We interviewed 300 banking executives to see how their financial institution overcame the obstacles that COVID-19 threw at them. Some survived, some thrived, and sadly, some did not overcome at all. Whatever the outcome, we have all the details on what they did, how they did it, and what they plan to do.  

This infographic summarizes the top 5 findings from this study... 

1)  Mobile banking became a leading priority.  

• 90% of financial institutions saw an increase in mobile banking adoption rates.  

• 63% of financial institutions are not investing in some sort of digital services, like mobile or web-based banking.  

• 59% of financial institutions ranked ‘increasing adoption to mobile’ as their leading priority for the remainder of 2020 and into 2021. 

2)  Branches are not closing; their purpose is shifting. 

• In-branch traffic was temporarily affected... 

  • 80% of Financial Institutions reported their branch traffic went down. 

  • 15% of financial institutions said their traffic patterns stayed the same  

  • 5% of financial institutions said branch traffic increased   

  • 91% of Financial Institutions with drive-thrus saw an increase in traffic 

• But the effect is only temporary... 

• • Only 3% of Americans said they would completely stop using branch banking altogether in response to the pandemic. 

  • 87% of financial institutions are not closing any branches indefinitely. 

• Because people need financial advice more than ever... 

• • 31% of Americans have considered meeting with a financial services associate as a direct result of COVID-19.

  • 77% of financial clients prefer to communicate face-to-face with their financial institution.  

3) Client experience is at the top of everybody’s mind. 

• 42% of financial institutions said their number one priority for 2021 was to improve the in-branch experience.  

• 38% of financial institutions are shifting their staffing models from transactional to advisory.  

• 31% of financial institutions are increasing their community outreach and involvement.  

4) Most 2021 budgets will include these 3 things...  

1. Technology:

• • Self-service solutions are at the top of technology wish lists, with 40% of financial institutions planning to invest in it.

  • 26% of financial institutions plan to invest in tablet banking solutions. 

 2. Marketing & Communications: 

• • 50% of financial institutions said that their top priority for 2021 was to increase brand and product awareness.  

  • 34% of financial institutions plan to invest in video banking solutions. 

  • 19% of financial institutions plan to invest in digital signage solutions.

3. Branch Transformation

• • 24% of financial institutions plan on investing in enhanced safety fixtures and protocols. 

  • 22% of financial institutions plan on completely remodeling their current branches.  

5) You’re one prepared bunch. 

• Only 1.5% of financial institution executives felt completely unprepared to handle the challenges caused by the pandemic. On the other end of the spectrum, 18% of financial executives felt very prepared. 

• The majority of financial institution executives (72%) responded that they felt ‘somewhat prepared’ to ‘well prepared.’