Here are a few observations we wanted to share as we continue enabling banks, credit unions and non-banks to deliver digital banking solutions to their communities.  

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Clear Commitment to Growing Banking Access – But Hurdles are Real

A few of the memorable takeaways from Money 20/20 were the success stories shared by fintechs and digital banks about their growth during the pandemic – growth among communities that have often been overlooked by traditional banking. Building on those success stories will be difficult. Good intentions abound - from banks and credit unions to non-banks – all looking to provide better banking services for their communities. As the number of infrastructure, payments and credit startups grows, financial institutions face a paradox of choice when looking at how to expand services, reach new markets and ultimately better serve their customers and communities. What's the best strategy for growing my deposit base? Do I need to replace my existing infrastructure? Do we have the people and resources to make this happen?  

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Community Banks and Credit Unions are the Front Lines for Financial Inclusion

There are over 300 digital only banking providers competing nationwide for customers’ money. The real front lines, however, for expanding availability and growing secure and trusted access to banking is at the community bank and credit union level. We met savvy credit unions, community and regional banks in attendance who were eager to evaluate options and explore the next trends in making digital banking available to their members and customers. In addition to the questions listed above, a consistent question we heard from banking attendees was how to effectively compete with the tremendous number of new entrants offering banking solutions. These threats to customer acquisition and retention have only expanded thanks to the pandemic. As communities bounce back, local banking and credit union solutions will be more important than ever. Modernizing through digital solutions is one important step but doing it efficiently is key. Several attendees we talked to emphasized that the abundance of choice makes that difficult. Those that look to offerings prioritizing simple, turnkey, and quick to implement solutions like BrightFi will be able to cut through the clutter and move to results.

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We’re Just Getting Started  

Digital is just getting started. New advances in infrastructure, identity verification, payments, DeFi and crypto are enabling banks and non-banks to build better, tailored solutions for their communities that were unimaginable ten years ago. While many of our discussions with banks, credit unions and even non-bank groups focused on adding new financial products to deliver better banking to their communities, they also highlighted the importance of finding a trusted, mature partner that would be committed to their success. We couldn’t agree more.

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If you’re interested in hearing more about our conversations at Money 20/20 or you would like to schedule a conversation to talk about how BrightFi’s full-service platform can help you simply and easily solve your digital banking needs, contact us and let's talk.