A 201-year-old mutual bank just launched an AI Center of Excellence with a startup partner

This article was published on June 18, 2026 Liberty Bank says the partnership with Flare AI is structured around outcomes, not software licences, compressing multi-year buildouts into weeks. Liberty Bank launched an AI Center of Excellence with Flare AI to deploy secure, compliant AI across personal, commercial, and digital banking operations. Liberty Bank, a 201-year-old mutual bank headquartered in Middletown, Connecticut, announced the launch of an AI Center of Excellence alongside a strategic partnership with Flare AI. The centre will serve as the hub for AI strategy, governance, and execution across the bank’s personal, commercial, and digital operations. The partnership is structured around outcomes rather than software licences, according to David Hadd, Liberty Bank’s head of Business Transformation. “Flare’s role is to design, build, and help deploy AI systems on Liberty Bank’s behalf, compressing what has historically been a multi-year technology buildout into weeks, with the security, compliance, and governance controls regulated institutions require,” Hadd said. Liberty Bank has over $9 billion in assets, 51 retail banking offices across Connecticut and Massachusetts, an