Articles: Avoiding Traps.
Beyond the Technology Illusions
Financial Services and Banking Organizations (FSBO’s) are ill-prepared to compete effectively in markets dominated by virtualization, social purpose, and rapid innovation—they are architected and regulated for an out-of-date consumer narrative.
Banking Supply Chains Are Not Just About Customers
It’s complicated, it’s messy—but the supply chains within banking organizations hold the greatest opportunity to compete and save money as utility and Banking-as-a-Service operating models expand.
Deregulation: An Innovation Damper for a New Year?
To resurrect a song refrain from Bachman-Turner Overdrive, “You ain’t seen nothing yet” when it comes to what will likely happen with rollbacks to the post-Great Recession regulations years in making.
It's What We Know for Sure That Just Ain't So
Moving forward requires an adaptable framework—yet too often the ghosts of the past cloud what needs to be done. Leaders need to internalize the fact that “Banking is necessary. Banks are not.”
Rhetoric will Require a Shift in Employment Strategies
Financial Services and Banking Organizations (FSBO’s) will be unable to compete effectively in markets dominated by virtualization, social purpose and rapid innovation—they are architected and regulated for a defunct consumer representation.
Regulatory Easement, Insulating Realities
After FSI spent tens of billions fighting, settling and influencing multi-agency legislation, the new U.S. administration has signaled its intent for a multi-year effort to “tame” what is portrayed as numerous unfriendly, government overreaches.
articles: "... Beyond what we know for sure".
Beyond the Headlines—Using IT Substitution Across Functions
Mid-tier and community institutions are being presented an unprecedented, albeit unfamiliar, opportunity to carve out profitable, leadership products and services using three intersecting trends—data & analytics, cloud delivery and hyperconnectivity.
Banking Utilities versus Banking Innovators—Which will you become?
The recreation of the mortgage market at the hands of regulators is creating a bifurcation. The high-wire act is taking place where M&A, FinTech, strategy and skills can only accomplish so much.
Tunnel Vision—Competitively Doing What Others Do for the Wrong Reasons
Internal FinTech groups along with hopeful joint ventures can learn a lot from history—as the banking industry is unprepared for the billions in write downs coming as hype and hope give way to harsh realities. We’ve done this before just with different players in the executive chairs.
Being Cool, Being Trendy, Being Hip—Rethinking FSI
Innovative Relevance for banks is not about being cool, trendy or hip as a competitive response. As bankers plan their future, growing digital infatuation may contribute to hypercycle meltdowns and large losses if they are not “stitched” cohesively together.
Beyond Relevance, Innovative Enlightenment
Innovation has become commonplace as an idea and widely accepted within executive suites. However, what was once innovative or relevant is hurriedly losing its advantage. Innovation itself is being innovated—welcome to the “Age of Innovative Enlightenment”.
Currencies—the Next Quantum Advancement in Digitization
In a finance word seemingly obsessed with everything digital—consumers, statements, mobility, payments, compliance—the one thing that is now generating growing enthusiasm (or hype) is currency.
Articles: Breaking Free.
The Game of Maneuvers—Strategy’s “Game of Thrones”
Strategy failure is often attributed to personnel, adoption of the wrong approach or even unforeseen market shifts. But, if we examine the decades of disappointments, public and private enterprise political causality materially contributes to widespread strategy failures.
FSI Responsible Innovation—Consumer Protection or Regulatory Nightmare?
Innovation is seemingly woven into every aspect of our delivery systems and consumer facing approaches. But there is a new wrinkle and series of compliance standards yet to be determined—Responsible Innovation.
Outsourcing in the Next Presidential Cycle
The Boogeyman of Outsourcing is now back in the headlines—too bad the model designed to scare the masses represents only a tiny fraction of the $200+ billion a year market where if used in layers, will allow mid-tier and community (MT&C) bankers to not only serve customers but provide differentiation and realize profit.
Technology, Folly in an Age of Commoditization?
With the chaos and frequency of change spread across the headlines, it will continue to be difficult for financial services leaders to focus on enduring or important aspects of their business models.
Today’s Profits Mask the Undercurrents of Forthcoming Chaos
With the summer months in winding down and as we prepare for a busy fall season within our FSBO (financial services and banking organization), we sometimes in a passing thought wonder by the end of our business careers, how many professional books have we read and more importantly internalized?