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“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
We have friends in Texas who, after years of planning, launched a restaurant last year. Within weeks after their successful grand opening, Texas’s stay-at-home order was put in place.
Fortunately, they were longtime customers at a local bank. Not only did their bank work with them on a small business loan so they could continue paying staff, but the bank also helped them set up to receive digital customer payments and make deposits online.
Healthy banks can make or break small businesses like my friends’. That’s just one reason why local and community banks are vital for resilient communities.
At Core10, our mission is to help local and community banks stay ahead of the curve so they can innovate and find ways to keep small businesses and their communities thriving, even through tough times. We watch the trends and keep our skills sharp, so we can help you do the same.
Here are five fintech trends we're watching because we want to help you thrive.
Blockchain
Blockchain technology streamlines and compresses multiple authentication steps into a single step. That step is visible to certain approved parties by using a distributed database, and this creates an audit trail.
One of the biggest benefits of blockchain is that it speeds transaction time. In the financial world, it can sometimes take a week or longer to get loans approved or authorize payments because there is a “middleman” authentication process. Blockchain simplifies complicated processes and makes it easier to get things done. This makes customers happy, so they’ll do more business with you.
Open banking
Open banking is driven by consumers’ need to have secure, convenient banking on their terms. It's the practice of sharing customer financial data, with approval, between banks and financial technology companies. When this type of data is shared, engineers can develop APIs and artificial intelligence that offer innovative customer service.
One example of this is a company called Accrue, a digital lending and banking platform for community banks and credit unions. Core10 helped Accrue integrate with core banking providers like Jack Henry and Fiserv so they can more easily serve customers.
Digital-only banking
Digital-only banks give customers a way to manage their finances without ever setting foot in a brick-and-mortar bank.
Although digital-only definitely challenges traditional banks, the prospect of competition and its effect on service quality is exciting. Competition motivates innovation. Innovation ultimately brings about lots of positive changes, and the consumer will be the ultimate winner.
According to a Deloitte survey, nearly half of their respondents plan digital service enhancements in 2021. These enhancements are designed to improve customer satisfaction and include deploying contactless touchscreen kiosks, adding live interaction capability with bank staff through ATMs.
Digital account opening
In the last five years, more people opened a checking account online than in person. Traditional bank customers want an easy-to-use, trustworthy way to open and fund accounts quickly.
Rather than simply digitizing their traditional in-branch account opening process, many banks have streamlined and automated account opening procedures. What used to take days for approval now can take a matter of minutes.
Innovation
In an interview with Natalie DiNicola of the Danforth Center, Square co-founder and author Jim McKelvey says, "Most of the people we know as great innovators did not intend to be innovators. They were forced to be one." This is certainly the position many banks find themselves in today.
Banks must differentiate themselves to stay competitive, and that means developing solutions that add value to the consumer. These solutions must solve problems without adding more layers of effort for consumers or the bank employees.
Are you ready to bring some positive change in 2021?
If your bank needs a digital boost to stay competitive, Core10 can help solve your fintech development needs. There’s no time like the present to give us a call and kick off your innovation journey. It could mean the difference between losing market share in 2021 and hitting your revenue goals.
Resources:
https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/risk/articles/fintech-trends-insights.html
https://vilmate.com/blog/fintech-industry-trends/
