Pennsylvania, California Groups Invest in Tech to Boost Services

Pennsylvania-based InFirst Bank has signed a deal with fintech firm Computer Services Inc (CSI) to bring in a new digital platform for banking and automate back-office functions.

InFirst has begun integrating CSI’s NuPoint platform into its operations, according to a statement published this week.

Seth Conner, InFirst Bank’s chief information officer and chief operating officer, said: “Our customers have come to expect that InFirst Bank is able to provide high quality products and services.

“We see CSI as a true partner in helping us provide the innovative services our customers demand while also giving us a more efficient technology infrastructure to help our staff be more productive.”

CSI’s COO David Culbertson added that community banks needed to invest in digital technology that provided customers with “the tools they need to bank using any online or physical channel”.

Elsewhere, California’s Police Credit Union has teamed up with technology group NCR Corporation to help expand its coverage across the state.

Going digital will allow the credit union to offer its members – who are exclusively California-based law enforcement – services including consumer banking, business banking and digital credit scores, NCR said.

Eddie Young, president and CEO of The Police Credit Union, said the arrangement would allow his company to “take our digital banking to the next level”.

Several recent studies have indicated the increasing need for banks to embrace digital technologies for front-, middle- and back-office operations. The trend has been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has forced banks to reduce face-to-face services and enhance online and mobile offerings.

While bank branches have been reopening as states have relaxed their restrictions, research shows that digitization will continue to be a key driver of the industry for the next few years.

Market research company Forrester recently published a report that said banks would in the future focus on four main areas of specialism in order to maintain scale and profitability in a digital world.

Researchers concluded that future banks would be focused on direct-to-consumer, banking-as-a-service, marketplace-selling or platform operations.

A survey by fintech company Broadridge Financial Solutions published earlier this month reported that more than half of financial sector C-suite executives and senior leaders wanted to implement new technologies into their companies’ operations in the coming months.

Tim Gokey, CEO of Broadridge, said banks and other providers that had already invested in  “digital, cloud, and mutualized technologies”  had proven to be “more resilient” during the COVID-19 pandemic.