Loraine Lawson: This is Loraine Lawson, associate editor with Bank Automation News. Recently, I spoke with Jacqueline White, the new president of the Americas for Temenos, which specializes in enterprise software for banks and financial services companies. We talked about automation trends in banking and how the pandemic changed the banking landscape.

Jacqueline White
So interesting, I’ve already talked about this, had this topic come up on twice on on two previous calls with customers? And it really does seem to be I guess I would say the hot topic, right? The hot topic right now. Is, is, you know, as as will said, right, it innovation turned into automation. And now, of course, automation, when we talked about automation, we’re talking about artificial intelligence. And then what that means, specifically around banking is, you know, a whole universe unto itself. So what I’m primarily seeing is that, you know, customers have been thrust into this new normal during 2020, the global pandemic, basically was an accelerator for the digital journey, wherever an organization was, whether they were large or small, or anything in between on the spectrum. Everybody was on some kind of digital journey. And but the pandemic did was accelerate that journey, and simultaneously require organizations and individuals, just to pause and think a little bit about not only where we are, where we’re going, but what is the new normal going to look like when we get there? Now we all know that, that all banks of every size, shape and form are have to be worried about their digital front front end, right. It’s all about a frictionless customer interaction. And, of course, you know, that’s not only that’s what customers are used to, it’s what they’re demanding now. And I think the answer to that is, specifically comes down to, to AI and the, the, the automation that AI can bring into banking, not only from a core perspective, but also on on the digital front end. So typically, you know, this is a topic I think there’s a lot of tire kicking right now. I think there’s a lot of information gathering organizations are trying to get smart on what are the tools that are out there, what does this mean? And and, you know, what is it what are the implications right?

Loraine Lawson
So I wondered if there was a difference between how digital banks approach automation versus traditional banks?

Jacqueline White
I definitely think so. I think so. I mean, there’s there there’s commonalities. But I think that, you know, digital banks are, are thinking about their customer base differently, they are thinking about their, how to serve their customers differently. So I definitely think that, that they are, you know, but they’re looking at the economic upheaval and the pressure that’s come come about in the last last year. And, you know, the clientele that they often interact with, and serve, is really looking at something different, maybe than customers have a traditional bank.

Loraine Lawson
What lessons we can learn?

Jacqueline White
I think there are lessons we can all learn. You know, consumers want, the consumers consistently want a service that’s convenient, that seamless, and that’s personalized. And, you know, in a time when, when it’s, there’s an inability to meet face to face, that means that that human connection is more important than ever. And, you know, I consistently hear consumers talk about, you know, that they, you know, banking is personal, it’s our, it’s our assets to our homes, it’s our money, it’s our, it is literally the currency of our lives. And there has to be some kind of personal connection, and personal touch. You know, even those who, who, you know, gravitate toward the very large, mega institutions, they still want a personal touch, right? In the end, they want somebody who understands what their needs are. So for banks, I think there’s a huge opportunity to build new bonds of trust. And it also creates a fight for market share, right, the winners will be agile enough to seize the moment and to really innovate quickly. You know, what we find is that banks are really scrambling for innovative solutions, right? A lot of them are held back. You know, it’s not about the technology, right? The bank shouldn’t really necessarily be interested in the technology for technology’s sake. And the customer certainly aren’t, right? They just want things to work and to be fast, accurate, efficient, and to meet their needs. So banks, you know, are being held back by, you know, the, the bonds of their legacy environments, we at Terminus like to call that kind of legacy spaghetti, right? It’s multiple layers of aging technology. And often there’s only one person in or any organization who really knows how it all works, right, which is, which can be a little bit frightening.

Loraine Lawson
They mentioned that you could talk about translating deposit growth into process profitability. So how did banks do that? How are they surviving the pandemic? What are you see, what role does automation play in that?

Jacqueline White
Yeah, I mean, the banks or banks are thriving, because, you know, again, they’ve had to shift gears, they’re having to engage and interact differently with the consumer and with their customers, and everybody’s had to shift to a new normal. You know, I’ve always said for a very long time that we’ve been transitioning over five, six plus years, banks are, for many people are no longer a brick and mortar place we go, that thing we do, and that’s never become more true than in the past year, right. So. So it’s all about automation, it’s all about ease of use. It’s all about giving functionality and power and capability, putting that into the hands of end users. And I think, you know, orchestrating all of the activities that any particular given user is going to need. That all comes down to automation.

Loraine Lawson
We’ve talked a lot about automation, but you also talked about needing the personal touch. What are some of the best practices have you seen for maintaining a personal touch even though banks are pushing towards innovation and technology more?

Jacqueline White
Well, there’s so much with analytics, there’s so much that we can understand about our, our consumer and our customers. Even even if it’s not person to person, right? automation, even bots, through analytics and the power of analytics, we can understand, you know, how long customers have been have lingered on a website, what is it that they’re interested in? You know, are they looking to refinance? Are they looking to find a new mortgage? So we really can personalize, even without a personal touch to make customers feel like they’re really known by the organization? Let’s see.

Loraine Lawson
Anything else I should have asked about? What do you think we’ll be talking about a year from now? Well, yes, that question. First.

Jacqueline White
I think we’ll be talking about the the huge accelerated growth that has happened as we emerge out of this global pandemic, I think that there’s going to be an economic boon. I think that that there’ll be increased spending and lending. And I think banks are going to be in a very, very positive way, running to catch up with with that with the very, very healthy, rapidly growing economy.
For me, I think for us at terminos, we’re really proud I just joined temenos in January, I come from a deep background in financial services. And for me, when I look at the offerings that the terminus has been from a technology perspective, and again, technology is an enabler, right? It’s not technology for technology’s sake, that’s important or interesting. But at Terminus, we feel like our core banking offering transact t 24. And our infinity digital front end those solutions. Those solutions, our business in a technology, we call it technology driven business enablers, right allows the bank to force focus on their core competencies and to service their customers. I believe the other thing that’s really interesting is that the finance The services landscape is really changing, right with Neo banks entering the field. So last year, there was exactly one challenger bank that was granted a charter in the US. That was Vajra bank. They made history by becoming the first FinTech to gain a national banking charter. And we’re seeing bank and non bank mergers like Lending Club and radius bank and you know, ever organizations like that come together. And banks are experimenting with digital parallel banks, like Marcus and Goldman Sachs or EQ bank and equity bank in Canada. The shift to digital is once in a generation opportunity for growth. That’s what that’s really what it represents. And, you know, Tim knows we are becoming the de facto technology provider for digital banks across the globe, that want to innovate rapidly. And we’re very, very proud of that.

Loraine Lawson:
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