Last week’s Acquire or Be Acquired conference was fantastic. The weather was warm and the conversations were superb. The feedback we received from banking leadership was remarkable.
It was exciting to meet with both well-established and growing, up-and-coming banks. We loved seeing and reconnecting with several Teslar clients from across the US as well as many from our home state of Arkansas.
Technology is changing the day-to-day operations of banks and their employees. Many are hesitant and resistant to a technology takeover, but many of these digital services can revolutionize the banking industry, giving employees more opportunities to do work that generates more revenue and has more meaning.
There are two types of people: those who never let their bank account get close to zero and those who at some point get near or below zero in their bank account. According to Aaron Klein, a fellow at the Brookings Institution (a government research center in Washington, D.C.), half of Americans have enough income and expense volatility that their bank accounts hit or get close to zero. Klein relents, “once you start getting near and hitting zero, the world becomes incredibly expensive: $35 for an overdraft, $50 for a payday loan, interest rates of 300-400%, late fees.”
It’s true nobody likes change, but it’s particularly frustrating to face changes that seem completely unnecessary. Chris Maher, CEO of OceanFirst Financial, noticed the biggest problem when going digital was a cultural and training gap among employees, “not surprisingly, if you work all day within a bank branch, you don’t personally have a big need to use mobile banking and wouldn’t be an advocate of that technology because it’s not important to you in your life.”
As digital banking continues to grow in popularity, it’s evident that the traditional model of banking is not coming back. Yes, there is still a demand, and therefore need, for in-person interactions and brick-and-mortar stores (read more on that here and here), but many aspects of traditional banking are more than likely gone for good. If the future of banking is digital, we can’t help but wonder, what does that mean for the future of banking jobs?
The introduction of AI and digital technology has “forced banks to realize that human connection is what will set them apart and give them an edge. You can use all the technology you want but without the right people to deliver it, manage it, and embrace those changes, you will fail.”1 Collaboration, empathy, creativity-- all of these new things are humanistic by nature.
There’s no skirting around the fact that cyber security is a major threat and cause for alarm today. In August 2019 alone, 114.6 million financial records were leaked in 95 breaches around the world1—and that’s just the ones we know of. Only 10-12% of cybercrimes in the U.S. are reported.2
Leveraged lending offers credit to commercial businesses with high levels of debt, helps companies obtain funding for leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, and recapitalizing businesses. While many commercial businesses see success from these loans and are able to repay them, the high levels of debt and lower liquidity can reduce a business’ ability to respond to unexpected changes in economic conditions.
The statistics surrounding the dire state of retirement in America are abundant. According to a 2019 Bankrate Financial Security Index survey, 21% of Americans aren’t saving any money at all. Forty eight percent of working adults are saving something, but still less than 10% of their annual income.1