Raddon Report

Raddon typically hits the road in June to host workshops across the western half of the country for participants in our Performance Analytics program. With COVID-19 putting a temporary halt to these in-person meetings, we shifted our workshops to a two-day online event with more than 900 financial services professionals. A sign of the times, 61 percent of attendees logged in to the event from their home offices, as did the Raddon team of presenters.

COVID-19 has had an immeasurable impact on our society – societally, technologically and most certainly economically.

During the first 13 weeks of the pandemic, there were 45.7 million initial claims for unemployment, or 3.5 million per week. To put this in perspective, during the Great Recession of 2007-2009, the average weekly total initial claims were 476,000, and the largest single week was 659,000.

More than any year in generations, 2020 has brought a wave of uncertainty to the marketplace. But it has also spurred an innovative, thoughtful response from businesses across industries – especially financial services. As banks and credit unions take on the strategic planning process in this watershed year, they do so with a new vision toward customer and member service, branch management and even disaster recovery. 

The economic impact of civic shutdowns, business closures and layoffs in response to combating the novel coronavirus places local banks and credit unions at the center of helping to preserve, if not salvage, the financial well-being of their communities.

On March 22, financial industry regulators released an interagency statement encouraging financial institutions to help borrowers and giving leeway on risk classification requirements for certain loan modifications amid COVID-19.

The economic impact of COVID-19 becomes increasingly significant as the lockdown extends. In the past five weeks, 26.5 million people filed initial claims for unemployment. To put this into perspective, that is almost as many people as those filing for unemployment in all of 2018, 2019 and the first 11 weeks of 2020 combined – a total of 115 weeks.

By:  Jan Trifts and Marcy Scanlin, Strategic Advisors

As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, financial institutions are forced to shift priorities and protocols quickly as they protect the physical and financial health of their employees, customers and members.

By Eric Wittekiend and Rebecca Oeltjenbruns, Center for Practical Management

In the first quarter of a typical year, leaders face any number of changes in their organizations: acquisitions, reorganizations, new product launches, new management structure. But the COVID-19 pandemic has added a new level of organizational change, combined with unexpected stresses at home.

Managers are critical to helping employees handle the worry, stress and anxiety they may be experiencing so they can move on to acceptance and productive engagement. But how?

As America adapts to upended social and professional norms due to COVID-19, many are anxious about a multitude of things, including their financial well-being. This is an opportunity for financial institutions to build trust, by reassuring customers, clients and members that their institution is both financially sound and ready to assist them in their day-to-day lives. 

Use targeted marketing to present the right offer to the right customers at the right time

Strong relationships are a significant strategic advantage as competition for customers and share of wallet increases. Fortunately for customer-focused financial institutions, those relationships can grow even stronger with data.