“Research is creating new knowledge.” Neil Armstrong

I’m sure Neil Armstrong’s confidence level was high when he stepped out of his spacecraft onto the moon. He knew how much research was done at NASA to put him there. And more importantly, to get him home safely. 

Although it’s not rocket science, the research we do at Jack Henry & Associates (JHA) is just as important to us. We depend on research to better understand the needs of financial institutions (FIs) as well as the customers they serve. With this knowledge, our associates are able to build strategies that define and accentuate the design of our products and services.

The dynamics of small business lending have been changing rapidly over the past ten years. Born initially from the fintech lender movement, small business owners are now turning to online loan origination processes in greater numbers. Why? Having forged their expectations as consumers of personal loan and mortgage solutions in the early 2000s, these consumers-turned-business-owners now demand those same efficiencies in the enterprise arena.

Much like buying a house, your choice of an Enterprise Content Management System and conversion of legacy data is a huge decision that could lead to your dream home or a money pit. Let’s use a house hunting analogy to help illustrate the things you must consider when performing a data conversion into a new ECM solution.

Several of my colleagues and I recently had an opportunity to visit the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA to meet with their data scientists and SQL Server 2016/ SQL Server R Services experts. Our objective was to collaborate on the machine learning models we are developing for our Advanced Reporting for Credit Unions™ (ARCU) business intelligence solution.

While machine learning algorithms have been around for quite some time, our team is looking to productize and operationalize predictive models for 240+ Jack Henry/Symitar customers. Predictive analytics is an area of data science that is getting more and more attention.

Why? Companies have accumulated a breadth and depth of available data and they want to maximize their investment by generating predicted outcomes that will help them make better decisions and take faster action.

de no·vo
/dā ˈnōvō, di ˈnōvō/
Starting from the beginning; anew.
“De novo” is the industry term recognizing the formation of a new financial institution, typically a bank.

Between 2010 and end of 2015, only two new banks opened their doors in the US. Since that time, however, an increase in de novo activity has appeared; with two new openings and seven pending approvals.

There are no doubt several reasons for this shift. One reason could be that the failure rate of banks during the recession is fading into history, and the economy is gradually getting back on its feet. Also, the FDIC has lifted some of the regulatory burden on these institutions. For example, in 2009, a regulation (FIL-50-2009) was created that mandated heighted examination procedures to continue for seven years after a bank’s approval. In 2016, this rule was rescinded and the period has been reduced to three years.

The small-to-midsize business (SMB) lending market has grown considerably over the past year, and many industry analysts believe this trend will continue through 2018. A growth rate of over 18% is predicted! So where is the potential growth coming from and why does it matter?

SMB Optimism and Loan Growth

The predicted growth in the SMB market is most likely due to the optimism experienced by small businesses following the presidential election. The National Federation of Independent Businesses has measured SMB optimism at historically high levels over the past six months.

That optimism is also reflected in the statistics we see from surveys of middle market and large market businesses. It is hoped that easements in credit standards at lending institutions will continue as they have since 2011, and the economy will begin to trend upward with the passing of tax and trade reform.

If the reforms promised by the new administration come to fruition, lenders can assume that small businesses will be looking to expand. This will result in a need for capital, and trigger a large demand for loans.

Vendor management has always been a key part of financial institution (FI) compliance and risk management efforts. And recently, FIs have witnessed the importance of proper vendor management begin to receive even more emphasis. One area in particular that is contributing to this emphasis is the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 18 (SSAE 18) report. That’s right, SSAE 18, not 16. Effective May 1^st, 2017, the SSAE 18 became the new standard report for vendors to provide to financial institutions.

Now, in my opinion, there has not been a lot of hype regarding this change. At least not like what we saw when the SAS70 report became the SSAE 16. The reason for this is due largely to the fact that the SSAE 18 does not appear to be drastically different from the SSAE 16. Which is definitely good news for community FIs.

While the changes between the SSAE 16 and 18 will not completely change an FI’s approach to vendor management, there are some changes that will impact the due diligence efforts of FIs, especially in regard to more critical vendors.

Consumers are less concerned with the cost of fraud due to the fact they are rarely, if ever, held responsible for the actual fraud loss and therefore suffer little to no financial repercussions. However, they are greatly inconvenienced if the fraud occurs on their debit cards, and the funds in their underlying DDA account are used. On the other hand, the costs incurred due to fraud weigh heavily on the shoulders of financial institutions. As with all fraud prevention measures there is a delicate balance between the added security measures and customer experience and card fraud is no exception.

As financial institutions look for ways to expand their commercial lending portfolios and attract valuable relationships, there are many opportunities out there for consideration. Possibly none add more value across multiple channels than healthcare banking. The healthcare industry is a $2 trillion market that represents 18% of our GDP and is growing. Banking opportunities abound. Healthcare relationships bring in core deposits, have a strong need for treasury management services, are typically sound credit risks, and drive wealth management opportunities.

Attracting healthcare relationships starts with having a viable healthcare loan platform. Just what is healthcare lending, though? 

Intercom said it best in one of their recent posts:

“Where playbook content marketing goes wrong is in trying to market and sell from the get-go. We have to give you, our readers, something of value – our knowledge, insight and experience – before we earn the right to market to you.”

This got me thinking about the shenanigans that come with white papers, e-books, industry research, and other pieces of digital content. To access this type of content, companies often require you to give them your personal details: name, email, and sometimes a lot more.

Companies believe that because they put a lot of work into their content that they should get something in return. They’re looking for the classic ROI. That something is the right to market to you. Because you downloaded that white paper, you now get the pleasure of being added to their newsletter, receiving invites to webinars and getting a slew of other marketing offers thrown at you. Yippee!

Unfortunately, this method doesn’t work.