OceanFirst Bank  is seeing more consumers and businesses choosing to interact with the bank via video and, as a result, it is preparing for a future when bankers will be comfortable working in that channel.

The Toms River, N.J.-based community bank recently trained all 538 of its customer-facing employees in digital banking with a seven-week program that tackles how to use video conferencing technology, as well as the bank’s own mobile app and third-party apps like Venmo and PayPal.

Christopher Maher, CEO of the 59-branch bank with $8 billion in assets, said opportunities abound for community banks to keep pace with larger, national banks through low-cost technology partnerships. Community banks also can use their small size to their advantage when it comes to training employees and changing company culture, he noted.

“People don’t come to us anymore to ask what their bank balances are or if a check cleared,” Maher said. “They come to us for more sophisticated problems.” Indeed, customers have questions about how to use third-party apps that are connected to their bank accounts, how to manage their investments and how to apply for loans. These questions are coming through traditional and digital channels.

Maher said Gen Z consumers and younger generations will all but expect to be able to interact with their banks by video.

The future may still be a ways off, however. A 2018 survey by video conferencing software provider Vidyo found that fewer than 20% of financial institutions have a fully operational video banking service and that just 15% of consumers have ever been asked to participate in a video banking session. Only 2% of adults prefer a video chat with their bank for either a quick or lengthy question, according to another survey released by Celent last year.

The video conferencing aspect of OceanFirst’s training program encompasses everything the bank does, Maher noted. The bank has 14 branch sites where video teller machinery is installed, although he said consumers and businesses increasingly are choosing to interact with the bank via video chat on their phone. He added that the bank’s call center already is video-enabled to meet that demand.

“We have to be good at video, but it’s hard because you have to be engaging across a communication channel that does not come naturally to everyone,” Maher said. To this end, OceanFirst now uses a company called HireVue to help vet every candidate for employment. As a first step in the hiring process, all job candidates receive a link to go to HireVue for an initial video interview.

“It’s astounding because more than 50% of the people who get that link are unable or unwilling to complete a video interview,” Maher said. “But, at a very basic level in our hiring practice, we are sorting out the people who are comfortable with video from those who are not. Our use of HireVue and our training around video is preparing the bank for a future where video is a very important communication protocol with our customers.”

When interacting via Nest Egg, a hybrid robo-adviser that OceanFirst offers its clients, customers increasingly are choosing to interact with the bank via video conferencing. “There are plenty of robo-adviser platforms that have been reasonably successful, but they don’t provide any meaningful level of customer interaction,” Maher said. “Our customers place a high premium on access to professionals and the ability to stop at a branch — to make a phone call or do a video conference — and get advice.”

Also see: Arkansas credit union taps mobile video banking to reach more customers

Video isn’t the only digital customer interaction channel of focus for OceanFirst. Maher touted the bank’s rollout about six months ago of a digitally-focused checking product called AmiGo, built through a combination of sourcing off-the-shelf products from vendors and some in-house work on marketing and acquisition components. “We now open more accounts digitally through AmiGo than at our busiest branch,” he said.

Maher didn’t provide details on account openings or balance averages, but he said new relationships established with the bank through AmiGo number in the hundreds to low thousands. “It’s not a dozen, but it’s not 10,000 either,” he added, noting that AmiGo users are only a little bit younger than the bank’s traditional customer base. “The average account balances seem to be pretty similar, but they’re more apt to use Apple Pay or Google Pay and more apt to use debit cards and write very few checks, if any.”

Maher said customers can open an AmiGo account through a mobile device within seven minutes and that AmiGo users get the same access to the bank as regular OceanFirst customers. “We don’t penalize someone if they decide to stop by a branch or they want to use the bank through another channel,” he said. “We just want that customer acquisition point to be digitally driven.”