EP 165: Demystifying Programmable Banking with Rob Rooney and Paul Rolles

In this week's episode, Dharm is joined by Rob Rooney, Co-founder and CEO of Hyperlayer, and **Paul Rolles, Co-founder and Chief Architect, to explore why banking innovation has stalled, and how a new approach to programmable banking could unlock the next generation of financial products.

Drawing on decades of experience at Morgan Stanley and building financial technology businesses, Rob and Paul explain why legacy banking infrastructure continues to limit innovation, and why the future may lie not in replacing core banking systems, but in building an intelligent programmability layer above them.

The conversation begins with the founders' journey from Morgan Stanley to launching Hyperlayer. Having experienced first-hand the complexity of managing multiple core banking systems, they explain why traditional "rip-and-replace" projects are often unrealistic, and why banks need a faster, more flexible way to modernise existing infrastructure.

A major theme throughout the episode is programmable banking. Rather than embedding innovation directly into core banking systems, Hyperlayer introduces a core-agnostic layer that allows banks to rapidly build configurable financial products without disrupting existing ledgers. The discussion explores how this enables banks to innovate faster while avoiding the cost, risk and complexity of replacing legacy technology.

The episode also examines why banking product innovation has lagged behind improvements in customer experience. While digital banking has become more intuitive, many financial products have changed very little. Rob and Paul discuss how programmable accounts, smart wallets and configurable financial services could unlock new lending models, family banking solutions, loyalty programmes and personalised customer experiences.

Another key focus is personalisation. The speakers argue that banking should evolve beyond offering identical experiences to every customer, instead allowing individuals, families and businesses to configure how their accounts, payments and financial products operate.

The conversation also explores the relationship between programmability and AI. Rather than viewing conversational AI simply as a better interface, Rob and Paul explain how agentic AI could dramatically increase demand for more flexible banking products. As software agents begin acting on behalf of customers, banks will need infrastructure capable of supporting highly configurable financial services and automated decision