Perspective matters when it comes to cryptocurrency.
The demise of the TerraUSD stablecoin has understandably spooked the markets. Any sudden freefall will panic people and make them wonder what’s next.
Investors, and FIs looking to offer crypto services, need to read between the lines and view this crash as an educational opportunity.
Topics: Cryptocurrency, Digital Assets, Stablecoins, Blockchain, Crypto
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Fintech is helping a growing number of banks and credit unions reconfigure the communities they serve.
Historically, financial institutions have focused on clients based on geography, be that a neighborhood or city for banks or a local company or industry for credit union membership. Over time, those boundaries became more fluid as banks entered new markets and credit unions expanded their fields of membership.
Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Cryptocurrency, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Segmentation, Banking-as-a-Service, BaaS
Several high-profile banks, including Capital One, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America, have announced plans to either eliminate or dramatically reduce overdraft (OD) and nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees. It could be argued that these banks made this leap before regulators, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), required them to do so.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Regulations, Deposits, Overdraft
The prolonged period of taking deposit gathering for granted seems to be nearing an end.
Financial institutions have been awash in deposits for years, flush with liquidity. According to data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, deposit balances at banks have risen by 35% in the past two years alone.
The bigger challenge has been finding ways to put those deposits to use in profitable ways.
Topics: Bank Consulting, Credit Union Consulting, Deposits, bank customer acquisition, credit union customer acquisition
The Biden Administration’s Executive Order for digital assets observed that one in six adult Americans are involved with cryptocurrency, while other surveys place this figure closer to one in three. At the same time, a solid majority of Americans indicate they’d prefer to conduct crypto dealings through their financial institution.
This seems like a dream scenario for banks and credit unions looking for opportunities to deepen client relationships and pursue new sources of fee income to replace the overdraft/NSF revenue and interchange that is increasingly under threat.
Topics: Cryptocurrency, Regulations, Cryptocurrency for Banks and Credit Unions, Digital Assets, cryptocurrency consultants
As summer approaches, bank consolidation has been steady but not as brisk as many thought.
There have been 37 transactions announced by March 18, 2022. If this pace continues, it would be about 25% below last year, though many of 2021's deals were in the works before the pandemic. As with many other business transactions, they were shelved as Covid-19 took hold.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Mergers & Acquisitions, Expense Management, Credit Unions
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Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) has been one of the hottest areas in fintech for nearly a decade, with an array of startups executing on a vision originating from 1950s science fiction. Initially, the “conversation” was limited to text chatbots, but more entities, including financial institutions, have implemented voice-enabled chat, offering real-time responses and support for queries made over the phone and through devices like Alexa and Google Home.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Artificial Intelligence, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Conversational AI
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Standing-room-only crowds during breakout sessions at recent industry conferences nationwide are a strong indicator of financial institutions’ growing interest in cryptocurrency and other digital assets.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Cryptocurrency, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Digital Assets, Blockchain
The Biden Administration issued its anticipated executive order seeking to coordinate efforts among federal agencies to craft a national policy for digital assets.
While some pundits are worried about the impact of regulation, we assert that this effort brings digital assets, including cryptocurrency, into the mainstream, which should be a positive for financial institutions looking to operate in the space.
Topics: Vendor Contract Negotiation, Cryptocurrency, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Cryptocurrency for Banks and Credit Unions, Digital Assets, Blockchain
The CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference was in-person for the first time in three years, giving many credit union executives a long-overdue chance to have face-to-face meetings.
SRM made the most of the week, engaging with scores of executives, getting a sense of their challenges and opportunities, and lining up discussions to assist in crafting strategies and finding solutions for both.
Topics: Digital Banking, Vendor Contract Management, Cryptocurrency, Credit Union Vendor Management, Cryptocurrency for Banks and Credit Unions, Loan Growth, Deposits, Overdraft
