We have previously called 2021 a year of innovation, but there’s no doubt that ICBA doubled down on its position throughout 2022 to ensure that innovation is accessible, affordable, and attainable to all community bankers.
Just shy of a year ago, ICBA announced its role as one of the general partners and investment committee members in a strategic investment fund designed to accelerate technology opportunities and adoption at community banks. Today, BankTech Ventures, has raised more than $115 million in committed capital in its first fund and has backed eight different companies working to provide community bank technology solutions.
Digital transformation is the 2022 payments phrase of year. You can’t attend a meeting without hearing about its importance in the financial services landscape, and when you consider that nearly nine in ten Americans are now using some form of digital payments, you understand why it needs to be a top priority.
Bob Dylan once said, “There is nothing so stable as change,” and I have found that to be true, particularly as we look to embrace modern technologies and the companies that enable them.
Even if you aren’t hearing the words “faster payments” or “instant payments” directly from your customers, trends and research show the demand is there – and rising. Recent Federal Reserve surveys reveal growing interest in faster payments
When I attended FinovateFall in September, I was struck by its palpable energy. Not only was it the most well attended Finovate to date with roughly 1,800 attendees and 64 participating companies, it was a widely collaborative conference, converting what had once felt like a competitive environment into one of enablement.
In the first half of 2022, there were 817 data breaches in the U.S., and combined with data leaks and data exposure, they impacted more than 53 million individuals. These are alarming numbers, but they could have been much worse without the use of some form of multifactor authentication.
The consequences of uncoordinated regulatory standards at the federal level are creating an artificial problem at the local level, potentially endangering many community banks’ ability to lend to local customers.
The Venture Center, ICBA’s leadership bankers, and our ThinkTECH Accelerator cohorts demonstrated the importance of community bank-fintech collaborations at last month’s VenCent Summit. It was an opportunity to showcase the evolution of our Accelerator alumni and reiterate the value of our ThinkTECH initiatives.
In 2020, nearly 18 million Americans were defrauded via digital wallets and person-to-person (P2P) services, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. With numbers like that, P2P solutions like Zelle have come under fire, and issues are escalating.
Talent recruitment and professional development has always been a critical issue for community banks, but today’s job market is different. The impact of the “Great Resignation” has placed the workforce in the driver’s seat. Even so, as nimble, local decision makers, community banks have a big opportunity to stand out from the crowd of potential employers.
Despite ICBA’s persistent communications on the negative impact of Durbin Amendment interventions on payment card systems, this latest iteration of Durbin only compounds the prior harm and furthers the misguided policies of the past that will inevitably lead to significant disruption in credit markets and consumer spending, if passed.
The current worker shortage is creating real economic impacts across all industries. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are 3.4 million fewer Americans working today compared to February of 2020.
As the leading providers of agricultural loans, community banks make up 80 percent of all financing to agriculture, and opportunities exist to extend that support.
Relationship banking has entered a new, digital era as confirmed by recent research from Cornerstone Advisors that concluded, “There is a human element to mobile banking.” In fact, this Cornerstone study revealed that 60 percent of Gen Z and almost two-thirds of Millennials expect to connect with customer support directly from their mobile banking app.
While the effects of COVID slowed consumer credit card spending, the first half of 2022 has pointed to a return to pre-pandemic behaviors. In fact, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported that in the first quarter of 2022 credit card balances have risen $71 billion higher than the same period in 2021.
It comes as no surprise that cybersecurity tops community bankers’ list of risk concerns. In fact, cybersecurity ranks higher than government regulation, the cost and availability of labor, and inflation, as a chief threat for 2022, according to a Conference of State Bank Supervisors survey.
Everyone, including big tech and social media players, want a super app. That’s according to a 2022 Accenture Banking report, which underscores that the threat is real.
When a shiny new object comes along like “buy now, pay later,” or BNPL, merchants will gladly pay significantly higher transaction fees than they do for credit cards. But this recent surge in BNPL adoption by merchants deflates their arguments that interchange—the fees for accepting card payments—harms them.
Engaging community bankers to think about innovation in new ways continues to be my driving force, but I’m not doing it alone. This year I’m bringing along ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator alumni.
