Customer-centricity

Financial firms must follow customers from mobile devices to desktop and back without missing a beat.

Forrester principal analyst Alyson Clarke explains why the two nonbanks fared well in a recent survey of 110,000 Americans.

First it was coffee and car service, and now it could be cashier’s checks and debit cards. Matt Krogstad left his bank job to build tech that lets bank customers order products at the press of a button and pick them up at a branch or get delivery.

Bigger rivals are making inroads into small banks' bread-and-butter business line, yet the leaders of three community banks say they just need to keep doing what they do best — personal service — but work harder at it and incorporate new technology.

After two century-old community institutions merged in 2010, they never suspected it would take seven years before their operating systems got along.

A lot of lenders say they're dedicated to customer service, but here are six instances when Amarillo National Bank — whose CEO is one of our Banker of the Year award winners for 2017 — went above and beyond the normal call of duty.

The regional bank’s first-year CEO is doing some expected things, like offering more products through digital channels, and making a few surprising moves, like inviting all credit card customers to switch to lower-rate loans.

The Midwest bank said that digital usage rose 400% after a makeover of online and mobile banking platforms that was meant to make them more customer-friendly and more competitive.

Banks such as Citigroup, Regions and TD have decided they need to offer mobile customers truly customized experiences. They are experimenting with different ways of doing so that come across as helpful without being intrusive.

In experimenting with a chatbot on its mobile app, TD Bank will have to tackle the same issue facing several of its rivals — how to automate conversations with consumers and decide at what point it’s time to switch to a human.