A recent survey from Bank Director summarizes thoughts on best practices for financial institution Boards of Directors. It begins with the observation that even the strongest corporate boards benefit from a regular infusion of fresh ideas. Particular needs include bringing in more members with tech expertise, achieving greater diversity in Board composition, and recruiting younger directors into the boardroom. Creating a strong Board culture is also deemed to be important, although the survey participants had slightly divergent views on what that means.
Focusing on healthcare workers, a neobank and a division of Key Bank have taken separate paths to providing financial services to this market. Founded by doctors, Panacea Financial specializes in loans and deposit services for doctors, dentists, and veterinarians. On the other hand, Key Bank’s Laurel Road also targets nurses through financial education and rewards programs. An innovative TikTok promotion on a dancing nurses channel also helped them introduce and grow their business.
With 83% of consumers believing that companies should have an ESG strategy, developing a meaningful program should be on everyone’s radar. Creating a ‘green lending’ program can be a good place to start. This involves defining a focus for green lending activities, setting up a scorecard methodology to monitor progress, and creating a team that can identify and act on green lending opportunities.
Only one in ten banks plan to introduce cryptocurrency services in 2022. That’s not surprising given that the cryto market has cratered this year. But then, so has the equity market. Customer interest in having cryptocurrency investments available through their financial institutions remains high. Companies that have chosen to remain on the sidelines now should continue to factor this into their future plans. Anticipating the need, core system providers FIS, Fiserv, and Jack Henry are all working on integrating crypto services into the core and digital banking platforms.
Can you stuff too many features in your mobile app? Apparently not, according to a recent Forrester Research study. Some cutting-edge features to consider include subscription management tools, account aggregation, instant-issue virtual cards, carbon footprint tracking, financial management tools for gig workers, and automatic savings features (be sure to check out what Plum is doing).
