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36 » PA Bankers Association pabanker.com
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News from the PA Bankers IT Committee
his is truly an exciting
time to be in banking for
technology professionals
with expertise in any kind
of technology! People
expect a different banking and
financial experience than they have
in the past. Retail and social media
organizations, such as Amazon and
Facebook, and fintech companies are
delivering that experience.
The concept of digital banking has fast
become a reality and is an area that T.
Michael Price, president and CEO of First
Commonwealth Financial Corporation
and chair of the PA Bankers Association,
is bringing to the forefront for the
association. For anyone with expertise in
designing and developing user interfaces,
big data analytics, process automation,
artificial intelligence, technology
integration or cyber security, just to name
a few, the banking industry provides
many new and dynamic challenges.
Along with these digital banking
solutions, we must ensure we are
delivering a safe experience to the
public. Cybersecurity needs to be
an integral part of developing and
integrating every component of
these technologies. Processes must
be redefined, not only to support
the digital banking needs of the
public, but to improve detection of
fraudulent activity. It is not doubtful
that behavioral modeling and
predictive analytics will continue to
become mainstream tools to identify
anomalous activity and, ultimately,
prevent fraud related to cybercrime.
As we strategically market digital
banking capabilities to the public,
we must also provide education on
how they can protect themselves
from cybercrime, including social
engineering. A robust cybersecurity
employee training program is
essential to run parallel with the digital
banking training of our systems and
internal processes.
Many of these foundational elements
were discussed at the association’s
2019 Digital Banking Conference
(formerly the Technology Conference)
held in Harrisburg, Pa. in November.
Ben Cox, vice president for Fusion 92,
shared the candid expectations of
Gen Y & Z and how their definition of
financial wellness significantly differs
from the Baby Boomer generation.
Additionally, a panel of bankers
shared information about timely digital
banking topics, including John Gill,
chief operating officer of Somerset
Trust Company, who discussed
National Fintech Day; Brook McGinnis,
SVP and senior product group
manager – digital banking & payments
of First Commonwealth Bank, who
shared digital banking challenges that
small-to-midsized banks are having
and tools that First Commonwealth
developed to compete; and Zach
Lloyd, SVP and IT business services
director of Fulton Financial Corporation,
who provided insights to the changing
technology and services to customers.
One of our key challenges is the
seamless and secure integration of
fintech offerings with our traditional
core systems. Christopher McClinton,
chief marketing officer of Finxact, gave
an update on their new generation
core system development and
offering, and Ron Plesco, principal
at KPMG, provided a global view of
faster payments and evolving payment
trends. Ron also gave an update on
emerging threats in cybersecurity.
Contracting with these technology
companies can be an onerous task,
particularly with the core providers.
Niel Devasir, senior director of
Cornerstone, discussed how to build
contract negotiation roadmap.
Prior to the conference, on Nov. 12,
about two-thirds of the conference
attendees participated in a digital
banking forum to share their feedback
on the PA Bankers Digital Strategy
Statement template. Several breakout
sessions were created, and the group
addressed 12 critical components of
the digital banking ecosystem. Topics
ranged from customer experience, to
process automation, to cybersecurity.
Thank you to all the banks who
participated in this forum and for
providing a wealth of information for the
association to develop the template.
As exciting as it is to be in the early, and
rapidly accelerating, evolution of digital
banking, it is a challenging task for banks
of all sizes, particularly for small and
midsized community banks. We are
fortunate that the association recognizes
this and is working with banks and other
business and organizations to provide
the resources needed to ensure our
relevance well into the future.
jƉB)ƉBj~:
MICHAEL MCGRAW
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, MARS BANK
CHAIR, PA BANKERS IT COMMITTEE
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