ISAC BRUNNO DELECRODE ALVES AND THE FINANCIAL SYSTEM THAT LEAVES THE VAULT AND ENTERS THE CODE
From a teenage years marked by curiosity about how money moves, how a simple “approved limit” can change the fate of a family, and why some people have access to credit while others remain on the margins, to his consolidation as one of the emerging voices in the critical reading of the digital transformation of banks, the trajectory of Isac Brunno Delecrode Alves is the story of someone who never accepted looking at the financial system only from the outside. He chose to step in, to live the banking routine from within, to feel the weight of targets, queues, tensions and expectations and, at the same time, to observe all of this with the analytical distance of someone who knows we are in the midst of the greatest banking revolution in history.
For Isac, the bank has never been just a building with revolving doors, armored vaults and service counters. From early on, he realized that it is the place where dreams, fears, debts, opportunities and frustrations intersect. Every credit agreement carries a story; every refusal leaves a mark; every system error reveals vulnerabilities in a model that, for decades, worked basically the same way, until it was shaken by a wave of technology, data, fintechs, regulation and new consumer behaviors.
This is the starting point of “From Vault to Code – The New Era of the Banking System”: a book born from the experience of someone who has lived the bank at the counter, in the system, on the screen, on the phone, in target meetings and in candid conversations with clients, managers and colleagues. But it is also born from the perspective of someone who understands that this individual experience is part of something much bigger: the reinvention of the very idea of “bank” in the 21st century.
More than a technical manual or an autobiographical account, the book presents itself as a crossing. Throughout the chapters, Isac makes the reader walk from the physical bank to the digital ecosystem, from the steel vault to the encrypted code, from the manager tied to operational routine to the banking professional who must reinvent themselves as a strategist, financial educator and mediator between people and algorithms.
HE STARTS WITH THE HUMAN DIMENSION: THE BANK AS A PLACE OF STORIES, NOT JUST NUMBERS
Before talking about open finance, artificial intelligence, Drex and cybersecurity, Isac invites the reader to look at the financial system from where everything begins: people. He recalls situations lived in branches, the elderly lady who walks in afraid to use the app, the young person anxious for their first credit approval, the entrepreneur who needs working capital and doesn’t know how to explain their cash flow, the client outraged by fees they don’t understand, the retiree who fears falling for digital scams.
In each of these scenes, there is a clash of worlds: on one side, a system that is increasingly automated, with standardized processes, decisions made by statistical models and screens full of indicators; on the other, people with unique life stories, different levels of financial and digital literacy, emotions on edge and, often, little trust in institutions.
Isac shows that the banker who chose to be not only an operator but also an observer learned a lot from this direct contact. He saw how a patient explanation can prevent unnecessary indebtedness; how inattentive service can push someone towards distrust or informality; how the lack of accessible language turns terms such as “credit score”, “risk policy” and “pre-approved limit” into kinds of riddles that produce fear instead of clarity.
It is from this everyday reality that he builds the first central thesis of the book: any discussion about the future of banks that ignores the human dimension is doomed to be partial. Digital transformation does not happen in a sterile laboratory; it happens in conversations, misunderstandings, doubts and in the need to rebuild trust in an environment mediated by screens, passwords and tokens.
FROM VAULT TO CODE: A CHANGE THAT IS TECHNICAL, BUT ALSO CULTURAL
From this branch-level ground, the book broadens its horizon. Isac reconstructs, in accessible language, the shift from the analog bank to the digital bank. He recalls the time when almost everything required physical presence: opening an account, signing a contract, updating personal data, requesting a limit increase, resolving any discrepancy. The bank was a place, a concrete space with opening hours, queues, numbers, a specific smell, the sound of counting banknotes and metal drawers.
With the advancement of the internet, internet banking and, later, banking apps on smartphones, this “place” begins to dissolve into a multiplicity of digital touchpoints. The branch ceases to be the sole protagonist and starts sharing space with the app, internet banking, automated chat, call center, ATM, partner fintechs, and digital wallets.
Isac shows how, behind this seemingly simple migration, there has been, and still is, a silent revolution. Internal processes had to be redesigned, legacy systems were integrated (or patched), layers of security were added, regulations such as the General Data Protection Law (LGPD) redefined how information is handled, and a flood of new actors took the stage: startups, big techs, payment companies, gateways, open APIs.
The great merit of the book is to translate this tangled web into images and metaphors that any reader can understand. When he talks about the vault, he does not refer only to the big steel block in the branch, but to the logic of a closed financial system, in which customer information was “locked up” inside each institution. When he talks about code, he refers to the set of digital lines, software, algorithms, protocols, that now organize everything from registration to the flow of payments, loans, investments and insurance.
This is where open finance comes in: a regulatory and technological movement that allows customer data to circulate, with consent, among different institutions, breaking the information monopoly of each bank. Isac explains how this changes the game: the client is no longer “held hostage” to a single view and can compare, switch, combine products and build a financial ecosystem more aligned with their needs.
But he also sounds a warning: freedom without education and without protection can become vulnerability. One of the threads running through the book is precisely this tension: how to harness the innovative potential of open finance, fintechs and new technologies without leaving clients, and banking professionals themselves, at the mercy of risks they do not fully understand.
TECHNOLOGY, DATA AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: WHEN THE ALGORITHM ENTERS THE ROOM
One of the most thought-provoking sections of the book is the one in which Isac discusses the definite entry of artificial intelligence, machine learning and large volumes of data into the heart of the financial system. He describes, in simple terms, how predictive models are now used to define credit limits, assess default risk, detect fraud attempts, suggest products to clients and even prioritize which service requests will get the fastest response.
If in previous decades the local manager’s perception of the client carried decisive weight, they knew the family, the neighborhood, the story, today this perception coexists with statistical models trained on millions of lines of data. For many clients, crucial decisions are already taken by systems even before a human being reads the case.
Isac does not demonize this change, but he does not romanticize it either. He recognizes that artificial intelligence can make decisions more consistent, reduce individual bias, speed up processes and prevent fraud that a human eye might not detect. At the same time, he raises uncomfortable questions: who programs these models? With which data? According to which criteria? How can we ensure that the pursuit of efficiency does not deepen inequalities, exclude profiles considered “high risk” or reinforce discriminatory patterns already present in society?
The book then opens space to discuss algorithmic ethics, transparency and accountability. Isac shows that, in practice, many banking professionals find themselves in the position of mediators between automated decisions and bewildered clients. The system denies credit, reduces limits, blocks transactions, and it falls to the employee to explain something that, often, they themselves do not fully understand.
This experience generates a central question that runs through the book: how do we maintain trust in a system where a significant portion of decisions are made by mechanisms opaque to the public? The answer Isac builds involves three elements: serious data governance, broad financial and digital education, and a redefinition of the role of the banking professional.
DREX AND DIGITAL CURRENCIES: WHEN MONEY BECOMES CODE
Among the ongoing revolutions, one receives special attention: that of digital currencies issued by central banks, the Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). In the Brazilian context, this debate takes shape in the Drex project, the digital currency of the Central Bank of Brazil.
Isac explains, in a didactic way, what is at stake. It is not just “one more app” or “an official cryptocurrency”, but an infrastructure change: money itself becomes programmable, circulating in a digital architecture that allows new forms of transaction, registration and control. Smart contracts, near-instant settlement, integration with lending and investment platforms, cheaper and more traceable operations, all of this enters the horizon.
He shows how this movement can bring the world of the vault and the world of code even closer. If money, previously, was seen as something physical, tangible, kept in boxes and vaults, now it presents itself as information, as a line in a distributed ledger, as a digital token whose existence is revealed in zeros and ones.
But again, the author insists on returning to the human factor. What does it mean, for ordinary citizens, to live in a world where every transaction leaves potentially analysable traces, where the boundary between privacy and transparency becomes more delicate, where money is increasingly “visible” to systems? How can we ensure that the push for efficiency does not open doors to excessive surveillance, digital exclusion or even greater concentration of power in the hands of a few actors?
From Vault to Code does not offer easy answers, but it insists on asking the right questions. And that makes the book a reading that goes beyond the strictly banking universe to touch on issues of society, citizenship and democracy.
THE BANKING WORKER IN THE EYE OF THE STORM
If there is one character that runs through the whole book, besides the client, it is the banking worker. Isac speaks from this place through his own experience and that of colleagues he has seen reinvent themselves, or fall ill, in the midst of change. He describes the pressure of targets, the transformation of roles, the feeling that what was learned yesterday may no longer be useful tomorrow, the fear of automation, the pride in being part of a system central to the economy, the exhaustion, the ethical dilemmas.
The book shows how the banker, once seen as guardian of the vault and executor of rigid procedures, is now expected to be simultaneously a consultant, salesperson, financial educator, interpreter of systems and, often, frontline in conflict situations. With much of operations migrating to digital channels, the physical branch often ends up receiving the most complex cases, the most intense complaints, the situations where something “went wrong” at another point in the journey.
Isac emphasizes that, without taking care of this human dimension, any discourse about banking innovation remains incomplete. The professional who is not trained, supported, valued and constantly updated runs the risk of feeling disposable in an environment that speaks all the time about efficiency and cost reduction.
At the same time, he points to paths: ongoing training, robust programs in financial education, ethics, technology and customer care; real spaces for listening within institutions; policies that recognize the strategic role of those who, daily, translate the system for the citizen. In several moments, the book becomes almost a manifesto for the recognition of the practical intelligence accumulated by these professionals.
THE CLIENT AS PROTAGONIST: FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND DIGITAL AWARENESS
Another important layer of the book is the defense of financial and digital education as a condition for this new era of the banking system to be truly fair and inclusive. Isac argues that it is not enough to offer sophisticated apps, interactive dashboards and innovative products if the public’s basic understanding remains fragile.
He recalls, for example, how many clients confuse credit with income, limit with salary, a loan with “extra money”. He shows that the ease of contracting services in a few clicks, without careful reading of contracts, can worsen indebtedness and over-indebtedness if it is not accompanied by clear guidance, alerts, simulation tools and responsible credit policies.
In this sense, From Vault to Code is also a call for banks, fintechs, schools, companies and governments to jointly take on the commitment to the population’s financial and digital education. Technology, alone, does not solve the problem; it needs to serve a social project that aims to reduce inequalities, expand opportunities and strengthen people’s autonomy.
ISAC AS NARRATOR, WITNESS AND INTERPRETER OF AN ERA
Throughout the book, there is a thread that weaves together technical analyses, behind-the-scenes narratives, ethical reflections and projections about the future: the very trajectory of Isac Brunno Delecrode Alves. He does not place himself as a “guru” nor as a distant observer, but as someone who has lived, and still lives, in his own skin the contradictions of the sector.
From his initial interest in understanding how the banking system worked to his more recent experiences in a fully digital environment, Isac has built a perspective that combines practice and reflection. The result is a text that does not romanticize the financial system, but also does not demonize it. He recognizes the essential functions of banks, intermediating resources, safeguarding assets, enabling investments, providing payment means, and, at the same time, points out their limits, excesses, failures and challenges.
In From Vault to Code – The New Era of the Banking System, the reader finds not only information, but an invitation: to look at the financial system with less fear and more awareness; to realize that behind acronyms, screens and contracts there are choices, regulatory, technological, commercial and human, that can be questioned, improved and redirected.
In the end, it becomes clear that the book is both a map and a mirror. A map, because it helps to navigate a complex terrain, full of technical terms and rapid changes. A mirror, because it reflects back to the reader a question: what is your place in this new system? Will you be just a passive user of banking services, or will you take on an active, informed and critical stance toward what is changing?
Isac seems to bet on the second option. And that is precisely why his work does not speak only to specialists: it speaks to anyone who has a bank account, uses a payment app, takes out a loan, invests money or simply wants to understand why, after all, “the system” seems increasingly present in our daily routine.
From Vault to Code shows that the financial system is not a distant abstraction. It permeates our daily decisions, influences everything from the price of bread to the possibility of starting a business, impacts the future of work, data protection and the way we trust, or do not trust, institutions. And, by telling this story in a clear, engaging and critical way, Isac Brunno Delecrode Alves offers the reader something rare: the chance to better understand the world they live in, and to participate, with greater awareness, in the new banking era already underway.
Title: FROM VAULT TO CODE
Subtitle: The New Era of the Banking System
Author: Isac Brunno Delecrode Alves
Genre: Banking System / Financial Technology / Future of Work
Format: Print and Digital
Year of publication: 2025
Available at: https://a.co/d/dATUw7D