Will Your Traditional Bank Still Exist in Ten Years? 

As a key executive at a traditional bank, likely you have spent time wondering whether your bank will still exist in ten years. 

The future may seem lacklustre at best. Brick and mortar banking services have been on the decline as online banking has become increasingly prevalent. In fact, 61% of internet users banked online in 2013, vs. 44 % in 2005, and 18% in 2000. Banking services shifting online is just the beginning of the changes hitting the financial services industry.

Fintech is the new kid on the block. You might like to think that fintech is made up only of wild creations like cryptocurrencies named after dogs (like dogecoin or Shiba Inu) and that it is a fad that will surely die down. However, building your financial literacy now means building greater familiarity with fintech. So you know that fintech encompasses a greater number of changes hitting the financial services industry, where big data and artificial intelligence are driving changes at every turn. 

Accounting systems, point of sale systems, fraud detection, and managing NPLs are just some of the aspects that are radically changing. Every piece of the financial services system has a fintech innovation that is becoming integral to the future of the financial industry. And every step forward that fintech takes feels like a nail in the coffin of traditional banking.

However, it can be the opposite. What if every step forward that fintech takes meant a boost in your bank’s efficacy in serving local businesses? What if every step forward for fintech meant a boost to your bank’s profitability? Instead of dreading a bleak future for your traditional bank, what if you woke up every day energized? You could be excited about how the business client base that your bank has worked decades to build means that you can help a whole community take advantage of fintech-enabled growth.

The shift in strategic thinking is simple: if you cannot beat them, join them. Fintech isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Fintech’s presence will become greater every day. It does not have to be fintech vs. traditional banks; instead, your traditional bank can embrace fintech and integrate it into your bank’s traditional offerings. Fintech is disrupting traditional banking, but fintech can also empower traditional banking if you play your cards right.

The upSWOT platform is a fintech product that traditional banks can seamlessly integrate into their online portals. It allows businesses to import their banking transactions and business data into a user-friendly dashboard, bringing together data from over 150 applications used by SMB customers. These applications include popular accounting, ERP, payroll, e-commerce, CRM, marketing and POS business applications. 

This data then powers your bank’s business clients’ success, with actionable insights, accurate cash flow forecasts and personalized advice. As a further benefit to your bank’s businesses, the platform helps them build their business credit scores by sharing data (with their permission) with credit bureaus. This only increases their credit scores, data shared through the platform never decreases them. 

There is even an administrative view that lets you know when the business is in a position to benefit from a new credit product so that you can effortlessly offer financing at the right time. This translates into greater success for your bank’s financial products. The best part? This platform is white-labelled. This means that your traditional bank that has been serving your community for decades gets the credit for providing innovative, profitability-enhancing products.