Top 10 Community Bank IT Initiatives
February 29, 2012 2:52 PM
T Bank
Headquarters: Dallas. Asset size: $150 million. Project: A combination of virtualization and outsourcing. Why it’s cool: The bank can upgrade on a number of fronts with minimal IT staff. "This is like having an entire building of IT guys who work for me. It doesn't make sense to do all of that work in-house," CTO Thad Hutcheson says.
East Carolina Bank
Headquarters: Engelhard, N.C.Asset size: $975 million.Project: Core upgrade.Why it’s cool: The bank previously had no teller system. Now it has mobile banking.“You’d think that a bank would have a teller machine, but we didn’t,” says Wil Sampson, CIO.
First National Bank of the Gulf Coast
Headquarters: Naples, Fla.Asset size: $440 million.Project: New core, imaging systems.Why it’s cool: The bank truly strives to be paperless, including scanning and digitizing all incoming mail. "The customers are absolutely amazed at how quickly we can turn around a situation for them and respond to them, even on a weekend," says CIO Peter Setaro.
Apollo Bank
Headquarters: Miami.Asset size: $500 million.Project: Upgraded online and mobile banking. Why it’s cool: In a struggling market, the relatively new bank’s making bold moves into new mobile frontiers. "When we first got here, we realized we needed to provide real-time access to customer information and transactions," says CIO Jonathan Liguori.
Coastal Bank
Headquarters: Savannah, Ga.Asset size: $450 million.Project: White-labeling low-cost, on-demand personal financial management software called Grip.Why it’s cool: The bank can bypass the cost of development."With Grip, it's the true sense of an app without the tremendous expense," says Adam Montgomery, director of marketing.
First Community Bank
Headquarters: San Benito, Tex.Asset size: $205 million.Project: New software for a flexible checking account.Why it’s cool: The software lets the bank steer customers toward electronic statements and transactions while generating fee income.The flexible checking program "makes it very simple for the consumer to access a great free checking account," says Joaquin Lopez, senior vice president and COO.
First Trade Union Bank
Headquarters: Boston.Asset size: $600 million. Project: Mobile check deposit rollout. Why it’s cool: The bank’s battling big institutions without a heavy branch presence."We saw the growth in smartphone use among consumers, and saw that it's the right time to increase our footprint through a mobile strategy," says Robert Landstein, executive vice president and CIO.
Bank of York
Headquarters: York, S.C.Size: $150 million.Project: Streamlining loan compliance documents.Why it’s cool: The bank took advantage of a free system tune-up and now saves paper and produces loans faster."We have 20 different templates and they probably changed at least one thing on each of them," says William Langford, the bank’s CFO.
Forward Financial Bank
Headquarters: Marshfield, Wis.Asset size: $266 million.Project: E-signatures for mortgages.Why it’s cool: Mortgage borrowers only need to sign once. "A traditional mortgage document probably has 35 to 40 signatures. We want to take that and apply only one signature," says Todd Diedrich, senior vice president.
Big Horn Federal Savings Bank
Headquarters: Greybull, Wyo.Asset size: $203 million.Project: New commercial lending platform.Why it’s cool: Technology opened up a new market for the bank."That has allowed the institution to take a couple of giant steps forward in how we can ultimately serve our customers and client base," CEO John Coyne says.
