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How FIs are Exploring Fintech

Posted by Paul Davis on Jun 30, 2021 9:36:00 AM

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Financial Institutions (FIs) have long had a curiosity regarding fintech.

There were concerns that these digital disruptors would create more competition for traditional financial services providers (without as much regulatory oversight), but banks and startups are starting to embrace opportunities to collaborate.

Conversations about partnerships between FIs and fintech intensified in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as scores of consumers and businesses became digital converts and there was a greater need to make day-to-day tasks easier (and safer) for those customers.

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Topics: Fintech, Digital Banking, Online Lending, M&A

Pandemic Impacts to Consumer Banking Behavior | SRM Academy Survey Analysis

Posted by Pete Bainbridge & Jehan Sherjan on Jun 23, 2021 9:39:39 AM

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In 2020, SRM conducted three surveys to shed light on the financial services industry’s approach to navigating the pandemic. Our March and June surveys focused on bank and credit union executives’ responses to COVID-19 and their strategies for delivering uninterrupted service to customers.

Six months into the pandemic, we further rounded out the picture by commissioning leading research firm Harris Insights and Analytics to collect data directly from US consumers. This survey assessed how their banking habits had evolved since global lockdowns began, and how they might continue to change in the future. The results were further analyzed by SRM’s Europe-based Data Analytics team, which specializes in consumer behavior and loyalty insights.

The findings revealed some important differences by segment with key insights for go-forward digital banking strategies.  

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Topics: Digital Banking, Consumer Behavior, Virtual Assistants, Intelligent Automation

Digital Banking Dispatches from the Beach | On Shoring Up Your Virtual Identity

Posted by Rob Coile on Jun 6, 2021 9:15:00 AM

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It’s not surprising commerce continues to migrate to digital channels across all sectors and that the pandemic has pushed further the already speedy digital banking trend. In the FI world, consumers rely on their bank or credit union’s virtual branch to navigate real-life decisions.

A recent family trip to Florida’s gulf coast reminded me of how much importance customers put into “What it says on the website.” We visited an area decimated by Hurricane Michael the year prior; although it remains a beautiful destination, the storm’s impact was still evident. Some businesses only had websites left standing, as we soon came to learn.

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Topics: Digital Banking, Vendor management, Process Optimization

Are the Battleships Sailing Toward New Targets?

Posted by Michael Carter on Oct 25, 2020 9:00:00 AM

Are the Battleships Sailing Toward New Targets?

The banking industry’s biggest service providers, sometimes referred to as “battleships,”  have grown largely  through acquisitions. When market demand moves toward a new channel for delivering financial services (e.g., smartphones) or potential for a replacement solution opens up a new market tier (e.g., digital banking among regionals), these “battleships” acquire other entities to keep pace and/or unlock a new opportunity for revenue growth. Often, they wait for an upstart to gain some market traction then give its investors an exit strategy worth multiples of their initial stake.

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Topics: Digital Banking

Banks and Credit Unions: Wake Up to the Needs of Your Small Businesses

Posted by Michael Carter on Jun 24, 2020 11:30:00 AM

Banks and Credit Unions Wake Up to the Needs of Your Small Businesses

For years, small businesses have gotten very little help from their financial institutions – and no market segment gets a pass on this one. From mega-nationals to community-sized institutions, small businesses have seldom found the assistance they need. Instead, many institutions have either pushed them to retail accounts or offered these small business owners treasury/commercial services.  

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Topics: Digital Banking, Economic Recovery, Small Businesses

One Does Not Simply Switch Core Systems After COVID-19

Posted by Bret Herbert on Jun 10, 2020 11:00:00 AM

One Does Not Simply Switch Core Systems After COVID-19

While community bankers were already weighing options on core processing and digital solution strategies before the pandemic, these decisions weigh heavily enough now to quickly tip the scales of survival. We’ve already shared our thoughts on how the “shelter in place” environment and its aftermath gave a serious jolt to any bank or credit union leader still on the fence about the importance of a robust digital backbone. 

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Topics: Digital Banking, Contract Negotiation, COVID-19, Core Systems, Core Platforms, Core Processing

Banking to Post-Pandemic Consumers | SRM Academy Expert Summary

Posted by Sisa Wang on May 27, 2020 9:00:00 AM

Banking to Post-Pandemic Consumers – SRM Academy Expert Summary

We are spending a lot of time thinking through the near- and mid-term ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, especially impacts to the financial services industry. SRM has already shared several perspectives on this topic, including similarities/differences between today’s downturn to 2008’s financial crisis and financial institutions’ latest wake-up call concerning digital channels. Now, our lens focuses on what adapting to post-pandemic consumer banking and spending behaviors might look like. 

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Topics: Digital Banking, COVID-19, Digital Channels, post-pandemic, card network, Branch of the Future

COVID-19’s Digital Transformation Wrecking Ball

Posted by SRM Admin on May 17, 2020 9:00:00 AM

COVID-19’s Digital Transformation Wrecking Ball

There is a business cartoon that has been circulating around social media – a group of employees is holding court in a conference room. The manager at the head of the table declares, “Digital transformation is years away – I don’t see our company having to change anytime soon.” Meanwhile, outside the window just behind him swings a giant wrecking ball labeled “COVID-19.”  

The term “bank” never appears, but there is no sector for which the message rings truer. While the migration of banks and credit unions to digital channels has been underway for several years, of course, the national brands have been the most aggressive, creating an online capabilities gap over most community financial institutions. Given the pandemic-prompted closing of most branches and the energetic push of customers of all stripes toward remote channels, those investments by the largest institutions seem more prescient than ever. 

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Topics: Digital Banking, COVID-19, Digital Transformation

Preparing Your Financial Institution for COVID-19 Impacts

Posted by Larry Pruss on Mar 12, 2020 12:00:00 PM

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Being prepared for any potential downside is something bank and credit union executives take quite seriously and, since the early 2000s, have been required by regulators to maintain a pandemic crisis plan. Now all of these plans are being put to the test, especially after the announcement by the WHO that the coronavirus is officially a pandemic.

Even as the business world improves at predicting and defending against risks, Black Swans will always be a possibility. As is characterized by such an event, it’s easy in hindsight to say, “We should have seen this coming,” but the fact remains that we don’t know what we don’t know; e.g., the impacts on the stock market and disruptions to daily life brought on by COVID-19.

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Topics: Digital Banking, Cash, COVID-19, Card Not Present, Coronavirus, Contactless

PNC v. Venmo: Drawing a Line in the P2P Sand

Posted by Michael Carter on Jan 5, 2020 9:00:00 AM

PNC v. Venmo Drawing a Line in the P2P Sand

Protecting Share, or Poking the Bear?

I asked a good friend of our firm, Ginger Schmeltzer, owner and principal of GDS Advisors, to comment on the recent announcement that PNC was blocking its customers from using their accounts to fund Venmo transactions. Ginger’s take echoed a number of comments made around the industry concerning the news.

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Topics: P2P, Venmo, Zelle, Digital Banking

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