The term “robo advising” emerged in the banking and wealth management communities about a decade ago. And, while the term of art “robo” was new, technology simply helped streamline and deliver a time-tested method of model portfolio construction to the masses. Model portfolio construction ensures that representatives recommend consistent portfolios to groups of people of similar ages, Read More
There is no doubt that bank customers of all ages and incomes are moving to digital channels to conduct financial transactions. Use of mobile banking applications to check balances, transfer funds, pay bills and even deposit checks is growing rapidly. Furthermore, more customers are going online to open accounts and apply for loans. But does that mean Read More
Bigger is better may not have been what the politicians and regulators envisioned post-financial crisis but that’s what we now have in the banking industry. In short, big banks in the United States have closed ranks and gotten much bigger over the past decade, while smaller banks have either merged their way into the middle tier ranks, Read More
Meet Brittany. She’s 25 years old and works at her first job. Her paycheck is deposited directly into her checking account. She has a checkbook somewhere in her apartment, as she finds she does not need checks because her bank debit card is tied to Apple Pay on her phone.Back in Brittany’s college days, her parents electronically Read More
There’s been a lot of debate about millennials and their likes and dislikes. I myself cite regular surveys that millennials would rather go to the dentist than visit their bank and that surveys of millennials find no bank brands are desired. In some ways, this gives a false impression, as we have to think that when we refer to Read More
For everything from strategy formation to performance management, banks compare themselves to their peers, and the way they define their peers has often come down to answering a simple question: who’s across the street? New BAI research indicates it’s time to stop asking that question and to completely redefine what constitutes a peer. Doing so clarifies the Read More
How are some banks growing revenue and maintaining target customer service levels without increasing branch staff? The short answer is by using predictive analytics. The key to simultaneously achieving these seemingly conflicting goals is harnessing the insights hidden in the data about branch activity. This includes data about customer arrivals, service times, wait times and details of Read More
In today’s hyper-connected world, the fight against payments fraud, money laundering and other cyber threats is challenging for banks and other financial institutions around the world. While new social and cloud technologies empower businesses and consumers, they also have the potential to be used as smokescreens for criminals. According to the Association for Financial Professionals’ 2013 Payments Read More
When it comes to utilizing technology, small business banking customers are definitely traditional in their preferences: branch visits and personal service still rate highly with them, online and mobile banking less so, and they’re highly fee-sensitive, all of which makes them more costly to serve than retail customers overall. But when it comes to institutional loyalty and 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 and how this correlates with account holder traffic flow, many financial institutions (FIs) persist in scheduling based on what is available to Read More
First, the facts. In the June 2012 BAI Demand Pulse, we asked financial institutions which phrase best described their business culture: 1) customer service professionals, 2) focused product and service retailers, 3) generalized provider, 4) traditional and reliable bankers and 5) relationship focused. The number one response was “relationship focused; 41% picked that answer followed by “customer Read More
First quarter numbers are in and loan demand is still dragging, which is bad news for banks. How do they plan to improve in today’s slow-growth economy? Asset growth and credit quality are the top priorities for banks and credit unions of all sizes, according to the March 2012 BAI Demand Pulse survey. And no wonder: most Read More
Financial institutions have been using customer data for segmentation purposes for many years in order to target customers for more efficient marketing. What they may not realize is that those segmentation strategies established prior to 2008 may no longer be as valid in the wake of the financial crisis and migration to more digital forms of banking. Read More
Given the ongoing challenge of near-term revenue growth, many financial institutions struggle with deciding what steps need to be taken to ensure long-term survival and prosperity. BAI’s director of research, Mark Riddle, has indicated that his organization’s research points to expense control as the key. And two of the main areas that financial institutions are focusing on Read More
It wasn’t too many years ago that banking could be considered a local industry, particularly in the U.S. It wasn’t until the 1990s that the advent of interstate banking created first regional and then national financial institutions. Today, banking is clearly a global industry – as the current financial crisis constantly reminds us – with major institutions Read More
Revenue generation in traditional banking comes from the interest rate spread on taking deposits and making loans while collecting fees in the process. With the economy now treading water (or worse), loan growth is hard to find and banks are investing their deposits in low-yielding bonds. Meanwhile, recent regulations have greatly reduced overdraft fees and debit card Read More
Based on the insights captured in our recent Ideal Banking and Small Business Banking studies, there is still a significant room for improvement in crucial customer experience categories. Many organizations continue to focus their efforts more on products and less on customer relationships as a way to recoup lost fees from recent regulatory reform. While adding new Read More
