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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.
Topics: Open Banking, Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, BaaS, CFPB
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.
Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Interchange, Buy Now Pay Later, Digital Assets, Overdraft, credit card competition act
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.”
Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Expenses
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.
Topics: Fintech, Automation, AI, Digital Assets, customer retention, ITM, Staffing
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.
Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Crypto, Regulation
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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.
Topics: Payments, Fintech, Vendor Contract, BaaS, Regulators, BSA
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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.
Topics: Fintech, Blockchain, Credit Union Vendor Contracts, Bank Vendor Contracts, CFPB, Distributed Ledger Technology
Several initiatives by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) seem poised to increase competition between traditional financial services providers and fintechs.
An effort to regulate nonbanks has gained support from banks and credit unions. Still, the CFPB’s plan to make it easier for consumers to move accounts will pressure traditional financial institutions to offer more products and better services.
These initiatives are coming when the agency is scrutinizing overdraft and nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees, the CARD Act, and the terms and disclosures of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) offerings – the latter a topic SRM recently wrote a report on.
All signs point to the need for banks and credit unions to buckle up in coming months. These expected changes will likely bring fintech even more into the mainstream and raise the stakes when it comes to recruiting and retaining clients.
Topics: Payments, Fintech, Regulations, Credit Union Vendor Contracts, Bank Vendor Contracts, CFPB
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Financial institutions of all sizes are under pressure to find new revenue sources and solidify their status as customers' trusted financial advisors. One would think FIs would race to participate in a lending category projected to grow significantly in coming years – and one where 70% of consumers indicated in a recent survey that they'd prefer access through their bank.
That isn’t necessarily the case. Surprisingly, a study by IntraFi Network found that 80% of community banks and credit unions have no plans to introduce Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services. A new SRM report details why FIs should closely examine this opportunity – not only as a revenue generator but also to defend current and future business.
Topics: Fintech, Vendor Contract Negotiation, Bank Vendor Management, Credit Union Vendor Management, Buy Now Pay Later, BNPL, Consumer Lending
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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
