GonzoBanker Awards | You're in the financial health business | The digital bank app that knows sign language

<<Like this monthly newsletter? You might also like Cornerstone Advisors' pod, Money isn’t Everything, a show where I interview a guest shaking up financial services every other Thursday. Sign up here. My next episode drops Jan. 9>>

Well, hi.

Happy almost new year!

The countdown whirlwind hit hard. I found myself looking quite questionable by the amount of sticky notes I was taping up around my workspace that detailed what needed to get done. Then, I went on holiday to visit my family and it snowed.

Here’s what caught my eye in fintech in December:

1. Outside the vault: To remain relevant is quite the quest for anyone or any company (look to Martha Stewart for a great study on how to). For a financial institution, it’s arguably even harder and it was one of the main threads that came up in my conversation with Jennifer Tescher, the founder, president and CEO of the Financial Health Network. As Jennifer told me on the season’s final episode of Money isn’t Everything:

"Too often, financial institutions see themselves as being in the product business. In fact, they are organized around products. There’s a group that manages the checking. A group that manages the savings, etc. etc. But that’s not how people live their lives. To suggest that all they are doing is selling products really puts them in the commodity business. No one wants to be in the commodity business. It’s not highly profitable. It’s not a high-margin business. The products are simply a means to the end. I believe financial institutions need to care about the end in order to best serve their customers and to make money doing it.”

My take: Hear, hear. For banks and credit unions, there’s more to it than hold-my-deposit (and we know that gets messy, too). Rethinking value is a journey the industry is on whether it knows it or not.

2. The mobile bank app that speaks sign language: Monzo, a UK digital bank, now lets customers communicate with British Sign Language. The company partnered with SignLive to offer the chat service to customers via video relay services.

My take: Digital banking is meant to improve accessibility and this type of feature is wonderful to see hit the market. Speaking in one's preferred language makes money management easier.

3. The year that was in GonzoBanker Awards: With award names like “Best Show of Bravado," "Swanky Swag Award" and "Smoke-from-Home Award," how can you not read on? Here’s the full list of winners as determined by Cornerstone Advisors’ crew.

To get banter, watch (or listen) to the Cornerstone team highlighting a handful of these winners in our Live replay.

Other things that happened this month:

?? Mystery box of intriguing links, articles and other stuff that may interest you as it did me.

• Hmmm. Big banks are “more desirable than they have ever been” to work at, per the WSJ
• Google is suing the CFPB over the agency’s decision to regulate Google’s payment division
• A look back at ATMs (It's interesting. Promise.)
• Consumers who are turning to chatbots over Google search to get their questions answered
• Huntington Bank is now a Plug and Play fintech partner
• MoneyLion is getting acquired by Gen Digital
• The CFPB is suing Walmart and Branch Manager for illegally opening bank accounts for their delivery drivers

Let's get where we ain't,

Mary