BAI Banking Strategies

Small businesses are healthy, and the fundamentals are strong. But bankruptcies are up, and small businesses with good credit have big decisions to make in terms of investing back into equipment and hiring. Are owners finally ready to take their growth, enthusiasm and investment to the next level? And how can banks help? Gavin Harding, senior business consultant with Experian, surveys the landscape and discusses a range of topics from the march of digital technology to regulatory risk—all in the context of a financial services world that's moving faster than ever.

With artificial intelligence taking off, banks find themselves in an unprecedented position to meet and anticipate customer needs. But on the payments side of the equation, there's still a struggle to connect the dots of consumer experience. Can financial institutions play the role of catalyst? Fran Duggan, CEO of Payrailz, shares how banks can indeed make it happen—though he stresses that there's still a long way to go.

The conversation surrounding bank branches, and their future, continues to dominate conversation in financial services. Variables run the gamut from staffing levels to overall customer usage, and how the latter will drive quality and quantity in the former. David Kerstein, president and founder of Peak Performance Consulting Group, reveals how the common assumptions about branches aren't always spot on, while offering precise insights on the road ahead—including what needs to change and how.

In her time at Netflix, Patty McCord help create a much-acclaimed slide deck on talent management that has been seen by millions. In McCord’s podcast, this BAI Beacon keynote speaker and author of the new book “Powerful” talks about why banks should do away with both performance reviews and the notion of the “empowered” employee.

Cybersecurity at banks, to quote BAI managing director Karl Dahlgren, is a constant game of Whac-A-Mole as institutions struggle to stay a step ahead of resourceful, relentless malefactors. Yet for all the concerns, banks are only as strong as their weakest link—which in some cases might be an anemic office password such as “1234.” David Bryan, the self-described “Breaker of Things” for IBM’s X-Force Red, reveals how white hat hackers test (and often defeat) the cybersecurity measures businesses have in place, while offering practical advice for keeping bank data secure.

Today’s fintech industry covers such a wide swath of innovation and invention, it’s harder than ever to identify specific pockets of major forward movement. Even the concept of artificial intelligence too often lacks clarity as it pertains to banking breakthroughs. On thing’s for sure: Competition between banks and high-techs is evolving into cooperation. Meanwhile, the revolution continues as tech traction in payments couldn’t come at a better time. Lamia Pardo, Senior Vice President of growth and operation at Pangea Money Transfer, offers her insight on the most exciting changes on the financial technology front.

For all its focus on metrics and earnings reports, the banking world too often overlooks a non-numerical variable: standout culture. Yet that softer side of the equation, when in balance, produces numbers that are tough to beat. USAA boasts the industry's highest Net Promoter Score, reflecting how much their customers praise them. And Zachary Gipson, USAA's Chief Innovation Officers, says without reservation, "We love our members." Gipson takes us behind the scenes of USAA's innovation and culture success story.

Fintech progress means shiny new toys—at least in the minds of many bankers—yet some entrepreneurs focus first on a greater good. Moved by the plight of refugees in Europe, Taqanu founder Balázs Némethi created a blockchain-based system that lets users control their identities and data as they manage their finances. The winner of two BAI Global Innovation Awards at BAI Beacon 2017, Némethi discusses how he leveraged blockchain to create a platform honored for its societal impact and disruptive innovation.

For all the talk about interactive technology, it's more than just chatbots. Questions and answers represent just the first dimension of human-machine interplay; in the not too distant future, banks will leverage artificial intelligence to help customers manage their finances in real time. Michelle Moore, head of digital banking for Bank of America, discusses the initiatives under way to bring about this unprecedented high-tech change.

The endless disruptions and revolutions in payments have done more than just taken “evolution” out of the picture: They’ve also sent the banking industry on a “wild ride.” That’s no casual choice of words, as “A Wild Ride” is the title of a new Accenture report that highlights 10 mega trends driving the future of payments. Tommy Marshall, Accenture’s fintech lead for North America, discusses those trends and shares what financial institutions need to watch out for in the year ahead.