Leveraging Predictive Analytics to Expand Relationships

From his position as Product Manager at https://www.umpquabank.com/, Ben joins us to shed some light on the challenges and benefits of cross-pollinating data and technology, tailoring services to meet unique needs, exploring alternative credit scoring...
From his position as Product Manager at Umpqua Bank, Ben joins us to shed some light on the challenges and benefits of cross-pollinating data and technology, tailoring services to meet unique needs, exploring alternative credit scoring methods and automation, and more.
In today's rapidly evolving digital landscapes, finding a sustainable balance between human interaction and digital automation in lending is paramount.
Join us as we discuss:
- Navigating interest rate sensitivity and the benefits of data cross-pollination
- How Wealth Management Groups help keep operations customer-centric
- Why automation needs a balanced level of human interaction
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You're listening to Leaders and Lending from
Upstart, a podcast dedicated to helping consumer
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lenders grow their programs and improve their
product offerings. Each week, here,
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decision makers in the finance industry offer
insights into the future of the lending industry,
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best practices around digital transformation, and
more. Let's get into the show.
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Welcome to Leaders in Lending. I'm
your host, Jeff Keltner. This
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week's episode features my conversation with Ben
Vega from Umquo Bank. I've been and
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I dive into a lot of topics, starting with an interesting project he had
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recruiting commercial bank clients into the wealth
management organization. I thought interesting, how
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you break down the barriers and build
a program across silos in the organization.
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We talked about specifically a lot of
the human digital how those two things play
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together, what U was doing in
that space, which that was really interesting
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their big bank attack program during PPP. Also, I think of fasting my
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conversation experiend what's what they mean by
scored lending and what the future of score
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aring and maybe alternative data looks like
where that can be valuable. I think
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it's a great conversation and anyone can
learn a lot from it, So please
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enjoy this conversation with Ben Piggott.
Then, thanks for making the time and
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joining the podcast today. I really
appreciate it. Absolutely happy to be here.
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Before we get into the content,
there's a bunch of interesting stuff to
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talk about, but I always love
to start with this question from my guests.
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How did you wind up in the
banking space. It's not usually the
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childhood dream of most of the people
I talked to, so I'm curious what
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path led you to where you're at
today. Absolutely, I think this is
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a popular question amongst most banking professionals
as well. I started off probably a
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more traditional route. I was going
to college George Mason University in Northern Virginia,
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and the bank down the street offers
college tuition reimbursement program, so that
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was Chevy Chase Bank. I was
a teller there and they were helped to
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pay my way through college. After
I had graduated at a four year degree
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and also had four years experience.
But I also got a little bit more
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exposure to just what all, you
know, the different avenues that you could
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go through in a banking career,
and I decided to stick with it.
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Moved over to Unqua Bank in the
Pacific Northwest. Started off in our branches,
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so we call them stores at the
time. Was there for a year
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that I moved into our private bank
for wealth management, and that was pretty
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interesting journey. Get a lot of
exposure in the wealth management piece because a
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lot of your customers are orderlining on
the consumer side, business side, commercial
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side. So having that for five
years, I mean, I really did
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get a lot of exposure to the
different products and services that we offer through
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some different types of synergies that we
did. I went into our frontline strategy
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group, but prior to that,
actually we'll probably circle back on this at
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the topic of the conversation. When
I was in our wealth management group,
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we started a program where we were
partnering with our commercial bank because we're trying
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to identify customers that were within our
commercial and the business owners that would be
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a good fit for wealth management.
So they had commercial loans with us,
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but they didn't have any type of
personal relationship. So I started down this
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initiative where we were going to get
the commercial bankers to introduce clients to our
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wealth management and get that wealth management
offering to them. Utilizing some of the
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information that we had collected through the
underwriting of their commercial loan, and this
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was ended up being very successful and
eventually, as we had some other groups
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look in to how the organization was
operating, I was then moved under what
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we called our Frontline Strategy group.
So Frontline Strategy was helping build the strategy
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with our core baking lines of business. This is retail bank, home lending,
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commercial SPA, etc. Basically the
profit centers that we have, the
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different avenues that we have with than
the bank itself. As we went through
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another merger, I took a kind
of an adjunct kind of dog leg in
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my career and I went over to
our ALM side or asset Liability Management,
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working in our treasury group for our
interest rate sensitivity analysis. Did this for
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about two and a half years,
three years, and this is where we're
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putting out the regulatory reports on how
a banks that it was income gets impacted
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through different rate scenarios. Basically a
pretty important topic. Right. Just I'm
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alexy to sexy last right, And
it was funny you say that because I
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was said, you know, recruited
into that group, and I thought this
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was good, good, a good
way to start rounding out my banking career.
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I had always been focused more on
the production side, hadn't yet looked
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at the balance You haven't yet looked
at banking from the balance sheet finance side.
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So this was really good experience.
When I was first moved over there,
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you know, interest rates were flat
for quite a while, and then
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I started going over there. This
is when the rate high really started and
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things got a lot more interesting,
especially because of the reporting that we were
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putting out. And really what happens
is we run sixteen different scenarios. So
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we'll start with our base scenario,
which is just the current economic environment.
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What's your net interest income going to
look like in one year without any movement
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to rates, and then we'll look
at it what happens if rates go upwards
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one hundred basis points two hundred,
three hundred, four hundred in a ramped
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scenario, so slowly increasing, then
also again in a shock scenario. Then
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on the inverse of that, what
happens when they go downwards? You know,
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yeah, the one to four percent
and then diving into the analysis of
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that was actually really fascinating as well
too. So you're looking at most of
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our loan portfolios you know what has
changed month over month? How is the
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sensitivity? You know, how has
our net interest income increased, our dink
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decrease from the prior month? Based
on some of these scenarios, and you
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would see what are we doing on
our lending side, our cash side,
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you know, how is our cash
looking? So four dollar question, but
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were you guys looking at the asset
valuation for a long long duration assets on
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the book? So we always we
had them marked to market already, so
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that was one thing that was helpful
for us, you know, so we
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we had run the book that way
and what we did see though were mortgages,
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right, so we were having in
higher rate environments. Generally, what
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happens is pre payments start too slow, so people aren't going to be paying
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off their loan as quickly, which
in the inverse of that, we're getting
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less cash back to then reinvest at
the higher rate. So that was kind
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of one of the impacts that we
were looking at when you look at mortgage
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portfolios or the different portfolios that we
were invested in, so mortgage backed securities,
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so you would see kind of slower
durations on these types of security portfolios
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that we were invested in and that
you know, for me, this was
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I had never really looked at that
part of the balance in our investment side.
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I was always more focused when we
you know, for core baking lines
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of business, to look at your
deposits, your loans and you know,
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getting these different types of investment folios
that we put cash into. That was
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that was really interesting. But we
were very uh, we're very sound on
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how we do that. So luckily, you know, we had already been
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marked to market. Our book was
pretty fair in that aspect of it.
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Um. You know, I'm assuming
you're getting into what happened last four weeks,
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but best we know, yeah,
interest rate risk right, what's right?
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I know, I know. And
so from there, um, one
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of the executives that we had in
the frontline strategy group, they're saying,
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hey, we we want a product
manager for our scored lending channel. Um,
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and I thought it would be a
great fit. So I moved into
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that. So that's what brought me
into our Scored Lending product manager position in
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the role that I'm currently into now
and so quite an interesting career. Actually,
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it all started with helping you know, an extra five thousand dollars a
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year to pay to my tuition and
now I found something that I really loved
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and been fortunate enough to be able
to build on my experiences throughout my banking
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career to get to the role.
But I'm at now and that's uh.
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You know, some people maybe aren't
as fortunate to be able to do that.
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But luckily, within the organization I
have, they really kind of promote
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that and they have done a good
job retaining employees and training them up.
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So everything I want to get to
scored lending. Yeah, we let first
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go back to this really interesting project
you talked about where arguing with the commercial
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bank. Yeah, management class,
and I want to ask a question and
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too fragile. This feels like the
kind of thing that is obvious. I
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mean, like, no, we
have a bunch of people who own small
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businesses that are doing well. We'd
like to have their personal banking as well
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thanking. And yet I find that
often either the organizational silos end up creating
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friction, where like this is the
commercial bank, this is these we don't
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we don't we don't communicate, or
you have data silos ended up making it
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very hard to actually like access the
information. Right. So I'm curious what
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challenges you faced in trying to do
that and how you overcame them, because
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it to me feels like one of
the things where you go, well,
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every bank should of course be doing
this, and I think off and they're
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not in there are hurdles in the
way. So I'm curious about your experience
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in those fronts getting the organization on
board with like cross pollinating across right to
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right referent parts of the organization.
Yeah, any kind of data or technology
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issues you had trying to like,
you know, often you can't get data
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about the absolutely true customers into your
your you know, personal your wealth management
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systems because they're just totally different,
speak, different languages kind of thing.
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So I all kind of go back
to the genus of this product, right,
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your project that we have, and
exactly that light bulb moment right where
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like this seems like a no brainer. You know, here we have commercial
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loans. Uh, the borrowers or
guaranteurs of these loans are more than likely
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qualified for some type of wealth management. Yeah, it's just in the nature
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of that. So let's you know, we're we're collecting you know, this
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information to underwrite the commercial loan oft
in time, those guarantees. So there's
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some type of personal financial statement that's
coming over with these guaranteurs that we can
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review and you know, take a
look at and say, hey, this
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this person has, you know,
this amount of assets, and we think
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that, you know, we would
be a great benefit over here in our
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wealth management division. And it wasn't
necessarily so much, or maybe it was
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just as much as a fact that, yes, we want to have a
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full relationships. As much of a
fact is that we're kind of branded as
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a business bank of choice, but
at the same time we want to know,
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hey, we offer these services too, and oftentimes customers they really enjoy
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the service that they're getting from their
commercial partners, and so we try to
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build off of that and say,
hey, that service still matches on our
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consumer side, whether it be the
wealth or side over here, and oftentimes
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they just don't know about it.
So that was the idea and not executing
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that idea. You're right, it
wasn't as easy as I thought it was
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going to be. And there's a
couple of couple of different reasons why.
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One so even with our culture,
we have a very strong service culture.
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So that's also another reason why I
thought, hey, this is going to
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work great, you know, I
mean, who's not going to want to
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refer their customer over to an internal
department. And it turns out that it
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is a little trickier than that,
and it has to do one there is
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a human element to it where we
had to be very proactive, or I
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say we myself, I had to
be very proactive in identifying these customers first.
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And so going into what you're saying
with a data issue, there isn't
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some gigantic database where I can just
kind of run a query or filter on
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you know, hey, you know, give me the individual borrowers. I
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have asset sizes of this, but
preferably you know, in an investments or
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cash or you know, let's exclude
their primary residence, etc. So one
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it ended up being, okay,
let's start identifying the types of commercial loans,
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you know, the size, industry, maybe location, like do we
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have a wealth management office in proximity
to where this borrow lives from. They're
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very manual to review the personal financial
statement and any other types of liquidity statements
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that we got from these borrowers.
And then from there, let's call on
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the relationship manager kind of give them
a prospect sheet say, you know,
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very socializing. This is one of
the things was actually deposit gathering, saying
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hey, you know, we offer
and this is what we actually found.
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This This was really the ticket that
helped them get the leg in the door
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with both management was that these barrowers
usually did have some type of relationship with
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us on the consumer side, but
they weren't in the best product for them,
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meaning that they were also in a
product that is probably the easiest to
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open, quickest to open, to
do the transaction. Maybe they were just
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using it as a checking account,
but we did have other products due to
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the assets that they had, would
offer them, you know, some type
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of like wire services, you know, so like hey, you know,
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you would give free wire services,
free cashers, checked higher interest rates paid
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on deposits of this amount. Let's
make sure you're in the right product.
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So that was a very low hanging
fruit. Let's service the customer and make
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sure they're in the correct product,
because if they're not going to be in
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the correct product with us, a
competitor is going to come down the way
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and say, hey, your bank's
not doing that for you. Will we
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do this for those types of balances, So that was kind of the very
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first versation that we would have with
these borrowers. Other ones would say,
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we would like to introduce them,
but there's I don't want to go like
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too deep into the tea year,
but there's incentives, you know, I
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mean there we we we hadn't thought
necessarily about incentive plans um, so it
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would say, well, who's going
to own this relationship? But you know
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who, who's going to actually own
this customer once I start to introduce them
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over there? How do we build
the team around this customer? And that
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was not so much a point of
I'm not going to refer but there was
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there was definitely some logistics at the
point of the point of service that you
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know, are you going to you
know, is this customer going to think
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that I'm their bank? Are they
going to think that you're their banker?
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How are we going to manage this
relationship together? How are we going to
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build this team around a customer together? And who's going to be the point
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of contact? And so those are
certain things that we wanted to hash out
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first um in order for that to
happen. So what ended up being it
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did end up being successful, but
there were certain things where it wasn't just
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as easy as hey, this is
um you know, here's a customer that
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we have and let's we're just going
to reach out to them, not include
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the relationship ship managers start sending them
uh information regardless, And we wanted to
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be very thoughtful about how we approached
it, very considerate of the relationship and
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at the end of the day,
we wanted to make sure we're building the
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team around them with the with the
game plan and so at this and I
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think the topic that we're on human
digital, right, there's kind of these
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pros and cons and when I when
I think of human digital, because this
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was a very human approach that we
were doing, you know, very manual,
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I would guess, I would say, you wanted to compare human and
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digital to manual to automation. There's
a very manual approach. You know.
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There was a lot of eyes on
what is going to happen. We were
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kind of thinking through different scenarios where
opposed to how do we how would we
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scale something like this? Right,
like this works good, We're doing it
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one at a time. It's it's
it's working out. But hey, I'm
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one person. I'm going through personal
financial statements one at a time. I'm
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literally pulling images of applications, loan
documents, and this isn't going to be
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something that we can scale to.
And like many organizations, it was also
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at need because or banking organizations,
I should say, up until this point,
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you know, we had primarily grown
through merger and acquisition, merging with
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other smaller community banks, and so
here you have this portfolio of customers that
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maybe do have one foot in the
door, or they had come from a
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different organization that didn't offer the types
of services that we currently offer, and
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so it was really a good time
to take a look at these types of
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relationships and identify customers that we could
potentially grow. We expand upon those relationship
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we've grown through merger and acquisition.
Now we really want to start focused growing
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organically. And as I was going
through this, yes, right, idea,
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but one it's not scalable. And
what we ended up doing, which
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was actually really one of the first
things are first of its kind for our
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organizations. We partnered with the local
company and they we started doing something called
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next Best Offer or what we dub
umph was Smartly and what this had done
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was identify model customers and we're doing
this for our Treasury management suite of products.
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It's kind of expanding a little bit
more as well. But we were
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saying, you know, here's a
model customer, model customer being. You
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know, here's a customer that is
satisfied with the relationship. Maybe I shouldn't
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use word satisfied. That's a little
too and us. But you know,
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here's a customer that is using our
products and is profitable, right, and
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we have their primary checking account.
We can see through their checking different types
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of transactions that they're going on,
maybe payments, right and oftentimes we're looking
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at payments. Here, here's a
customer that's paying vendors x amount at this
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type of frequency over this time period, and this would be a good opportunity
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for commercial card ach services, positive
pay certain things like that. And so
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what this what smart lead does is
it does is automatically right in a digital
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way. So every single night,
it's going to go through our data that's
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process and it's going to start submitting
leads to bankers to follow up with customers
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saying, hey, did you know
your customer has X y z over here
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or is processing x amount of transactions
during this time frame? And we have
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a product for that, right that's
actually going to benefit them most oftentimes save
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them money because the different way accounts
are set up. You know, the
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types of volumes that you have cost
x amount if you're not using this service,
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you know. So that's one thing
that we're doing is called UNCA Smart
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leads from from a digital standpoint opposed
to the human approach that I had so
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kind of a juxtaposition there when it
comes to what we were doing years ago
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with the Commercial Bank and MUTH Management
to what we're doing now. And there's
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also been a lot larger of a
cultural shift in regards to partnering. So
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in addition to this this digital element
that we're using with Uncle Smart Leads,
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I think the pandemic, you know, this was an event that really helped
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rallied our associates around seeing the value
of partnering together, right. I think,
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you know, there's a lot of
talk that we have that hey,
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we're we're you know, individually,
we're not as great as we are together.
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Right, So as as a team
building a team around a customer,
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we can serve us a lot better
than we could, you know, versus
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if they were just only being serviced
by a loan in our commercial banking center.
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So what's happened with the pandemic was
there was a paycheck protection program and
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what we ended up seeing at the
you know, at the end of by
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this head concluded right the FED there
was a set amount of dollars that they
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were going to lend out. And
you know, as a lender, you
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have their customers trying to keep their
business open, try to keep their employees
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paid, all fighting for the same
pool of money in a short amount of
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time. And so we were getting
applications not only for our customers, but
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for customers from other banks saying,
hey, you know, my bank can't
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help me. Can you guys help
me get this applications so we can get
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funded. And you know, of
course the answer was yes, you know,
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let's let's do the right thing for
our community, because these are local
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often that small businesses in our community
that they can't get ahold of someone,
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you know, at maybe a larger
institution down down the street, but they
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could get ahold of us. And
even though they didn't have any relationship with
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us prior to that, we were
going to get this loan application through as
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fast as we could and as best
as we could for this customer. And
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this was a time period where I
mean, I you know, everyone was
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submitting these applications to the SBA website
twenty four hours around the clock. We
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ended up doing three billion approximately in
these loans, which for h I think,
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I think that was definitely the largest
in organ for community lender our size.
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But we were we were, you
know, it was quite the effort
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that we had. But to take
this to the next level, what we
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also looked at doing was then following
up with those customers that didn't have a
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relationship with us, right, So, and we kind of in term we
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we dubbed this I think, you
know, something along the big bank attack
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or something of the sort there.
Yeah, well I love the big bank
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attack, right And and the idea
was like, hey, let's let's grow
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and expand these relationships, you know, I mean, we we had gone
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to bat for these customers and we
got a foot in the door with the
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PPP loan, and we know that
if we start putting some of the people
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that we have in front of them
there there, they are really going to
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love us and they're going to move
that over. So the same idea came
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from now we start with one relationship
maybe be on the loan side, how
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do we expand this into a greater
relationship. And we had our store associates,
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commercial bankers, other that you know, follow up with these businesses and
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start moving over the entire banking relationship. And this ended up being a very
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successful program for us as well too, which also really highlighted what we can
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do together with all the services that
we offer. And so that also helped,
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you know, a lot of people's
minds set shifted that Hey, this
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you know, servicing the customer,
doing what's best for the customer is also
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best for myself as an individual producer. You know, like customers happy they
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have people that they can talk to
that I know are going to provide the
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same level of service that I do. Anywhere they go, no matter who
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they call, they're going to get
that level of service. So that really
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helped change that mindset when it came
to, you know, going back to
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your original question, you know,
how do you oaks are overcoming these internal
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referral systems? Right? I think
there's one aspect of yes, it does
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need to come top down, you
know, it does. There is a
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top down communication that needs to be
Have, there's you know, an incentive
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plan you need to make sure that
bankers are incentivized too, But at the
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same time, you know, touching, and there's also a digital piece of
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they where this is a very human, you know, decision, whereas what
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we did with umpus smart leads,
we helped hate that human decision out of
325
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it, and we just started using
the data to help generating some of these
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leads as well too. So we're
kind of approaching it from from two aspects
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of it, where you know,
that is something that can get improved with
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a digital solution, you know,
helping with these types. It's not necessarily
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AI, but it is predictive analytics
where we're taking a model customer and seeing,
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hey, what other customers do we
have within our portfolio that BEHAVE,
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Like this customer meaning do they have
a loan? What types of transactions are
332
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they doing? Hey, well,
that actually is similar to the transactions this
333
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customer is doing, and this customer
is enjoying using ACG positive pay, so
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let's offer that to them as well. So there's there's definitely some digital tools
335
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that can help with BANG. Think
about that n that line, I mean
336
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not in the line, but this
kind of melding. I feel like there's
337
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a there was a world, there
was a period of time, and there's
338
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still something to feel like. The
personal is replaced by the digital, and
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it's going to be all at the
point of interaction, all a digital style
340
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interaction, no humans in the loop. And then we've got the very relationship
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heavy stuff. And I feel like
there's consumers are doing both things right.
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They still want to talk to people, they also want to self serve in
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the digital interaction model in different times. How do you think about how and
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where you balance those two things,
how they work together? Like, what
345
00:23:00.680 --> 00:23:03.079
is the strategy for combining the human
and the digital? Where do you at
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one being more valuable than the other? They work together in certain strategies.
347
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Curious how you think about the way
these two technologies are two interaction modes play
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together in you in the future.
Hey there, Sarah Butch here, VP
349
00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:21.519
of Consumer Lending at First Federal Bank
of Kansas City. Three years ago,
350
00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:26.839
we had plans to improve our lending
to load to modern income communities. Fast
351
00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:32.279
forward three years, we've grown our
lending distribution to LAMI communities by over ten
352
00:23:32.319 --> 00:23:37.119
percent thanks to upstart. If you'd
like to learn more about fb case's journey
353
00:23:37.119 --> 00:23:41.839
with Upstart, check out the free
case study at upstart dot Com Forward slash
354
00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:48.880
Lenders. That's Upstart dot Com Forward
slash Lenders. All right, back to
355
00:23:48.960 --> 00:23:53.279
the show, right. I think
probably the best answer to that question I
356
00:23:53.359 --> 00:24:02.480
have is actually our our go to
mobile application, and so go To is
357
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what we've really dubbed for our human
digital strategy. It is a mobile application
358
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where you were putting the banker in
your pocket quite literally. And what's happening
359
00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:19.200
is that within this application, we
have store associates who are chatting with you.
360
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So if you need something you can
launch just go to application and you
361
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have your banker there. And it's
kind of the blend where you see other
362
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types of chat bots AI chatbots banks
investing in that. Well, we're saying,
363
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no, we want to keep it
human. You know, we want
364
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to give you the access that you're
used to with the phone getting serviced,
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but at the same time, we
want to make sure that you're having a
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human interaction. And that was really
what we had invested in. It's been
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going on five six years, maybe
maybe a little bit longer than that,
368
00:24:52.319 --> 00:24:56.720
but within the last four years go
To we dubbed it go to and that's
369
00:24:56.720 --> 00:25:00.200
where we're starting to see a lot
more users interact this channel, and they
370
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do really enjoy it because one,
they can get their questions answered, they
371
00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:10.279
can take care of their day to
day business, but they're also talking to
372
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a real life person, and that
I think is kind of where we wanted
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to make sure that was still having
these human interactions. We're still occurring through
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a digital channel, so we're in
the space right, We're on your phone,
375
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we're in your pocket, but we're
also utilizing our associates to have everyday
376
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conversations with our customers, so they're
still getting that same experience that we would
377
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have in person. I'll ask two
questions following up to that, which is
378
00:25:37.920 --> 00:25:40.440
one, how do you think about
the mode of interaction? I mean,
379
00:25:40.480 --> 00:25:42.480
you have like text based digital interaction
with the real human, you are,
380
00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:47.359
right indeo based digital teraction with the
real human phone call, and you have
381
00:25:47.440 --> 00:25:49.799
video. Are you focused on one
of the other? Are you seeing interest
382
00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:53.400
in different modes? I'm curious what
mode people are enjoying or what you're using
383
00:25:53.440 --> 00:25:59.519
for that kind of human digitally mediated
humans right right, So we're seeing a
384
00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:03.559
lot more of the interaction come through
our chat based platform. And what we're
385
00:26:03.599 --> 00:26:07.599
also seeing is less volume come through
call centers, right, so instead of
386
00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:10.799
having to staff up call centers over
the phone, we're seeing more people engaging
387
00:26:10.880 --> 00:26:15.480
through the chat interactions through Uncle go
to M and then from there, you
388
00:26:15.519 --> 00:26:18.640
know, we have this whole what
we call our digital call center, right,
389
00:26:18.680 --> 00:26:25.039
and so from their associates are still
able to identify opportunities that they come
390
00:26:25.039 --> 00:26:29.119
in. So a customers asking for
a loan, you know, we can
391
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:32.839
get them over to the channel to
get that application process. And this is
392
00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:37.000
a good in a mediory because not
having the ability to apply now or apply
393
00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:40.759
through a website at this point in
time, but still having the ability to
394
00:26:40.799 --> 00:26:44.599
talk to someone about a loan and
get that process started is a very you
395
00:26:44.640 --> 00:26:48.359
know, like a huge advantage for
us as an institution opposed to here,
396
00:26:48.440 --> 00:26:52.000
fill out a form and someone will
get back to you, you know in
397
00:26:52.319 --> 00:26:56.319
a day or two. Ah yeah, right, Whereas like I might as
398
00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:59.960
well have just walked into a branch
or I might have been by that time.
399
00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:03.920
Especially with all the fintech businesses are
going in, It's like, hey,
400
00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:08.000
I can get my loan applied for
and funded in forty eight hours,
401
00:27:08.039 --> 00:27:11.400
you know, online versus you know
what's going to take me to actually have
402
00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:14.920
to walk down the street, Oh
you're not open, or I had to
403
00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:18.880
make an appointment or you know what
other you know, you know that that
404
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:22.359
period of time, um, you
know could really be a game changer for
405
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.839
some of the uh, you know, regional banks that we have. So
406
00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:30.519
being able to have that conversation with
our customers right there in their pocket and
407
00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:33.400
get that process started one day sooner, right, is just you know,
408
00:27:33.440 --> 00:27:37.799
an advantage that we we're definitely trying
to capitalize on and get into that space.
409
00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:41.480
Yeah, the the ability to execute
and deliver quickly is certainly something customers
410
00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:47.240
are demanding. I mean not just
you're wanting, but you know kind of
411
00:27:47.319 --> 00:27:52.359
demanding at this point toil for Uber
and Amazon Prime. I guess absolutely that's
412
00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:56.839
our big it's it's you know ore
when we think of technology investments that we
413
00:27:56.920 --> 00:28:00.279
have, right, you can't do
everything, but you can do some thing's
414
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:03.559
right. You know, you can
do you can do what's right. And
415
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.920
you know, one of the ways
that we decide that, you know,
416
00:28:06.960 --> 00:28:10.559
what we're going to invest in is
kind of the is the mantra for one
417
00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:14.279
day sooner. You know, is
this going to help our customers board their
418
00:28:14.359 --> 00:28:17.519
loan one day sooner? Is the
application process going to go one day sooner?
419
00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:21.240
How is this technology going to help
get something done one day sooner?
420
00:28:21.319 --> 00:28:23.680
So that's that's really what we have. It makes me think of the fun
421
00:28:23.799 --> 00:28:26.960
one day more when you say that
over and over from La Miss you need
422
00:28:27.119 --> 00:28:32.759
you need a theme song for one
days, but that would probably fly.
423
00:28:33.000 --> 00:28:37.039
I's just probably just like, Yeah, I'm a musicals guy, so I
424
00:28:37.079 --> 00:28:40.079
got like one day anyway. I
can't say I liked it. I liked
425
00:28:40.079 --> 00:28:41.880
it. Yeah, we got to
find a way to get the one day
426
00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:45.200
sooner is a that's a great month. I love it. It is.
427
00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:48.599
Yeah, it is amazingly powerful when
you can accelerate the timeline to value for
428
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.720
your customer. How much day that
can improve your conversions, You're you're pulled
429
00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:57.119
through your your overall business and satisfaction
with the customers that you have. Absolutely
430
00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:02.880
um. One of the questions is
he, I mean, the chat based
431
00:29:02.880 --> 00:29:07.039
interaction is interesting in the I mean, even more recent than the banking issues
432
00:29:07.039 --> 00:29:11.920
and interest rate risk kedging and in
management is this concept of generative AI andarts
433
00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:15.000
that can kind of behave in a
human like way? Is that something you've
434
00:29:15.000 --> 00:29:18.440
looked at it all are still like
I'm also you know, I went into
435
00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.559
like change right and to like,
I've got an extra thousand dollars, how
436
00:29:21.559 --> 00:29:25.279
should I invest from my retirement?
It'll do a pretty good job breaking down
437
00:29:25.599 --> 00:29:29.720
roth iras and iras in four oh
one ks and in different investment options and
438
00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:33.279
where you should start and whatnot and
sending these accounts and the CDs and um.
439
00:29:33.920 --> 00:29:37.519
But have you thought about any ways
to like take their first round of
440
00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:41.400
questions that can be automated or is
it still all that's still like a we're
441
00:29:41.640 --> 00:29:45.000
we're committed to any human human interaction
with the Night Channel. M One thing
442
00:29:45.079 --> 00:29:52.279
that and this is what I've actually
loved about is that we're not I guess
443
00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:53.680
what we would say, Hey,
we're not a sales culture. That the
444
00:29:53.680 --> 00:29:57.799
purpose of this channel isn't to sell
it our customer or something, right,
445
00:29:57.799 --> 00:30:02.599
it's it's to provide CERTA said.
We really believe that service first leads to
446
00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:07.200
more business, so we have a
very service based culture. It's actually really
447
00:30:07.240 --> 00:30:11.319
interesting. Back when Ray Davis started
started the bank, Well had taken over
448
00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:17.680
as the CEO. He dubbed all
of our branches then you know stores,
449
00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:21.319
right, and this store experience was
really based off Nordstrom, and we would
450
00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:25.319
hire not bankers, but we would
hire people who worked at Nordstrom, people
451
00:30:25.319 --> 00:30:27.599
who worked at Starbucks, people who
delivered you know, service. And this
452
00:30:27.680 --> 00:30:32.200
was in our in our front of
the house with within our branches or what
453
00:30:32.240 --> 00:30:36.680
we had then called stores. And
so how did we you know, what
454
00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:41.200
we want to do is translate that
experience into a digital experience. And some
455
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.640
of the stories that come out of
this, you know, for the Unqua
456
00:30:42.720 --> 00:30:49.079
Go too, is being able to
do follow ups with your customers when they
457
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.319
say, hey, I'm trying to
finance a wedding, Okay, great,
458
00:30:52.359 --> 00:30:53.319
Not only will we do that,
but you know, we send you the
459
00:30:53.319 --> 00:30:56.880
handwritten car. There's certain touches that
we follow up with, you know,
460
00:30:57.119 --> 00:31:00.799
help them, put them in touch
with a floorist that we might also bank
461
00:31:00.839 --> 00:31:04.279
as well, you know, really
expand on that network. And we think
462
00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:10.839
that giving one empowering our associates to
have that human interaction with our customers goes
463
00:31:10.880 --> 00:31:14.920
a lot further than to be able
to kind of constantly offer you know,
464
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:18.119
basically mining a conversation for sales opportunities
that you know, we're kind of going
465
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:22.960
the different direction. We're minding these
conversations for service opportunities, which you know
466
00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:29.359
hopefully then leads to good graces in
getting more business and preferring friends and kind
467
00:31:29.359 --> 00:31:32.559
of having this net promoter score in
one way or another. But we want
468
00:31:32.559 --> 00:31:37.279
to just really be satisfied with the
service that we're giving, so very very
469
00:31:37.440 --> 00:31:41.200
kind of hardlined with you know,
the AI isn't meant to do sales right
470
00:31:41.200 --> 00:31:48.000
where you might have something like a
different chatbots. I will name industry names,
471
00:31:48.000 --> 00:31:51.000
but you know, it's certain things
that don't necessarily work. They're just
472
00:31:51.039 --> 00:31:53.000
trying to get you through a queue. They're trying to take you know,
473
00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:59.240
volume out of the call centers.
You know, we're actually just trying to
474
00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:05.079
translate our in store, our in
branch experience to a digital channel. Iceland
475
00:32:05.119 --> 00:32:07.680
and I want to kind of strange
that we're getting to the end of our
476
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:10.200
time and I'm going to ask this
question, but you said you're probably manager
477
00:32:10.279 --> 00:32:14.319
for scored lending. How do you
guys define scored lending? What does that?
478
00:32:14.359 --> 00:32:16.519
I mean? I feel like all
lending should be scored right, Well,
479
00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:22.839
I think so we're yeah, so
well, we I think through our
480
00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:27.759
loan channels, right, we do
do a lot of larger commercial deals that
481
00:32:27.799 --> 00:32:30.640
need to go through custom underwriting.
So scored lending, what we define a
482
00:32:30.720 --> 00:32:37.480
scored lending is within a parameter set
loan amount, collateral risk that can go
483
00:32:37.640 --> 00:32:44.759
through a scoring model that can basically
kick out a approval based on amount of
484
00:32:44.759 --> 00:32:49.200
factors and then from there help expedite
that funding. So typically right now we're
485
00:32:49.200 --> 00:32:52.480
doing three million and under for business, and all of our consumer lending is
486
00:32:52.599 --> 00:32:55.480
scored for the most part, unless
there needs to be some type of custom
487
00:32:55.559 --> 00:33:01.200
underwriting. So it's really based on
own amount and risk for the most part
488
00:33:01.440 --> 00:33:06.680
of the different products that we have. And so you know this is this
489
00:33:06.759 --> 00:33:10.559
is pretty I wouldn't say newer for
organizations, but a lot of organizations that
490
00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:15.559
are still out there at a regional
bank level, you know, they will
491
00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:19.200
do the custom underwriting. They'll they'll
go through you know, you'll apply for
492
00:33:19.240 --> 00:33:22.079
a loan and it will go through
underwriters, you know, some type of
493
00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:24.759
credit underwriting center. They'll take a
paper application, they'll go through your financials
494
00:33:24.759 --> 00:33:29.519
and they'll do an approval that way
opposed to one day sooner, right or
495
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:31.359
something of a scored lending channel to
be able to get that approval, get
496
00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:36.599
the documents process and move forward.
And when it comes to human digital even
497
00:33:36.680 --> 00:33:40.599
even with our scored lending channel,
right, we still have human interaction where
498
00:33:42.160 --> 00:33:45.519
if we could kind of get down
some of these manual reviews, whether they
499
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:51.319
be for fraud or incomplete applications or
certain things I don't quite date a credit
500
00:33:51.319 --> 00:33:54.799
box, and we could identify and
eliminate those human touches, we could start
501
00:33:55.160 --> 00:33:59.759
really getting one day sooner to funding
for our customers too. So even within
502
00:33:59.839 --> 00:34:02.440
us score channel, there is human
interaction and um, you know, the
503
00:34:02.480 --> 00:34:07.799
onus with as a product manager is
to you know, really help drive you
504
00:34:07.839 --> 00:34:10.400
know a one day sooner or approach
on what are we doing and you know,
505
00:34:10.440 --> 00:34:15.920
how can we get this done in
a more streamlined fashion? And fraud
506
00:34:15.039 --> 00:34:17.840
fraud check is a big big piece
of that too, right, Yeah,
507
00:34:17.880 --> 00:34:21.880
for sure, One thing I I
would do want to dig in on is
508
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:24.000
the idea of when you say scoring, I love it. But there's also
509
00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:29.679
this current debate about alternative scoring approaches
all right, data used in scoring.
510
00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:34.559
What's your take on the opportunities and
risks associated with you know, going beyond
511
00:34:34.639 --> 00:34:37.559
the traditional you know. Yeah,
I mean when I look at even most
512
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:42.199
scoring mechanisms by banks, there's you
know, for consumer loans, there's a
513
00:34:42.199 --> 00:34:45.880
handful of variables that's related maybe to
equity in the in the house or an
514
00:34:45.880 --> 00:34:49.719
auto loan, and that it's like
credit score ten or fifteen things coming off
515
00:34:49.719 --> 00:34:52.480
the credit file, and it's it's
a pretty straightforward set of pretty traditional metrics
516
00:34:52.480 --> 00:34:57.400
that are used to relations. There's
a whole you know, sets of data
517
00:34:57.440 --> 00:35:00.079
that are non traditional that are right
being used by I'm curious how you think
518
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:04.960
about you know, you know,
moving forward. When you're in that automated
519
00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:07.440
scoring mechanism, all of a sudden, the question becomes what other kinds of
520
00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:12.760
data or absolutely it could we use
to make better determinations? Right as that
521
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:14.719
in that journey, what do you
what do you think the future looks like?
522
00:35:15.039 --> 00:35:16.800
Yeah? Absolutely, so there's you
know, is this telling the whole
523
00:35:16.800 --> 00:35:20.360
story of the customer's ability to repay? Right? You know? Is this
524
00:35:20.480 --> 00:35:22.519
the best method? Or are there
are some of the scoring models, some
525
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:28.960
of the larger you know, phycou
you know, uh advantage of some of
526
00:35:28.960 --> 00:35:31.440
these models that are out of the
box, you know, are they really
527
00:35:31.480 --> 00:35:36.480
doing the best to mitigate risk,
right, and it all comes down to
528
00:35:36.480 --> 00:35:39.239
the risk of the portfolio from a
bank side. And so right now,
529
00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:45.239
I mean these traditional models, their
advantage is that they have results recorded,
530
00:35:45.320 --> 00:35:50.079
right, I mean they there is
revault of yeah, exactly, default rates,
531
00:35:50.119 --> 00:35:52.159
certain things like that that that have
worked in the past, um,
532
00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:57.000
but that is starting to turn,
right, These alternative credit models are starting
533
00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:00.480
to say, hey, not only
are we seeing lower de fault rates,
534
00:36:00.519 --> 00:36:04.119
but we're being able to approve more
barrowards within you know that these models would
535
00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:07.400
have declined. Yeah. One huge
thing that I think that's kind of a
536
00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:12.960
really big focus for us too as
an organization are these special purpose credit programs.
537
00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:15.679
So you know, we want to
be making sure we're lending to communities
538
00:36:16.079 --> 00:36:23.559
that these traditional scoring models wouldn't necessarily
approve, right, So how can we
539
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:28.719
do that? How can we do
more lending investing in minorities, you know,
540
00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:31.840
women owned businesses, black owned businesses, certain things like that where you
541
00:36:31.840 --> 00:36:36.760
know, hey, they weren't getting
qualified through these traditional scoring models. But
542
00:36:36.840 --> 00:36:38.119
you know what, we're going to
be using alternateive scoring models that will help
543
00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:43.519
them with our special purpose credit programs
opposed to you know, just lowering the
544
00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:49.920
score for some of these loan applicants
versus you know, keeping them versus like
545
00:36:49.960 --> 00:36:52.440
if they you know, if they
didn't meet these types of the boxes that
546
00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:55.719
we've met. So for me,
top of mind for alternative scoring models,
547
00:36:55.719 --> 00:37:00.559
I think there's a great advantage to
be helping with the special purpose credit programs
548
00:37:00.119 --> 00:37:06.920
that are out there. And also
I think just the more that we're able
549
00:37:07.000 --> 00:37:10.840
to prove these models and there you
know their efficiencies, you know, to
550
00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:15.719
mitigating default rates, the stronger it's
going to be in the corner too.
551
00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:20.119
Excellent. Well, I think that's
most of the questions I have for you,
552
00:37:20.199 --> 00:37:22.519
but I appreciate it has been a
great conversation. I do have three
553
00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:24.960
questions I like to ask everybody at
the end of the podcast, so absolutely
554
00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:29.639
I and we can we can jump
to those ready. First, what's the
555
00:37:29.679 --> 00:37:32.519
best piece of career advice you've ever
gotten? Well, I'll just go through
556
00:37:32.840 --> 00:37:38.280
what my journey has brought me to
is that, you know it always try
557
00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:44.400
to be building on your past experiences, so you know, be mindful of
558
00:37:44.440 --> 00:37:49.719
your career approach. I think that
some people or some associates easy to kind
559
00:37:49.760 --> 00:37:53.800
of just accept the faith that they're
at within the organization. But if you're
560
00:37:53.800 --> 00:37:58.719
intentional about your career path and working
with the manager to get you there,
561
00:37:58.760 --> 00:38:00.440
I think that's um. You know. One of the steps that I would
562
00:38:00.480 --> 00:38:04.719
take is always trying to build upon
your past experiences for your new role,
563
00:38:06.280 --> 00:38:10.920
and also look outside of your organization
for not new opportunities, but to see
564
00:38:10.920 --> 00:38:14.960
what your organization is doing, because
I think oftentimes too when you're an organization,
565
00:38:15.000 --> 00:38:19.239
I've been with a bank for eleven
years, but if I wasn't curious,
566
00:38:19.400 --> 00:38:22.360
you know, staying curious and looking
at what other organizations are doing,
567
00:38:22.639 --> 00:38:25.639
you know, what roles are they
implementing and bringing that back to our organization
568
00:38:25.679 --> 00:38:30.519
as well. I think that helps
kind of diversify the ideas that you can
569
00:38:30.559 --> 00:38:35.880
bring to your organization as well.
Love it. Second question I got is
570
00:38:36.079 --> 00:38:39.559
what's the best advice about the you
know, retail consumer banking industry in general
571
00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:46.360
that you've gotten or give. I
would say, if you're a consumer right
572
00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:50.880
now, you know, looking around, I think you're in a really good
573
00:38:50.880 --> 00:38:52.599
place. I think with the fintech
industry that's happening. I mean, you're
574
00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:57.320
getting options and just like anything that
they would say, like if hey,
575
00:38:57.360 --> 00:38:59.519
if you're going to shop for a
mortgage, you know, make sure you're
576
00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:01.559
shopping for more debate. Same thing
as as a consumer, you know,
577
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:06.360
if you're you have a lot more
options to you than you did previously,
578
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:10.360
and there are companies who are fighting
to provide that service. So you know,
579
00:39:10.960 --> 00:39:15.119
although it might be hard to switch
your checking account from the institution you
580
00:39:15.159 --> 00:39:17.039
have now, it might be worth
doing so if you haven't looked around in
581
00:39:17.079 --> 00:39:22.039
a while, because there are companies
that are willing to kind of go above
582
00:39:22.079 --> 00:39:25.079
and beyond to kind of break down
some of those barriers that they have from
583
00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:29.159
uh, you know, the banking
industry. You know that could really provide
584
00:39:29.199 --> 00:39:31.679
exceptional service. And you know,
make sure that you're you know, you
585
00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:36.599
are valuable as a consumer in this
space. I will I will tell you
586
00:39:36.599 --> 00:39:39.960
that much right now. All right, that's great and fast. One is
587
00:39:40.000 --> 00:39:46.719
what's one bold prediction for the future. I would say that, you know
588
00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:52.159
one bold prediction for the future that
would really be for me. I think
589
00:39:52.159 --> 00:39:57.960
that we're starting to see one thing
that's a popular belief within this current industry
590
00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:01.280
right now is who your competitors are
as a bank between your asset size and
591
00:40:01.320 --> 00:40:05.440
I see this all the time where
it's Hey, you're a fifty billion dollar
592
00:40:05.519 --> 00:40:07.960
bank. Well here's you know,
let's compare you to other fifty billion dollar
593
00:40:08.039 --> 00:40:12.320
banks are less because these are your
competitors. And I think that there's a
594
00:40:12.320 --> 00:40:16.679
digital landscape that's happening right now where
you know, we are competing with bigger
595
00:40:16.679 --> 00:40:20.920
banks, we are competing with FinTechs, and we're not just within a asset
596
00:40:20.960 --> 00:40:24.039
class of who our competitors are.
And so I think the competition within the
597
00:40:24.119 --> 00:40:30.079
organizations of the products that you're offering, you know, really needs to broaden
598
00:40:30.159 --> 00:40:34.880
that scope because it's not anymore of
just who's in your footprint and who's in
599
00:40:34.880 --> 00:40:37.199
your asset size. I mean,
it really is the ability through this digital
600
00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:40.800
channel to be able to shop around
as a consumer. And if you're not
601
00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:46.159
capturing that and you're you know,
if you're thinking that, you know,
602
00:40:46.199 --> 00:40:49.440
you're kind of safe with who your
competitors are, and you're going to price
603
00:40:49.480 --> 00:40:52.719
similar to your competitors based off asset
size, I think that that's going to
604
00:40:52.800 --> 00:40:57.840
be a detriment to your organization.
Definitely interesting, very true that we you
605
00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:00.800
could think of your competitors an equity
investor point of view, maybe here competitors
606
00:41:00.840 --> 00:41:05.639
or banks your size. That might
be who wants to fund the company,
607
00:41:05.639 --> 00:41:10.079
where you'll be compared when you do
your earnings call when trying to find which
608
00:41:10.360 --> 00:41:14.719
which depositive product I want or where
I will write where I want to invest
609
00:41:14.800 --> 00:41:19.360
my money? That they couldn't tell
you. I bet most conseritors couldn't tell
610
00:41:19.400 --> 00:41:21.599
you that the asset size of the
bank they were, But there's just not
611
00:41:21.719 --> 00:41:24.920
irrelevant constit They're they're comparing you guests
across a lot of different competitors, right
612
00:41:25.000 --> 00:41:29.280
and you know, we're we're relying
on third parties to help kind of provide
613
00:41:29.280 --> 00:41:31.519
some of that data, and they
always try to bucket you in these these
614
00:41:32.000 --> 00:41:36.440
competitors based on your assets size,
and it's it's you know, for them.
615
00:41:36.480 --> 00:41:38.400
I think what you know, the
institutions need to do, and even
616
00:41:38.440 --> 00:41:44.960
those who help provide you know,
pricing analytics or other other opportunities, they
617
00:41:44.960 --> 00:41:47.840
need to really kind of start rethinking
what that competitor pool starts looking like for
618
00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:53.079
organizations because that landscape is changing drastically. Excellent. I think it's a fabulous
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00:41:53.159 --> 00:41:57.280
point and a great place to leave
it. Then again, thanks for making
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00:41:57.360 --> 00:42:00.039
time and joining us. This was
a very fun conversation. I appreciate it.
621
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:05.320
Thanks stuff. Upstart partners with banks
and credit unions to help grow their
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00:42:05.320 --> 00:42:09.480
consumer loan portfolios and deliver a modern, all digital lending experience. As the
623
00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:15.320
average consumer becomes more digitally savvy,
it only makes sense that their bank does
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00:42:15.360 --> 00:42:21.920
too. Upstarts AI lending platform uses
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00:42:22.039 --> 00:42:27.360
risk and approve more applicants than traditional
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00:42:28.039 --> 00:42:32.400
upstarts all digital experience reduces manual processing
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convenient experience for consumers. Whether you're
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and auto lending programs or you're just
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629
00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:47.239
offers an end to end solution that
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00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:58.360
and servicing, It's all possible with
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business by visiting upstart dot com slash
foward dash banks. That's upstart dot com
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slash board dash banks. You've been
listening to leaders and lending from Upstart.
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