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SRM Perspectives on Key Industry Trends

Developing a Sidecar Strategy for Tech Innovation

Posted by Jeff Ostheimer on May 23, 2023 11:58:15 AM

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Banks and credit unions are taking a new look at the role their core systems play in delivering products and services to customers.

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Topics: Innovation, Fintech, Vendor management, Core Platforms, Cloud

Five Tech Takeaways from Acquire or Be Acquired

Posted by Richard Whiddon on Feb 28, 2023 11:37:00 AM

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The SRM recently returned from Bank Director’s Acquire or Be Acquired conference. The event was well attended, provided great networking opportunities, and created a forum for sharing ideas on numerous growth strategies for financial institutions of all sizes.

While the event remains focused on the topic of mergers and acquisitions, this year’s sessions highlighted broader strategic initiatives that can differentiate winners and losers in the financial services industry. Naturally, fintech played a considerable role, as witnessed by the attendees and the topics.

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Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Blockchain, Strategy

Creating a Map for Credit Unions’ Digital Readiness

Posted by Loretta Weller-Mowers on Feb 23, 2023 11:09:00 AM

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The future is digital, and credit unions’ ability to deliver an exceptional experience will be a critical benchmark for success. Strategic questions abound. How do you harmonize the digital channel with the personalized in-branch experience? Should you partner with fintechs? If so, which providers and services should be prioritized? Do you understand what your members want and how you stack up against your competition?

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Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Digital Map, Strategy

How the CFPB Could Shake Up (and Shake Down) Fintech

Posted by Paul Davis on Feb 2, 2023 11:07:00 AM

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Shifts in the regulatory landscape carry significant impacts on banks, credit unions, and the fintech companies that are part of a growing ecosystem. The most-active agency in recent months has been the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). There's little reason to expect the CFPB to slow its pace in 2023, aggressively enforcing existing rules and angling to expand its jurisdiction.

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Topics: Open Banking, Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, BaaS, CFPB

Reflecting on Key Challenges & Opportunities in 2022

Posted by Paul Davis on Dec 27, 2022 12:10:35 PM

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Over the past year, SRM's experts have shared dozens of blogs, providing insight into industry-relevant topics.

We've covered a wide range of themes, including fintech trends, crypto, lending and deposit strategies, critical regulatory headwinds, and ESG programs.

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Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Interchange, Buy Now Pay Later, Digital Assets, Overdraft, credit card competition act

Relationship Dos and Don’ts for Contract Negotiation

Posted by Patrick Goodwin, President on Dec 13, 2022 11:02:00 AM

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In SRM’s 30 years of experience representing our clients in vendor contract negotiations, we’ve developed deep insights into the best way for financial institutions to approach this process. We recently boiled down several best practices into a timely white paper titled “Rising to the Challenge – SRM’s Seven Rules for Optimizing Vendor Contracts.”

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Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Expenses

Why Staffing, Tech Upgrades Matter with 2023 Budgets

Posted by Paul Davis on Nov 9, 2022 11:14:00 AM

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Budgeting season for 2023 is slowly wrapping up as banks and credit unions forecast revenue opportunities and looming expenses.

 

Financial institutions are considering future interest rate hikes, regulatory oversight, and increasing personnel and operational costs, among other things. The bigger picture is that client retention and recruitment will be critical to long-term success – invest now to ensure you’re ready to compete. 

At SRM, we urge banks and credit unions to take a hard look at third-party contracts as they plan for the new year. There are also other considerations that should be made as you prepare for the future.

 

This year, we polled some of our experts, asking them to highlight areas that merit extra attention. Here are some highlights from their responses.

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Topics: Fintech, Automation, AI, Digital Assets, customer retention, ITM, Staffing

Due Diligence Matters with Digital Assets Partnerships

Posted by Larry Pruss on Oct 27, 2022 2:08:28 PM

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Federal regulators continue to advise on how banks and credit unions conduct due diligence for digital assets solution providers.

 

A lapse in vetting could expose FIs to an array of risks, ranging from reputational impact to non-compliance with government sanctions and BSA requirements.

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Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Crypto, Regulation

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

Now Is the Time to Explore Distributed Ledger Technology

Posted by Patti Wubbels on Jun 14, 2022 11:07:00 AM

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While a number of financial institutions remain cautious about cryptocurrency, many use the underlying technology for other purposes.

The up-and-down swings of digital assets, and an uncertain regulatory climate, have kept a fair share of banks and credit unions on the sidelines. At the same time, FIs have shown a willingness to embrace distributed ledger technology (DLT) ahead of the volatile crypto market.

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Topics: Fintech, Blockchain, Credit Union Vendor Contracts, Bank Vendor Contracts, CFPB, Distributed Ledger Technology

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