PFM: Finding the Value in the Tool That Provides Value
When considering innovations in financial technology and “big data,” one often thinks of personal financial management tools (PFM). You might have heard of names like Mint, Quicken, and WalletHub; essentially, these are financial dashboards. They are meant to provide the consumer functionality to seamlessly manage and monitor personal finances, regardless where their accounts are located.
Eighteen months ago, we launched our new Raddon Research Insights program with a study entitled “Has the American Dream for Millennials Been Shattered?”
Financial experts on morning television – and American consumers in general – acknowledge that financial education is a valuable and important part of their economic health. They admit that understanding personal financial concepts directly impacts their financial achievement. Our latest research, however, finds American consumers barely participate in financial literacy programs. Couple that low participation rate with the consumers’ inflated sense of their own financial literateness: any institution would question whether or not it’s worth the investment to offer a financial education
If you are meeting your clients’ expectations, congratulations! So are the majority of financial institutions. Unfortunately, meeting expectations doesn’t do much for you in terms of customer advocacy or loyalty.
Free checking is dying. Banks are reducing their branch networks, with 93% of the closures occurring in zip codes with below-average incomes. Transitioning to digital channels is leaving those Americans without access to technology behind. As we noted last year,
Effective brand management requires developing a good relationship with your target. If I were to ask you, “Who makes up your ‘target market’,” I’m sure I would receive answers that include both existing customers and potential customers.
These are accurate responses, but how many of you would have included “employees” as a target market for your brand?
As marketing leaders, it is imperative that we think of brand management in the three pillars that make up our brand: Market, Customers and Employees. All three are critical to the strength of our brand.
I once heard someone say, big goals get big results, no goals get no results. I’m paraphrasing, but the essence of the statement has always stuck with me, especially when researching Raddon’s recent publication, Effectively Serving the Hispanic Market.
Raddon recently wrapped up another round of workshops for participants in our Performance Analytics program. More than 1500 financial services executives attend these sessions each year to collaborate with peers and discuss strategies to improve performance.
In a changing and growing world of data, can your MCIF system keep up? To arm you in making better, more informed decisions, your need for more information about your customers increases every day.
Your organization needs the right tools to ensure you continue to connect with your customers as quickly and effectively as possible. Having data in too many places causes confusion, inaccessibility, and worst of all, inconsistent data. A powerful business intelligence tool becomes your one place to store, organize and access all your institution’s data.
Are we entering an era of data-ism? David Brooks in the New York Times brought the term into wide circulation in 2013. Yuval Harari, in his book Homo Deus, depicts a data-ist future in which humans become subservient to data, eroding what we consider free will. In the Financial Times, Harari writes, “If you don’t like this, and you want to stay beyond the reach of the algorithms, there is probably just one piece of advice to give you, the oldest in the book: Know thyself.”
Interchange makes up nearly half of all non-interest income for institutions in Raddon analyses, but P2P and other payments disruptors threaten that revenue stream. Andrew Vahrenkamp, Senior Research Analyst at Raddon, asks why most banks do not have a strategy to meet this threat.
Small business optimism has remained elevated in 2018 as business owners look to capitalize on improved economic and market conditions. This optimism is welcome news for financial institutions that are in a position to assist these businesses in meeting their growth goals.
The financial press has been fairly outspoken about rising rates. Given the Fed’s persistence in raising the Fed Funds rate, we should expect this level of reporting, but has that concept filtered down to the American public?
Social media is a staple of everyday life, and most financial institutions are spending time, money and effort to build their profile on social media. In that light, Raddon explores the influence of social media on consumers’ financial decision process in our recent study, Payments Insights: Rise of the Digital Pioneers.
The Federal Reserve has raised the Fed Funds rates multiple times over the past two years. Banks and credit unions have so far resisted raising their deposit rates to match, but are consumers eagerly paying attention, waiting for those rates to shoot up?
Every successful leader knows that sales growth becomes possible when the organization’s vision drives the culture. Many financial institutions misinterpret the drive to achieve sales growth as the organization’s vision. When this happens, selling becomes the vision and service becomes lost. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in either. If your organization does not clearly focus its vision on service, no amount of effort and expense at creating a dynamic, results-based sales culture will bring long-lasting growth or success.
Recent years have seen an explosion in new digital payment methods and delivery channels. But are these new mechanisms replacing or merely supporting existing consumer behavior and preferences?
In Raddon’s recent study, Payments Insights: Rise of the Digital Pioneers, we find that consumers are increasingly engaged in payments technology, and more importantly, technology is driving some consumers to look away from traditional banking players.
Don’t wait for the day your deposit dollars walk out the door to figure out how to stop them from leaving or how to get them back. Otherwise, you will lose valuable momentum in the wake of heightened deposit competition.
Early in 2017 we compiled our predictions for the upcoming year. These were a mix of economic and industry predictions. How accurate were these predictions? As it turns out, we were mostly on the mark in our predictions, at least in terms of direction if not always in magnitude. Here is a review of our 2017 predictions and an assessment of the accuracy of each.
Declining overdraft income makes lower income households challenging to serve profitably. Andrew Vahrenkamp, Senior Research Analyst at Raddon, gives some ideas on how to serve these consumers effectively and efficiently.
In December, Raddon held its quarterly seminars for participants in the Performance Analytics program. This program provides financial institutions with comprehensive analytics and peer benchmarks that measure performance across all areas of the organization and helps guide strategic initiatives. The workshops facilitate a review of the latest research findings and offer a platform for discussing how financial institutions can respond to the challenges they face today.
