Independent Banker - June 2020 - 43

legal lending limit, we can provide a larger loan, which is a
big reason why we can grow a lot faster.
Q:
How is your bank using technology to improve
the lending experience or create efficiencies?
VICKNAIR: A huge focus of our bank is to not only expand our
online presence but provide deeper online options. We're
doing this through a number of measures. We entered into
an agreement last year with nCino. Their platform provides
us with the technological framework necessary to not only
expand our lending options, but also our online presence
and improve our customer service. Another area we are
looking into is AI, artifi cial intelligence. It gives us the
opportunity to automate a lot more positions, especially
for mundane tasks, which helps to improve our margins by
reducing overhead costs.
HAYES: We are constantly looking for new technology
solutions that will provide a more effi cient process and a
better experience for our customers. Identifying technology
that introduces automation to our processes accomplishes
both of those things. Last year we introduced HelloHome,
which allows borrowers the ability to easily apply for a
mortgage loan on any device within minutes. This year we
are going to implement electronic mortgage closings. We
are really excited about this project, because it will provide
a better closing experience for our customers.
FRASER: We have several projects that we have recently
completed or are working on that will aff ect loan
operations, including changing our electronic scanning
to a product that directly links to our core, barcoding on
loan documents, implementing an interface between the
document prep software to our core and revamping our
centralized loan processing.
SMITH: We are in the middle of a project to implement
technology-enabled workfl ow tracking to streamline our
life of loan process. Being a bank with a small head count,
we're pulled in a lot of diff erent directions. It can be
challenging to have to bounce between deals that come to
diff erent stopping points in their process. So, we hope it
will be something that can help us manage our loans from
beginning to end to help us with effi ciencies.
Beth Mattson-Teig is a writer in Minnesota.
Nikki Walker, 32
SBA specialist
Village Bank /// St. Francis, Minn.
Derrick W. Hermann, 39
Vice president of lending
Waldo State Bank /// Waldo, Wis.
/// Nikki Walker has a track record of tackling
new responsibilities. Her path at Village
Bank includes positions as a data processor,
operations representative, financial analyst,
marketing project coordinator, credit
analyst, SBA portfolio manager and now SBA
specialist. She was instrumental in supporting
the creation and development of the
community bank's SBA department, which
helped position it as an SBA Preferred Lender.
/// Hermann is a dynamic lender who takes a
leadership role at Waldo State Bank, mentors
employees who he supervises and enjoys
engaging with customers. He headed the
transition of the community bank's mortgage
lending program to a new correspondent
lender. He's also the chair of the Wisconsin
Bankers Association's Building Our Leaders of
Tomorrow (BOLT) group.
independentbanker.org Q 43
http://www.independentbanker.org
Independent Banker - June 2020

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