Branch profitability has been depressed since 2008, but prospects for gradual increases in interest rates offer banks a path for improvement – if they build their deposit base.

Digital lending technology offers banks a choice: partner with alternative providers to serve some markets indirectly, or deploy your own to serve them directly.

While proposals to revamp the expected credit loss model are still under discussion, banks can take action now to prepare for the changes.

With the Federal Reserve poised to raise rates, bankers need to model and prepare for their exposure to time deposit early withdrawal.

Rather than bidding up rates to retain CD deposits when they mature, bankers should consider offering customers a special purpose savings account that offers CD-like yields.

Banks should begin strategic planning for their time deposit portfolios now – before interest rates rise and CDs resume their historic importance as funding sources.

While bankers cannot yet foresee all the regulatory fallout from continued investigations of overdraft fees, they can begin planning now for a more sustainable approach to fee income.