BAI Banking Strategies

The flipside of superior customer experience is a strong fraud program, even if it's not the sexiest thing for banks to promote. Still, you can't have the former without the latter, and getting the balance just right challenges even the most innovative financial institutions. Debbie Peace, co-founder and CEO of ACH Alert, gets to the heart of how the two forces work in tandem and win customer loyalty.

Despite a newfound fascination with customer engagement, banks know it's a constantly moving target that doesn't reward indecision or momentary distractions. It takes strong resolve and concentration to stay on top of it—and strategy that leverages all that data and high tech have to offer. Carrie Stapp, SVP of product management at Harland Clarke, sees the key to customer engagement as enabling the easy use of the products consumers value most. On this podcast, she discusses how banks can achieve this goal through a smart mix of personal interaction and harnessing valuable customer data.

Considering that smartphone apps are just a dozen years old, the technology has exploded far beyond anything Steve Jobs might've imagined when he unveiled the first iPhone. Now in 2019, the reality of mobile-centric banking has arrived, with Varo Money already delighting customers to the tune of 13,000-plus five star reviews on the App Store and Google Play. Colin Walsh, Varo's CEO and co-founder, describes the journey from blueprint to charter, and how Varo hopes to help millions of customers improve their financial lives.

Compliance has always presented a set of thorny challenges for banks, and at this point there's no going back to simpler times. Enter "regtech," a subset of fintech that aims to handle how regulations are met and requirements satisfied. But there is more: So far as customers are concerned, regtech helps financial institutions to become more transparent and trustworthy. Shiran Weitzman, CEO and co-founder of Shield FC, talks about the digital developments that have led us to this point, and how banks can harness all regtech has to offer to move themselves forward.

While the fight for tighter cybersecurity keeps financial institutions scrambling, it means much more than keeping firewalls strong and hackers out. Miscues with data can destroy customer trust, while the demand for high-tech talent has banks competing not just with each other but every other business sector as well. Sundeep Nehra of EY's financial services office practice draws on decades of experience to share how financial institutions can best handle a changing security landscape, win the talent war—and build modern systems to repel today's worst cyber threats.

Creating organic growth boils down to a seeming paradox: developing intelligent digital tech that meets customers where they live. BAI Global Innovation Awards judge Alex Sion of Citi's D10X program explains how financial institutions can apply the latest technology to rapid changes in family life and consumer behavioral patterns.

Making consumer bank strategy stick ranks among the hottest topics in financial services today. But to get there, financial institutions must figure out how to balance a host of channels, from branches to call centers to mobile and its next wave. Ben Hopper of First Tennessee Bank shares his insights on achieving the optimal digital-physical combination to benefit customers and bolster banks in 2019.

Artificial intelligence, BAI's Trend of the Year in 2018, looks set to have another banner run in 2019. But many financial institutions still haven't figured out the best uses of AI or how to find the right high-tech mix. Daniel Faggella, founder and CEO of Emerj, lays out how AI can transform banks in areas from automation to risk forecasting and monitoring.

Getting to the heart of serving small- and medium-sized businesses has been a heartache for banks, as they struggle to make many work-intensive transactions into a large, meaningful chunk of volume. Charles Wendel, owner of Financial Institutions Consulting, highlights the steps banks can take to build relationships and revenue with SMBs.

Whatever the months ahead hold for technology in financial services—from open banking to closing the gaps between fintechs and banks—the future is coming faster than ever. Sue Britton, CEO and founder of the FinTech Growth Syndicate and BAI Global Innovation Awards Judge, gives us a glimpse on the most exciting developments on the banking horizon.