Banks are betting on technology to be the key driver for future business: Greenwich Associates.
Middle market companies could soon experience changes in how banks view and service them due to banks’ adoption of sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) systems that rank companies in terms of their potential profitability as clients.
That’s one of the important takeaways from the 2018 Greenwich Excellence and Best Brand Awards in Middle Market Banking, which recognizes banks that deliver outstanding quality to business clients.
At the top of the list of 2018 winners is Frost Bank, winning a total of 14 Greenwich Excellence and Best Brand Awards. Hancock Whitney won 13 and IBERIABANK, Pinnacle Financial and Synovus Financial, each won 12.
“While business owners and corporate executives tend to think of bank technology in terms of client portals and mobile apps, IT advances are having as big an impact behind the scenes as they are in these customer-facing channels,” says Greenwich Associates Managing Director Chris McDonnell.
One of the important technological changes is the increasing use of systems powered by AI and machine learning (ML) to analyze corporate businesses and identify those companies that would make the best—meaning most profitable—clients for banks.
In middle market banking, the adoption of these platforms will, over time, diminish the relevance of traditional client segments of region, industry and even size. “For some companies—including newer businesses and those with great growth potential—these changes will be for the better,” says Greenwich Associates Vice President Dana Schwaeber.
Greenwich Associates Managing Director Don Raftery says “Hyper-customized client insights driven by predictive analytics leveraging real-time data flows and AI / ML will help separate the winners in the future of commercial banking.”
