Sarah Biller
Today’s community bank still needs depositors and borrowers just as it did in 1784, when the first local bank, the Bank of Massachusetts, opened. Tomorrow’s community bank in the commonwealth will too; however, it is clear from panel discussions and hallway chats at this summer’s Massachusetts Bankers Association Innovation Summit, future proofing community banks requires bridging Main Street bricks and mortar with digital capabilities.
Fortunately, this is not as Jetsonian as it sounds. Many Massachusetts banks have spent the last decade investing in their customer experiences as well as digitizing their core back and middle office technologies. Consequently, delivering banking services in these institutions has become faster, cheaper and, importantly, more ubiquitous.
Yet, fraud is on the rise. Interoperability issues hamper the adoption of new technologies. Millions of people in the United States lack a digital-compliant identity, hampering inclusion.
Some might argue it is the best of times for our community banks. Others might conclude It is the worst of times. After attending the mighty Mass Bankers Association’s third annual Innovation Summit last month with some members of the Mass Fintech Hub, I think the possibility of ensuring our small businesses, nonprofits and the everyday person living in less populated towns in the commonwealth are never far from high-quality digital banking services is probable.
What’s Top-of-Mind for Bankers
I saw a deeply committed community of responsible and innovative bank executives discussing next-generation capabilities.
This included digitizing the customer acquisition and experience strategy through novel solutions such as connected media strategies that precisely target pre-qualified, in-market audiences through TriAD CTV, to deploying Posh AI’s intelligent customer service solution to provide 24/7 answers to bank customers’ frequently asked questions.
Another capability I saw included unlocking deposit growth by digitizing and syncing deposit origination experiences across branches, online platforms and call centers. Importantly, this new generation of applications is increasing financial literacy and improving savings habits. Bankers at the Innovation Summit heard from pioneering firms deploying this functionality with success, such as Goalsetter, ProsperOn and Fisecal.
Bankers also talked about navigating the new digital ecosystem by diving into the next generation of technical developments in automation, cybersecurity and blockchain, and addressing the challenges of interoperability with traditional banking systems. The Summit featured key demonstrations from fintech firms Sandbox Banking, BCube, and Fiverity among others.
Another hot topic: Diving into the current adoption trends and strategic priorities of the commonwealth’s banking community to make use of internal datasets, predictive analytics and emerging technologies like generative AI and LLMs. With these tools, bankers hope to not just know the needs of their depositors and borrowers, but anticipate them. Companies such as Aviary AI and Arkatechture shared their learnings from being on the cutting edge of application design.
And lastly, another area of focus for the industry was managing the juggling act of meeting new cybersecurity standards while simultaneously building more efficient, customer-friendly user experiences online. Fintech firms like Centime focused on how banks can better help their small businesses while Acceleron and Wizest showed how fintech entrants can support banks looking for new programs. Unquestionably, this dual mandate to build for an increasingly digitally native customer base raises the bar – and the stress levels – for community bank leaders, but ultimately unlocks a new generation of opportunities.
Looking for ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments
It was an extraordinarily rewarding day at the Mass Bankers Association Innovation Summit. Building a resilient community banking sector of the future in the commonwealth is a commitment. It undoubtedly requires partnership between the banks, entrepreneurs and public sector. Our best future state is for our neighbors, small businesses and others whose daily lives necessitate a strong, efficient community banking system. From all accounts, we’ll be successful if more events enable bankers to hear from innovators, and innovators to hear from bankers.
Consequently, I’m looking forward to rousing discussions, debates and moments of “ah-ha” like the ones I saw at the Innovation Summit and at the upcoming Boston Fintech Week, which will take place Oct. 14-18. Hosted annually by Fintech Sandbox, this week brings together local, national and global fintech founders, industry professionals, investors and academics in an accessible setting, to network with one another and engage in thought-provoking dialogues on the fast-moving world of finance and what the future holds.
This is a must-attend week for me. Thinking from the inside-out matters more and more to the future of the financial services sector, and I am committed to being engaged in efforts to make it better.
Sarah Biller is a founding member of Mass Fintech Hub and co-founder of Fintech Sandbox.
