Welcome To
The Bottom Line

SRM Perspectives on Key Industry Trends

Lawrence Pruss

Recent Posts

There’s Nothing Artificial about AI’s Potential

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Feb 24, 2019 9:00:00 AM

iStock-1051617224

Recently, SRM identified the use of artificial intelligence (AI) as a trend that would have a significant impact on the financial services industry in 2019.  Narrowly defined AI is the ability for machines to use complex algorithms to interact and learn to do tasks previously performed by humans. 

Read More

Topics: Technology

A Brave New Banking World: AI Can Be Helpful, With Guardrails

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Jul 31, 2018 9:00:00 AM

iStock-851955816

Assuming you can drown out the blockchain chatter, artificial intelligence (AI) is this year’s hottest financial services topic. Although IBM’s Watson and Google’s Deep Mind remain somewhat abstract concepts from a mass market perspective, consumer breakthroughs like Siri and Amazon Alexa have begun to set expectations for banking interactions, leading to high-profile rollouts like Bank of America’s virtual assistant, Erica.

Most of the early-stage rollouts, focusing on chatbots and fraud detection, are coming from the industry’s largest players. Credit unions and community banks cannot afford to fall too far behind the curve and need ample opportunity to participate in exploratory ventures. At the same time, it’s important to remain mindful of AI’s potential downsides if not properly implemented.  

Read More

Topics: Technology

What United States Financial Institution Leaders Can Learn From Canada

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Mar 13, 2018 9:00:00 AM

iStock-610668524-728768-edited.jpg

Banking is banking, right? Financial institutions (FIs) take in deposits, lend out money, charge fees for a variety of related services, and hopefully have a bit more in the till at day’s end than they started with.  So surely FIs in a neighboring country whose citizens speak the same language (mostly) and transact their business in something called dollars, would be almost identical to ours in the US, right? Nope.

Read More

How Can Banks and Credit Unions Tap Into the AI Revolution?

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Feb 27, 2018 9:00:00 AM

iStock-700469776-436221-edited.jpg

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the hottest buzzword in financial services. The nation’s largest banks are placing big-money bets on this still nascent technology, and countless startups are working feverishly to stake their claim to various use cases.

Read More

Topics: Vendors & Contracts

Payments and the Underbanked: The Importance of Reaching Millennials

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Oct 13, 2016 9:00:00 AM

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, approximately 27 percent of all American households are unbanked or underbanked – that’s 50 million individuals.

For purposes of this article, unbanked refers to individuals who don’t have a bank account and underbanked refers to those who supplement their bank account with alternative financial services like check cashers. Both underbanked and unbanked households are typically forced to rely on nonbank financial or high-rate lending solutions such as payday lending, tax refund, and settlement loans. They are out of the mix for traditional banks, which means little to no opportunities for payments and fees from them.

Read More

Finding Additional Revenue Sources in the Nation’s Underbanked

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Aug 18, 2016 9:00:00 AM

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, approximately 27 percent of all American households are unbanked or underbanked – that’s 50 million individuals.

For purposes of this article, unbanked refers to individuals who don’t have a bank account and underbanked refers to those who supplement their bank account with alternative financial services like check cashers. Both underbanked and unbanked households are typically forced to rely on nonbank financial or high-rate lending solutions such as payday lending, tax refund, and settlement loans.

Read More

Enhancing Profitability to Prepare for New Capital Rules

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Mar 24, 2016 9:00:00 AM

According to new National Credit Union Administration rules, before 2019, many credit unions will need to significantly increase their capital to adequate levels.

Read More

Lights, Camera, Corporate Selfie?

Posted by Lawrence Pruss on Dec 2, 2015 9:00:00 AM

MEMPHIS, Tenn., December 2, 2015 – Videos are becoming a critical part of the online identities for many companies. For financial institutions (FIs), the questions of the day are both “could” or “should” they make use of online videos.

Read More

Subscribe to our blog

Recent Posts

Archives

see all

Posts by Topic

see all