Main Street Matters Blog

During times of crisis, such as today’s COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses rely on community banks for help in navigating the volatility and in executing the right measures to maintain fiscal health.

The coronavirus outbreak is raising concerns about the use of cash as more Americans embrace digital technology to pay and get paid. These ongoing trends will have a significant impact on community bankers, consumers, retailers, and policymakers.

Despite strong ICBA and community bank opposition, the Small Business Administration is moving ahead with a rule that could significantly harm its guaranteed lending programs.

What differentiates ThinkTECH Accelerator participants from the fintech world at large? The difference lies in the input, guidance and insights these companies receive from a distinguished network of industry leaders, including community bank executives.

On Jan. 30, the World Health Organization and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared public health emergencies in response to the rapid spread of the coronavirus. In this blog post, we offer tips to help community banks prepare for a possible coronavirus outbreak.

Community banks with fewer resources and less money to invest in technology than their larger counterparts, may view using data analytics as being out of reach. It’s not.

Let’s face it. We’re not living in our parents’ financial services world. In today’s immediate gratification society, our concern lies more with what’s in our account this second than where it will be next week.

In today’s economy, community bankers are looking more and more to their digital channels for new customer opportunities, especially those with the desire to attract mobile-focused millennials and Generation Z, or centennials as they are sometimes called. The numbers on digital spend, however, indicate there is room to grow.

When it comes to financial services, almost 63 percent of the U.S. population uses digital banking. So, as a community bank, if you are not employing—or at least considering—a digital-first strategy for your customers, you should be.

As customer expectations continue to shift, digital wallets—or mobile wallets as they are sometimes called—continue to grow in popularity as a preferred payment option. While adoption in the U.S. is still in its infancy, it is growing fast.