A friend of mine worked in mortgage banking in the late 1980s. After starting a career in media, he turned to banking for better pay, better hours and most of all, greater challenge and opportunity for advancement.
Working in the heart of a large downtown created excitement, a “Mad Men” sort of vibe, complete with button-down collars, suits and ties. Don’t misunderstand, working in the company’s bankruptcy division was hard business, with bankruptcies on the rise. Heartbreaking stories were an everyday affair. But my friend saw it as a chance to help both the bank and its hard-luck customers weather an economic storm.
For my friend, banking was “cool.”
We need to communicate clearly – through marketing, human resources, every aspect of the profession – that banking is still cool. But first, there’s work to be done.
- First, learn from the tragedy of American newspapers. Technology – notably the use of the internet – body slammed print journalism. The powers that be in the executive suites of American papers of every size never figured out how to incorporate technology into its business model and turn it into a profit center. As a result, newsrooms were gutted, with editors, press operators, even carriers sent packing.
Siya Vansia, writing for the American Banking Association, said that when it comes to the hot-button issues of fintech and millennials, it’s time to focus on opportunities, not obstacles.
“We appear to be afraid of fintech startups, Vansia writes,” when really we should be thanking them. They’ve found a way to build transformative, efficient, user-friendly software that is forcing us to change the Goliath-like systems we’ve had in place for years by offering solutions that demonstrate how we can do it better. We have access to new tools and resources that enable the smallest institution to compete with the very largest.”
That’s good news for community banks and credit unions.
Vansia writes that banking needs to “change the conversation” about the profession. It’s time to reject the “We are not a tech company. Young graduates don’t want to work for us” attitude.
Vansia offers three great ideas for shifting the discussion:
- “Banking is a 200-plus year-old industry, but is still poised for growth.” Vansia rightly argues that American banking has weathered centuries of war, economic depression and cataclysmic shifts in technology – from the ledger to the adding machine to the hand-held device. These changes offer opportunities.
“The question we should be asking is ‘How will we use the tools of today to continue to support the growth of our local economies and last another 200 years?”
I like the use of the word “local”. Community banks and credit unions need to embrace these challenges to remain the economic heart of communities.
- “How do we address the disconnect between the bankers of today and the potential bankers of tomorrow?”: Embrace millennials and the opportunities they provide, Vansia writes. I agree. A recent article in a banking publication wondered whether millennials were worth the effort, citing, among other things, data that suggested that this growing generation carried no more than $5 in their wallets.
For me, that kind of thinking is woefully short-sighted. Look to millennials, not only as future prosperous customers, but as future talented team members.
Vansia wrote, “The Millennial workforce has the ability to support the changes the industry will face in the coming years, will allow us to pivot quickly and effectively and offers a much better solution than trying to get your current workforce up to speed.”
I would add that from the banking side, recruiting new grads should focus on their ability to positively impact society, by offering individuals and families a chance to reach their financial goals.
- And last, Vansia, vice president for marketing at ConnectOne Bank, argues that technology should be seen as a solution, not a threat. This is where print journalism missed the boat. We need to see and seize the opportunities technology offers.
Read the entire article: http://ababankmarketing.com/insights/how-to-make-banking-cool-again/
Be sure to LIKE, COMMENT and SHARE this post! I look forward to hearing your comments.
I am absolutely on the same mind with you and I fully concur with your powerful insight that local community banks, credit unions, saccos and other upcoming, fast growing financial institutions should fully embrace marketplace economic challenges as great opportunities….so as to align themselves to the current market dynamics. All these done with the bigger picture of ensuring steadfast growth in revenue, boost their impact on the wider communities by offering modern and cleverly digitized financial solutions thus better the lives and livelihoods to many.
Equally important, is the analytical question to the entire banking industry,” How will we use the tools of today to continue to support the growth of our local economies and last another 200 years?”
Notably, the ancient adage saying that goes ” we can’t know and appreciate where we are going, unless we know where we coming from.” stimulates critical and creative thinking to align the entire banking sector which has been around, serving and out-serving for the last more than 200 years. Great insights indeed!
Nicholas, thanks for your comments. My great grandfather was a rural doctor and got paid with chickens and vegetables. Now we can make payments with Bitcoins and Google Wallet. Times change, so banks and credit unions will have to keep up.
I understand where you are coming from. However I do not know fully what the position in America is but in the UK banks have to change the public perception of them. I think they need to go back to basics and engage with the public. They must start lending again in sensible ways and not give the impression that they are lending but in fact they are not. There is still a deep distrust of banks as a result of the fall out of the crash. If the confidence of the public changes to a positive it will not only be good for the economy as more people will be interested in working for the banks.
Michael, you are so right. Banks in America need to change the perception as well. It is still hard to get loans, mainly because the FDIC came down so hard on community banks. Thanks for the comments.
Even as the banking industry responds to technological changes in its environment we need to examine the ease with which our customers can access the financial services being provided. The constant complaint is that its very difficult to do business with commercial banks and persons are seeking non traditional alternatives.
Dionne, Thanks for your comments. You are correct, it is very difficult to do business with commercial banks. It should not take a month to get an approval. Non-traditional alternatives are approving them in minutes. Many banks are starting to look at fintech companies to help them with these issues.