The banking industry is looking for new ways of providing customers with the traditional financial services they have become accustomed to.
Banks are also offering new services that might have been unimaginable two or three decades ago.
At the same time, local bankers are striving to maintain personal connection with their customers both online and in-person.
David Reynolds, who is First Horizon Bank’s market president for the Tri-Cities, said his industry was already seeing broad changes before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The past year has added new challenges for customer service.
First Horizon was able to keep all its branches open to the public during the pandemic. He said his company has seen its traffic decrease at its branches, but overall business at the bank increased in the past year.
“We focus on our relationships with clients,” Reynolds said. “The relationships our bankers have developed over time with their clients was instrumental in helping them through the uncertain times.”
The pandemic has resulted in an uptick in online banking, a trend that Reynolds said was already underway.
“Banks have been historically slow to adapt to change,” he said. “At the same time, we are the cornerstones of our communities. The pandemic has changed the way banks think about doing business.”
Reynolds said that might mean you will see fewer branches across the region in the coming years, but banks will continue to be close to to where people live and work.
“You will see more productive bankers who will want to provide you with sound financial advise,” he said.
Reynolds noted First Horizon and other banks across the nation played a key role in helping to stabilize the economy and keep businesses afloat during the pandemic. First Horizon, a financial services company based in Memphis, approved more than 13,000 in Paycheck Protection Program loans for small businesses totaling more than $2.1 billion during the first round.
“Round two, we have approved close to 14,000 PPP loans for $1.4 billion,” he said.
Last the same time, Reynolds said social distancing restrictions of the pandemic had a negative impact on his company’s abilities to do volunteer work in the community.
“Our employees weren’t able to volunteer their time to nonprofit organizations,” he said.
Moving forward, Reynolds believes post-pandemic, competition in banking will become even greater as new financial technology is developed.
“While that may serve Generations X, Y and Z, the need for a personal relationship with someone who listens and provides advice will still be a large part of their financial decisions,” he said.
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