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05/06/2014

Banks Worried About Non-Bank Competition, Technological Change

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NEW ORLEANS, LA. May 6, 2014 — Fifty-eight percent of an audience of 120 bank directors and executives attending Bank Director’s second annual Growth Conference in New Orleans last week described themselves as “very concerned” about non-bank competition offering financial products, most of which are innovative companies such as PayPal, Google or Amazon not subject to the same regulations as financial institutions.

Participants were encouraged to embrace technology to grow their banks, diversify their incomes and pay attention to changing demographics as younger people are drawn to banks with good mobile banking products and digital offerings. Forty percent of Generation Y would not consider a bank that doesn’t offer mobile banking and 71 percent prefer to do most banking online, according to Synergistics Research Corp, a marketing research firm for the financial industry.

Speakers at the conference described how banks are now able to analyze credit agency data to know who is shopping for an auto loan, send coupons for nearby stores to customers’ smartphones and help customers manage their budgets with online banking software.

Most banks are eager to leverage new technology that will differentiate their institution, but the wave of newer, not-yet-established businesses poses a real concern, says Al Dominick, president of Bank Director. “If the bank invests in a product and the company goes out of business, the bank may be worse off than taking no action.” Dominick addresses the need for bank boards and management to reevaluate changing American demographics and consumer demands in the video below.

Thomas K. Brown, CEO at Second Curve Capital, which manages hedge funds invested in financial stocks, also spoke at the conference and predicted a housing market recovery and rising demand for new homes as household debt is at its lowest level since the 1980s. He also predicted Bank of America stock would do well, citing major expense reductions, strong capital levels, an improved balance sheet and a strong business mix as reasons to own the stock. Bank Director Editor Jack Milligan further explores what makes Bank of America stock one to own in the video below.

Also at the conference, which took place May 1-2, Bank Director recognized the top ranked growth banks as listed in the latest issue of Bank Director magazine. Customers Bancorp Inc., of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, placed first in the core revenue ranking; NexBank Capital Inc., based in Dallas, ranked first in core deposits; Hyde Park Bancorp, of Boston, ranked first in core noninterest income; and SinoPac Bancorp, a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of SinoPac Holdings in Taiwan, ranked first in net loans and leases.

Bank Director’s next event, The Bank Audit & Risk Committees Conference, takes place June 10-11, 2014 at The Palmer House in Chicago. For more information about Bank Director’s upcoming events, visit www.bankdirector.com/conferences.

ABOUT BANK DIRECTOR
Since 1991, Bank Director has served as a leading information resource for the directors and officers of financial institutions. Through its quarterly Bank Director magazine, executive-level research, annual conferences, and its website, BankDirector.com, Bank Director reaches the leaders of the institutions that comprise America’s banking industry. Bank Director is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee.

Source: BankDirector.com

Contact: Emily McCormick, director of research, (615) 777-8471, [email protected]

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