Financial Futures

In a digital era, consumers don’t want to wait too long, no matter what the product. Whether they’re streaming a television show or applying for a retail loan, we expect instant availability. Andrew Beatty, Senior Vice President of Next Generation Banking at FIS, says that financial institutions need to be paying attention to these expectations: “if the consumer is dictating the pace of change, financial institutions, merchants, and retailers all have to evolve towards that.”

In season five of Financial Futures, we're focusing on banking's digital transformation, and why the switch to digital is no longer just nice to have––it's a necessity. We'll unpack what this digitization trend looks like for banks, consumers, and communities. 

Retail loans have helped consumers for generations make big purchases. In this episode, we’re looking at how the retail loan process has adapted to changing consumer trends, digitization efforts and the pressures of a global pandemic. We’ll also look at: 

• How has the influx of PPP loans affected credit metrics? 
• What role are Fintechs playing in the digital transformation of retail lending? 
• How has the influx of new data changed loan decisioning?

The way we bank has evolved from brick-and-mortar branches to an almost completely digital customer experience. So how will the next generation bank? According to Matt Lessig, Vice President of Next Generation Banking at FIS, real-time banking is the future of how money will move. 

In season five of Financial Futures, we're focusing on banking's digital transformation, and why the switch to digital is no longer nice to have––it's a need. We'll unpack what this digitization trend looks like for banks, consumers, and communities. 

In this episode, we’re talking about real-time banking with Matt Lessig. Matt explains what real-time solutions are available for financial institutions and how they’re being implemented. What role are fintechs playing in this switch? We’ll also talk about: 

• How did the posting process traditionally work? 
• What’s the difference between memo posting and real-time posting? 
• How does real-time banking cut costs? 
• What are some roadblocks to making the real-time switch? 

Thanks to digitization efforts, commercial banks have weathered the storm of COVID-19. Contactless payments, mobile deposits, and remote services kept money moving and businesses afloat in 2020.  But, according to Brian McCumber, CPA, director of Next Generation Banking at FIS, even as financial institutions quickly pivoted, the fundamentals of banking remained steadfast. 

In this season of Financial Futures, we're focusing on banking's digital transformation. Digitization is no longer optional for financial institutions––it's necessary. We'll unpack what this trend actually means for banks, consumers, and communities alike. 

In this episode, Brian McCumber, CPA, director of Next Generation Banking at FIS, explains how commercial banks have adapted in the past year and the challenges they still face ahead. We’ll explore how the commercial customer experience changed and the three major priorities for commercial banks. 

We’ll also talk about: 

• What are some bright spots of the commercial banking sector? 
• How are commercial banks implementing government support schemes?
• What role are fintechs playing in the digital transformation of commercial banking? 
• What are the fundamentals of commercial banking? 

Every day, humans produce 2.5 quintillion bytes of data (that's 2,500,000,000,000,000,000 if you're curious how many zeroes that entails). And a large portion of that isn't the usual emails, tweets, and YouTube uploads - it's data we generate in the background as we go about our lives. It's location data, transaction data, credit card usage data, cookies, search histories and so much more. And as useless as this data might seem to us, to our financial institutions it offers a unique and valuable insight into the products and services we use, allowing them to better predict and meet our needs.

This is the vast and almost incomprehensible world of big data. And in the season finale of "Financial Futures" we'll be looking at how credit unions can use big data to better serve their members.

Pete Hilger, CEO and President of Allied Solutions explains what kind of data credit unions are interested in and shares with us how they can use it to offer members tailored services. We also explore how credit unions can use big data to better assess loan risks and personalize lending rates, and how they can use it to make better-informed decisions on lending, rather than relying on a small number of metrics such as credit scores.

Join us in this episode as we take a deep dive into big data and discuss:

• How credit unions are uniquely positioned to take advantage of big data.
• What benefits, other than more accurate risk measuring, will the incorporation of big data have on credit unions and members.
• How big data can positively impact marketing efforts as well as create more relevant financial products.
• What credit unions need to do to take advantage of big data now and how it can help them remain competitive in the crowded lending landscape.

All around the world, the push for equality has accelerated in recent years. People want to see themselves represented in the institutions they patronize, and they want fair treatment and equal opportunities in the workplace. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is what businesses, employees, customers, and members are calling for. But it's not just about ticking boxes and meeting quotas - it's been proven to have a hugely beneficial impact for businesses and their customers, improving collaboration, problem-solving, and helping to attract and retain a larger customer base.

In this episode of "Financial Futures", we discover what DEI actually is and ask what improved DEI can do for credit unions and their members. We also explore where credit unions are ahead of the curve, where improvements can be made, and how they can increase their levels of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Angela Russell, Vice President, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at CUNA Mutual Group says that 'compliance does not always equal inclusion' and that organizations need to go further than doing what is required to be truly inclusive. 

We talk about:

• Why is DEI so relevant right now and why is it important for the future of credit unions?
• How can diverse leadership teams positively impact credit union staff and members?
• Why it's important to get comfortable with having uncomfortable conversations.
• Who should shoulder the responsibility of advocating for DEI?