, a 29% higher net promoter score and 34% faster time to market. Temenos has also embedded AI across its platform, from Copilot for Core to AI agents supporting developers and financial crime screening. With more than 950 financial institutions running its core banking solutions and U.S. deployments including Commerce Bank, Temenos is making modernization more incremental and controlled for banks.

2. Best Bank-Fintech Partnership: Octane and Huntington Bank

Octane and Huntington Bank win the Best Bank-Fintech Partnership Award for creating a unified financing experience for the outdoor power equipment industry, bringing prime and near-prime applicants onto one platform. The “Huntington Powered By Octane” integrates financing into existing dealer workflows, from prequalification to closing. Since launching in March 2026, the program has grown from 20 pilot dealers to more than 900 enrolled dealerships, with over 19,000 financing applications submitted. By connecting financing, dealer workflows, and customer decision-making in one digital experience, the partnership is simplifying a fragmented sales process.

3. Best Banking App: Citizens Bank

Citizens receives the Best Banking App Award for simplifying mobile banking around the tasks customers actually want to accomplish, creating a seamless and intuitive banking experience. The bank redesigned 65 experiences and moved 2.4 million customers onto the new platform at launch earlier this year. Tasks like making a payment, transferring money, managing a card, and understanding account activity are now easier to find and complete, with most primary services accessible within two taps or fewer. The redesign did more than change the app’s appearance; it encouraged greater use of tools that give customers control over their accounts and improve financial health.

4. Best Overall Embedded Finance Platform: Parafin

Parafin wins the Best Overall Embedded Finance Platform Award for making small-business financing available directly within the platforms businesses already use. Its infrastructure enables partners including Amazon, Walmart, DoorDash, and Gusto to offer personalized financing without sending business owners through traditional loan applications. Parafin’s AI-driven underwriting draws on more than 2.5 billion data points to assess real-time business performance, helping partners extend capital at scale without taking on lending risk. The platform has extended more than $45 billion in financing offers to over 50,000 businesses since 2020, with 85% of first-time borrowers taking a second advance. By combining embedded distribution, data-driven underwriting, and financing infrastructure, Parafin is making access to capital a more integrated part of everyday business workflows.

5. Partner Bank of the Year: Pathward

Pathward wins the Partner Bank of the Year Award for combining broad financial infrastructure with the risk, compliance, and operational foundation fintechs need to scale. Its platform spans issuing, acquiring, digital payments, tax solutions, and credit sponsorship, allowing partners to build multiple programs with one banking relationship. Over the past year, Pathward has supported partners, such as H&R Block, InComm Payments, Money Network, PayPal, TabaPay, and Upstart, while continuing to co-create solutions through dedicated account teams and consultative governance. With more than 20 years of partnership-banking experience, Pathward has built a model that brings technology, operational expertise, and a risk and compliance infrastructure together around its partners’ needs.

6. Serving the Underserved: PayJoy

PayJoy wins the Serving the Underserved Award for expanding credit access to first-time borrowers in markets where traditional credit infrastructure is limited. Its secured smartphone financing helps gig workers, women, and micro-entrepreneurs access an essential tool for work while building a credit history through on-time payments. PayJoy uses alternative data and machine learning to evaluate customers, with fixed repayment schedules, no late fees, and no compounding interest. The company has financed more than $3.5 billion in loans to over 20 million people across nine countries, with 33% of customers new to credit and 49% women. By linking access to smartphones with a path toward broader financial participation, PayJoy is using lending to address a practical barrier to economic mobility.

7. Best New Product: CineFi

CineFi wins the Best New Product Award for bringing fully digital banking to entertainment professionals with a financial experience built around the realities of creative work. Launched by First Entertainment Credit Union, CineFi combines more than 50 years of entertainment-industry expertise with digital checking and savings, round-up savings, early direct deposit, no account fees, and access to more than 33,000 surcharge-free ATMs. The platform serves professionals across film, television, music, gaming, content creation, and influencing, while also supporting the nonprofits, schools, festivals, and organizations that make up the broader creative ecosystem. By pairing specialized industry knowledge with a digital-first banking model, CineFi gives entertainment professionals a more tailored way to manage their finances.

8. Best Payments as a Service Platform: DailyPay

DailyPay receives the Best Payments as a Service Platform Award for giving employees access to wages they have already earned before payday. Its platform provides a real-time view of accessible pay and lets workers transfer funds to bank accounts, debit cards, or payment cards. Employers including Target, Hilton, McDonald’s, Kroger, and HCA Healthcare use DailyPay. By connecting payroll and payments in real time, DailyPay is making earned wages more accessible when workers need them.

9. Best Banking as a Service Platform: Lumin Digital

Lumin Digital wins the Best Banking as a Service Platform Award for building a cloud-native platform designed to drive measurable growth for financial institutions. Independent S&P Global research found that six U.S. institutions using Lumin generated $12.8 million in cumulative impact and 145% ROI over five years. Lumin delivers more than 200 production enhancements annually alongside weekly updates, helping institutions continuously modernize without disruptive upgrade cycles. Participating institutions also saw an 11% increase in products per customer, a 15% decline in churn, and a 21% reduction in call center volume. By tying continuous innovation to measurable business outcomes, Lumin turns BaaS into a platform for sustained growth.