Independent Banker - November 2022 - 30

PORTFOLIO
provide convenience through AI while
maintaining the human touch.
Stearns is exploring the use of
AI for smaller business loans in its
equipment finance division. As a
national bank that serves customers
in multiple states, Stearns makes
loans and finance equipment for
various industries, including medical,
agriculture, construction and
transportation. While AI can speed
up answers to customers' questions
by automating credit reports, the
community bank wants to understand
and make loan decisions based on
the whole customer-not just their
credit score. A hybrid approach would
enable customers to obtain funding
faster while bankers maintained the
customer relationship.
" We are trying to identify these types
of opportunities where we can partner
with other technology companies to
provide services that our customers are
looking for, instead of reinventing the
wheel, " Bidinger says.
" It's hard to reach a real human
to help me. "
It's no secret that the banking
industry is one of many affected by
the current staffing crisis, which has
encouraged many banks to look for
technology solutions. Some saw AI as
the silver bullet.
" Customer experience has become
a critical competitive advantage,
requiring banks to completely
change their approach to servicing
customers, " says N. Venu Gopal,
chairman of the board of Quinte
Financial Technologies, Inc. " Today
... people expect specialized services
everywhere, all the time. "
AI can streamline processes
significantly, freeing bankers'
time to interact with customers.
For example, Gopal says there
is a growing focus on automated
lending. AI can be applied to capture
" We want to balance providing the
fast answers and solutions that
customers are looking for without
losing that personal touch. "
-RORY BIDINGER, STEARNS BANK
credit information, perform some
underwriting functions and present
all relevant information, including
analyst recommendations, on a single
dashboard to lending staff to facilitate
the decision-making process. With AI
substantially improving operational
efficiency in the back office, banks
can reduce operational cost, errors
and time required to process
customer requests.
" We are seeing greater success
in implementing AI to help with
the automation of processes, which
results in superior service and
reduced turnaround time, " Gopal
says. " We also see community banks
striving to maintain that personal
touch by empowering their staff
through the use of AI. "
However, AI is not a set-it-andforget-it
solution, he says. " The
systems do require constant
supervision and review of outcomes to
ensure that needs of the customer are
consistently being met. "
" Paperwork takes way too long. "
" While AI could be applied to any
layer in the tech stack, from back
office, to customer facing, start with
the back office including document
processing, compliance verification
and fraud detection, " says Sarah
Hovde, head of investor relations at
BankTech Ventures.
QUICK STAT
$447B
The estimated amount of money
banks will save by using AI
applications by 2023.
Source: Business Insider
Susan Springer is a writer in Oregon.
30 Q ICBA Independent Banker Q November 2022
Hovde says banks need to clean up
the back office first, so that customers
don't experience slowdowns due to
bottlenecks in processing. If banks
are driving more sales volume, they
need the infrastructure to support
that increased activity, or they'll
drown staff. AI can quickly manage
repetitive, monotonous tasks. For
example, tech can expedite showing a
full view of a customer from a variety
of platforms instead of a person
working half a day to aggregate that
same data.
" Leverage the technology to free up
human capital by spending less time
sorting through data, " says Hovde.
" Then, move into the front office to
improve customer service by offering
more personalized products. "
Independent Banker - November 2022

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