FinXTech Intel 2023 report final 2 - Flipbook - Page 5
“Nothing about technology is ever cheap. … Many banks
are in a situation where they’re anxious about their
technology because they haven’t invested along the way.”
Susan Sabo, CliftonLarsonAllen LLP
To help the technology executives and senior officers seeking to face these issues, we’ve compiled this resource as a choose your own adventure guidebook. Flip through at your leisure, but I
suggest starting with strategy.
To learn more
Historically, small and midsized banks have relied on their core processor to identify and vet
about strategy,
companies for them. About half of Mitchell’s customers continue to rely on the bank’s core pro-
go to page 6.
cessor exclusively to find and vet technology companies for them. Cornerstone Advisors’ annual
“What’s Going On In Banking” survey of community banks found this year that 55% of respondents didn’t partner with a fintech startup in 2022; 20% had partnered with one fintech; 16%
with two and the rest with three or more. But Mitchell thinks the opportunities to go beyond
the core are better and more feasible for small and community banks than ever, if the bank follows due diligence. “Sometimes you have to solve problems quicker than the core will get it to
you,” he says. “There’s a growing appetite to go outside the core.” To find out more about going
beyond the core, follow the journey here.
To learn more
The big three core processors — Fiserv, FIS and Jack Henry & Associates — have started
about finding
offering newer, cloud-based cores to connect with a greater variety of technology companies,
fintechs go to
plus there are ways to add additional layers to core systems to connect useful technological
tools, using what’s known as application programming interfaces. “There are different layers of
page 10.
technology that you can put in place to relegate the core platform more into the background
and let it become less of a focus for your technology stack than it has historically been,” says
Neil Hartman, senior partner at the consulting firm West Monroe.
In combination with technological change, leadership among banks is changing, too. The last
three years of the pandemic taught banks and their customers that digital transformation was
possible and even desirable. “We’re seeing more progressive bank leadership. Younger generations
have grown up in digital environments and with the experiences of Amazon and Apple, those
technology behemoths, and are starting to think about their technology partnerships a little more
FINDING FINTECHS: HOW DO YOU DECIDE? | 3