Net interest margin is a central measure of a financial institution’s long-term success and viability. In an industry that is currently seeing abnormal trends of lower loan originations, excess liquidity, global staff shortages and supply chain issues, closely monitoring margins is of even more importance for banks wanting to avoid falling behind peers.
Excellent customer communication is the pinnacle of community banking. However, a new precedent for speed and digital offerings for your commercial customers has been set since the onset of the Paycheck Protection Program. Will people want to go into a bank branch to apply for a commercial loan when they were able to carry out the entire PPP loan process digitally? Now that these digital expectations have been set, there’s no going back. Bankers can’t revert to doing things the same way they did before the pandemic. It’s just not an option.
In the banking industry, innovation and technology are top of mind for community financial institutions who want to stay relevant. As you search for solutions to your CFI’s needs, you will undoubtedly vet many vendors. Give yourself an advantage and be sure to ask the right questions during the discovery process. These are some of the most important questions you should ask when interviewing potential partners to ensure the relationship is going to be a good fit.
Conferences are on our mind right now as we’re preparing for the annual Teslar User Conference coming up this September. Navigating conferences in this post-pandemic/lingering pandemic atmosphere poses its own challenges as we seek to meet the needs and preferences of our clients.
Community banks have always been good at creating lifetime customers, but evolving technology and customer demands can complicate your ability to satisfy customers post-pandemic. There is a running joke in the banking industry that the pandemic took five years of technology growth and pressed it into one. With the additional demands put on bankers by the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), that joke is one hundred percent true. Now that these digital expectations have been set, there’s no going back. Bankers can’t revert to doing things the same way they did before the pandemic. It’s just not an option.
The banking industry is completely changing (and fast!) due to this global pandemic. While banks are typically slow to adopt technological changes, the pandemic has accelerated this process by years. Digital offerings are not just conveniences anymore, but legitimate necessities for customers now. This adaptation can be more difficult for community banks with more limited resources than it is for large banks, but community banks still want to be players in the game.
The modern community banker is caught in the crossfires of remaining traditional and being expected to adapt to accommodate a new generation of customers. Let’s face it—community bankers are expected to be all things to all people. Many community banks are juggling trying to serve rural customers with no internet access or even an email address, while simultaneously meeting the digital needs of younger and more fast-paced lifestyles.
Experts have been predicting a coming recession long before Coronavirus was on the world’s radar, but nobody was quite expecting the global health pandemic that is currently wreaking havoc on America’s economy. Current economic trends are being compared to those of The Great Recession of 2008. While there are some discrepancies between the two, this still leaves bankers with a little bit of an advantage in knowing what’s suspected to come— many loans are going to become criticized.
Summer will be ending in just a few short weeks and perhaps the craziest, scariest, most uncertain school year of our lifetime will begin, affecting not just school-aged children and their families, but employers, coworkers, friends, relatives, everybody. While the whens and hows are still up in the air, it is for certain that school will resume next month one way or another.
No matter the year, month, or season, no matter the state of current affairs-- cybersecurity is important! In fact, scams have been on the rise since the COVID-19 pandemic left the world on lockdown (read more on these scams here), so there’s no better time to double check your security measures. Check out our infographic below as we share some wisdom on secure passwords from Teslar’s VP of Support, Chris Whittle.