Q2 kicked off the first day of the BankOnPurpose thought leadership conference yesterday, back in person for the first time since the pandemic. More than 100 executives from financial institutions across the country converged on Austin, Texas, for three days of networking and hearing from thought-provoking speakers.
Before BankOnPurpose got underway with a welcome happy hour, sponsored by Glia, Q2 hosted a full day of simultaneous Client Advisory Board (CAB) meetings—one focused on Q2 PrecisionLender, one on commercial digital banking, and one on consumer digital banking. Key clients and Q2 representatives spent Tuesday discussing updates for Q2 technology and strategy, providing feedback, and talking about how to address challenges as we head into the new year.
Inflation and Recession Strategies
Similar to the inflection point that COVID-19 brought to traditional banking models, new forces are now causing uncertainty and creating a need for agile strategic adjustment. Economic, geopolitical, and systemic issues have many financial institutions navigating unchartered territory.
Inflation pressures and the possibility of a deeper recession in 2023 are points of concern, with banks and credit unions making moves to reassess their risk exposure and increase their provisioning. And while spread erosion is indicated in recent Q2 analysis, many remain confident they’re putting in place the right strategies to handle downside uncertainty amid an already competitive commercial banking environment.
Even so, many attendees said they’re focused not on the impending recession, but several years into the future. One participant noted, “What the real discussion we’re trying to have is that we’ve got to keep our wits about us. We’ll all get through the recession. We’re trying to prepare for 2024 or ‘25.”
Talent Retention and Training
Several CAB attendees agreed that finding and keeping talent is a top concern and will continue to be in 2023. To address resource challenges, many financial institutions are focusing on internal training programs to develop needed skills, especially in lending and digital banking. One participant remarked, “If we don’t groom our own and try to retain them, all we’re doing is training them for someone else.”
Talent management will be one of the core topics in Facing the New Financial Services Frontier, a livestream following BankOnPurpose at 2 p.m. CT tomorrow, Thursday, November 17, featuring Sam Kilmer from Cornerstone Advisors, Q2 Chief Banking Officer Kirk Coleman, Susan Mlot from Citizens Business Bank, and Nikki Pfleger from Encore Bank.
Rising Check Fraud
While economic factors received their fair share of attention in the meetings, fraud remains a great challenge. Specifically, check fraud.
One Q2 customer received nods of agreement when she described check fraud as being “on fire” and said her financial institution was holding urgent meetings to address the situation. One point she made—again, receiving wide agreement from others—is the importance of moving businesses to electronic payments to remove the check fraud threat.
Others pointed out that a misperception exists that electronic payments are more fraud-prone and this needs to change. They said it’s critical to educate businesses, mainly smaller ones, that electronic payments are the best option.
RTP Interest
Real-time payments are on many bank and credit union leaders' minds. In a survey of selected institutions at the event, nearly 70% said they believe offering RTP is either “very important” or “extremely important.”
A growing number plan to launch RTP in 2023, but the immediate bottom-line benefits to them will remain unknown. One attendee spoke for many when he pointed out that it’s only a matter of time until RTP is sought on a wide scale, so the time is now to begin offering it and to begin working to determine the pricing model best suited for the service.
An important point that Q2 VP of Product Marketing Dean Jenkins and Senior Product Marketer Debbie Smart shared is that RTP will be a great option for B2B payments. They shared that 62% of financial institutions in a recent survey consider B2B RTP as a great value, not only because of payment immediacy and a way to make last-minute bill payments, but because of the digital data it provides—including valuable remittance data.
Jenkins and Smart stressed that the digital data that can be shared between accounts payable and accounts receivable systems facilitates useful, efficient data exchange and a seamless network to manage payments. In effect, RTP as an end-to-end payment and invoicing platform is possible and would be a great value to the supplier side of the payments process.
BankOnPurpose gets in full swing today with a packed lineup of speakers, including bestselling authors Ryan Holiday and Tiffani Bova, as well as Mikey Trafton, co-founder and CEO of Metro Cinema. The day will be punctuated with the annual Purposeful Banker Awards, which recognize financial institutions and bankers who make a tremendous impact on their organization and community.
It’s Official – BankOnPurpose is Hitting the Road
New year, new experience. BankOnPurpose is packing up for a trip like no other in 2023: The BOP Roadshow!
This series puts an exclusive new twist on the inspiring and collaborative conference attendees have come to love. Except this time, we’re coming to the customer. Hosted at various locations across the country, no two events will be the same. And we’re starting strong with our first stop in New York City in February!
With smaller groups, deeper conversations, VIP guest speakers, and top-notch venues, The BOP Roadshow is sure to deliver an elevated experience you won’t want to miss.
To learn more or to get on our guest list, please reach out to us at BankOnPurpose@Q2.com