Jim Bruene is an American financial

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

Early life and education

Bruene graduated the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

with an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular a ...

in Marketing and Finance and

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricult ...

with a BS in

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Career

In 1994, Bruene founded Financial Innovations and Digital Banking Report (that was called Online Banking Report when it was established in 1995). He set up Tracking fintech & financial services innovations. He is the organizer and writer for the Online Banking Report. He is the founder of the Finovate conference series. Bruene spent two years as a deposit and credit card

product manager A product manager (PM) is a professional role that is responsible for the development of products for an organization, known as the practice of product management. Product managers own the product strategy behind a product (physical or digital), ...

for First Interstate Bank between 1988 and 1990. He then became a Loan and Mortgage Product Manager for

Security Pacific Bank Security Pacific National Bank (SPNB) was a large U.S. bank headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was acquired by Bank of America in 1992. History On September 1, 1868, Hellman, Temple and Co. opened their first bank branch in Los ...

until 1992. At that point he spent a further two years at

US Bancorp U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American multinational financial services firm headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and incorporated in Delaware. It is the 5th-largest bank in the United States as of 2025. As the largest bank i ...

in the area of online banking product development, specifically with

Microsoft Money Microsoft Money is a discontinued personal finance management software program by Microsoft. It has capabilities for viewing bank account balances, creating budgets, and tracking expenses, among other features. Designed for computers using the ...

. He also worked for

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc., also known as Cat, is an American construction, mining and other engineering equipment manufacturer. The company is the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 73 on the ' ...

, and in an advisory capacity for

X.com X.com may refer to: * A single-letter second-level domain on the internet, currently owned by X Corp. ** Twitter, a social media platform officially named X that currently uses the X.com domain * X.com (bank), a defunct online bank See also * ...

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

and ING Direct among others.

Finance industry

In 1994 Bruene founded Online Financial Innovations. Since then he has worked as its publisher, been the editor and is in charge of leading content of newsletters and reports on retail financial services (including:

electronic billing Electronic billing or electronic bill payment and presentment, is when a seller such as company, organization, or group sends its bills or invoices over the internet, and customers pay the bills electronically. This replaces the traditional meth ...

, payments, e-messaging, statements, small business banking, online loan origins, etc.), working with financial institutions offering strategy advice for enhancing online services and

Return on Investment Return on investment (ROI) or return on costs (ROC) is the ratio between net income (over a period) and investment (costs resulting from an investment of some resources at a point in time). A high ROI means the investment's gains compare favorab ...

(ROI).

Financial journals

Bruene has a presence in the world of financial journals. He is often quoted in

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a New York-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, but continues to be published as a print magazine nine times a year. ...

CNNfn CNNfn (with "fn" an initialism for "financial network") was an American cable television news network operated by the CNN subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner from December 29, 1995, and of AOL Time Warner until December 15, 2004. Th ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

Money Magazine ''Money'' is an American brand and a personal finance website owned by Money Group. From its 1972 founding until 2018, it was a monthly magazine published by Time Inc. and subsequently by Meredith Corporation from 2018 to 2019. Its articles co ...

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, PC Week,

SmartMoney ''SmartMoney'' was ''The Wall Street Journal''s magazine of personal business. The finance magazine launched in 1992 by Hearst Corporation and Dow Jones & Company. Its first editor was Norman Pearlstine. In 2010, Hearst sold its stake to Dow J ...

The Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

, and

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

. He has spoken at a variety of forums in the finance sector such as: ABA Annual Convention, BAI's Retail Delivery, and CBA Executive Convention.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruene, Jim American business and financial journalists Living people Financial Times people Year of birth missing (living people)