Articles
Inside the Digital Bank Insurgency of 2020
The pandemic should get a lot of the credit for this, but 2020 was a good — no, make that a great — year for challenger banks and the broader group of digital banks. At the beginning of 2020, just 3 percent of U.S. consumers considered a digital bank to be their primary bank. By…
Read MoreBaZing’s Got My Back
By Clay Crenshaw Having worked with financial institutions over the last few decades on their retail checking account strategies, I find myself so focused on things like fee income, analytics, and net interest margins that I forget how relevant and impactful our products can be. If you’ll indulge me, I’d like to share a quick…
Read MoreFuel Your Fee Income with BaZing
Imagine your customers or members going to the pump and getting cheaper gas every single month. Think they’d appreciate your financial institution making that happen for them? Inspired by popular grocery store programs, StrategyCorps’ new BaZing Fuel program takes fuel rewards to a whole new level by letting financial institutions help consumers save money when…
Read MoreIs Your Financial Institution Feeling the Burn?
When the first so-called “challenger banks” like Simple and Moven appeared on the scene around 2010 they were heralded as “disruptors” that were going to put traditional banks and credit unions out of business. Why? The asserted logic was that they provided a better customer experience, were more customer-friendly in terms of pricing (i.e., no…
Read MoreOur Favorite Monthly Subscription? Our Community Bank!
Members of the Garrelts family, which includes Chris (the unseen photographer), his wife, Amy, and their three teens (Elizabeth, Max, and Claire), saved $35 per ticket at Universal Studios Hollywood — plus another $1,200 in unforeseen cell phone repair costs, all thanks to their checking account powered by BaZing. By Chris Garrelts As a father…
Read MoreDave Crook Shares Three Strategies for Growing Primary Checking Relationships
Even before the coronavirus, there was a passionate renewal of relationship banking’s importance, with a specific focus on primacy — primary versus non-primary households. What’s evident is that all relationships are not created equal: Half your customers see your FI as their bank and about half don’t. It’s the curse of free checking. Free worked…
Read MoreMarketing Teams That Took It to the Next Level in 2020
By Dave DeFazio One of the most fun parts of my job is to see our clients take things that we’ve built and make them even better. Since we have great clients, that happens all the time. Here are three simple, but awesome, examples that stood out to me in 2020. Renasant Bank Tupelo, Mississippi…
Read MoreReinventing the Checking Account
Is it “game over” for mid-size banks and credit unions when it comes to checking accounts? Are the threats from deposit displacement, P2P providers, Amazon, and megabanks insurmountable? No. Despite the prevalence of free checking accounts, many consumers express interest in switching to that hypothetical Amazon-offered bundled checking account we discussed earlier in this report.…
Read MoreFI FOCUS: CS Bancshares, Inc.
State Bank customer service representatives Lisa Hobbs, Vicki Posch, Terra Allen, and Shelley Tate show off the bank’s new checking account features. For years, Chillicothe State Bank, State Bank of Missouri, and The State Bank have passed along a rich tradition of community banking, service, and values to residents of five cities in North-central Missouri. …
Read MoreIt’s Time to Kill Free Checking
Why would consumers show more interest in a fee-based account from Amazon than a free account? One reason is surely the value-added services bundled in. But there’s another reason: Consumers have learned (the hard way) that a free checking account isn’t really free. As one bank customer, commenting online, put it: “The issue isn’t wanting…
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