Biography
With a multi-disciplinary background in economics, finance, technology and marketing, Craig leverages his retail lending and banking industry experience to advise and consult on business-led technology strategy and investment for financial institutions, technology providers, and technology investment firms.
Craig's coverage areas include digital lending strategy, market sizing and technology selection across the credit lifecycle for all consumer credit products. Complementary coverage areas include analytics, digital content management and core system transformation. His advisory engagements have included core lending and banking system vendor selection for financial institutions, market feasibility and go-to market assessments for technology vendors, and technology provider acquisition due diligence for FinTech investors.
Craig is a frequent speaker and moderator at industry conferences, including BAI, Mortgage Bankers Association annual and technology conferences, and AFSA. He has also written dozens of bylined articles for Mortgage Banking Magazine, Lending Strategy (UK) and American Banker.
Craig began his career in economics and finance and marketing in the mortgage industry for lenders and IT vendors, including The Federal Home Loan Bank, The PMI Group, Wells Fargo, and CoreLogic. Craig then spent 16 years as a banking industry analyst at TowerGroup and CEB prior to joining Celent.
Craig received an M.A. in applied economics from the University of San Francisco and graduated with high honors from the State University of New York at Oneonta with a B.S. in business economics. Craig also attended Schiller University in Heidelberg, where he studied international trade. Craig holds the Certified Mortgage Banker (CMB) designation from the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Latest insights
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24 November 2020
The way in which banking software is being designed, written, deployed, maintained, updated, and replaced has accelerated due to cheaper storage… -
10 November 2020
This Celent Blog examines financial institution (FI) cloud adoption drivers and rates, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (“pandemic”) on FI cl… -
4 October 2020
Cloud in 2020 continues to evolve at breakneck speed while making a steady and significant impact on financial services. Institutions are increa… -
30 September 2020
Cloud was a hot topic before COVID-19, but where and how are banks leveraging the cloud now, and what will the future hold? Celent offers a view…
Related events
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29 September 2020 10:00 - 11:00 EDT (15:00 BST, 16:00 CEST)
United StatesCloud in 2020 continues to evolve at breakneck speed while making a steady and significant impact on financial services. Institutions are increa… -
30 June 2020 14:00 - 15:00 EDT (19:00 BST, 20:00 CEST)
United StatesWeb SeminarAccelerate the mortgage process end to end Jun. 30, 2020 | 2 PM ET/11 AM PTHosted by National Mortgage News The onset of the coronavi… -
10 June 2020 04:00 - 04:40 EDT (09:00 BST, 10:00 CEST)
United StatesThe pandemic has created huge challenges for banks all over the world. In terms of debt collections, a shift from outbound calling to responding… -
27 - 30 October 2019
Austin, TX, United StatesCraig Focardi will be attending this year's MBA Convention & Expo.
Related news
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8 February 2021
“Standing up a second core system on a developmental, pilot and partial basis is more common,” said Craig Focardi, senior analyst at Celent. “It…
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30 May 2018
Quicken Loans' Rocket Mortgage has made waves because it promises to process a mortgage application in minutes and close the loan in under a mon…