Like other forward-looking lenders, community banks require secure and scalable lending software that can be set up quickly, delivers an exceptional user experience for lender and borrower, and is flexible and robust enough to support all types of lending.
Furthermore, moving to digitize its lending in this fashion, a community bank is arming itself to compete not just with local banks and credit unions, but with national and regional players. Becoming a digital lender means going head-to-head with a growing host of standalone fintechs, a group that includes household names like PayPal and QuickBooks.
National banks figured out how to automate their lending process years ago, and are starting to see the benefits on their bottom line while most community banks have been unable to implement Loan Origination Systems (LOS) due to high costs. Thanks to recent advancements in AI and cloud computing, community banks are now able to level the playing field with affordable LOS software.
Automation tailored to community banks
According to Wikipedia, a community bank is a depository institution that is typically locally owned and operated with aggregate assets under $1B. They tend to focus on the needs of businesses and families where the bank holds branches and offices. At last tally in 2003, 94% of US banks were community banks, which accounted for 14% of US bank deposits.
In times of crisis, individual and small-business borrowers frequently turn first to community banks for support and guidance.
Meanwhile, the combination of community banks’ high technical requirements, increasing competition, and the present public-health crisis puts community-bank executives under pressure to make sound decisions both for immediate action and future consideration in a fintech segment that is growing in importance by the hour.
Fortunately, TurnKey Lender can help. Our work with community bankers spotlights their concerns, enabling us to satisfy their needs with white-label lending platforms as robust as anything available to their rivals — and at exceptionally flexible price points. Our loan origination software allows local bankers to select exactly which features are needed, and our platform is personalized to fit their staff’s unique workflow.
Digital-lending priorities of community banks
This is what we have gleaned about the digital-lending priorities of community banks.
Issue #1:
Community banks want to compete with big banks and fintech’s with a lending solution that’s intuitive to use and speeds up credit decisioning and loan disbursement.
Response:
TurnKey Lender is the “Intel Inside” many of these institutions’ lending platforms. We have processed millions of loans around the world. These institutions use our modular LOS technology and support for fast and accurate application processing, and for a superior customer experience. Knowing how they operate means we can make our small to midsize bank clients as good or better than many established digital lenders in the marketplace today.
Issue #2:
Community banks are not always sure whether cloud-based or dedicated servers make the most sense for them.
Response:
TurnKey Lender supports both hosting models, but an answer to the question can be derived from a related question. Does your bank have the staff and the institutional knowledge to develop, maintain, and manage an advanced lending software platform on-site? If not, they may side with most small to midsize businesses and opt for a cloud-based SAAS (software as a service) model. This is a prevalent choice for large organizations looking to balance cost-savings with the integrity and security of their data.
Issue #3:
Community banks need a one-stop lending solution.
Response:
The banking industry is turning away from multiple solutions for different stages of loan origination and processing, and for different credit products. TurnKey Lender is at the forefront of this convergence, with the flexibility and power to support loans of every sort. From mortgages, personal loans, business loans, commercial real estate loans, point-of-sale lending, and more. All that and more on one platform that features consolidated reporting for immediate insight on credit portfolios across different product types.
Issue #4:
Data security and customer privacy are paramount to community banks.
Response:
TurnKey Lender addresses this concern through rigorous third-party certification. The primary gauge for best practices to safeguard the lender’s data and their customers’ peace-of-mind is the Open Web Application Security Project, or OWASP, standard. TurnKey Lender is compliant with this standard, evidenced by its compliance with the widely recognized ISO 27001 standard of information security, and the ISO 9001 standard for its quality management. We are also SOC 1 and 2 compliant. These certifications assure TurnKey Lender meets all statutory and regulatory requirements on behalf of its clients. But most importantly, keeps your data and the data of your borrowers protected.
Issue #5:
Community banks need to implement digital lending quickly to support customers in the current crisis.
Response:
TurnKey Lender can get your community bank up and running as a digital lender in a very short time frame. How? Its solutions are not hardcoded. Instead, they are quickly configured for each client, using flexible flow-building and rules-management tools, making our time-to-market virtually unbeatable.
Issue #6:
Community bankers are not always steeped in digital lending. Can they be brought up to speed in terms of their understanding?
Response:
Without a doubt, yes. Our sales force is trained to be as purely informational as they can possibly be. On the premise “an informed customer is the best customer,” getting clients and prospects deeply comfortable with our lending solutions is an important part of our mission to help lenders succeed.
A personalized Loan Origination System solves all of these challenges facing community banks by delivering systematic workflows to guide bankers through any loan origination process. Reach out today and get started to digitally transform your community bank.
