Former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill famously coined the phrase “all politics are local,” expressing the need for successful politicians to understand and reflect the concerns of their local constituents. And the same Read More
With many financial institutions (FIs) facing another year of declining average retail branch transaction activity and rising payroll costs (40.2% and 76.1%, respectively over the past two decades, per FMSI’s Annual Teller Line Study), upper Read More
I recently took a phone call from a bank executive bemoaning the fact that it took about an hour to open an account at his bank. “Something is very, very wrong with our account opening process, and I Read More
If you ask bankers in the C suite about their New Year resolutions, you won’t find many who fail to mention time. This year they are firmly resolved to spend their time differently: more time Read More
For many banks, improper scheduling on the teller line is one of the biggest silent profit killers in their retail branch network. Because it is difficult to precisely identify exactly what each teller is doing Read More
“Bank at Work,” or workplace banking, is not a new concept but it’s one that may deserve a second look from growth-starved bankers since best-in-practice banks have embraced this strategy to drive as much as Read More
Just two days after the election I will be attending a lunch at which former senator Christopher Dodd, best known as the co-author of the famous (or infamous) Dodd-Frank law will speak to a business Read More
Ninety days – that’s the window of opportunity to cross-sell, upsell and optimize the lifetime value of a new retail banking customer, while their interest is at a peak. During this time, each customer interaction Read More
Increasingly, banks seeking to optimize branch staffing are using qualified part-time tellers to supplement full-time staff during peak volume periods. This strategy is frequently touted as an effective approach to lowering branch labor cost and Read More
In an effort to be an obliging father, I recently took my daughter shopping for some new clothes. She is hitting her pre-teen years so clothes and music have suddenly escalated in importance. While trying Read More
During my days coaching high school wrestling and softball, I learned an important lesson. Wrestling is an individual sport where the sum of individual wins and losses determines the success or failure of the team. Read More
We have all heard the old adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” So, how do you know it ain’t broke?
There are many measures of success in banking: revenue growth, profitability, market share, Read More
Workforce utilization management – the process of tailoring staff schedules to meet need and thereby eliminating wasted payroll hours – is an especially complex task when it comes to tellers. Banks want to minimize customer Read More
With revenues under pressure and cost-cutting measures moving to the forefront, the next few years are likely to be difficult for bank employees. Managers will have to work hard to maintain employee morale – particularly Read More
Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock with the Geico gecko has likely noticed that the banking industry has been taking it on the chin for the past couple years. Hardly a week goes Read More
Years ago, I went from being the senior operations officer for a large bank in a metropolitan area with a flock of VPs at my disposal to being senior vice president and cashier/operations division head Read More
With its recent announcement of 30,000 job cuts, Bank of America Corp. has fired the opening shot in an industry-wide move toward deep cost reduction in retail banking. Going into 2012, many other revenue-starved banks Read More
Faced with a slow-growth economy and shrinking revenues, bank managers are pulling the only lever they have left: expense control. Rather than looking to massive across-the-board cuts to boost returns, most financial companies are seeking Read More
Before Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III taxied US Airways Flight 1549 to take-off on January 15, 2009, he and his co-pilot took out the pre-flight checklist for the Airbus A320 and went through Read More
The first time we were asked to map the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure of a large financial institution, the picture we drew could have been titled “Rootbound.” On the surface, the technology appeared to be Read More