News & Notes from February 13 – 17
By Al Dominick, CEO of DirectorCorps (parent co. to Bank Director & FinXTech) | @aldominick
A few weeks ago, I made note of an interesting new relationship between a bank and a technology firm. Specifically, BBVA Compass’s announcement that it has been piloting Amazon Lockers in eleven of its Austin-area branches. This is the first time Amazon Lockers are available with a bank in the United States — and may provide a creative spark to those thinking about how to increase traffic into an existing branch network.
Since sharing my observation on this partnership, I’ve made note of a number of new relationships that reflect the changing nature of the financial industry. This week, three things caught my eye:
- Xero and Silicon Valley Bank unveiling a next generation of financial management to transform small business banking.
- IBM and Visa’s collaboration to bring the point of sale ‘everywhere Visa is accepted‘ — a move that allows businesses “to quickly introduce secure payment experiences for any device connected to the Internet of Things (IoT).”
- A general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz opining on Amazon’s potential to own the payment space (Here’s Why This Top VC Says Amazon Is Set to Rule the Fintech Game).
In addition, I took note of Wells Fargo forming a new innovation team (called Payments, Virtual Solutions, and Innovations) to better build out its digital banking experiences. The three pillars of this effort revolve around payments, artificial intelligence and APIs. For Wells Fargo — and banks in general:
- Payments are a critical driver of relationships for consumer, small business, and commercial and corporate banking customers.
- In terms of artificial intelligence, the bank sees an increasing number of opportunities to better leverage data to provide personalized customer service through its bankers and digital channels.
- Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) technology enables commercial and corporate banking customers to integrate products, services and information into their own digital environments.
So as financial institutions continue to search for new growth opportunities, I intend to share weekly recaps like this as a way to share what I find compelling. Let me know what you think — and if there are other news & notes I might share.
About That Ratio 