Independent Banker - April 2023 - 29

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The community bank is also using
the open banking APIs to partner with
other fintechs as well as independent
sales organizations (ISOs), with the
intent to offer both embedded finance
and fintech solutions.
" The days of the core provider
owning all parts of the business
doesn't make sense anymore. You
need to find a core provider that
understands the importance of
bringing new technology into its
ecosystem, " Coyne says.
In addition to CSI, Axiom Bank
works with multiple partners that
provide basic banking solutions,
as well as providers that offer
payments, equipment finance and
factoring solutions.
Expanding geographically
and technologically
ChoiceOne Bank in Sparta, Mich., is on
a different type of growth spree-one
that also required advanced planning
for its core and other technologies, says
Kelly Potes, CEO of the $2.4 billionasset
community bank.
For 125 years, the institution's
footprint remained in western
Michigan, but in 2019 it roughly
doubled in size through a mergerof-equals
with Lakestone Bank in
the eastern Michigan city of Lapeer,
Potes says.
A year later, ChoiceOne Bank
acquired a smaller bank, Community
Shores Bank in Muskegon, Mich.,
adding roughly 20% in assets, he says.
Since then, the community bank has
grown another 25% organically with
three new loan production offices.
To prepare for rapid growth through
acquisitions and organically, in 2015
ChoiceOne Bank moved from an
in-house processor to outsourced
processing via the Silverlake core
platform offered by Jack Henry, says
Adom Greenland, CFO.
" That made scaling up significantly
easier, " he says. " To be honest, we
really didn't have to do a whole lot to
take on Lakestone and Community
Shores, leveraging the functionality
of Silverlake that Jack Henry built for
larger banks. "
As ChoiceOne Bank's assets
increased, it was also able to attract
larger and more sophisticated
commercial customers, in part by
offering treasury services via Jack
Henry's upgraded treasury platform
within its online banking solution,
Greenland says. Having the Silverlake
core enabled ChoiceOne to add the
treasury package.
The community bank is also taking
advantage of Jack Henry's opening
banking APIs by integrating the
solutions of three fintechs into the
online banking platform: Autobooks'
invoicing and accounting solutions
for small businesses; Econocheck's
identity theft protection and credit
report services; and Plinqit's
goal-based savings and financial
literacy app.
" We continue to expand our services
to larger commercial clients using
the functionality we have available in
Silverlake, " Greenland says. " We're
a growth engine now that we're in
an outsourced model. Jack Henry's
data center allows us to scale, adding
capital for our core back office. "
Jack Henry, based in Monett, Mo.,
has been offering open banking for
years at the core level, digital level and
payment level. " Everything [digital] is
API-based for fintechs to get access, "
says president and COO Greg Adelson.
" We are comfortable with the bestof-breed
approach, instead of holding
institutions ransom, " Adelson says.
Jack Henry is also trying to ensure
banks " stay at the center of their
customers' lives " by enabling fintechs
and ISOs to come into the core and on
the digital platform and offer services
like data aggregation so customers can
3 tips for choosing
ancillary services
Tara Schultz, vice president
of open banking at CSI in
Paducah, Kan., gives tips
for choosing appropriate
ancillary solutions.
1. Work with peer groups
and your core provider.
2. Engage in industry events
featuring technology
providers, such as the ICBA
ThinkTECH Accelerator, to
expand your exposure to
new use cases of APIs.
3. Focus on strategic
planning for the markets
you're targeting.
" Identify areas that are
troubling to your customers
and [are] affecting customer
retention and acquisition, "
Schultz says. " Prioritize
working with your strategic
partners to solve for these
areas, or leverage API
capabilities to expand your
product suite to solve for
these problems or areas
of opportunity. "
have " a single pane of glass " of their
finances, Adelson says.
" Decoupling our cloud
components and taking a cloudfirst
microservices approach
gives institutions the opportunity
to provide more choices and
more flexibility. "
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a writer
in California.
independentbanker.org // 29
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - April 2023

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