key points
Financial institutions face a dilemma in meeting the growing demand for fast, digital banking while navigating complex financial regulations, requiring a strategic approach to strike a balance.
A seamless digital experience is now a fundamental requirement for banks and credit unions, necessitating the adoption of emerging technologies like analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning to meet changing customer demands.
Successful institutions leverage the power of customer data, working within a flexible platform, allowing them to address multiple priorities while ensuring compliance and quickly responding to unforeseen challenges.
Financial institutions are facing the challenge of balancing the increasing demands for faster, digital banking with the rising wave of financial regulations, including compliance requirements like CECL and fair lending laws.
The key to achieving this balance lies in adopting a seamless digital experience, leveraging data with emerging technologies and maintaining strategic and proactive operations through a flexible platform, as demonstrated by the importance of quick compliance during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As consumers increasingly desire faster banking, more convenient access to their accounts and quicker decisions on their loan requests, financial institutions are hamstrung by a rising wave of financial regulations.
Between new and existing regulatory requirements including Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL), customer disclosures and fair lending laws, to the mounting risks of default, fraud and cybersecurity, to the new challenges presented by the global health crisis brought on by COVID-19, financial institutions are stuck between two seemingly mutually exclusive and competing priorities: fast banking and better compliance. At nCino, however, we believe it’s possible for financial institutions to have it all. The key to striking this balance is that banks must be willing to approach their business differently.
No longer can banks and credit unions provide the same old accounts and services, delivered in a paper-intensive, manual way, and expect customers to flock through their door. A seamless, digital experience is now table stakes.
Beyond that, banks and credit unions must unleash the power of data in a new way with the help of emerging technologies like analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. They must take a consistent, continuous approach when working with technology partners to test and introduce new products and respond more quickly to changing consumer demands and desires. At the same time, they must leverage the vast stores of customer and member data they have at their disposal, to ensure they maintain the profitable and loyal relationships crucial to long-term success and stability. It is only when data management and analysis strategy work in tandem within a flexible platform that financial institutions are empowered to address multiple priorities while operating strategically and proactively, even in the midst of unforeseen circumstances.
We saw the importance of this during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the institutions operating on a digital platform were able to swiftly implement small business solutions and workflows in order to process the large influx of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to meet their customers’ and members’ needs. Because the PPP made funds were made available to small businesses on a first-come first-serve basis, institutions that could not quickly offer compliant digital applications fell short of meeting their customers’ and members’ needs. This is but one example where fast banking and better compliance isn’t just a “nice to have”—it’s a necessity.
