Kristin R. MoyerI’ve got four young boys, the youngest being three and the oldest being seven years old. This week we stumbled on Kermit the Frog singing, “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” Until recently, the same thing could often be said of small banks (“It’s Not Easy Being Small”) and their ability to innovate technologically and compete with larger regional and global banks.
Times have changed! This week we are witnessing the shift away from “financial supermarkets” like Citigroup, who announced today that it will shrink itself by one third. Meanwhile, the credit unions are innovating by using Facebook to deliver statements.
It’s good to be small these days. A colleague of mine from Australia was talking about how the banks there (like many places in North America and Western Europe) are saddled with legacy systems and applications that are not well integrated. They are not likely to be able to address them any time soon due to a lack of capital. Meanwhile, new banks and small banks (that aren’t capital constrained) can implement the latest banking packages and have more agility by doing so.
Let’s face it, it’s not easy being anything right now. But, new banks and small banks, if you can – rip a page out of Kermit’s book: “I’m green and it’s beautiful, I think it’s what I want to be.” Now is your time.
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Category: Uncategorized Tags: banking and investment services, credit unions, facebook, global banks, kermit, regional banks, small banks
