Regional banks are deploying technology to keep up with client demand and compete with major financial institutions. 

The $62 billion Valley Bank joins other financial institutions, including the $18 billion Alliant Credit Union, $40 billion EverBank and $170 billion Navy Federal Credit Union, in investing in tech stacks to keep up with digital demands from clients.

“Consumers are expecting the same products, services and customer experience as they would receive with a major financial institution like JPMorgan Chase,” James White, general manager of banking at Total Expert, a software-as-a-service provider, told Bank Automation News. “Consumers are expecting, a fast follow [in terms of digital capabilities] from the regional banks, so it might not be exactly to the level of a Chase, [but] they’re expecting the customer experience to be close enough.” 

Banks are also upgrading their tech stacks to find efficiencies within their operations as they look to do more with less, White said. 

Morristown, N.J.-based Valley Bank has deployed the following tech investments to keep up with digital needs: 

Cloud efforts: The bank aims to move its operations to the cloud by 2025, Russell Barrett, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer, told BAN. 

“All of our data and our data warehousing is completely in the [Microsoft Azure] cloud,” Barrett said. “What we’re really now focusing [on] is on the last pieces of our data center processes that … would obviously benefit from using cloud compute.” 

Moving operations to the cloud gives Valley Bank the ability to scale operations quickly and provide an additional layer of security, Barrett said. 

API connection: Valley Bank has been working for nearly six months to develop APIs to “create more connected banking” in preparation for imminent open banking regulations, Barrett said. 

The bank is “ready to go in whatever direction the industry and the regulatory landscape goes,” when it comes to open banking, as it has been prepping its core technology for the looming regulation, Barrett said. 

AI and automation: Valley is also deploying AI and automation to reduce repetitive tasks like data entry and identity verification for suspicious transactions, Barrett said. The bank is also deploying automated texts to “verify that a transaction was done by a customer, and it has helped us both reduce fraud as well as streamline a lot of those operations,” he said.  

Valley is using an internal conversational human resources chatbot, developed with Microsoft’s OpenAI, that allows all bank associates to converse about payroll and benefits, he said. 

By leveraging AI, “our objective is to be able to go ahead and serve customers with tools so long as we feel like we’re going to provide them with a level of accuracy and quality that would rival or exceed that of a customer service associate,” Barrett said. 

Early-bird registration is now available for the inaugural Bank Automation Summit Europe in Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 7-8! Discover the latest advancements in AI and automation in banking. Register here and apply to speak here.