Raddon Report

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.”

This is the second in a series of articles describing the latest trends and key questions that often arise during the planning sessions we conduct with community financial institution boards and executive teams.

Perhaps the newest concept to emerge forcefully over the past planning cycle is “Data as a Strategy”. 

Raddon research indicates that for customers who are highly-loyal, the attributes associated with the customer experience that are differentiating are those that involve interacting with employees.  The data suggest that these attributes, including employee skill, understanding of products and services, politeness/friendliness, understanding  issues, accuracy and approachability, are all contributing factors to the strong relationship with the highly-loyal segment.

This is the first in a series of articles describing the latest trends and key questions that often arise during the planning sessions we conduct with community FI boards and executive teams.

When I help executive teams and boards of directors plan their medium- and long-term strategy, I often hear their concerns about changes to the operating environment.

The first concern I hear is the swirl of demographic change. I was with a leadership team earlier this month and the CEO told me this: 

“Alexa, what can financial institutions learn from Amazon’s brand strength?”

Alexa: “Sorry, I don’t know that one.”

Oh well, it was worth a shot. If she had answered, I could have cleared my afternoon. But alas, we have some research to help answer this question.

In June, Raddon hosted its quarterly workshops for participants in the Performance Analytics program.  These workshops provide a forum for financial services executives, senior leadership, managers and department personnel to discuss the latest industry issues and assess their organization’s performance through the program’s peer benchmarks, trend analysis and customer segmentation schemes. 

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.

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