Turning a perceived competitor into a partner is not a new strategy, but leveraging partners in the digital financial space to gain a competitive edge is increasingly urgent.
In this episode, Curt Queyrouze, President of Coastal Community Bank, talks about his experience working with multiple fintech partners and gaining an understanding of how these partnerships work best for everyone involved.
Join us as Jeff and Curt discuss:
- Advice for banks and credit unions in the Fintech space
- The pros of incorporating AI in Fintech
- What a Metaverse banking experience looks like
Advice for banks and credit unions in the fintech space
The lending industry has been embedded with technology for decades while simultaneously operating as an independent sector. With a history of integration, the new waves of fintech tools and software are but another layer of collaboration.
“The opportunity is: Can you take the best of community banking — getting to know the customer better — into the digital sphere?” Queyrouze posed, “The way to do that is through modern technology — AI, ML, and data management — understanding that persona, taking that personalized approach, and delivering it.”
The challenge with that solution comes down to budget and cost. How can banks build a system that achieves those ends without sinking budget and resources?
The answer lies in partnerships. “We've gone back and forth in our industry on whether Fintech and banks are competitors or partners.” Queyrouze continued, “I think we're everything; we're all part of the same ecosystem moving forward. We’ve got to decide how to play in that ecosystem.”
Top tips for finding the right Fintech partners
Finding success through partnerships takes a hands-on commitment to learning the space as a leader. Queyrouze provided three suggestions:
- Follow thought leaders online to gain a well-rounded understanding of the space
- Understand where you land on the Fintech spectrum
- Find reliable experts for guidance
“We are constantly encouraging other banks to get in the space.” Queyrouze said, “I think it takes layers and layers of expertise and partnerships to get this done. I believe it's a deep and big partnership game. And if you're going to do that, you need a strong ecosystem, which means strong players that can handle all the various situations that come up.”
The pros of incorporating AI in lending
Artificial Intelligence has been making headlines for a while now, but perhaps never more so than they have with the recent rise of ChatGPT.
“For me, AI takes things from looking in the rearview mirror to looking ahead.” Queyrouze explains, “That's one of the most important things: It creates the ability to get increasingly more progressive and individualized outcomes.”
Queyrouze cites a time when he instructed AI to create a seven-page presentation, “It would have taken me hours and hours to write, but now, I'll come in, clean it up, take out some pitches — or maybe leave them in, make fun of it and admit that it was AI that helped me do it.” He shared, “But either way, it's leapfrogging the ability to do something like that.”
“Technology hasn't really upended or supplanted, it fast-tracks higher-quality work.” Queyrouze continued, “I embrace it wholeheartedly.”
What a Metaverse banking experience looks like
Coastal Community Bank, alongside their Fintech partners, developed a gamified experience complete with personal avatars for users.
“The idea for us is a self-contained Metaverse, but also one that can integrate with other Metaverse players.” Queyrouze explained, “People like to be engaged. We have CoastalWorld.com. It's not a full launch, but you can go play. Even without a full launch, we have six to 800 users a day, and an average engagement time of eight minutes.”
Queyrouze envisions a world in which financial education, personal finance management and the like can follow you in a virtual world where your data is your own and you build your own ecosystem.
To make that a reality, it will take intentional partnerships and collaboration between traditional banks and Fintech companies. Only time will tell if Queyrouze’s vision will come to fruition.
Stay tuned for new episodes every week on the Leaders in Lending Podcast.
