The Death of Deposits — Why Banks Are Losing the Largest Wealth Transfer in History — with Martha Underwood

About this episode

What happens to a deposit when the account holder dies — and why are banks so unprepared for the one moment they know is coming?

In this episode of the One Vision Podcast, Theodora Lau sits down with Martha Underwood, Founder and CEO of Prismm and author of the new release: The Death of Deposits. Drawing on 25+ years across IBM, Silicon Valley, and BBVA Compass, Martha talks about the unspoken assumption in banking — that the user will always be there — and how that assumption is now colliding with the largest generational wealth transfer in history.

Together, Theo and Martha unpack the retention illusion, why the beneficiary field is the richest unused lead list sitting inside every bank's core, and why deposit attrition at death is an infrastructure problem, not a marketing one. They dig into the operational reality, the cultural reality, and the human reality, and why AI's real job is orchestration under pressure (not more automation). 

A deeply human conversation about deposits, design, and what it really means to extend a banking relationship beyond a single account holder.

📍Hot take: “You cannot out-campaign demographics.”

📍Hot take: "If you don't design for the transfer, you're going to lose the relationship."

Keywords: AI, Wealth transfer, Wealth management

More about our guest 

🌐Martha Underwood on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marthaunderwood/ 

📘 The Death of Deposits by Martha Underwood: https://a.co/d/07TBuFvC 

More about our host and One Vision Podcast 

🌐Theodora Lau on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theodoralau/ 

🌐Banking on (Artificial) Intelligence (book): https://www.bankingonaibook.com/ 

🌐Unconventional Ventures (company): https://www.unconventionalventures.com/ 

🌐Listen to all One Vision Podcast episodes by visiting: https://shows.acast.com/one-vision

One Vision Podcast is a fintech, banking, and AI podcast hosted by <a href