Safe deposit boxes are falling out of favor, but I want to encourage bankers reading this to continue to offer them. I read there are some 25 million safe deposit boxes across the country, but increasingly banks are discontinuing them, declining to rent boxes to new customers and phasing them out as they reduce their branch count or remodel their offices. [Continue]
Selecting an enterprise or SaaS product for a bank is a complex task. You’ve involved multiple decision-makers, sat through endless demos, negotiated the terms of the agreement, and finally implemented the product — in total, a process that can span many months. [Continue]
The Bank Holding Company Association was formed in fall of 1981, four years prior to the start of my career as a banking industry journalist. I remember covering some of those BHCA seminars in the 1980s when the farm crisis and the S&L mess were raging. [Continue]
The best way to beat online lenders is to match what they can do. And for that to happen, you need to automate your lending process — especially at the point of application. [Continue]
If you’ve been out to dinner this summer, you’ve no doubt been waitlisted at a restaurant that had plenty of open tables but not enough servers. Perhaps you’ve had a recent flight canceled for lack of a crew. [Continue]
If your community bank is thinking of rolling out an online loan application program, or any more complex product offering, you will likely have to make choices about a digital helper and how it interacts with customers. [Continue]
What banks (and really, any industry) can learn from the current spike in layoffs is that former employees can be quite vocal about their last moments with a company. Consider mortgage company Better.com’s callous firing of 900 people via Zoom. [Continue]
BankBeat’s Greg McCurry discusses the importance of financial literacy and saving with Kathleen Craig, founder and CEO of Plinqit, and Roger Sundermeier, Jr., SVP/Chief Branding Officer with First Arkansas Bank & Trust, Jacksonville, Ark. [Continue]
If your bank is looking to grow niche products and services, how do you spread the word? Aggressive marketing is certainly one tactic, but word of mouth (especially within a community) can also expand your reach. [Continue]
During the pandemic, we saw a surge in app-based services that offered grocery delivery, food and retail products delivery, and services such as dog walking and even child care. Now that the pandemic has mostly dissipated, we are seeing a return to pre-pandemic usage levels of rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft. [Continue]