Banking on trust

First of all, Nowruz Mobarak to everyone celebrating around the world. May this new year bring you happiness and joy.

Truth be told, I had a hard time putting the newsletter together these two weeks. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the closure of Signature Bank, along with the sale of Credit Suisse to UBS, have dominated the headlines and our conversations. And as it turns out, it is still very much evolving, to say the least.

(And thank you Barb MacLean for your constant support. It is okay to be not okay, as you reminded me.)

As I read through my notes, I came across something I wrote last year.

"We don’t need round the clock access to information and data. We need 24x7 access to our emotions, sympathy, and empathy — the qualities that makes us human."

It is easy to find ourselves in a downward spiral. Take a look at banking news lately, and you'll easily find words such as "cracks", "infected", "brutal", "intense pressure", "pain", "rout", "collapse", "crisis", "concern", etc.

One thing triggers another. A day of doomscrolling ensures with speculation and finger pointing galore. Left unchecked, that's how social media captures our attention, to the extent that one might even say (and I agree), it has played a role in exacerbating the turmoil these two weeks.

I can't help but wonder out loud, if speed and being frictionless might have done us more harm than good.

But I digress.

So where do we go from here?

Banking on trust

In a recent survey conducted by Morning Consult , "70% of Americans said they trust U.S. banks to do what is right", compared with 66% of adults who said the same in February.

Interestingly, only 44% of Americans overall said they trust digital banks, and 69% said they trust credit unions. And while U.S. bank customers overall don’t seem to be worried by the recent bank turmoil, big banks are seeing an influx of new customers.

We wrote about trust and the crucial role it plays in financial services in our book Beyond Good. Trust has always mattered in banking. And even though it might have been shattered after the last financial crisis, the industry has done a fairly good job in restoring trust with customers at the onset of the pandemic in the past few years.

And in this instance, re-establishing confidence and stabilizing the industry needs to be the priority. There will be plenty of time for root cause analysis and case study later.

For now, as we regroup, let's focus on the humans.

"People, wherever they live, are not statistics. They are not abstractions." — Anthony Bourdain

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This week on One Vision ...

In an era of digital finance, what’s old is new again and tricks as old as check fraud have been on the rise in the last few years. What is behind the surge and what should we be on the lookout for?

In this week’s One Vision podcast, I chat with Diana Rothfuss , Global Product Marketing and Strategy Manager — Fraud & Financial Crimes at 赛仕软件 , on fraud trends, convergence of data, ethical AI, and the people factor. Diana also recounted her own journey from banking to technology and analytics, and the importance of using your voice for good. Her advice: Give each other some grace.?

Give this episode a listen and let us know what you think.

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Beyond Good is available now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble,?Bookshop.org , Kogan Page and anywhere books are sold. You can check out what others are saying about our book?here .?

If it resonates, please leave us a review on?Amazon ?or goodreads.com.?

Thank you!

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