Tag Archives: community banks

Market Rates Insight Offers Lifestyle Financial Services Study to Independent Community Bankers of America® Members

First-ever Study Revealing Services Consumers Want from Banks Now Available to ICBA Members with Exclusive 10% Discount.

SAN ANSELMO, Calif. (August 26, 2012) — Market Rates Insight, Inc. (MRI, http://www.marketratesinsight.com), a leader in pricing intelligence for deposits, personal loans, mortgages, and fees, recently conducted the first nationwide consumer study to understand consumer attitudes about fees paid for banking services. The study has uncovered a new category of “lifestyle financial services” that consumers are willing to pay for, and is now available at a 10% discount to community banks through an exclusive relationship with the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA)®.

The study from Market Rates Insight reveals new ways community banks can compete more effectively and promote greater customer loyalty by offering services that consumers want and are willing to pay for. The Lifestyle Financial Services study reveals that customers will pay, on average, $3.63 per month each of the seven services that deliver convenience, efficiency, mobility, and protection. For example, 63.4% of those surveyed indicated they would spend up to $2.37 per month for mobile remote deposit capture services, and 73.7% said they would pay $3.39 per month for credit score reporting.

“Income from service fees on deposit accounts declined 13% between 2007 and 2012, so now more than ever, community and regional institutions need to develop new ways to attract and keep customers,” said Dr. Dan Geller, Executive Vice President of Market Rates Insight and the architect of the study. “Our emerging Lifestyle Financial Services study reveals that consumers want services, such as mobile deposits and personal money transfer from their financial institution. By working directly with ICBA, we can help community banks identify new sources of fee income as well as help promote customer loyalty.”

ICBA members now can buy the Lifestyle Financial Services study at a special ICBA rate. They study is available in various forms:

– The complete study, including consumer research, likelihood of use, perceived value and competitive analyses for the top five U.S. banks, at a discounted price of $4,455.
– The consumer research on all seven categories of Lifestyle Financial Services, including an analytic overview, at a discounted price of $3,105.
– The consumer research for one specific type of services, such as credit score reporting, identity theft services, personalized couponing, prepaid loadable cards, overdraft transfer services, person-to-person payments, and mobile remote deposit capture, for $895 each.

Each study report features consumer research on preferences and perceived value, as well as demographic segmentation.

For more information, contact Market Rates Insight at info@marketratesinsight.com.

About Market Rates Insight
For more than two decades, Market Rates Insight (MRI) has been helping clients price with precision by providing banks, thrifts, credit unions, and other financial institutions with comprehensive market intelligence on deposits, loans, and fees. MRI uses deposit surveys, mortgage and consumer loan surveys, fees and features studies, new product alerts, benchmarking and market share analysis to give subscribers the intelligence needed to strategically position products, optimize pricing and react to emerging trends. MRI’s products include web-enabled, customizable report programming, proprietary product research tools, searchable databases, market alerts, and online dashboards that aggregate key client data to provide real-time interactive views on how they rank against their specific competitors.

Market Rates Insight is located in San Anselmo, California. For more information, see http://www.marketratesinsight.com

Photos available upon request

For additional information contact:
Tom Woolf
Market Rates Insight
(415) 259-5638
tom.woolf@marketratesinsight.com

Regulations Piling up for Community Banks and Credit Unions According to Continuity Control Analysis

Compliance Solution Adds Another 64 Controls To Stay Ahead Of Regulatory Onlsaught

New Haven, CT, March 13, 2012 – Continuity Control, a financial technology company built to help community banks and credit unions meet their growing compliance requirements, today reported that 64 new controls have been added to its platform since the beginning of the year.

Built with automated controls to meet Compliance, IT, and Safe and Sound Banking requirements, the Continuity Control solution continuously identifies new or updated regulations that could affect a community bank. The Continuity Control solution has been specifically designed to reduce a community financial institution’s compliance efforts while insulating it from the cost of regulatory changes.

The firm reports that 645 rule alerts have been issued by the individual regulatory agencies over the past five years, plus hundreds of subsequent updates. Through its regulatory mapping function, Continuity Control links a bank’s or credit union’s compliance program to the regulations that govern them. With new alert and updates coming weekly, changes can be handled with intelligence and efficiency to match the volume.

According to Travis Colquett, Vice President and Compliance Officer at First Citizens Bank in Luverne, AL, the Continuity Control platform eliminates the need to purchase separate tools to deal with various components of compliance.

“Working with my Continuity Control strategist, we identified eight to ten different areas that needed controls, and within a couple weeks they were in place,” says Mr. Colquett, who is a former FDIC examiner. “Once I set them, I never have to touch them again. And If someone on my staff leaves, I only have to reassign a new person to that role, which is a ten-second task.”

Founded by financial service, banking, and compliance industry veterans, Continuity Control has been specifically designed to reduce a community financial institution’s compliance efforts while insulating it from the cost of regulatory changes.

Named among the “Ten Tech Companies to Watch” by Bank Technology News, Continuity Control combines advanced software with personalized service from compliance experts to help any community financial institution better manage the various regulatory processes.

About Continuity Control
Continuity Control is an award-winning compliance solution that combines advanced software with personalized service to help community financial institutions effectively manage their regulatory burden. By automating procedural controls to meet compliance requirements on a single platform, the Continuity Control solution improves a bank’s or credit union’s oversight and reduces costs at the same time. Founded in 2008 by banking and compliance veterans with decades of first-hand experience with regulators, Continuity Contol has helped more than 1,000 community financial institution executives get thier compliance work done. For more information, visit www.continuity.net.

Contact:
Dan Mahoney
CSG|PR
3225 East 2nd Avenue
Denver, CO 80206
970.405.8060
dmahoney@csg-pr.com
http://www.csg-pr.com