2009 CEO Discussion Topics
2009 Senior Lending Officer Discussion Topics
2009 Technology & Operations Officer Discussion Topics

 

25 Ideas and Discussion Topics from the 2008 Sheshunoff Affiliation Meetings

...on Customer Relationships

Our bank has set up a 90-day touch program for new customers:

• Handwritten “thank you” note sent at 3-5 days
• Phone call made two weeks after account opened (Did your checks arrive? Is everything OK with your debit card? etc.)
• A letter with flower seeds is sent at 45 days (Theme is “come grow with us”)
• At 60 days an “Oops” card sent waiving overdraft fee

We have found that training is key in call center roll outs. Our bank’s center operates normal banking hours. Some of the key issues we uncovered include:

• Make sure the call center staff have access to all pertinent customer information
• Customers have DID #s for call center staff
• Limit the call center to inbound calls only
• Deal with the culture issue to get people in branches to “let go” before launch
• Launch marketing campaigns; our first campaign was around “call our center and you will get a real person, not a voice mail.”

...on Deposit Generation

• We just launched a “no pre-payment penalty CD” at a lower rate. About 1/2 of the new CDs are in this product. We have priced these CDs at 25bp below our typical rate at the time the CD is opened.
 
• We are offering a “Second Chance Checking Account”. We are targeting this account to non customers who do not pass credit checks and who may have charge offs at another bank ($500 or less).  We offer to open an account for them with a fee of $12.95/month with direct deposit or $19.95/month without direct deposit. After one year with no issues this converts to a regular account.
 
• Our bank just started tiered CDs; the larger the amount the higher the interest rate.
 
• Our bank stays away from CDs; instead we incent our loan officers to find accounts of commercial customers. 25% of a loan officer’s incentive is based on core deposits.

...on E-Statements

To lower costs we want to maximize the usage of e-statements. We are currently only at 30% and have set a goal of 80%. To reach the goal we have put the following program in place:

• E-statements are mandatory on new accounts
• We offer incentives to employees – part of the incentive is paid at sign up and part after a certain period of time
• All employees are on e-statements
• We are selling it face-to-face rather than via marketing programs

...on Exams

• We have experienced a huge change in requirements. For example: 3 page report previously done by the bank is now 25 pages and still not adequate.
• Regulators are telling us to be proactive - evaluate risk and have action plans to address the risks.

...on Expense Control

• We revisit our contracts and attempt to renegotiate more favorable terms going forward before the contracts ends.
• We have formed an Operations Committee that reports monthly to the Board; gets things done and helps keep management informed.

...on Fees

• We have set as a policy, no price adjustment or waiving of fees for bottom 10% of customers.
• As part of our plan to reduce waivers, we track who issues waivers, generate reports, and have made waivers a part of the incentive plan.

...on Human Resources

• We have to get better at training our own and retaining them.
• We cross train everyone. Everyone is on incentives so they want to save salary expense when possible. We have established a 90-day moratorium before replacing someone. We also offer to pay employees part of saved salary if we don’t have to replace an employee. Scorecard has individual and corporate goals.
 
• We are now using web conferencing for committee meetings.

...on Lending

• We have accelerated collections to manage past dues, i.e., 5 days versus 10 days.
• We now go 45 days to first payment on all consumer loans and 60 days on commercial loans.
• How to enforce pre-payment penalties? Two suggestions: (1) let them buy down the rate and adjust by 1 point or (2) have an exit fee and if they refinance at another bank, they must pay the exit fee.

...on Marketing

• We questioned the effectiveness of advertising. In 2008, we decided on a different tactic. We tallied civic service hours of employees and put this in an ad. The plan is that the readers will focus on the civic work of their community bank rather than advertising.

...on Miscellaneous

• We need to differentiate ourselves or we will be competing on price and the big banks will beat us on that.

...on Pricing

• Four years ago we added “rounding up to the nearest 8”; this puts about 6bp on yield.
• We share our pricing model with customers so they understand how the bank prices. This has been helpful; we tend to get a higher rate doing this.

...on Remote Deposit Capture (RDC)

• Balances up 30% for remote capture customers.

...on Technology

• We have been able to go down from 10 couriers to 2 couriers as a result of branch capture.