Raddon Report

Raddon recently hit the road for a series of workshops with participants in our Performance Analytics program. We hosted sessions in 17 cities east of the Mississippi, meeting with over 500 financial services executives along the way. (Note: We’ll be visiting the western half of the country in June; registration is now open for those sessions.)

Every year, Raddon conducts nationwide research of consumers and small businesses to understand their motivations, preferences and behaviors in banking. We include our discoveries in four comprehensive reports: Deposit Insights, Lending Insights, Payments and Channels Insights and Small Business Insights. Subscribers to the Raddon Research Insights program receive these four studies as well as an invitation to a webinar giving highlights and strategic recommendations.

2018 was a good year for the economy generally and for the financial services industry.  We experienced reasonably good GDP growth, especially in the second and third quarters, and we spent the entire year at an unemployment rate of 4% or lower.  In the financial services sector, loan growth continued at a strong pace, to the point that many financial institutions are facing liquidity concerns and for the first time in over a decade are engaged in deposit wars.  Earnings also improved for the majority of financial institutions, a result of improving net interest margins helped by four rate

Every year Raddon publishes our set of predictions for the upcoming year.  Many publications offer predictions.  However, we also review the accuracy of our predictions one year later, which makes us somewhat unique in the realm of prognostication. 

Here are the predictions we offered up one year ago, along with an assessment of our foresight. Overall, our crystal ball was fairly clear.

One last time! Following the positive feedback from so many Raddon Report readers on my previous deposit-retention recommendations, I have created a final list of tactics and strategies. I trust you will find value in these ideas as well.

It’s not a Raddon Conference unless data is on the agenda, and the keynote sessions of this conference highlighted the opportunity effective data management can provide. Here are seven key takeaways for financial institutions about big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.

So many Raddon Report readers appreciated and shared my previous list of steps to retain deposits that I have created a new list of seven tactics and strategies. I hope you will find value in these ideas as well.

November 24 is Small Business Saturday, so now is a good time to recognize the vital force of small businesses for our nation’s economy. Defined by the Small Business Administration (SBA) as having fewer than 500 paid employees, U.S. small businesses employ almost half (48 percent) of the civilian population. These 5.9 million non-sole-proprietorships also are responsible for 41 cents of every dollar earned by American workers. In essence, 40 percent of consumer spending power is a function of small business employment.

A sample of mission statements from banks and credit unions – describing what they are doing today, what their reason is for existing – would reveal some consistent themes. You’d see phrases like “committed to improving the quality of life of the communities we serve,” “helping customers succeed financially” or “delivering superior returns for our employees, customers and shareholders.”