Today, consumers expect everything at the snap of a finger—and community banking is no exception.
Whether it’s speed in lending, payments, deposits, fraud prevention and resolution, or customer relations, there’s a growing desire among customers for banks to deliver fast, efficient and reliable service.
“We are an ‘I want it now’ society,” says Michelle Abdow, president and chief executive officer of Market Mentors, a marketing agency in Springfield, Massachusetts, that focuses on a variety of industries, including financial services. “Banking has got to keep up, because that’s the way the new consumer wants to be treated. We’re in a race to be faster.”
Indeed, banking is moving from reactive to proactive. More than ever, customers expect their bank to identify issues before they do, whether that’s a cash flow crunch, a fraud risk or a financial opportunity, and all these areas combine to make speed an increasingly important factor in community banks’ day-to-day operations.
Moreover, customers have grown accustomed to same-day delivery and instant payment confirmations, so they don’t want to wait five business days for a credit decision or a fraud resolution. In this quicker, nimbler environment, after-hours fraud alerts, real-time transaction visibility and continuous account monitoring have become table stakes, not premium features. Additionally, AI agents can now monitor billions of transactions and flag anomalies for review in real time.
“Banks need speed to stay relevant,” says Heather Schumacher, head of cards and BaaS operations at Kotapay, a payments and embedded finance subsidiary of $5.5 billion-asset First International Bank & Trust in Watford City, North Dakota. “You’re going to lose customers and fall behind if you’re not offering the products and the speed that the next generation is looking for.”
Here are the areas community banks are adding speed to their operations.
Payments: Faster payments with FedNow, RTP, Zelle and same-day ACH
Customers are increasingly requesting faster payments, whether that’s through Zelle, same-day ACH or instant payments. Notably, the use of instant payments is proliferating as the Federal Reserve’s FedNow Service and the Clearing House’s Real-Time Payment (RTP) Network gain significant traction.
RTP surpassed $1.3 trillion in total payment value in 2025, a 428% increase from $246 billion in 2024, and had more than 1,322 participants as of July. The FedNow Service processed more than $850 billion in 2025 and boasts more than 1,600 participating institutions.
“There’s a lot of upside value in instant payments,” says Abhishek Veeraghanta, co-founder and chief executive of Atlanta-based Pidgin, which works with financial institutions to deliver instant payment services to customers. “The question then becomes, are you capitalizing on that value? And if you’re not capitalizing on that value, what does it mean long-term for your bank?”
Proactivity wins: Customers want outcomes, not rails
Kari Neckel, vice president of payments policy at ICBA, says customers want quick turnarounds, and the mechanics generally don’t matter to them as long as faster payments are available. Bankers who expect their consumers to ask for faster payments will lose out to the banks who proactively provide it, she adds.
Neckel says customers don’t ask whether an item they ordered online is delivered by USPS, UPS, FedEx or a third party, nor do consumers know all the different types of shipping options, and bankers need to think about money movement the same way.
“No customer is going to say, ‘I want this sent same-day ACH or FedNow funds,’” she says. “They will say, ‘I forgot to pay my water bill. How quickly can I get money there?’ Or, ‘I owe college tuition by the 15th. What is the best way to get it there?’”
Add send functionality to unlock more real-time payments use
When it comes to instant payments, many community banks are set up to receive funds but not to send. But as comfort levels increase and usage grows, that’s slowly changing. Indeed, instant payments have many use cases, including payroll direct deposit, insurance claim disbursements, government benefits, earned wage access and loan proceeds.
Gay Dempsey, chief executive officer of $230 million-asset Bank of Lincoln County in Fayetteville, Tennessee, says her community bank added the ability to send through FedNow a little over a year ago. In that time, instant payments have become more popular with retail and business customers. When the bank first started offering them, volume was less than $5,000 a month, but it’s now close to $200,000 a month, Dempsey says.
The community bank sets a daily limit of $500 for fraud-control purposes, but it works with customers to temporarily lift the limit as needed. Multifactor authentication is also required before clients can send money, which is for their protection because of the speed of instant payments, Dempsey says.
BTC Bank in Bethany, Missouri, is working with community bank-owned Rebolt Financial Technology to allow business and personal customers to initiate payments directly from the $1.9 billion-asset bank’s mobile app.
The customer chooses whether to pay a single recipient, such as a contractor, vendor or supplier, and money can be sent via multiple payment rails, like PayPal or Venmo. Additionally, in the future, Rebolt plans to allow payment recipients to choose where the money is received.
BTC Bank is in the process of implementing the service and expects it to go live in the first quarter of 2027.
Jon Fish, the bank’s chief banking officer, says the bank will continue to offer customers a range of alternatives beyond traditional banking channels. “We want to stay relevant. We want to stay part of their wallet.”
Bots can quickly add clarity for customers on bank websites
According to Michelle Abdow, president and chief executive officer of marketing agency Market Mentors in Springfield, Massachusetts, many community banks aren’t using live chat and AI-powered search tools on their websites. She believes this can make it harder for customers to find the information they’re looking for, potentially leading them to look elsewhere for the services.
“We still need relationships, but once the relationship is established, you want to be able to have what you need at your fingertips,” Abdow says.
Abdow offers an example of a bank client whose website data from before it implemented a bot underscores the importance of these tools. One of the bank’s most visited promotional pages holds a visitor’s attention for less than nine seconds on average. Website data also shows the same pattern happening repeatedly: visitors start on the homepage, go to a rates page, then return to the homepage and try again. This happened five separate times, suggesting that people were having trouble finding the information they needed and leaving the site.
The data points to a need for a website reorganization, but one solution in the meantime: an AI chat assistant that helps guide visitors directly to the information they’re looking for, rather than allowing them to leave frustrated.
“This is not a theoretical opportunity,” Abdow says.
Customer service: How AI in banking speeds answers, reduces complaints and supports staff
AI is used to streamline call-center operations at Pinnacle Bancorp, a $21 billion-asset holding company for four banks. The Omaha, Nebraska, organization takes about 30,000 calls a month. Until it adopted Glia, an AI platform, in the summer of 2025, it had a legacy system that wasn’t designed for call centers.
“We were trying to be more efficient with the same level of service,” says Perry Severson, chief operating officer. “We probably have gotten better service, but the goal was not to go backwards.”
Glia provides call center professionals with instant access to answers and the ability to see how long they’ve been on a call, allowing them to be more cognizant of their time without changing the friendliness or effectiveness of the service.
“We’ve lowered our handle call times by about 2.5 minutes,” Severson says, adding that complaint numbers have dropped drastically, too.
Here’s how it works: A customer calls the bank and reaches a human. Agents can type in questions to Glia and get instant answers. Resources are all pre-loaded by the bank, and the AI interprets the question to know which resource to point to. It also transcribes and records every call for quality-control purposes. Using the system, customers can share their screens in real time and chat digitally with a human or hop on an audio call.
It’s also been good for training purposes. The system gives human call center agents tips and tricks throughout the customer conversation to help them deliver better service more quickly, Severson says. In addition, the bank gets important call statistics it didn’t have with its legacy system.
Website chatbots: Faster answers and an enhanced customer experience
Some community banks are also introducing AI chatbots to help customers who visit their websites. AI chatbots can take the guesswork out of visiting a bank’s website. For example, customers can get information on products and rates easily, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, so they don’t have to dig for relevant answers, says Abdow of Market Mentors. Plus, if a customer needs more in-depth help, the AI agent can direct the individual to a human.
“[The chatbot] allows them to get what they need and lets them get on with their day,” Abdow says.
Are instant payments safe? Data suggests fraud rates are low compared with checks
Many banks are concerned about fraud when it comes to instant payments, but data from the Federal Reserve suggests these worries may be overstated. According to the 2026 Federal Reserve Financial Services Financial Institution Risk Officer survey:
Debit card payments remain the most targeted channel for fraudsters.
75%
of financial institutions have experienced debit card fraud attempts
Check fraud was the second-most-frequently reported type of fraud
63%
of financial institutions reported check fraud attempts
31% reported losses
Instant and real-time payments are “a relative bright spot,” says the Fed’s report
3%
of financial institutions reported instant payments fraud attempts
1% reported losses
Deposit and fraud protection: AI-powered fraud detection software helps reduce check fraud
Community Spirit Bank in Red Bay, Alabama, uses FraudSentry, an AI-powered tool, to identify suspicious checks before they post.
The $225 million-asset community bank has used this product to identify abnormalities and red flags for about two years, and it’s added efficiencies to bank operations and helped reduce check fraud, says Maegan Taylor, vice president and head of operations.
Staff members manually review checks above $5,000, plus anything smaller that FraudSentry flags, but Community Spirit Bank has found that having the tool for smaller checks speeds up processes and frees up employees’ time. Taylor estimates that using the tool saves the bank at least an hour a day, which adds up.
“We hope eventually that we trust the tool enough to let go of the manual reviews we do each day,” she says.
During the first six months of 2026, participating institutions used FraudSentry to prevent more than $5.06 million in confirmed check-fraud losses, according to the company.
Having a speedy, efficient way to cull through checks for potential fraud is an important tool for the bank.
“Check fraud is becoming a huge issue again,” Taylor says.
Operational efficiency: Core banking modernization and 'speed with guardrails'
Of course, it’s not just about speed; it’s about making operations as efficient as possible without sacrificing safety and security. Often, that means taking a measured approach and investigating multiple new products and services designed to add speed before moving ahead with one or more. Sometimes it means putting implementation plans on hold for a bit to iron out wrinkles that could potentially cause regulatory scrutiny or customer backlash.
“The focus is shifting on safety and efficiency as opposed to just speed,” says Scott Anchin, senior vice president of strategic initiatives and policy at ICBA. “In some cases, pursuing speed makes sense, and in some cases, it’s a secondary concern.”
David Long, executive vice president of correspondent banking and capital markets for Bryant Bank in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, says the $3 billion-asset bank is still working toward adding send functions for FedNow, and it’s looking at use cases for AI that can assist with speed. But the community bank is proceeding with caution.
“I think we will see more speed,” Long says. “It is a request, but we need to make sure that speed is accomplished with appropriateness for all parties while adhering to regulation, compliance and protection for customers.”