To find out how bankers will confront challenges associated with a changing technology landscape, digital acceleration, cybersecurity, regulatory changes and more, CSI surveyed banking executives from across the nation about their strategies and priorities for 2023.

The results of this annual survey are outlined in an interactive executive report and reflect both familiar challenges and emerging opportunities while also revealing the strategies that community institutions will deploy to stay competitive. In this article, we explore the top industry issues selected by bankers.

What Did Bankers Identify as Top Issues?

The CSI survey explored the challenges facing bankers this year, asking respondents to identify which issue will have the greatest influence on the industry in 2023. Bankers generally agreed on the industry’s biggest concerns in the coming year:

• Retaining and Recruiting Employees: More than one-third (34%) of bankers described this as their biggest issue this year, rising from 21% going into 2022. Organizations across industries are feeling the ongoing effects of the Great Resignation, and banking appears to be no exception.
  
  However, the outflow of workers from the service and tech industries, paired with growing interest from young applicants, creates an opening to attract customer-oriented and tech-savvy talent. To attract this influx of fintech talent on the market, many financial institutions are focusing on improving the employee experience, upping their compensation package game and even offering remote or hybrid work.
  
  
• Regulatory Change: With 27% of bankers selecting this as their top issue, regulatory change remains of constant significance to financial institutions. While there is a host of regulatory issues to consider, several of which are outlined in the executive report, bankers are most concerned about overdraft fees and potential UDAAP violations (74%), followed by cybersecurity compliance (68%).
  
  In addition to existing rules and regulations, the Current Expected Credit Losses (CECL) methodology goes into effect for the final group of financial institutions this year. Additionally, everyone is anxiously awaiting the final rule on Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) beneficial owner database.
  
  
• APIs/Open Banking: Open banking APIs are on the minds of financial institutions everywhere, evidenced by this issue rounding out the top three at 17%. APIs allow separate systems to communicate with one another and determine what information is shared between them. Using open APIs enables third-party developers to build applications and services around an institution.
  
  Open banking APIs offer a host of benefits, including optimization of existing systems and integration with new technologies. Bankers selected platform banking (39%) as the most popular open API strategy for 2023. This selection is unsurprising, given that most banks rely on third parties to provide digital technologies like digital account opening, digital loan origination and payments technologies. Banks are also embracing Banking as a Service, a component of the open banking strategy, which allows them to partner with other institutions, fintechs or non-financial institutions to quickly launch digital banking products and payment solutions, including mobile payment services and purpose-driven cards.

Bankers’ Top Technology Priorities for 2023

Financial institutions must strategically choose where to use their limited technology resources to ensure they meet the demands of a tech-savvy population. This year’s results revealed where surveyed bankers plan to deploy their valuable dollars.

• Digital account opening: Like the results from 2021 and 2022, digital account opening topped the list of bankers’ technology priorities at 55%. The continued push for improved digital account opening and digital lending reflects an environment in which many non-traditional institutions have created a seamless digital experience for customers. In today’s digital-first world, customers expect a world-class experience when opening a new account — making a customer-centric approach to digital account opening a priority for all institutions.
  
  
• Data analytics and reporting: Bankers are also aware of the capability of data and analytics to inform their strategic investments, with 47% prioritizing this technology. Only 29% of bankers selected reporting as a priority in 2022, suggesting that data will be increasingly leveraged for decision-making in the coming year.
  
  
• Digital lending: 41% of bankers favor digital lending, and this technology has secured the third ranking for the past three years. In addition to improving the overall user experience and enabling quick loan origination, digital lending services improve efficiency, ease compliance and support efforts to use business intelligence and analytics.
  
  
• Customer relationship management (CRM): While only 34% of respondents chose CRM as a technology priority, banks shouldn’t overlook how an effective CRM empowers them to meet customer needs. As institutions expand their digital presence, it’s imperative for them to maintain their sense of community and customer familiarity. An integrated CRM provides the means to build and maintain a strong connection with individual customers who previously relied on face-to-face interaction. Further, a truly integrated CRM does the same thing for the increasing universe of digital-first customers.

Revealing the Greatest Cybersecurity Concerns

As a prime component of our country’s critical infrastructure, financial institutions are targets of cyberattacks perpetrated by criminal and state-sponsored hacking organizations. Because of this, cybersecurity concerns continue to loom large for bankers.

Bankers selected P2P or other digital fraud (29%) and data breaches (23%) as the top threats for 2023. As the risk of P2P or other digital fraud grows, fraud detection systems built with artificial intelligence (AI) represent a significant opportunity for banks. Using fraud systems with AI allows banks to identify incidents of fraud in real-time and expedite the investigation.

While the financial services industry has made great strides in shoring up security measures to combat cyber criminals, security-minded consumers who follow best practices help mitigate risk and strengthen protection. Cybersecurity training is another strategy to prioritize, as banks benefit significantly from an informed customer base.

Want the Full Results of the 2023 Banking Priorities Survey?

As your bank navigates the changing technology landscape, explore the results of the 2023 Banking Priorities Survey by visiting www.csiweb.com/bp23.