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Financial Institutions & Digital Capabilities

Financial Institutions have moved swiftly to enable more digital functionality. This effort has taken on many different paths. For some, the move has been to offer a combination of the following: BaaS, Open Banking, digital loan applications, a stand-alone digital bank, faster payments, access to cryptocurrencies, P2P functionality, electronic signatures, PFM, online and mobile app B2B capabilities. All this has been occurring, while at the same time, Big Tech, FinTech, and DeFi, have been launching new capabilities that target specific needs of consumers and businesses. Many traditional financial institutions have also developed partnerships and strategic alliances with Big Tech and FinTech firms or have invested in them directly.

 

 

COVID is Driving A Shift In Behavior

The COVID crisis further amplified the need for consumers and businesses to conduct more of their financial lives online and through mobile apps. In many ways, the changes in our industry were a direct result of a shift in consumer and business preferences that have been a long time coming; a need to move money faster and with a delightfully easy experience. While consumers’ lives and business operations have not yet returned to “normal,” we have learned how to adapt to life with a deadly virus around us. This includes being more comfortable with conducting more of our financial lives virtually rather than in person.

What comes next?

From IFM’s view, we see changes in consumer and business behavior daily. As a result of more digital functionality, the amount of data has grown exponentially. Some FI’s have seen their digital transaction volumes grow more than 2x-3x faster than previous years. IFM works with many of the largest banks in the U.S. and smaller FI’s that have a critical role in their communities, and all are impacted by changes in consumer and business behavior.

The movement of money has never been faster and will only become faster still. To be competitive, FI’s must be at the top of their game when utilizing data insights and predicting future customer behavior. IFM has an industry-leading customer intelligence solution to help your FI communicate more efficiently, with direct personalized content, and keep you and your enterprise informed of future behavioral changes.

Contact us today to take advantage of our free, no-obligation evaluation offer to get a first-hand view of your consumer and business customers. To learn more, visit us on our website at www.infimark.com.

 

 

 

 

The Rise of Digital Solutions in the Banking Industry: Is Your Bank Positioned Well in Our New World?

In a world dominated by the global pandemic, consumers and businesses have turned to contactless solutions and have minimized the need to conduct business in person, even as we slowly return to “normal”. These solutions have given rise to a swift increase in digital transactions as technology has enabled many financial activities to be conducted on a laptop, tablet, or mobile phone app.

The increase in digital transactions includes bill payments, P2P transactions, money movement, investment transactions, and even gambling and sending money overseas.

Another aspect of the global pandemic has been the need for financial institutions to “be there” for their business and consumer customers.  As banks and credit unions position their products and services to “be there” for their customers, this has given rise to a need for a deeper understanding of their customers’ lives and financial situation in order to provide the best possible service while at the same time maintaining profitability.

How will your Bank or Credit Union compete successfully in this New World?

One asset that is unique to your financial institution is your bank’s data, specifically the unique transactions that your customers conduct.  While the general activities and behaviors of your customers may be like other bank and credit union customers, the quality and quantity of their digital behavior becomes more unique.  Understanding what makes your customers unique is an opportunity for your institution to offer a personalized mix of financial solutions tailored to meet their needs.  This will lead to deeper engagement with your customers and your ability to maintain profitability. 

Insight Financial Marketing provides an industry-leading solution to help your bank or credit union deepen relationships with your customers even while the world is quickly changing around us.  Our innovative technology provides near real-time customer intelligence so that you can “be there” for your consumer and business customers.   

To find out more information about IFM’s solution or to get details on the free no-obligation trial of our service, please reach out to me via our website at Infimark.com.

 

 

 

Consumers and Businesses shift to enhanced digital functionality

Even before the COVID crisis, consumers and businesses were rapidly shifting to solutions provided in a digital transaction environment. For traditional financial institutions, adapting to these fast-moving changes is paramount to consumer and business banking customer retention and deepening relationships.

How is competition evolving as the shift to digital financial services has been accelerated during the COVID crisis?

Intuit’s QuickBooks Cash:

Earlier this Summer, Intuit’s QuickBooks™ rolled out QuickBooks Cash™, a component of their service to small businesses. Intuit partnered with Green Dot Bank to integrate access to a bank account directly within the QuickBooks platform.   Within QuickBooks and QuickBooks Cash, businesses now have access to a debit card, instant deposits, and bill payment. Many small businesses leverage QuickBooks to help manage their accounting, payments, and payroll within the digital platform. The addition of QuickBooks Cash may entice businesses to move more of their business banking relationship to Intuit’s ecosystem.

SoFi Money:

SoFi is a fast-growing fintech firm that began by offering student loans on a digital platform. Since its founding, it has rapidly moved to become more bank-like by expanding its digital payment services. This includes its new offering of SoFi Money™ a high-interest cash management account that also includes a debit card, integrates P2P transfers, and a mobile app.

What strategy can your Financial Institution deploy to compete more effectively:

As your financial institution shifts to offer more digital functionality, your FI has a wealth of information about your customers that is unique to your firm. By leveraging this information, your FI can identify shifts in digital behavior and target communications and messaging to specific segments of your customers. As an example, many of your customers have an existing relationship with QuickBooks and SoFi, and the growth of engagement with these companies continues at a rapid pace. By using a data intelligence service like the one offered by IFM, you can identify which of your customers have a relationship with these firms and track any changes in activity to enable targeted communications to be delivered in near real-time to limit relationship depletion as new services and capabilities are added by competing non-traditional financial institutions.

For more information on how your FI can leverage IFM’s services, we’ve added additional information on our website at infimark.com. IFM offers a free evaluation and analysis giving FIs a detailed view of competitive customer relationships and identifying opportunities for the retention and deepening of consumer and business banking relationships.

Check out the latest vlog from Rob Reale where he discusses how consumers and businesses are finding digital solutions to their financial services needs.