Our heart goes out to all the servicemen and women, healthcare workers, and communities who are helping and supporting each other in this challenging time.

Thanks to the internet and digital devices, our communities, businesses and families are woven together through technology. While many technology-focused businesses have been practicing working from home options, and some businesses conduct their business over the phone and online, many other businesses and community organizations that relied on physical locations are now finding new ways to work online. Schools are now moving to full-time virtual classrooms.

How can banks help with our community’s financial needs when people cannot venture out? What are the most important capabilities banks need to support people and businesses when everything is online?

Branchless Banking

It’s obvious that branches are going to have little or no foot traffic. This means everything that was done in branches needs to go digital. The most commonly used services in branches are:

1. Cash Withdrawal & Deposits
2. Check Deposits
3. Account Opening
4. Loan Origination
5. Digital Channels

Cash Withdrawal & Deposits

While cash is needed when we have to venture out, it isn’t necessary when everything is digital. People and businesses should start transacting only through digital channels such as Zelle, Venmo, Paypal, ACH, and Fedwire. It is very expensive to print, manage, move, and secure paper currency. Certain developing countries in Asia and Africa are already moving toward cashless economies, and our nation is already behind this innovation. It’s time for the US to discourage the use of cash and move toward a cashless economy.

Check Deposits

Checks, which were invented in the 16^th century, are still in use today. While technology has advanced, the way we exchange money hasn’t evolved as fast as the technology. When people complained about writing checks, buying stamps and mailing, banks, and their technology vendors came out with the idea of doing all of that work for bank customers, and “invented” bill pay. When the businesses who receive the checks complained about the pain of collecting and depositing the checks, the banks and their technology vendors “invented” lockbox and remote deposit capture. For consumers, technology vendors offered mobile deposit capture.

Unfortunately, the banking industry continues to live with these legacy inventions, only patching the effects of the problem without seriously addressing the cause of the problem. Modern digital technology never reached the banking masses. While remote deposit capture still enables some digitization, it’s not the answer. Checks create a lot of work for bank operations teams, require significant human intervention and invite fraudsters. The industry must discourage the usage of checks and move forward.

Account Opening

Consumers and businesses must be able to open a new account and add new products and services without visiting a branch. Digital account opening solutions are now the imperative.   Without these solutions, banks will not be able to acquire new customers or sell new products to existing customers while our society practices social distancing. Technology is available right now to validate the identity of new customers and move funds from other banks to fund new accounts.

Loan Origination

Whether it’s a home purchase, home refinance, auto, business or any type of loan, banks must make it easy for customers to apply for loans online. There are many digital solutions available to fully automate loan origination, collateral verification, approval workflow and servicing.

Digital Channels

All banking services, whether it is account opening, loan origination, account services, payment services, card services, or treasury services, should be via digital channels. Let each individual and business do their banking using the device of their choice, without ever touching a device exposed to the germs of others. As banks enable this level of sophistication, it will drive all businesses and consumers to manage their finances and money exclusively online.

Free Account Opening

Many community banks are not equipped to deal with this situation and are not digitally enabled to open new accounts. These banks help local communities thrive and help local businesses stay afloat, and there is no clear timeline when our current situation will improve. As part of our gratitude to our banking community and to society at large, Finzly is offering a 90 Day Free Trial of our Digital Account Opening solution to community banks of any size. Banks can contact Finzly at sales@finzly.com to learn more. We look forward to helping you during this challenging time.

About the author

Booshan Rengachari is the founder and CEO of Finzly, an innovative financial technology company at the forefront of digital enablement and banking transformation.  Finzly provides a cost-effective path from legacy technologies and processes to the future of banking. Booshan believes in out of the box, fresh thinking to apply today’s technology to solve the most complex problems in the simplest possible manner. Booshan can be reached at booshan@finzly.com