Independent Banker - July 2019 - 37

Opinion: We're part of a
movement. Are you in?!
By: Ben Morales
CEO, QCash Financial
tech company OneSpan in Chicago,
says, " A loan is a high-value product
that has traditionally required a very
lengthy and costly application process
and a required branch visit, along with
a great deal of repetitive paperwork.
Today's customers want to research
their own loan options, and then apply
online from where they are, not in a
brick-and-mortar branch.
" Today's millennials do just about
everything on their mobile devices,
and they are not applying for loans via
this digital channel because the loan
process is not optimized for a smooth
customer experience, " Bedard adds.
" Hence, the reason why banks need
to make this process more attractive,
more convenient and more seamless
to their customers. "
A Wells Fargo consumer survey
released in 2017 on the use of electronic
signatures and mobile devices confirms
this is the future of loans and mortgages.
The survey found that beyond
simply initiating an application online,
31% of respondents had e-signed a final
loan or credit document on a mobile
device. In the same study the research
found that if applying today, 36% of
consumers would be inclined to e-sign
a final loan contract on a mobile device.
Banks and nonbank lenders alike
continue to digitally automate a wide
range of loan use cases including personal,
mortgage and auto.
Challenges to mobile lending
It's not that community banks don't
want to offer mobile loan services.
Community bankers see the writing on
the wall and recognize that more and
more of their products and services
will need to be delivered via mobile to
appeal not only to a younger generation,
but a variety of customers who
are banking on their devices.
For his part, Otteman is perplexed
and challenged by the opportunities
of artificial intelligence and automation
in a world where relationships
matter more than ever. " Relationship-based
banking is alive and well,
and those community banks that were
able to hang on through all of these
mergers are doubling down on their
ability to know the customer's needs, "
he says. " If you think about the evolution
of technology from the drive-up
window to the mobile application, it's
all been designed to take the personal
touch away from the institution and
replace it with the digital convenience
of doing it yourself. "
Another challenge is simply size relative
to the big banks. " If I'm thinking
about loan products, one of the big
challenges is the battle for ranking on
search engines, " says Kilgore of Javelin,
meaning that when a prospective
borrower searches for a particular
loan product with a search engine, big
banks and nonbank lenders may be the
highest search results presented to the
borrower. " Little banks are going to
have difficulty showing up high in Google
search ... that's a challenge from a
loan marketing standpoint, " he adds.
Nonetheless, community banks are
increasingly under pressure to offer
more information, application abilities
and origination of loans through
the mobile channel to retain and capture
more retail and small-business
customers. " The thing about loans is
that we apply for them when we need
them the most, here and now, " Khalsa
says. " Customers are no longer tied to
a single location, not tied to their desktop
any more. The behavior is trending
heavily to mobile. "
Karen Epper Hoffman is a writer in
Washington state.
A movement is building...or it
should be! One of the largest
financial institutions in the country
is delivering a salary advance
solution to help break the cycle
of payday lending.
State Employees' Credit Union of
North Carolina has been providing
an alternative since 2001 and
has 237,000 outstanding salary
advance loans and approximately
100,000 regular program users.
Perhaps more notable, the accompanying
cash account currently
has $54.5 million in total balances.
Last year, U.S. Bank, the 5th
largest bank in the country,
launched its simple loan to cover
immediate cash flow needs. It
allows for loans up to $1000
with 3-monthly payments.
If we needed proof small
dollar lending is a consumer
need and can be sustainably
delivered by financial
institutions now we have it!
At QCash Financial, we believe we
can change the current short-term
credit market through competitive
market forces to drive prices
down and help all consumers.
A critical component includes automation
in order to create efficiency
in your product delivery.
Join the movement aimed at
building financial capacity, stability
and resilience. Banks have an
opportunity to make a difference
in the lives of their consumers.
We're here to help. Are you in?
Let's have a conversation. Reach me
at bmorales@qcashfinancial.com
QCash Financial
#financialhealthmatters
Independent Banker - July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Independent Banker - July 2019
