The Value of Bank / Credit Union Client Engagement with an Internal Financial Advice Platform
How do you demonstrate your financial institution’s value proposition to existing clients, members, and potential new customers? Like most, you do so by having an excellent team in place that delivers competitive retail, commercial, and treasury management products, along with some wealth and trust services, all tied together with a nice technology suite.
Of course, there is much more to it, but that certainly covers the basics.
In this blog post, we discuss the value of adding (or enhancing) a robust, high-quality financial advice platform for your customers, and how it will create a significantly higher level of returns and increase your value proposition. This results in higher client engagement, satisfaction, and retention—and ultimately, a stronger bottom line. (And it does the same thing for your high-value team members, too!)
We will also share two financial stats that will really keep you up at night!
Understanding the Common Perception
When most banks’ and credit unions’ C-suite or mid-level managers consider Financial Advisory and Retirement Planning, they probably think about themselves as a secondary or even tertiary customer resource behind the typical Wall Street firms. While this may have been how customers viewed things a decade ago, it is changing, and you need to be aware of that shift.
We have been watching a significant modification in how customers view their relationships with financial services companies. The data we track shows that people are looking for a more familial, community-oriented (non-wall-street / non-mega-bank) type of experience when it comes to financial planning and retirement services. Equally important, Financial Advisors themselves are looking for the same things.
In keeping with the aforementioned thought process, simply being a well-branded community or regional bank or credit union is not enough. We recommend having a third-party relationship with a broker dealer that will deliver a Wall Street-level experience when it comes to the advisor, product and tech. But that BD also needs to have a values system similar to the one your brand has earned in the markets you represent. This is where it gets complicated.
Running a bank, credit union, or department therein is more than a full-time job. You can’t possibly keep up with the constant changes and dynamics associated with the wealth management space. Even if you manage a wealth group now, that is more than enough to keep you occupied! Without an advocate working for you, you’re simply at a disadvantage when it comes to creating a new Advice Platform or enhancing an existing one. If you get one thing from this post, please let it be that.
Water Three Plants with One Hose
Our experience working with Banks, Credit Unions, Broker Dealers, and Wealth Management Firms gives us a unique vantage point that is extremely beneficial to our clients. One of those benefits is how we address and offer additional pathways to success in three key areas your bank or credit union pays attention to:
- Client Engagement and Retention – Increase your current customers’ financial product exposure between 35% and 45%
- Employee Satisfaction & Retention – Cut your regretted attrition in half
- Advice Platform Profitability Metric — A well-supported wealth management team that utilizes the resources available should generate $2,000 in gross revenue per $1 million in deposits
Takeaway
When partnered with the right third-party broker dealer, a Financial Advice & Retirement Planning Platform in a regional or community bank or credit union provides existing customers and prospective customers the ability to do business with a familiar face (i.e., your institution) that they are already doing somewhere else.
Two Interesting Financials We See Changing Over the Next Decade
We conducted a survey with banks and credit unions across the country that actually track the information provided below. Nearly 30% of the firms surveyed provided us with their data and it was fascinating…
- For Commercial Banks: 82.7% of their existing clients’ financial assets are held and/or are being managed outside of their bank relationship
- For Credit Unions: 92.4% of their existing members’ financial assets are held and/or are being managed outside of their credit union relationship
We see these numbers dramatically improving for regional / community banks and credit unions over the next 10-15 years.
To learn more about how Compass Consulting can help your bank or credit union implement a robust, high-quality financial advice platform, contact us today!