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SRM Perspectives on Key Industry Trends

The Importance of a Fintech Blueprint

Posted by Prakash Natarajan & Jeff Ostheimer on Aug 7, 2023 11:03:00 AM

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Most banks and credit unions will claim to have a “fintech strategy,” but their plans are often rudimentary at best. Those who went the extra mile to build plans with greater specificity were rewarded when the pandemic spurred a need to transition operations and customer engagement to digital channels. Much like disaster recovery planning, the payback only becomes apparent in hindsight.

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Topics: Open Banking, Fintech, Vendor Contract, Strategy, Early Warning, Paze

CFPB’s Buy Now, Pay Later Stance Should Comfort Banks, Credit Unions

Posted by Paul Davis on Sep 22, 2022 11:21:00 AM

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Banks and credit unions interested in offering Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services should be pleased with the latest report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Many FIs have been reluctant to dive into the popular consumer offering, largely due to uncertainty over the regulatory environment. SRM asserted in a recent report that banks and credit unions have the experience and tools necessary to handle regulatory scrutiny.

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Topics: Payments, Vendor Contract, Buy Now Pay Later, BNPL, CFPB, Credit Cards

OCC Order Serves as Blueprint for Banks, Credit Unions Working with Fintech

Posted by Paul Davis on Sep 9, 2022 11:32:00 AM

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Banks and credit unions have a new roadmap for handling fintech partnerships.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) just issued a written agreement to Blue Ridge Bankshares instructing the Charlottesville, Va., company to improve how it pursues and monitors fintech relationships.

The agreement comes months after the OCC raised issues with Blue Ridge’s ($2.8 billion-asset) proposed merger with FVCBankcorp (the deal was ultimately terminated). While the specific issue was never disclosed, there was speculation it had to do with Blue Ridge’s fintech dealings.

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Topics: Payments, Fintech, Vendor Contract, BaaS, Regulators, BSA

Reflections on Our First 30 Years & the Evolution of Financial Services

Posted by Brad Downs on Aug 16, 2022 11:14:00 AM

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Sometimes it’s hard to believe 30 years have passed since our founder Curtis Downs took the concept of developing contract benchmarks and applying them to help banks, credit unions, and others achieve critical savings – the underlying value proposition behind SRM. That foundation has allowed our clients to add more than $5 billion to their bottom line over the years.

It's fascinating to look back three decades and see the rate of change that has taken place in the financial services industry. As we acknowledge our company’s 30th anniversary this year, I want to highlight some significant changes in financial services that have also challenged and motivated SRM to evolve.

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Topics: Payments, Digital Banking, Vendor Contract, Interchange, Regulation

No Sign of Payments Slowdown in Latest Fed Research

Posted by Larry Pruss on Jan 27, 2020 12:00:00 PM

No Sign of Payments Slowdown in Latest Fed Research

January’s release of the 2019 Payments Study from the Federal Reserve reveals that American purchasing behavior is evolving at full force, especially in debit and credit card use. Every three years, the Fed releases a comprehensive study on usage trends for noncash payment instruments. This most recent data shows the persistence of several longstanding trends – and some are gaining speed.

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Topics: Payments, Vendor Contract, Cardless, Noncash, Debit and Credit, Payment Strategies

Automating Vendor Invoice Auditing Delivers 44% Cost Savings

Posted by Michael Carter on Aug 4, 2019 9:00:00 AM

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Vendor invoices in the financial services industry are complicated, with some listing over 500 line items. Further, annually auditing these invoices is a time-consuming task and, in the face of that kind of resource drain, many financial institutions tend to compare one month’s invoice to the last. If the amounts are similar, the invoice is approved. 

This may sound rather casual, but even when banks and credit unions commit the time required to manually review vendor invoices, human error compromises the value of that effort. Further, human errors made during the manual review process can become self-perpetuating, compounding over time without the institution’s knowledge.

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Topics: Contract Management, Vendor Contract, Vendor Invoice Auditing

How Are 2019’s Biggest Trends Driving Vendor Contract Decisions?

Posted by Strategic Resource Management on Jul 14, 2019 9:00:00 AM

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Major League Baseball just completed its All-Star Break, which is traditionally seen as an opportunity to assess the season’s performances to date. We at SRM do something similar, revisiting our annual list of industry trends impacting banks and credit unions’ growth strategies and vendor contract relationships.

It’s been an action-packed first half of 2019. The trends we highlighted at the beginning of 2019 are actively shaping the financial services market and decisions being made by banks and credit unions. Here’s a quick summary to detailed analysis of the topics we’ve provided throughout the year. 

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Topics: Payments, Voice Technology, Vendor Contract, SaaS, Vendor Contract Negotiation

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