September 2017

Generating Fee Income From Deposit Availability

Increasing Fee Income

Deposit a check in a bank, and there is likely to be a three to five-day hold period on the funds depending on the drafted bank, amount, the method of deposit and depositor status. Luckily, most banks will make at least a portion of the check either immediately available or available the next day (see graphic below). However, there are a group of banks that charge for the privilege for immediate availability, particularly in conjunction with mobile deposit. In this article, we look at how these banks pull it off and if this is something your bank should consider.

 

Using Tax Returns For Better Loan Underwriting

Leveraging Tax Returns in Banking

Given all the energy around tax reform, we need to point out that tax returns are one of the most underutilized instruments in banking. Most banks require current tax returns from prospects as a condition to making a commercial loan.  There are many reasons why banks would want to have the information contained in a tax return as a prerequisite for prudent underwriting and ongoing loan monitoring.

Here Are the Latest Closing Time Statistics For Commercial Loans

When it comes to commercial loan closings, we have found that speed and bank profitability are correlated. This is to say that the faster you can close a loan, the more likely you are to be booking more than your share of loans. We are not sure which way the cause and effect happens – either you are good at closing loans, and so that drives business, or you are good at driving loan business, so you learn to close loans fast, but it doesn’t matter as speed and loan success go hand and hand.

A Better Bank Channel Delivery Framework

Bank Channel Delivery Strategy

Banks have a variety of options to deliver their products and services – branches, call centers, mobile, third-parties, social media, etc. “Omnichannel” has been a popular buzzword for a while with the prevailing concept that banks need to provide all channels as customers want to choose which channel works best for them. We think this is the wrong way of looking at the challenge and that banks need to take a more active role in the long-term planning of their portfolio of channel delivery options.

Attracting The Talent For Bank Innovation

Recruiting for Innovation

A new study by PwC shows what most community banks already know – it is difficult to hire and retain quality employees that can help drive innovation. Banks are not the primary choice for the top graduates for a variety of reasons, and as such, community banks will continue to struggle to obtain the talent they need to compete. 80% of the financial services polled report having trouble hiring and retaining the people they need for new product development. Only 12% said hiring wasn’t an issue.

CenterState Bank’s Correspondent Texas Expansion

Nathan Goodnight

While we are a Florida-based bank, part of our business model is to develop solutions that work for CenterState and then make them available to banks nationwide. This means that we either develop our own solutions or partner with banks that have those solutions already figured out. Further, we collaborate on a variety of projects in order to solve common problems. It is in this vein that we are proud to introduce Nathan Goodnight as our new Senior Vice President within the Correspondent Division. 

 

How Banks Can Be More Valuable To Small Business Disaster Management

Bank Value in Disaster Management

While there are not too many good things about Hurricane Harvey and Irma, one silver lining is that the disasters have opened our eyes to how banks can be more valuable to their customers. In retrospect, we should have done a better job at helping our customers prepare and be doing a better job post-disaster to help both retail and commercial customers manage their claims.

The Most Important Commercial Loan Ratios

Understanding Credit

The old parable where three blind men touch different parts of the elephant – the tusk, the leg, and the trunk - and end up getting into an argument as they can’t agree on what the animal looks like. Each man is correct but limited because of their experience. Similar to the men touching the elephant, understanding credit is often the same way. The experience in commercial credit, in particular, is shaped by a combination of experiences, conjecture, and tribal lore. Credit officers see things differently and so focus on different things.