Retail Banking 2017: Vision of Transformation with a focus on Chatbots and Servicing as New Way of Banking

Retail Banking 2017: Vision of Transformation with a focus on Chatbots and Servicing as New Way of BankingThis year’s Retail Banking conference took place at the Trump National Doral in Miami March 22-24. There were about 450 attendees, including financial institutions as well as vendors, and the atmosphere was lively and professional. The first day was dedicated to credit unions with sessions about Best Practices for CreditUnions, Omni-Channel Banking – Is the Branch Dead or Is it the Future and How to Best use Branding. The following two days focused on both banking and credit unions with sessions on regulations, revenue strategies, innovations, digital banking and branch banking.

Luvleen Sidhu, co-founder of Bank Mobile, kicked off the conference with her keynote presentation. Sidhu provided statistics about her company, and one that stood out was the average customer at Bank Mobile is 27 years old and their pain point is having access to credit. She shared how Bank Mobile wants to be able to grow with its customers, and to best do this, the company is relying heavily on its fintech partners to help supplement its offerings.

Thursday’s keynote featured Mary Mack, head of community banking from Wells Fargo. She discussed Wells Fargo’s priorities, which are rebuilding customer trust through every channel and touch point, and how mobile is a main focus for them. Mack also announced that Wells Fargo launched their first cardless ATMs.

A session of note was “Building Your Branch Transformation Plan.” One speaker gave several examples of how his company remodeled bank branches to be more inviting and effective at getting people in and out quickly and identifying their customer’s needs.

Banking on P2P: Zelle 2017 was another noteworthy session. Zelle is a pP2P payment platform that launched in 2016. Its target market ranges between the ages of 18 and 54. A question posed by this session: Is this the Venmo killer? Only time will tell.

There were other sessions about moving from sales to service environment through the use of new technologies and strategies. These sessions noted that culture is the most valuable asset. Other sessions focused on innovation, the use of chatbots and AI to serve customers and increase profitability.

Retail Banking also featured a fintech showcase with seven companies, and each had 7 to 8 minutes to present. These presentations focused on fraud strategies, chatbots and digital loan apps to name a few. The show also had an interactive mobile app that helped boost digital engagement with attendees. The app made it easy to keep track of when specific sessions were being held, and it featured contests and connection opportunities.

The conference concluded with a Fireside Chat featuring Umpqua Bank’s Head of Innovation Ray Davis. He shared that change is eminent and to be successful financial institutions must adapt to it. He added that Umpqua wants to be less transactional and more like a concierge for banking. Umpqua wants to have a service culture – not a sales culture as culture is a valuable asset. He now asks the bank associates – how did that feel – not how did that go?

Overall, Retail Banking 2017 was full of innovation, technology, and networking. Source Media put on an excellent conference, and we look forward to Retail Banking 2018.

For a look at what trade shows are coming up next for the banking industry, download our 2017 Trade Show Directory.

Download Our 2017 Trade Show Directory

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